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Phantom Power

Siobhan Rooney spoke to The Ghost of A Thousand, challengers to Gallows' hardcore crown.

Tom Lacey’s searing vocals could puncture a hole in the heart of any young fan, yet he concedes he’s only as rock and roll as tea with three sugars. “We try and behave ourselves these days.” Lacey is frontman of The Ghost of A Thousand, whose debut This is Where the Fight Begins impressed industry bods so much that they were swiftly signed to Epitaph Records, the LA-based label that spawned The Offspring and L7. They were the first ever British band to make the grade. But does the label know about this tea business?

“They got in touch about 18 months ago just because they really liked the first album,” Lacey recalls. “I think they just saw something in us that reminded them of Refused or the Hives or whatever and took it from there.”

It's an impressive start for a band from Brighton, more bucket and spades than Baywatch, who formed after Lacey met drummer Memby Jago pulling pints together in a bar. “He'd been looking for a singer for the band for about six months. At the time I wasn't really that bothered and just rolled up to a rehearsal not really expecting much,” he admits. “But it was really really good! We had a show two weeks later and didn't look back”. As music festivals like The Great Escape began charging the Sussex resort with renewed creative vigour, it provided the best kind of springboard for a new band, pitting them against an army of local talent. “It meant we had to get good quicker as there are so many bands in Brighton so you have to work hard to get noticed.”

Having signed with Undergroove Records, This is Where the Fight Begins was a middle-fingered salute at established trends, proving that young guys who could wield a guitar didn’t have to be simplistic emo rockers. Lacey’s sentiments haven’t changed: “Not at all, in fact [the music] just gets more and more focused. The heavy scene in this country is (f'ed) and there are only a few bands out there that seem to want to change it for the better.” Kerrang! agreed and nominated the band as Best British Newcomer in their 2007 annual awards.

With the UK hardcore scene showing such little promise, one wonders whether the five-piece will leave to pitch up their tents in LA, or is there something about the British weather that keeps TGOAT breathing fire? Lacey’s influences are very much rooted in the city, home of formative hardcore punks Black Flag, and he names Iggy and The Stooges and Rocket From The Crypt as ideal touring companions. A little Australian classic rock creeps onto Knees Toes Teeth too, Lacey’s favourite track from the latest album New Hopes, New Demonstrations, “just because I’m a huge AC/DC fan and it's our little homage to them.”

The band has benefited from its European roots however. With much of the European hardcore scene residing in Germany and Scandinavia, New Hopes, New Demonstrations was recorded in Stockholm with renowned producer Pelle Gunnerfeldt, who produced and mixed The Hives' collected works. "Pelle was just the coolest dude," Lacey enthuses. "A real unique character. He just made us weirder and much darker, and let us play some stupidly expensive guitars which is always a bonus!"

Europe is set to host TGOAT again as they work their way across the continent during the two month Antidote tour, in which they share a stage with legends Anti-Flag. Fittingly, Sweden is the end point with hiatuses in Paris and Milan, but not before the band makes an appearance in London's gritty Kentish Town at the HMV Forum. Audiences are in for a treat and if they're lucky, "a missing tooth and ringing ears", according to Lacey. "It's all about the grinning and the chaos!" There's often some mischief backstage too: "It’s always me, and always when I'm asleep. I get set on fire or my pants pulled down."

He isn't kidding. TGOAT's gigs, which included the Reading and Leeds festivals this year, are a riot of ear-bleeding, throat-shredding intensity. Lacey makes a formidable performer for a band of their genre, all sweat, blood and crowd invasions. Yet with a good few festival appearances under their belt, what has been the highlight of it all? "Tom Waits and I were discussing how to get red wine stains out of carpets at a festival the other week. [That] will stay with me forever I think."

Lacey doesn't see himself mellowing as he ages. "I'll probably just become more and more grumpy and bitter as I get older, which is perfect for hardcore." And with those extra years of angst, they may get to fully cement their Twitter claim to sing songs "about how (f'ing) terrifying life can be". With a full set of teeth, we hope.
 

The Ghost of a Thousand @ Gash!, The Macbeth - 4th September
  
Audience participation is always a little unnerving. It began at parties at the age of five: clowns, greasy-faced and nylon-haired, would twist balloons into giraffe shapes. I crouched behind other children, nervously anticipating being summoned by these creatures to become part of their circus act. Twenty-odd years later I still get a chill when someone is beckoned on stage, but fortunately for me, the acts have improved.   

At Gash!, the Macbeth's monthly hip-hop/rock/electro night, there's a real danger that wallflowers will have to make some noise. Firstly, the DJing is spot on: eclectic without alienating any genre specific aficionados, yet straying away from the usual trendy electro bollocks to play some genuinely good tunes. Rage Against the Machine and Hole's Celebrity Skin were in the mix on my visit. Then of course there's the bands. Gash! founders Kylie and Maddy (respective Vice and Ninja Tune luminaries) have pulled in some of the cream of UK indie's young, beautiful crop, including The XX and Florence and the Machine in recent months.   

Its exciting to find acts more accustomed to the stages of Reading and Leeds at a grimy east London pub, but then The Ghost of a Thousand are not a band you'd expect to find in Hoxton on a Friday night. Sure they look the part with their tattoos and lead singer Tom Lacey's white framed sunglasses, but they're an explosion of sonic energy, no posing or tinny keyboards in sight. Ogling the band's stage equipment before the set, it was obvious from their Matchless amps that these guys were a real thing.   

TGOAT offered no prog-rocking mellow intro: from the first note, it was an all-out vicious screamathon with calm-shredding guitars. OK, to my ears, untuned as they are to hardcore punk, all their songs sounded the same, but what does that matter when one of TGOAT's guitarists is thrashing it out on top of the bar while bar staff continue serving pints? Lacey, meanwhile, climbed over the stage and speakers like an uncaged animal (is there something about The Macbeth that encourages vocalists to do this? - see Cursive), invading the crowd and smashing into many a mosher. One enthusiastic fan was so taken by Lacey's stage presence that he ran in for a hug, and later returned for seconds. Amid this chaos, the singer called out for a little more energy from the back rows.   

Leaving The Macbeth to track down some food, a queue of east London lovelies had accumulated outside. It was only 12:30 and these blaggers had missed all the live acts, but there was still more than three hours of fun thanks to the 4am license. My ears were ringing and it had cost only £4.   

Siobhan Rooney

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