Interview with The Ghost Wolves
The Ghost Wolves are coming to The Bottleneck in Lawrence on May 1st. The Ghost Wolves (Austin, TX) have been playing together for the last 7 years touring relentlessly. This two piece rock band plays a high energy show with an eclectic mix of punk, blues, rockabilly, rock, grit, and attitude. They are currently on tour with Lincoln Durham. I had the chance to ask them some questions.
Kimmy: Lets start off with a few quick warm up questions. What are you watching right now?
J and C: We've been watching The Crown and Handmaid's Tale lately. Both are very heavy.
Kimmy: What was the first car you drove?
Carley: A tractor.
Jonny: A 1980's volvo station wagon.
Kimmy: What did you have for breakfast today?
Carley: Grapefruit and green tea
Jonny: Nachos. They were so gross.
Kimmy: Ok, here are the more serious questions:
Introduce yourselves: what do you play, what's your role in the band?
Carley: I'm the guitarist and lead singer.
Jonny: I play drums, buckets, pans, washboard, synthesizer and I sing some too.
Kimmy: What drew you to your instrument?
Carley: Umm..family. Seeing family do it. Having it around the house as a kid.
Jonny: I started playing drums in middle school, I was 13. The marching band and drum line always seemed so powerful to me. When I first started playing in drum lines, I couldn't stop smiling. We weren't supposed to smile, we were supposed to look tough.
Kimmy: How did you two meet? How did you decide to become a band?
Jonny: We met in the music scene around central Texas about 10 years ago. We decided to be a band so we could hang out more and not deal with other people's bullshit all the time.
Kimmy: When did you know you wanted to be full time musicians?
Carley: When I was in middle school.
Jonny: I had my first paying gig when I was 16 and I just remember how great it felt to get handed a wad of cash for doing something I loved a lot. I felt like a pirate, or kind of like I had won the lottery almost.
Kimmy: Carly, you recently acted in your first full length film. Do you think acting has changed anything about how you play a show?
Carley: No, it hasn't. But I think I was asked to act in the movie is because I have a lot of experience on stage.
Kimmy: You're a really hard working band who tours a lot. What do y'all do for self care, especially on the road?
Carley: I try to bring my yoga mat and do pilates at the hotel. I eat a clean plant based diet too. I also try to hug a lot of puppies.
Jonny: We eat as healthy as possible, skipping fast food and not a lot of boozing. We don't smoke or do drugs, just caffeine. We try to eat god food like lettuce and tofu.
Kimmy: Having played over 800 shows together, what makes a concert stand out to you?
Carley: The venue and the place, the city, and the crowd. We get our energy from the crowd and it affects how we play. It's amazing how that works.
Jonny: The crowd response usually, or special things like a unique venue, city or even just the people hosting us. Sometimes folks really go out of their way to make us feel important and special, that can really help us remember them.
Kimmy: So you're touring with Lincoln Durham and playing a unique set, GUTBUCKET this tour. How did this idea come about? How has it been received so far?
Carley: The idea came about when we were on tour and we came across a cigar box guitar at a flea market in Missouri. It's been received very well so far. I think that's because we're still bringing our highest energy to the stage every night. We aren't being precious about it.
Jonny: Well, we just felt like changing up our instruments a bit. I started off banging on pots and pans as a little kid so it was maybe a natural return to that state. And the way that Carley plays her cigar box guitar is totally different from her normal 6 string Silvertone. She has a different rhythm with that, she almost plays with a swing feel, which is so cool. The punk rock set is a lot straighter and narrower in many ways. It's fun to find the cracks in that sound, since we've been doing it for a while, and try to invent a new feel for ourselves. Carley is also rocking on the banjo now, I love that. It's a great challenge to make that thing sound big and exciting. Lincoln Durham has been so supportive of us, giving us a chance to play for his audience all over the entire USA. He's an amazing performer, so strong and consistent with his show.
Kimmy: What do you believe the role of a musician is as a citizen of this world?
Carley: I think our role is to help people forget about their problems. Or to bring some comfort to them, or help them relate to each other and feel like they aren't alone.
Jonny: When we travel, especially overseas, it can feel like we are ambassadors for our country and our culture, in some small way. Sometimes people just want to hang out and talk about the USA. Or they want to teach us about their homeland, which we really love. We just played in Portugal for the first time and the people were just so absolutely friendly to us. I think that's a big thing, just realizing the world isn't so scary, there's good hearted people everywhere. I think musicians play a super important role in connecting people around the world and making people feel good. Amen.
Gigs:
5/1 - Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck 5/2 - Des Moines, IA @ Vaudeville Mews 5/3 - Cedar Falls, IA @ Octopus College Hill 5/4 - Chicago, IL @ Reggies Moonrunners Music Festival 5/5 - Ft. Wayne, IN @ The Brass Rail with The Meat Flowers 5/7 - Lexington, KY @ Cosmic Charlie's * 5/9 - Cincinnati, OH @ MOTR with Suck the Honey 5/10 - Columbus, OH @ Rumba Cafe 5/11 - Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre* 5/12 - NY, NY @ The Bowery Electric * 5/13- Somerville, PA @ Thunder Road Bar & Grill * 5/14 - Portsmouth, NH @ Portsmouth Book and Bar 5/17 - New Hope, PA @ John And Peter's * 5/18 - Washington, DC @ DC9 Nightclub * 5/19 - Raleigh, NC @ The Pour House Music Hall * 5/20 - Charlotte, NC @ The Evening Muse * 5/22 - Jacksonville, FL @ Jack Rabbits * 5/23 - Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage * 5/24 - Nashville, TN @ The Basement * 5/25 - Little Rock, AR @ Stickyz Rock N' Roll Chicken Shack *
6/6 - San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger * 6/7 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall * 6/8 - Dallas, TX @ Three Links - Deep Ellum, TX * 6/9 - Austin, TX @ Stubb's Austin * 6/28 - Mannheim, Germany @ Kurzbar 6/30 - Larz, Germany @ Fusion Festival 2018 7/3 - Ravena Ra, Italy @ Hana-Bi 7/4 - Vicenza, Italy @ VIA ROMA 17 7/5 - Brugherio, Italy @ @Increa Summer Fest 7/6 - Berbenno Di Valtellina, Italy The Best Fest 7/7 - Colle Brianza, Italy, @ @Giardino Delle Esperidi
8/31 - Cookeville, TN @ Muddy Roots Music Festival
* = with Lincoln Durham
