Queensland’s Ghostboy with Golden Virtues are preparing to unleash their unique brand of punk cabaret on Sydney audiences for the first time this month.I caught up with the band ahead of these historic performances to chat about their new album, their love of theatre, and pushing musical boundaries.
You’ve got a really interesting band name. Where did it come from?
Ghostboy was first diagnosed by performance art rock influenza in 2005, and this is the name the W.H.O. gave to his disorder (no man/all spirit). Golden Virtues were a band unto themselves when the two met and then became casual then full time lovers in 2006. Are main virtue: let the art fall to see if it can fly.
You’ve recently released your new album Enter. What can you tell me about it?
Enter has been described as having a “calculated savagery”, as “wonderfully malevolent ghoul rock” “cabaret-from-hell” and as “spooky rockabilly.” Our songwriting is very visceral; the music both muscular and heartfelt, the lyrics direct and unsettling. The idea of this album was to explore the different aspects of sex, gender and relationships, including interpreting Iggy Pop’s “Sister Midnight” and Serge Gainsbourg’s “Je t’aime … moi non plus”. We are launching the second single “Love Me” while we are in Sydney @ The Supper Club in Darlinghurst (it is released digitally Sat 18th Sept).
As such a theatrical band, how do you approach capturing your energy in the studio?
We were very keen to replicate the aesthetic and moods of our stage set-up and live show in order to inhabit the songs in the studio, inspired by some of the recording approaches of Tony Visconti with Bowie and Eno with just about everyone he worked with. This included me being handcuffed and surrounded by mannequins and art porn shots while doing the vocal takes for the song “If I Were a Rock”n”Roll Girlfriend,” with a stage mic plugged direct into a guitar amp.
Your band combines elements of punk and cabaret, which is so unusual. Where did your interest in cabaret come from?
I have always been drawn to acts of the 70s like Alice Cooper and David Bowie, whose stages were an invitation to enter a “world” for the duration of the show while they became their “other” e.g. The Thin White Duke. I also love the way Iggy Pop has this performance art element to his work, the drama and narrative arcs of Mikelangelo & the Black Sea Gentlemen, and the live work of cabaret performers such as Taylor Mac. The idea grew of setting all of this in a cabaret context including throwing in trad & non-trad cabaret covers, such as Jaques Brel and Katy Perry, in order to stretch the form and see what can made of cabaret when you approach it with a punk/performance art aesthetic.
You’re going to play Sydney for the first time this month. Are you looking forward to getting in front of the crowds there?
Yes, the whole gang is very excited. It is a chance for us to play to new and unknown audiences as our main following is in Brisbane and Melbourne. As it is our first dates with Sydney audiences, we hope they buy us flowers, be sweet yet demanding, dance with intent, drink to impress, bring their mother and her best friend, and remember our name.
I believe you’ve put out the call on Facebook to fans who are willing to let you stay with them. Do you have any nerves about crashing at the house’s of complete strangers?
Yes, we have many nerves about a lot of what we do but we are an independent self-funded 7-8 piece act trying to take a humbly grand show interstate and eventually internationally, so we rely on the kindness of strangers (and the odd relative – thank you Uncle Alan). Also, we pay such acts in kind with free tickets, song dedications and oral inspections, and back stage lap dances.
I’ve read some amazing reviews for your live shows. What can Sydney music lovers expect when they come out to see you?
Expect new songs including tracks from our debut album Enter, new and old forms of debauchery and dance, mannequins, art-rock-punk-experimental music, spoken weird theatre, and punk cabaret interpretations of classics by Jacques Brel, Iggy Pop and Katy Perry.
Our audiences never leave the show in a neutral state – recently in Brisbane it was a sell out and an ecstatic roar at the end; at Bryon Bay Writers Festival half the crowd left at the interval in disgust. The best response I have heard to our live shows was a review of our Melbourne Fringe Show as “Epic psychosexual rock opera theatre of the fucking absurd.”
As part of your time in Sydney you’ll be taking part in the local Fringe Festival. I believe you played a similar event in Melbourne last year. What’s it like to come together with a whole bunch of acts that are pushing the boundaries?
It is both unifying and at times strangely competitive, as there are so many shows on and so many acts vying for the spotlight and audience, often with the aim of just breaking even. Putting on a Fringe show is not cheap, so I have a massive respect for all acts on a Fringe bill for leaping out and risking themselves both financially and artistically in order to answer the call. We are only doing one night at The Vanguard and we will spend the night sitting on your back fence, mowing your grass, and seducing your uptight neighbour into dancing on your roof.
Speaking of coming together with like-minded individuals, you’re also touring regional centers as part of the Boho Ball. Are you looking forward to being a part of that?
The Boho Ball circuit is a hugely exciting tour to be part of for us. Si – the Boho director/creator – is an old friend of mine and what he has built up from a grass roots spirit and base is hugely respected by the band, and the national line-up he has created is both diverse and a great representation of what “bohemia” can encompass. It also gives us a chance to play regional areas such as Bathurst and Blue Mountains, as well as sharing the stage with acts we respect and love such as Martin Martini, Barons of Tang, Mojo Juju, and The Space Cowboy.
After this run of dates wraps up, what’s next for Ghostboy with Golden Virtues?
Sleep. Sex. Spring cocktails and dole forms. Shows in Melbourne late October, then a good four month break to write and record new material for our follow up album Exit. Grant writing to get us to Europe in 2011. Daydreaming and keep on believing that our performance art rock has a highway to keep walking on.
Catch Ghostboy with Golden Virtues in Sydney at The Supper Club on September 19 and the Fringe Festival at The Vanguard on September 20.
Image used with permission from Positive Feedback