Interview with Palm Ghosts
indie/horror rock Nashville, Tennessee by way of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Palm Ghosts, homeland of Philadelphia - Pennsylvania, but currently in Nashville TN they play indie rock in a combination of alternative rock with an admixture of horror punk. They recently released the new album I Love You, Burn In Hell, which was released on several labels.
Alan – Hello ghosts.
Joseph - Hi, thanks for chatting with us.
Alan – Just quick, who are you, where are you from, and what have you been up to?
Joseph - We are a band from Philadelphia that currently lives in Nashville. We’ve been here for about 10 years now. Our influences are 80s new wave, early 90s alternative and shoe gaze / britpop music, mixed with indie rock. We keep pretty busy recording and playing shows here in the US and Canada.
Alan - Your music, where exactly would you place it? There are so many styles reflected here.
Joseph - I always say we are “An 80s prom in a war zone”, and I think that is fitting. It’s a mix of the different music we grew up with that folks used to call Alternative rock.
Alan – The difference between the previous albums and I Love You, Burn In Hell?
Joseph - All of our records are a it different. Architecture was guy / girl vocals and a bit goth-y, The Lost Frequency was a bit more dance-y and dark, Post Preservation was pretty pop-oriented post punk on the A side and experimental on the B side. Lifeboat Candidate was more guitar-oriented and jagged like Gang of Four. ILYBIH was a mix of everything we did up to that point. I think its our most cohesive record to date.
Alan - I Love You, Burn In Hell did you work on it yourself? Or did someone help you? Do you have guests on the album?
Joseph - We record and mix everything here at my house in Nashville. Dan Coutant did a great job mastering it. We had some guests on the record, most notably Anne McCue, an Australian artist that lives here in Nashville. i just love her voice and she features often on our records.
Alan - can you name 5 bands that your work resembles?
Joseph - I can tell you what we often hear from listeners: The Cure, Echo and The Bunnymen, Joy Division, New Order, Simple Minds.
Alan – The album was released on several labels, how satisfied are you with that? And are you surprised that there is such interest in your work? I received the album from David of Engineer records UK.
Joseph - These days it takes a village. The more good folks that get involved and believe in the work the better. Shared resources help get the music to more people. It started with Tim Anderl from Sweet Cheetah believing in the record enough to start a label to put it out, he then reached out to Andy at Poptek, Sell The Heart and Engineer in the UK and they’ve all been great partners. We’re lucky to have them.
Alan – Your playing intensity? Where have you played/been? Also other continents?
Joseph - We play about 60 or 70 shows a year, we’ve played all over the US except for the West Coast. We’ve done 2 tours of Canada where we’ve played all of Ontario and Quebec. We’d love to play overseas but have not had the opportunity yet. We hope we will at some point.
Alan – I like both Joy Division and the Cure, you're pretty close to them, so thanks for your work.
Joseph - Thank you! So we’ve heard :)
Alan – Can you briefly describe what the songs are about? And how did each one come about?
Tilt - “Tilt is about being pushed off your axis by love. You’re so completely taken by someone else that you don't know how to react.
Drag - This is a warning not to get carried away by the controversy and what the figure heads are telling you. It's asking us to take a step back and come in from the war.
before we no longer have that opportunity.
She Came Playfully - This song is about a passing love story. A brief relationship that pulled the protagonist out of a lonely malaise into the throws of love.
I Love You, Burn In Hell - “This song is about the striking emotional duality that occurs when a relationship sours. The overwhelming feeling of love and hate wrestling as they both churn to digest their regrets into justifications.”
Machine Language - This song is about our ever deepening intimacy with machines and the confusion that can cause.
Sleep, Billy, Sleep - A multiple personality criminal and a doctor hell bent on fame use each other to get what they want.
Automatic For The Modern Age - “This song is about being told who you are in today's world and trying to buck any systems assessment of your potential.”
Catherine Shackles - A young woman struggling to escape the expectations put upon her.
Disassociate - This is about all the steps we take backing away from our pain to survive.
Enemy Mine - The Anticipation for an enemy is pursued with the same vigor of love and preserved with the same delusion of knowing them intimately.
Fault Lines - Fault lines is about the escalating doubts and fears that corale us into the corners of radical certainty. Where it doesn't matter how you get what you want...just keep your head up and don't look down.
Alan – Thanks for the interview, just to conclude – are you planning anything special for the listeners, the fans? A special concert, music video, etc...?
Joseph - We have music videos for every song we release on our YouTube channel. Take a look if you have the time!
https://www.facebook.com/palmghosts/
https://twitter.com/palmghosts?lang=en
https://www.instagram.com/palmghosts/
http://www.palmghosts.net
https://m.soundcloud.com/palmghosts
https://www.youtube.com/user/palmghosts/videos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Ghosts
