G-H-O-U-L

Last Saturday night a few friends and myself, in midst of ignoring all Uni work, headed off to Spectrum to catch a Ghoul show. Personally I thought it was great, a musical ear could pick a glitch here and there, but who the fuck wants to listen/cares about that? As I said, a marvelous performance. They played the older songs from the EP with prowess and unleashed some new songs on the excitable audience at spectrum. Staying true to their roots, the down fall of the set was it’s length, it seemed as though it had only just started when they announced their last song and I think somewhere in my mind I worked out the ratio of Ghoul time to cover charge cost (it was 50 cents per minute). Anyway it was twenty fifty cent minutes well spent in my book.

Oh and having an extra floor tom is brilliant, if I didn’t already play drums I would take up full time floor tom duties. Pavle was shredding during the set, but I couldn’t shut up that heckler in the back of my head that was constantly yelling “play There There”, God dammit insanity.

Here’s are a few photo’s taken by Emma and I.





So after having finally witnessed their performance, I managed to organize an email interview with Ivan from Ghoul.

Your EP “Mouthful of Gold” was launched at the end of last year, how does it feel looking back on the record now?

There are bits we like and bits we hate. I guess it shouldn't have really been 9 tracks... there are 3 or 4 duds on there. It was good to just get it out and it's great that people are listening to it and getting into it. We've pushed over 1000 units... great for a local release. I'm just happy we have something to call our own.

I’ve read that the EP was recorded in a bedroom, have their been any changes to the recording process this time round? Possibly upgrades?

Yes and no. Drum tracking for the album has been done in a proper studio with more microphones. For Mouthful it was done at home.

A lot of the overdubs are done in my bedroom in front of the computer. I think as long as you've got the right gear and you know what you want from it, you could record anywhere. There's no need to pay someone money to make your record... unless it's Brian Eno or something.

Your songs seem to be driven by an idea, drum pattern or riff, rather than a traditional song structure. How do you go about song writing?

The EP wasn't very democratic. Something would be composed on the computer and people would record bits over the top of it. Then we culled it back or change it completely. Now, we get an idea from a demo or a jam in rehearsal. We record it straightaway, just to get something down into the computer we can work with. Then we try to figure out how we're going to play it live... which is usually where things get fleshed out even further. Then back to recording. Back and forth, constantly.

We're really into repeat patterns, syncopation... stuff like that. I don't think we really 'get' how to write a chorus... just counterpoints. The EP is like one counterpoint for each track... that's why they are so short. Have you consciously tried to go in a different direction with your new songs?

Yes. They're a little warmer, a little more developed...

You’re playing with an MPC in your live shows now; do you think this has changed the performance? Is it hard to get used to playing with it live?

It's giving us the opportunity to play things through, properly. Up until now we just transposed everything to guitar and it wasn't working. With the MPC we have another set of hands... it's not that we're playing along to a backing track or anything. All the samples have to be triggered at the right second or the whole thing goes to shit.

I noticed there was a distinctly different feel in the songs when played live. What is your approach to live gigs?

Yeah less dream synth pop and more liars... ahaha. We're still working on our live show, it's pretty dogs balls. Some things we had to change, like Swimming Pool, just to make it sound bigger. Serbian and Jakob are pretty close to the recording. Loon was figured out post-recording, but I think if we recorded it again it would sound like that. Scary.

And the 20-minute thing... yeah, sets are really short... by accident. I mean, we play 7 or 8 songs but they're all around 2 minutes. Ohana used to play 20 minutes.... we're working on that too.

I guess we're not as twee as we make out to be on the EP. We're just trying to do better things... a little more serious? hahaa I'm not sure.

I saw a Ludwig kit on stage at spectrum, channeling some Ringo?

Hanno got it the other week. It's perfect. Loud as.

Any plans in the near future for touring?

We want to go to Melbourne this year, but we really need to get our live show on par before. No point in disappointing people.

Do you have a favorite venue to play at?

I like main stage on Oxford Art Factory because the foldback isn't shit. The worst is when you can't hear yourself singing.... I just miss everything. Sounds terrible.

The floor in the other room is cool too. Love playing in the midst of people.

What are your favorite bands at the moment?

Better yet, records we are listening to:

Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85 - 92
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
This Heat - Out of Cold Storage

They've got a few gigs coming up, some to fundraise for FBI, so get yo asses theya!
http://www.myspace.com/ghoulsydney