We had the opportunity to interview Canadian pop-punk trio Arcane Ghosts! They've just released a brand new single called "Petrified" (which you can find at the bottom of the article). The are currently working on an upcoming EP due out this year! Check out what they had to say below!
How did you come to pursue music and how long have you been at it?
We have been a band for 2 years now. We all came to pursue music in our own ways. From singing at talent shows at the age of 10, or wanting to be the next Green Day
Could you walk us through your process of writing music?
Usually one of us will bring a riff to practice and we'll jam it out until we're happy with the new song. Jason will then work on a vocal melody, he'll just make up placeholder lyrics on the spot so we can hear the melody, and then we'll all sit down and work on the lyrics together. This is the way we did most of the writing for this new EP, however lately we have been changing up the writing style to see how different the songs come out.
What artists have inspired you in your career?
There are many artists that inspire us to be musicians. For Jason we can all agree he looks up to Dance Gavin Dance a lot. He's a big fan of weird patterns and chords that will make you stretch your hands across the fret board. For Eric he listens to a lot of Noise Rock and Indie Rock, so his drumming style is quite different. One of his favourite bands is Death Grips, and if you’ve ever heard of them, I feel like you know exactly what I mean by weird fills and drumming style. And lastly, Matt is actually the only one in the band who listens to 80s and 90s rock. He started playing music listening to Green Day, and is a big fan of Goo Goo Dolls and older U2.
Do you have any favorite music gear (guitars, amps, effects pedals, keyboards, etc.) that you love to use? If so, what’s the story on them?
Jason: For me I am slowly learning about pedals. Right now, my go to pedal is my Xotic SP compressor pedal. It allows me to do all this weird tapping and have it come out very clean and crisp. I recently also bought my dream amp, a Hughes and Kettner Tubemeister 36. I’ve been eyeballing this head for a while now and personally the range on tones for this head is ridiculous. It truly is my new baby.
Eric: As drums are expensive, I was used to playing undesirable equipment growing up. Now that I am older and have a little more money to spend, any upgrade feels like Christmas. I got a new YC snare not too long ago and most recently a DW 5000 kick pedal which both have been great investments. Honestly, it’s just nice having reliable equipment.
Matt: I've always been a huge stratocaster fan. My first guitar was a stratocaster, all the guitars I went through when I was playing metal were “super-strats”, and the guitar I play now is a custom stratocaster. On the bass end I have a custom-made precision bass that a friend of mine made that I absolutely love.
Can you describe the vibe at your live shows? Also, what do you enjoy most about a venue when you do a show?
Our live shows tend to differ based on what crowd we are playing to. If we are playing a show with tons of post hardcore style bands we tend to get the crowd going, maybe even a pit, but if we are playing to an older or calmer audience its usually a chiller vibe. We really love venues that treat you with open arms and answer any and all questions you may have. A nice stage, and a great sound guy really make the venue for us.
What is one thing that you want the public to know about your music?
We really want people to know that the music we write and play is all honest. Most of the lyrics were written from personal experiences and all the music is emotionally driven. We are the type of band that is really chill when it comes to getting to know us. So if you happen to catch one of our shows, come say hi to us, we want to meet everyone who digs our music.
Do you have any upcoming projects you would like fans to know about?
We have a 6 song EP we are aiming to release in 2019. This EP is a collection of songs that we are super proud of. We are also filming our newest music video for the single that will drop with the album, so stay tuned for that as well.