Ghost:Hello is not Ghost
Interview conducted on June 07, 2019
by Dan Locke
Ghost:Hello is a synth-loving stoner rock family affair from northeast Ohio. Made up of a husband/wife duo and their cousin, the band members have been playing for decades. With extensive individual histories touring around the US and in Europe in other DIY groups, this project just feels like a natural continuation. Together as a family and as musicians, Ghost:Hello is now ready to take the rock n roll world by the horns.
Band Members:
Nina Skok — synthesizers, samples, and Theremin
William Jennings — bass
Joe Kidd — drums and percussion
Dan Locke: How did you form your band?
William Jennings: It’s kind of a family triangle, Joe and Nina are cousins & Nina and I are married. But I knew joe first. My friends and I were DIY promoters and Joes band was excellent so we put them on just about every show. We started working on a project just before he joined Simeon Soul Charger and moved to Europe. That project grew, flowered, and died leaving me bindless. We got in touch while he was still living in Germany about doing an album based on some demos another drummer and myself had cut. But the distance and technology gap inevitably killed the plans. Joe moved back to the states and we got in touch to jam. I had been writing a bunch of weird stoner songs. Most of them were garbage, but one stuck out and we played it for hours and hours and it ended up being “Burnout” which is actually the first single for the album.
You said you have unorthodox elements into your music. I like to know what that is. I have to tell you I listen to anything from Frank Zappa, Golden Earring, Todd Rundgren, Be-Bop Deluxe, and even The Monkees (Head Movie).
A lot of the unorthodox elements come honestly. Synthesizers & Vocoders in a Stoner doom band always raise eyebrows. Splitting my bass up to sounds like a guitar and a bass, simultaneously.
But also, just weird riffs.
We realized way later that we did this but we did a crushing 9/8 stoner riff on the record that drops out into a soft variation of it with an Italian reading of Dante’s Inferno, then it comes back and crushes again. All in 9/8 What a weird time signature for a stoner riff. That sort of thing.I mean my tastes bounce from Curtis Mayfield and Funkadelic to Beirut & Andrew Bird, To The Rolling Stones & Rare Earth, To Lemon Jelly and Groove Armada and that’s all in an afternoon.
So, the influence is always ridiculously eclectic.I’ll be listening to some breakbeat triphop record and Joe will send me an audio file of himself singing a riff, and then it’ll all float around in my head for a bit then next time we’re together I’ll play him what he sang me, only after its stewed in a weird triphop brain marinade.
How is Akron OH for live music?
Joe Kidd: Some of the best live bands in the world have come out of Akron and a lot of them are still there ripping the *uc#ing roofs off of clubs nightly. It’s truly a blessed place for music
W- Between Buzzing in Canton and Annabelle’s in Akron, along with a hand full of others, there’s pretty much always a really rad show happening. There’s always touring bands coming through, and it’s really only getting better.
Have you ever been to the Nelsonville Music Festival, which is less than 30 min. from Akron?
J-No, you have peaked my interest.
W- It’s pretty huge I believe; I’ve never been to it either.
Who influenced your band?
W- there was never really a clear line. We All listened to a bunch of Qotsa, Toadies, & Melvin’s. Lots of Grunge & Motown too.
But recently I started staying up really late doing artwork simultaneously listening to a lot of synthy and TripHop stuff; Portishead, Morcheeba, Air, Lemon Jelly, IMonster. This sort of thing and also a TON of H.P. Lovecraft audiobooks.
I think I listened to the complete recorded collections of H.P. Lovecraft on audiobook at least 3 times through during the pre-production all the way through mastering. Some stories were more like 6 or 7 times through.
This definitely left an impression on the album.
Since you are from Akron, I am going to name some bands from Akron. I would like you to say something about each.
The Pretenders.
J- Vegan food.
W- hmmm how about Pat Benatar instead?
Nina Skok: Not for meThe Black Keys
N- They made it out.
W-That time one of their dads was upset at Enhailer for being too loud.
J- Annabells.Devo.
N- Yes, yes, & yes.
W- Heyy Heyy my myyyyy
J-Tommy Pickles.David Allan Coe-
J-Prickrascist
N- Nope!
W- None for me thanks!
Why did you pick your name?
W- I used to be one of those punk rock kids that wrote all over my clothes and would spit in my Mohawk to keep it stuck, no sides in my Chuck Taylor’s.
For whatever reason when I had to tape my pants together, I would color the tape in. One day I wrote Ghost:>Hello. Ten years later it looked neat for a name, we dropped the > thought that way computers didn’t think it was part of a command.
To me, you sound like a mix between Queens of the Stone Age and the Beat Farmers.
W- Yeah, we kinda didn’t mean to do that, but it’s definitely there. That’s what we grew up on though, Early Qotsa, The Toadies, The Dead Milkmen. Grunge stuff in general.
J- that sorta stuff does tend to seep in. Not intentional like will said. I take that as a high compliment.
I see you do some Live Audio Streaming. What is that about?
W- We have a pretty solid recording rig from a lifetime of collecting and a lifelong friend of mine, Ron, who tours all over building rigs and running Sound for bands like Slayer, and Madonna, came out to record our album. We thought being as this is probably the best mic’ing job we’re going to see in a long time we should try to share it. Unfortunately, most of the time the cameras/cell phones didn’t work. And really, the majority of album tracking isn’t all that interesting. It’s just the same stuff played over and over. And the stuff that is interesting you’d never want a camera in the room to film.
Nina, you play synthesizer and the Theremin. Are you into digital or analog equipment? And what is your gear?
N- kinda both. Right now, I’m using a MikroKorg tan into a Dane electro PB & J, also connected to. Behringer Model D. I like having savable patches that comes with the digital stuff. We do a lot of random things in songs. But the analog stuff just sounds a certain way.
I also use a Boss 202 sampler for all the samples, and a Moog TheraMini.
Do you remember how you got your first gig and what was it like?
W-The First Ghost: Hello gig was in Bloomington Indiana in 2013. Myself & the drummer at the time Patrick we’re playing on the first of a weekend tour. The show was great, we played with a friend Jon’s band CHaMOMILE, a real gritty 2-piece grunge band. He’s actually putting us on again this year as he & his wife’s shop(s) Tarot Tattoo & Black Dog printing. Funny old world.
At any rate, we got to our hotel and it was the filthiest cumstain on the telephone, holes in the bath towels, meth factory hotel you’ve ever been in.
Last time we ever used a budget hotel finding service.
Any plans for a tour?
Just regionally for the rest of the year. We’re hoping to have a short run through PA & NY and so on shortly after the album comes out.We’re Dying ourselves around Europe in the spring with some friends. Joe has lived and toured there for years and Nina & myself being active travelers. It’s been a couple years since any of us have been over so it just feels like a good time to go.
Who would you like to open up for?
J- Torche, Fu-Manchu, Jesus, The Melvin’s, Tito Jackson. But seriously, just good hardworking bands that we can fit with.
W- yeah there’s a ton of big bands that would be fun to open for but truly right now, Horseburner from WV, Clamfight from Philly, Book of Wyrms from VA, Hippie Death Cult from Portland, DeadBird from Little Rock, Elephant Tree from London…
Just a bunch of rad bands that I’m super into currently.
Since you were a teenager has the music industry changed?
J- When I was a teenager social media was in its infancy. To get your music out, you were at the mall every weekend handing out hand burnt cd’s, painting the world with fliers and hanging out at every live show you could get your underage ass into and handing out fliers and CDs. Nowadays the internet connects you to everyone to promote and get your music out. I sort of miss seeing all the bands out hustling and trying new ways to physically promote. I miss it myself, as well.
I also noticed the saturation of DIY record labels. This is also a product of the hyperweb connectivity. When I was a teenager there was a handful and now, they are just all over the place. The 92-year-old lady across the street from me just started a label last Tuesday. Wild world!
How important is digital music?
W- I feel digital music is more or less THE form of music now, whether you’re listening to music you’ve ripped from your physical collection, stuff that was pirated when you were 16, to streaming via Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple, YouTube. You can’t get away from it. I mean you can have your entire music collection in your pocket at all times! And the reality is if you want to be heard above the heads of the jillion other bands out there, you need to really embrace it for all it has to offer.
Do you feel fans are missing something by not having albums?
W- Absolutely, there are a lot of bands that put a lot of effort into layouts and packaging and it’s not wasted on me. Streaming is convenient for on the go, sure. But I think that gives room for the Vinyl Record industry to grow. We’re not hampered by the negative aspects of Records, Tapes, or CDs anymore. Music is so portable now we can send it across the house wirelessly; but we want those formats because we like them, the aesthetic is pleasing, it feels correct.
How is your cd coming along?
W- The album is complete! It’s rare but honestly Were all really really happy with it. Personally, I don’t listen to a lot of music that I play on, but I absolutely see myself driving 70 in a 45 to this in 10 years. It’s officially out everywhere on September 20th.
We’re doing a bunch of neat things for the release. Different formats, fun colors, loads of excellent shirts, that sort of thing.
How do you see yourself in 5 years?
J- I see us making music together for a long time. That includes 5 years. So, I think in 5 years we will be touring and putting out cool records with happy hearts and big smiles and regularly munching on super delicious pizza together. We will also have taken over the world and enslaved all of you reading this interview. See ya then!!!!
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