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.
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