26 March 2007 (released)
31 March 2007
Simian’s Simon Lord and Wiseguy’s Teo Keating are recording together as “The Black Ghosts”. Their first single “Anyway you choose to give it” gives a foretaste of the album they’re currently recording - and certainly it was a big hit in Birmingham’s Custard Factory on March 10th. Teo and Simon are big fans of Goth, and their music speaks its own tale of modern gothic romance. Music-News explored the grounds of their “perverse, personal pop music”.
MN: How and when did you two come together?
THEO: We met around Halloween 2005. I approached Simon with the intention of maybe making 3 songs together, but we just kept going. Until one day, with a lot of songs written, we decided that we needed to give it a name. I think we were both in the mood for a new adventure. Hence The Black Ghosts was born.
MN: Is this your first tour in the UK, and are you planning to go abroad, too? Has the tour been successful so far?
THEO: This is our first tour / set of gigs, and it's gone really well. There's still more to do, and then some festivals etc in the summer which we are really looking forward to. We'll probably do a proper tour in the late summer or autumn though, around the time the album comes out. We'd really like to play overseas of course - who knows what the rest of the year will bring....
MN: Which Djs or bands inspired you?
THEO: Adam & The Ants, Pete Rock, Daft Punk, David Axelrod, DJ Premier, Joanna Newsom, 2Many DJs, Charles Stepney and Richard Evans, DJ Shadow, McDonald and Giles, Derrick May, etc etc. - just so many different things over the years. It all goes in, and gets distilled.
SIMON: Jamie Lidell, Tim Hardin, Prince, Raymond Scott, Brian Wilson, Moondog, Serge Gainsbourg, mainly nutters with strong ideas whose music still has broad appeal. I think that’s my favourite thing, pop with big ideas.
MN: How would you describe your style? Gothic romance? What do you like about gothic?
THEO: I think it's important to distinguish between gothic and goth. We are in no way goth. But gothic can cover a range of things, from music to architecture, literature etc. The ornate, the heavy, the brooding, the imposing, the sinister, the classical. It is more to do with the flavour or atmosphere of something. Nothing to do with wearing big boots and pancake make up. We like things gothic, but that doesn't mean our music is overtly gothic - it's just another thing that influences us.
SIMON: Yeah when making the album we didn’t compare vampire books and say 'let’s form a gothic-electro band' but we do both naturally like a sinister twist on proceedings, maybe it’s just a phase and the next album will be all sunshine and spiritual love, or maybe not.
MN: Why do you describe your music as perverse, personal pop music?
THEO: I guess because it doesn't address the bland aspects of love and relationships, as so many songs do. We address the dark side too. And we combine it with music that is not strictly one thing or another. I make music that I feel is right, with no regard to what's musically "right" or "wrong", and Simon writes songs that are uniquely honest, conflicted, passionate. We are just doing what we want and being ourselves
MN: What do you sing about in your new single anyway you chose to give it?When will it be released?
SIMON: It is released in April. It is a love song about extremes, saying I’ll love you no matter what you do, I’ll take it all, the good stuff and the bad stuff. This is what true love is supposed to be, unconditional, in sickness and in health, we usually take that to be a positive thing but it can also be suffocating. Saying that you’ll be with someone no-matter what is a scary thing, a kind of idealism or facism that ignores the other persons choice in proceedings. I like writing songs that mess around with the fact that everything has two sides to it, light and dark. The grass is always greener but you are also standing on the edge of a cliff.
MN: Is anyway your first release? Are you working on an album?
SIMON: Anyway is our first proper single release, we released a limited 12" last year and some remixes. We’ve finished our album which we’re really pleased with, it’s a compendium of psyche-electro-soul-pop, it’ll be out late summer as the nights begin to grow longer.
MN: Simon, you have some great history of music in your family, your grand father played the oboe in a Beatles song?
SIMON: Yes I was born into music, my grandparents were classical musicians. My grandfather played on lots of stuff in the 60’s and 70’s, Beatles albums and the Star Wars theme tune. My dad got into electronic music very early on and invented synthesizers and various noise making machines so I’ve always been exposed to a wide range of music.
MN: Why would you describe your music as 'moving arrangements with uncomfortable subject matter' or 'disturbing lyrics'?
SIMON: I think people have noticed that although we want to make 3 minute pop tunes, that lyrically we stray from the pop formula of 'I love you baby', really it’s ridiculously easy to be called 'dark' or 'disturbing' when you make anything remotely pop since most of it is so devoid of any interesting ideas or edge. Music is made by people with marketing training these days and they think that anything that isn’t totally feel-good or fluffy won’t sell, That is ridiculous - people want music that plays around with ideas not just lyrical morphine.
MN: You sing about how horrible relationships can be rather than the sweet side of love. Any bad personal experiences?
SIMON: No bad experiences just realistic ones. Relationships that tear each other apart, but who wants a safe and sanitised existence? Play with fire and you’ll get burnt but its fucking good fun.
