Moosic: First off, What’s up with your name? Is there a story behind it?
George Danahy, vocals and guitar: Pete [Trainor, guitar] had this long list of band names in his phone that he came up with. For a long time, the band was just under my name. When he was reading the band names on his phone, it was apparent that most of the names were more applicable for a metalcore band than the kind of music we make.
Then he said “The Ghouls” and my ears perked up. I thought it sounded cool at first but I was still slightly hesitant. This was the first band I was personally trying to form, so I wanted the name to be good! The next day, Pete sent me a couple band logos he drew, right next to that ghoul guy logo we use. I thought it was perfect!
Trainor: TBH, I just thought The Ghouls was really fun to say. There’s a scene from It’s Always Sunny where Dennis is trying to make Charlie a dating page and he asks him what some of his interests are and Charlie just goes, “uh, Ghouls” and that just lives rent free in my head now.
Tell us about your musical past, would you tell us about your early years?
Danahy: I started playing guitar at the age of 12. For as long as I remember, I was really into Guitar Hero and Rock Band. I have memories of watching my brother play on Expert mode in Guitar Hero 2 before I had the motor function to properly play those games!
I had an early high school band called Royal Flush that played literally any cover we could think of (mainly the crowd pleasers). I was also doing the School of Rock Natick House Band at the time. Lots of performance opportunities as a high schooler!
Jacob Babock, bass: I started playing music when I was 7, with the caveat there being that it was the viola. The viola/violin are my main instruments and I actually didn’t play the bass until I was in college. With that being said I’ve always had an acute interest in and appreciation for songwriting and the craft of making music. To be able to finally see that happen in real time for me is a bit surreal.
Trainor: I first got guitar lessons when I was 8, and I absolutely hated it. I just wanted to play “American Idiot” by Green Day, but my teacher only wanted me to learn amazing grace and ode to joy. I put the guitar down until junior year of highschool when I experienced my first heartbreak and in an effort to put all those feelings somewhere productive I decided to teach myself all the music I actually wanted to learn. I ended up joining a surf punk band called Prince Rupert’s Glass, which I still do all the art for.
How would you describe your sound?
Danahy: Lots of Ghouls songs have that power-pop melodicism like what you’d find in an early Weezer album, with more shreddy solos played on top.
Which artists have the biggest influence on your sound?
Danahy: For me personally, definitely Weezer, The Strokes, Radiohead, and Van Halen. I love how well Weezer and Strokes songs function as songs. Many of them are so memorable. I love all of the ear candy that you find in Radiohead records. A lot of the crazy feedback and wooshing delay pedal techniques is stuff inspired by Jonny Greenwood. With Van Halen, I always loved the reckless nature that Eddie plays, especially live. He just sort of goes. Almost like everything could fall apart any second, but you never feel like it will.
Babcock: The Replacements are sort of my gold standard for rocking and or rolling. There’s so much nuance to a great Replacements song, all without sacrificing a drop of that gut-punch immediacy. Beyond that, Pixies and Parquet Courts are two of my biggest bass playing inspirations – I think the first two songs I learned on bass were “Debaser” and “Before the Water Gets Too High.”
I do also have a deep love for indie rock of the 2000s. As far as The Ghouls go I’ve definitely tried to look towards bands like The Shins or The Walkmen for inspiration, particularly as bands that have made vintage-sounding music that doesn’t revel in cliche.
Trainor: I feel like I’m all over the place when it comes to influences. I really like effects-heavy psych rock bands like Tame Impala and King Gizzard, so any time I use my phaser during our set I get so excited. For our softer songs I like to emulate artists like Mac Demarco and Last Dinosaurs with their groovy rhythms and interesting chord voicings. I also love metal and hardcore. Some of my favorites like The Acacia Strain and After the Burial don’t really fit The Ghouls, bands like Pierce the Veil and My Chemical Romance bridge the gap and I often look to them for inspiration.
What’s the last song you listened to?
Danahy: “Pale Shelter” by Tears for Fears. Occasionally I’ll fall asleep to music and wake up to something that I think is pretty cool. That happened with this song last night.
Babcock: “Lead Paint Test” by Billy Woods, off of his latest album, which is a masterpiece in its own right. For any Ghouls fans who are for whatever reason looking for some very intense and provocative abstract hip-hop, I cannot recommend enough.
Trainor: “My Garell”i by Enjoy. This is Wyatt Shears of The Garden’s side project and I’ve been obsessed with his new record, The Sound of Deceit. I think all of their projects have a really cool and unique sound to them and I find their commitment to forging their own path really inspiring.
What’s your source for hearing new music?
Danahy: I’m still trying to figure this out! I’ll often find large bands who I’ve never given a chance, for me recently it was U2, and I’ll look up what people say their essential albums are. Then I’ll listen to them front to back. I will say, I do often get overwhelmed by choice on streaming services. Sometimes I daydream about dropping them altogether and growing a huge physical collection of CDs, playing them all from a fancy FLAC player.
Babcock: I’ve always been a very ravenous consumer of music. I spent the majority of my teenage years on various online music forums discussing and listening to as much stuff as I could, some of which came from places like rateyourmusic or Pitchfork, but mostly I was introduced to music through various internet friends or like-minded people on Facebook. Lately I’ve been reading Our Band Could Be Your Life which is a stellar book that uses profiles of seminal indie bands to trace a history of the genre through its early years. It feels so much easier to connect with a record when you’re acutely aware of the context of its creation.
Trainor: I love finding new music, I think that we’re currently in the best time to be a music enjoyer. It’s become so accessible and I think the last 10 to 15 years have had some really amazing acts come out. I used to primarily find bands via music videos, but I feel like that’s less prevalent now, so I more often find new ones through going to shows or word of mouth. I know Spotify can be a bit controversial these days, but I find it’s a great resource for listening to a large variety of different artists, and then I look for other ways to support my favorites. I am fortunate enough that I can listen to whatever I want at my job so I will often queue up 8 to 10 albums that I’ve been meaning to check out and it’s a great way to discover a lot of new music.
Who is your dream producer?
Danahy: Rick Rubin for the clout.
Babcock: Oh god I have a lot, this is a question I’ve thought about at length. Danger Mouse is way up there for me, beyond his incredible work with people like Black Thought and MF DOOM, his work with Parquet Courts on Wide Awake is such a refreshing and exhilarating update of standard rock production. If Dave Fridmann is ever involved in anything I’m a part of I can die a happy man; albums like Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots or The Woods are immense monoliths of sound that somehow lose none of their clarity.
Trainor: Dan Korneff has produced a bunch of records in the last 15 years that I love, and I think he does a good job of enhancing a band’s sound without making it too over produced. PTV’s Collide with the Sky is a great example of this!
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
Danahy: I’d wanna be on a Queens of the Stone Age song, sorta like how Julian Casablancas was on their song “Sick, Sick, Sick.”
Babcock: This answer changes frequently but right now probably Wilco. Wilco if you ever read this let me join you to play the violin on “Hummingbird” (or “Jesus, Etc.” if we’re feeling real bold).
Trainor: Anything Julian Casablancas touches is gold, so probably him. He has a knack of popping up on the most unexpected projects and always brings something fun to the table.
What led you to music, and what motivates you to keep making it?
Danahy: Definitely imagining myself performing in front of people. It all draws back to those early days where the virtual audiences in Guitar Hero would either go crazy if I was doing well, or kick me off if I sucked. All these years later, I can say it hasn’t changed too much! The satisfaction from finishing a good song is pretty good though.
Babcock: I get so much of my love for music as well as my taste in it from my mom. Growing up listening to the radio (shoutout WFNX) made me realize music had the capability to speak to me emotionally in a way nothing else can.
Trainor: In short, it’s simply addicting. I love it can express emotions and ideas that words often can’t. I grew up primarily focused on visual art but when I discovered I could seek out music on my own terms it opened up a whole new world for me. I love how easy it is to listen to music while doing other things. I find a lot of visual art mediums demand your full attention, but with music I can enjoy it while I eat, work, relax, or play. If anything is truly evidence of magic in this world, I think it’s music’s ability to move you.
Tell us about the songwriting process. How does it all come together?
Danahy: I like to orchestrate all of these songs in a DAW before bringing them to the band. It’s just the easiest way for me to get ideas out of my head. All of these songs exist as demos on my computer, fake drums and everything!
How do you connect with your audience? What is the easiest way for them to connect with you?
Danahy: We have all the basic stuff, like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, but we also have places you can go if you really like us. For instance, we got our website, theghouls.net, as well as our own text line! I will say, setting up that text line was a living hell for one person.
Homepage: https://theghouls.net/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.ghouls.ma/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theghoulsma/
Bandcamp: https://theghoulsma.bandcamp.com
What’s next for you?
Danahy: I don’t even know what comes tomorrow! We got a lot of songs that we feel strongly about already written, some already being performed! I honestly hope to take advantage of every opportunity that we get and take this thing as far as we can.
Bio:
The Ghouls are the band you’ve been waiting for. Hailing from the Massachusetts city of Lowell, this alt-rock and power-pop four-piece takes inspiration from bands such as The Strokes, The Cure, and Weezer to create a sound entirely their own. On the strength of a handful of digital singles and fueled by a raucous live show, The Ghouls’ achievements so far include winning Boston’s 2024 Rock and Roll Rumble, opening for award-winning multi-instrumentalist Luna Li, being featured in the Boston Globe (twice!), and winning a Boston Music Award as 2024’s ‘Rock Artist of the Year’ (just after they were invited to perform live). But they need to be seen and heard to be believed. Debut album Handle With Care drops May 30. Buckle up.
