The Holy Ghost is a Punk Indie Rock band from Stockholm, Sweden. Its members have been active in the underground music scene since the late 80’s, playing in bands like Ashram, Entombed and Trapdoor Fucking Exit to name just a few. Some of them also play in current bands like Haystack, Formications and Eye Make The Horizon. The Holy Ghost consists of four middle aged music fanatics who appreciate all sorts of music, and the band lets all of it seep into its sound. However, to define them more closely, one might mention bands like Hüsker Dü, Dinosaur Jr, The Replacements and Rites Of Spring as major influences. They carry on a post-hardcore tradition musically, including having something to say lyrically.
How did the band form and what does the band name mean?
It started as a project with me and Thomas, the bass player. The first recording was just us two, I did everything but play the bass. It became a band a year after that, we’ve had a few different line-ups and made two records, ”The Southpaw Trail” which is streaming only and ”Mountain Street Songs” which we released on vinyl ourselves. On the latter, I’m not the vocalist. That line-up ended a few years ago and we were back to where we started, with just me and Thomas, no band. But you can’t let that stop you, so last year we went into the studio and recorded 7 of the songs that last band had been working on. This is the mini album ”Ignore Alien Orders” that comes out this fall. In March of this year, we put a new band together and here we are.
The band name is my small, personal attempt at taking back the concept of spirituality that organized religion has hi-jacked for its own purposes. It’s also a reference to saxophonist Albert Ayler, whose music I really love. The name has a few more layers and connotations to it, but I’ll leave it at that.
Previous musical projects? How'd you first get into music?
We’ve all been in bands since our early teens. Me and Thomas were in Ashram (1988-95), Java (1996) and Trapdoor Fucking Exit (1999-2007). Uffe was a founding, long-standing member of Entombed and has played / is playing with Haystack, Ledfoot, Disfear, Morbid and many others. Niklas has played / is playing with Rock Out, New Rose, Woodlands, Eye Make the Horizon and countless others.
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t into music, if that’s what you mean. As a child, it was my parents records. The good stuff I still listen to - the Beatles and the Stones, Patti Smith, Miles Davis, Bob Marley to mention a few. The bad stuff I’d rather forget about. I got into Kiss at around 7 or 8, they were the first band I discovered on my own. Some friends turned me onto Punk and Hardcore when I was 12, and that opened up a whole new world for me. Even though my current band may not fall into that category, or at least not only that category, I still identify as a punk. I’ve never been close-minded about music, but discovering the Hardcore Punk scene was such a mindblow for me that it was my main focus for many years, until my late teens / early twenties when I started broadening my horizons and got into Jazz, Funk, Reggae / Dub, Hip Hop, Psychedelia and the almighty Black Sabbath and so on.
First concert that you ever went to?
The chronology gets a bit blurry due to the fog of old age, but I think the first Swedish band I saw was Ebba Grön in 1981 or maybe 82. They were a Punk band, but at 6 or 7 years old, I obviously had no grasp of what that meant. I do, however, think something about my future was kinda decided then and there. Around the same time, my mom took me to see The Rolling Stones. Again, pretty pivotal. They remain one of my favorite bands to this day.
What's your writing process like?
I sit on the couch and play acoustic guitar, without any pretense of trying to DO anything, most of what I play is useless and hackneyed but once in a while, something good comes along. It can be a riff or a chord sequence or a melody line. Sometimes that thing will suggest another thing that should follow it, and it turns into a whole song, but that’s kinda rare. Mostly it’s just loose riffs. Whatever it is, I always record it on my phone, since my memory is fucking terrible. I just put bits together to see what works, in endless permutations, usually. When the song is finished I make a demo of it. It’s the same with words. I write down thoughts and ideas or themes for lyrics all the time, just bits and pieces. I never write words with a particular song in mind. When I have a bunch of instrumental songs I need lyrics for, I sit down with my notebook or scraps of paper and finish a whole bunch of lyrics all in one burst. Then I try to pair them with songs and edit them to make them fit the meter and come up with a vocal melody. A lot of times, it starts with a song title I like, which is attached to a specific idea that seems worthwhile to sing about and I write about that. Often, phrases and lines come to me while I’m out walking in the city. Again, the phone comes in handy.
What other artists or songs inspire your music?
Well, first off, plenty of music which did not make the playlist inspires me. It can be anything, really. A Coltrane piece may inspire a melody line, that’s really direct and obvious. Any song may inspire me, but what comes out on the guitar is something else entirely. Anyway, the list consists of bands I consider huge influences, music I’ve listened to so much that it has formed a kind of template for what I’m trying to go for with my band, whether I’m conscious of it or not, which I guess is this Post-Hardcore, Indie Rock thing - loud, powerful and melodic guitar music. Rites Of Spring is definitely one of those bands, as are Hüsker Dü, Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth etc. I’ve always had a soft spot for melancholy, minor chords and beautiful melody combined with the power and intensity of Punk Rock. Rites Of Spring impress me by being vulnerable and non-macho in a scene often very opposite to that, as well as crafting completely great melodic Punk with a frenetic energy, barely in their twenties. Motorpsycho is Norway’s foremost gift to the world, always brilliant. My favorite of their many phases is this Indie Rock phase they went through around 1995-1997. Swervedriver do serious magic with their guitar work, listen in headphones, it’s meticulous and thought out in a stunning way. Dinosaur Jr is just hands down one of the best bands there ever was, and is. J Mascis is a genius maker of riffs and his way of stacking his songs with parts has influenced me a lot. He’s also known to bust out a decent solo now and again. Hüsker Dü seem like the architects of this sound I’m talking about, there’s so many classic songs it’s not even funny anymore, and that goes for Bob Mould and Grant Hart both. Sonic Youth taught me to embrace the weirdness. I don’t use alternate tunings at all, but their approach to guitar and their angular, dissonant riffs and general songwriting tricks are key to me. My love for The Replacements and Paul Westerberg came later in life and I consider him one of the greatest American songwriters of all time. Again, SO many fucking hits. Fugazi is on the list for always being inventive and adventurous, committed to never repeating themselves. Very inspiring in more ways than only musically, too. The Van Pelt is a band I feel we have something in common with, and that I love, rather than them being a huge influence. Lastly, Buffalo Tom are kind of the descendants of many of the aforementioned bands. Awesome shit.
What's the live experience like and your philosophy on playing live? Do you think the music live should be identical to the recorded version or should it be it's own thing?
Well, this line-up hasn’t played live yet! But it’s gonna be what we always do; just go up there in our street clothes and just play the songs. There’s no big to-do or presentation or show business to it. When I’m making a record, I do think about not putting a bunch of stuff on it that we can’t reproduce on stage later. There’s some of that, an overdub or three, but I try not to do too much because I feel that maybe then something you or someone else likes about the song might get lost, you know? When it comes to bands I go see live, it’s usually not something I care about. I try to appreciate the music however they want to present it. I certainly don’t have any rules about that sort of thing.
Has the band toured? What has the touring experience been, best shows?
Not yet. The Holy Ghost has only played a handful of shows in Stockholm, our home town. My touring experience in earlier bands has been strictly on the European DIY Punk circuit. You get food, beer and a place to sleep and not a lot of money. I like the hospitality, integrity and honesty of that world. I’ve always been crammed in a van or a car and it’s never been a fucking vacation. I guess the best shows are always the ones where I feel we connect with the crowd, go over well and people enjoy themselves and the worst ones are when none of that happens. I’m not a fan of playing last on a bill of 18 other bands who somehow feel they all must play every song they know and they’re doing it on our drum kit so we can’t leave, haha.
What's up next for the band?
The record comes out on September 22nd and we’ll try and do as many gigs as we can. I have all the songs for the next record ready, so I imagine we’ll start working on them in the practice space, hone them into shape for going into the studio sometime next year, probably. Aside from that, I don’t know. But that’s what living is for, to find out.
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