Live-Metal.Net - Interviews: The Ghost Inside

We didn't know what to expect going into the 10 for $10 hardcore tour at Sonar in Baltimore, Md. So it was nice to conduct our first interview of the day with a band we were familiar with, Los Angeles, Calif.'s The Ghost Inside. Meshing hardcore, metal, hardcore-dance-inducing breakdowns and subtle melody, the band admittedly can't decide which musical direction they will settle on. Live-Metal writer Ryan Mavity calls their album, Fury and the Fallen Ones, “a solid piece of metal and hardcore,” saying, “If you dig fast tempos and moshable rhythms, The Ghost Inside delivers.” After seeing the live set that followed the interview, we can't argue with that. Vocalist Jonathan Vigil and guitarist Aaron Brooks talked to Mavity and Live-Metal.net's Jeff Maki about the band's style and the basis of the 10 for $10 tour, kicking off what became a memorable day at the show.

Live Metal: How did you get involved with the tour and, for those who haven't heard, tell us what it's all about?

Jonathan Vigil: The precedent of the tour is 10 hardcore bands for $10. And it's trying to bring back the way it was before back in the day, when shows were less expensive back before the economy was shitty. And just bringing all the different elements of hardcore to one tour.

Aaron Brooks: And we got hit up by Scott [Vogel] from Terror because we've done the last few tours with them, actually. I think three of our last four tours we've done with Terror. He had a hand in getting this whole tour together, and he actually approached us to see if we'd be interested.

Aaron Brooks: Yes, this is the third show today. The first show was in Philadelphia, New York last night. Both big cities. Philadelphia was awesome. New York was awesome. They were both really big venues. We weren't really sure of it going into it because a lot of the places we hadn't heard of, and honestly, huge venues that we've never played before.

Aaron Brooks: Yeah, that place is big. And the place last night, Terminal 5, was probably one of the biggest venues I've ever played in, ever. It was like a 2,800 room cap or something. But it was awesome. People showed up early, and more and more people by the end of the night ended up being there. But we had a great response both nights. We can't complain, we're just really happy.

You mentioned Terror, but what other bands do you admire or are big fans of on the tour?

Jonathan Vigil: Poison the Well, for sure. There hasn't been a time when Poison the Well hasn't been a favorite of someone in the band at some point. And they're still one of our favorite bands. I get excited to see Crime in Stereo every night because they're like a different melodic hardcore. All the bands are really good bands, but I'd say Crime in Stereo and Poison the Well are my two favorite bands to watch.

Tell us about your new album, Fury and the Fallen Ones. Do you think it's more hardcore or more metal? You guys seem to mesh the styles together.

Aaron Brooks: When we wrote it, The Ghost Inside was a continuation of an old band. I play guitar in The Ghost Inside, and [Jonathan] was the singer in the old band and I played drums. Some old members didn't really want to take it seriously, so I switched it up and wrote a bunch of new songs and a new sound. We didn't really say that we wanted to be “this kind of band” or whatever. We just said, “Let's just write what we want to write.” And that CD is what came out without any planning on what we wanted. People seem to be into it. Everywhere we play, people are having fun watching and singing along.

We're actually in the middle of writing a new record right now. We're finishing it up. The new record should still be a Ghost Inside CD. Every band has its growth, because we put out Fury and the Fallen Ones almost two years ago now. So it's been a good growing time, a lot of touring—we've seen a lot of bands and heard a lot of music.

Jonathan Vigil: It's kind of funny. We were called The Dying Dream and we changed our name. We must have had about 50 band names we were going through and [The Ghost Inside] was kind of the only one that really stuck. It's OK. Personally, I wish we could have come up with a better name.

Aaron Brooks: And that always happens. We change our name, and then by the end of the tour we're just like, "Arrgghhh! Our name!" No band likes their name.

We talked about your band melding hardcore and metal, but what other influences do you have musically?

Jonathan: I grew up with a lot of punk rock, like NOFX, Less Than Jake—that kind of stuff. And it just progressed into more heavier, aggressive music. I started getting into mainstream new metal, like Hatebreed, Slipknot and then I just started getting into the hardcore scene. That's just how it evolved for me.

Aaron Brooks: I used to listen to bands like Bad Religion when I was like 14 or 15, riding my bike around the city. And I got introduced to more and more bands. And Poison the Well was one of the first heavier bands that I got into. Nowadays some of my favorite bands are Comeback Kid, Hatebreed's always been a standout. I'm just a big fan of heavy music, a fan of all types of music, but that's just stuck with me.

All hardcore bands seem to have some sort of message that they want to relay either through their music or lifestyle. Does The Ghost Inside have any type of message through the music or lyrics?

Jonathan Vigil: Not an overall message. Each song has its own deep down meaning. Basically, just being proud of who you are. Not letting the mass majority define who you are. Just being who you are and being proud of it

Aaron Brooks: Our band, members-wise, come from all different walks of life. We have straight-edge members, we have ones that like to drink, we have Christian members, non-Christian members. We're just like a big mix, as far as personality and beliefs. Where we come from probably has a lot to do with how our band is. Just like the fact that we can't really figure out exactly what we sound like [laughs]. We mix a lot of different things personality-wise, music taste, all that kind of stuff. Our band just fell into place, and we're happy with it.

www.myspace.com/10for10tour
www.myspace.com/theghostinside