Former Ghosts

Featured in No.6
www.myspace.com/formerghostssleep


Photo by Jeff Williams

How would you describe the sound of Former Ghosts?
Gloom with a sense of hope.

Comparisons with Joy Division are inevitable. In my opinion, no other CD more closely captures their aesthetic. My first listen transported me back 25 years to my first encounter with Joy Division. What other bands have been influential?
Well I’m flattered that Fleurs would bring you back to your initial listen of Joy Division. Thank you. Some of the other bands that have been influential on the sound of this record have been of course the early records of OMD. We were also influenced by the very first This Mortal Coil record and its use of reverb. And Kate Bush. I’m also influenced by a lot of current pop music and top 40. I guess I can hope that the record doesn’t sound “retro” but hopefully a new approach to those sounds that me, Jamie, and Nika all loved.

How did Jamie Stewart and Nika Roza come to be involved?
Jamie and I have been friends for a long time now and have always talked about working on a project like this together. We just had always been too busy. The timing of Former Ghosts though seemed to work out. We had plans to do a more straightforward synth-pop project together called Agnes of Rome and that fell through. So when I started doing Former Ghosts solo he expressed that he would be interested in being a part of it and of course I wanted him on board as someone that I greatly look up to musically and has been sort of a mentor to me. Nika joined Former Ghosts after I heard Zola Jesus and I asked her to do guest vocals on a song. But after she sent her vocals back I had to ask her to do more. Her voice is amazing.

There are clear lines of continuity with This Song is a Mess. Please discuss the connection between the two projects and how you feel you are developing as an artist.
I would say the main differences between the two projects are its approach to song. This Song Is A Mess But So Am I was a lot less structured and more abstract where Former Ghosts places an emphasis on pop and pop song structure but still looks to the use of strange sounds and noisy elements. Thematically they are also very different. This Song Is A Mess But So Am I was almost entirely completely associated with the passing of my mother from breast cancer and the effects that had on my family after her passing. Which is one of the main reasons I quit doing that project.

Please discuss the creative process that led to Fleurs.
The songs on Fleurs were written simultaneously to the constant withering of a romantic relationship. A lot of the time the songs were written because it was the only form of communication between me and this other person. And most of the songs for the record sprung from these early versions.

Do you begin with lyrics and then set them to music, or vice versa?
I begin with the music usually with kind of an idea in mind of what I want to say.

Did the other members present any initial ideas, or did all the songs originate with you?
A majority of the songs would originate with me and then I would send them to Jamie and Nika who would record their parts and send them back. And then I would piece them together.



You play live quite often and your live show is really powerful, despite the fact that you are often the sole performer. How have you managed to convey the power of the record when much of it is sequenced/pre-recorded?
I’m not really sure how to answer this. I’ve been a huge fan of electronic music since high school. So to me, the pre-programmed/sequenced element of “live” electronic music is a given. It isn’t something that I really think about or if people are going to be upset that there are a lot of pre-programmed elements or something. I mean that is just what I am used to when it comes to live electronic music. It sounds cliché or something, but when I play live I am wherever the song is. I’m not really aware of what is going on around me, I’m taken to the where the song is and I just get lost in that. I am interested though in now working out some different arrangements of some of the songs for the live setting.
The Halloween show with Jamie at Synchronicity was easily one of the most memorable shows of 2009. Do you plan on playing any shows in the future with the other members?
Thank you! Yes there is a show coming up in Los Angeles where it will be Nika and I in the live set up. And hopefully when schedules work out, Jamie, Nika, and myself can play live together more often. I’m also interested in performing live with some other people who are not necessarily on the recordings just so that I do not feel so alone up there while I’m playing. When I am playing solo I have a hard time playing on any kind of stage because it feels so weird and disconnected to be up there by myself. I would like to not feel that way anymore.

The lyrics and vocals are often full of raw emotion (particularly “Choices”). To what extent are they autobiographical?Are there any songs that are too painful to perform at times?
They are all autobiographical and they are really simple. I think I sometimes get criticized for my lyrics because of how plain and simple and straightforward they are. And that’s fine. It comes from listening to a lot of top 40 pop music where the lyrics are really just out there in the open, easy to understand, and are just saying exactly what is being said. That might not make for “great lyrics” or a great lyricist, but that isn’t what I’m interested in at all. A majority of the songs are painful to play but also the meanings of them sometimes shift due to what is currently going on with my life as opposed to what was exactly going on with my life when I wrote the song. On the last U.S. tour with Jamie it was really hard to end with “This Is My Last Goodbye” every single night for a month straight.

Returning to the creative process underlying Fleurs: Do you think the lack of immediacy with the other members, in both writing and recording, may have had some unexpected benefits?
It is possible. It maybe in the end, though, just fed into my insane control freak nature. One good thing about it is that since we were working through the mail we were pushed to work on everything fast - as soon as we got it - and then I basically could only work with the files I received back. So in a way it put limitations on what we could actually do, which I think is a really great thing.

Were there any creative disputes, or were they averted because you exercised final control?
I don’t think there were any creative disputes? I mean none that Jamie or Nika have expressed to me directly, hahaha.

Will the new CD be created and recorded differently?
It will probably be created and recorded in a similar fashion but hopefully with some sessions of the three of us all in the same room too. That would be great.

Do you see Former Ghosts continuing past this next recording? How might it develop?
This is a hard question for me to answer because I really struggle with music making on a daily basis. I have a bad habit of quitting music “forever”. I’ve done that numerous times. I guess we will just see what happens and where my impulse takes me.


Interviewed by Scott Mackie and Emily Hsiao
December 2009