Ghouls are an energetic five-piece known for their manic stage antics and sweat-inducing live shows. An infectious blend of punk and rock driven by a horn section, they always get crowds on their feet and whipped into a frenzied party.
Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Neil – Drums
Ben – Vocals/Guitar
Maz – Sax
Russ – Trombone
Muss – Bass
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Ghouls? How long has the band been around?
Haha, unusual question. We were all in bands prior to Ghouls, just growing up and that. Ghouls is definitely the most “serious” of the bands that any of us has been a part of. Maz used to be in Kids Can’t Fly way back when. The band Ghouls formed in 2011 but the band we are today properly formed in early 2013 so it’s been about 2/2.5 years now.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
The band name was literally something somebody said at the time. We didn’t really put any thought into it and we weren’t really bothered about it, especially at the time. We have debated changing it a few times but it was sort of a bit far gone by the time we thought about changing it, but we’re sticking with it, it’s who we are now, no going back.
Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?
I (Ben) write the ‘skeleton’ of the songs, just on an acoustic guitar and I don’t really consider the other instruments and then I take those skeletons to the rest of the band and we sort of piece it together – sometimes the songs sound exactly as they did on the acoustic, other times they end up completely different. The main topic of my songs is life in general – personal experiences I’ve had or things I’ve seen, things I’ve heard about, things I’ve been through. Mostly all of the experiences happen or have happened as a result of the band too, so I guess band life is what fuels my creativity.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
As a band we listen to all sorts. The current CD we have in the car we use for touring has Modern Baseball, Real Friends, Enter Shikari, Lower Than Atlantis, The Story So Far and a few others on it, so I guess they’re all inspirations. When it comes to writing music we try and steer clear of trying to sound like anything or any band in particular though, its more about what just comes naturally – sometimes we write things and they sound like Mumford & Sons, sometimes they sound like Iron Maiden but it always ends up sounding like us once we start playing it together.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
My favorite band have been and will probably always been blink 182. They were the first music I ever listened to and it was the first time I actually understood what it meant to like music. So I’d say for me personally, they inspired me to get into music, start playing guitar and writing songs. I think most musicians have that moment where they hear or see an artist or band and something inside just clicks and from then they know its what they want to do.
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, etc …
We have a exercise routing which is pretty intense. It involves a few beers and running back and forth to the toilet, maybe hurling a bit of a abuse at each other to get ourselves fired up and then we’re good to go.
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
Releasing our debut album was pretty special. We put on a show at The Monarch in Camden and so many people came out for it, it was crazy – blew our tiny minds. None of us expected it at all. More recently we headed out to Europe and played in Ghent, Belgium and had a crazy gig where loads of people came out. We had sing-a-longs and most of the people knew who we were. That was a huge highlight for us a band because it’s crazy that our music has reached people in a different country and they actually care enough to know the words and sing them at us.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
There are plenty of bands we like that we’d love to tour with. Touring is just really fun and we all love it so we just like to tour, regardless of who it’s with. It’s always a bonus when we can tour with bands we’re friends with like Riskee and the Ridicule who we headed out to Europe with. But like I say, just getting to tour is awesome. We sort of know Frank Turner and we’ve been pestering him for a tour support for a little while so I think it would be funny if that one day comes true, just because we’ve asked him a few times.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Check out our band, let us know what you think. We have some exciting things in the pipeline for this year. Come out and see us, if we’re at a festival that you happen to be at then come check us out and/or hang with us.