Great American Ghost To Stop In At Froth & Fury…

‘I feel very confident that if you’ve never seen us, we will be memorable. You will remember us. So that’s all I ask. Pay attention!’

Ethan Harrison, front man of Great American Ghost proclaims before the band venture here next month with Thy Art Is Murder with a stop at Froth & Fury Fest.

‘Honestly, I’m just excited to see Fear Factory. I’ve never seen them and we have a lot of influence with on from Fear Factory, but if I’m being truthful, I’m actually most excited to see Northlane. I’ve never seen Northlane. I’ve met those dudes, but I’ve never seen them. They record with the same dude that records us, with Will Putney, and I like a lot of their stuff. So I’ve always wanted to see them and now I’m excited to see them n their home country. That’s cool.’

Since Great American Ghost last graced our shores with Alpha Wolf back in 2022, there has been quite some shifts in the camp as the band continue evolve into their own beast.

‘We have a new record label, it’s called Sharptone Records. I’m sure that Australians would be familiar with them considering they release Alpha Wolf and Polaris and a couple other huge deal Australian bands. Really lucky to be here. We’re really happy. We’ve got some things coming up with them and we’re really excited and that was a really positive change. An equally positive change is that we have one new member, and we are without a drummer, but not without a drummer. We just don’t have one. But that’s okay. We’re not without one. Does that make sense? Actually, for this tour that we’re doing, Chaz Levi from a band called Justice For The Damned from Australia is playing drums for us and he’s incredible. I’m just going to fly to Australia and meet up with one of the best drummers I’ve ever met and just play with him.’

New label and a new member in Grayson Stewart of Norma Jean fame, does mean new music and dare I say it, new sounds as the band flex their muscles from with a sonically much bigger and expansive sound than before on recent releases Forsaken and Hymn Of Decay.

‘You nailed it. Yeah, it is purposeful and well, ‘Hymn Of Decay’ you heard Grayson, who’s a new member, but has been with us since the first time we went to Australia. He toured us that whole year and was in the band. And only just a couple months ago, or a year ago, we discovered that Gray could sing and he sings beautifully. He has an amazing voice so we started integrating that into songwriting. Because Grey sings the way that he does and sings beautifully, he has such a soft, just clear and clean voice, when we went to the studio, we thought that it was going to be a thing where we used Gray a lot. I was just going to scream and he was going to sing, and it proved that wasn’t what we needed and what we wanted. Will Putney, who produces our records, he pointed out, he it’s not that it’s not going to work. So it forced me to get a lot better and to try things I’d never tried.’

‘That led me into trying the stuff I did on ‘Forsaken’, led us into this area where I’m still singing, fully singing, I’ve never sung before in GAG. That wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for Gray and Gray’s ability. It was a pretty organic change.’

The focus displayed by Harrison is typical of a man that his partner calls him a ‘shark’ as he continuously swims forward unabated by mere options or even opinions, especially online as he is a man who dropped X earlier this year.

‘Every musician knows this trade off, how much blood and sweat and time away from your family and recording isn’t like a vacation. I’m not with my partner. We’re all away and we’re doing this thing. It’s such an interesting dichotomy because I’m both disinterested in what people say and also I’m in this industry where what people say is very much all that fucking matters. I can like my music all I want, but if I put it out, no one cares, then I’m fucked. Right? When we made the record, I wasn’t thinking about other people. I was just like, I want to do this! I was thinking about what I like, I really like Nine Inch Nails, Architects, Metallica. I’m going to make music that is inspired by the music that I listen to. And then you get to this point where we’re at right now where we’re gearing up to possibly do something release wise and you’re like, God, I hope someone likes it. But it’s like, I didn’t care before!

‘I don’t think that social media is evil because it’s not. A hammer can build a house or it can kill a person. It’s not inherently evil in any way, it’s just how you use it. Some people use social media to be damaging , mean or hurtful, and that’s their business. That’s their problem. But that doesn’t mean I need to consume their negativity about the thing I care about the most.’

One final word from the man about Australia as we eagerly await their return?

‘We love Australia and I’m so happy to be back. When we went to Australia with Alpha Wolf, it was unbelievable. It was the most amazing international tour I’ve ever done in my life. It was just different. So we’ve been anxious to get back, I’m excited! Let’s go!’

Interview By Iain McCallum

Catch Great American Ghost at Froth & Fury Festival at Harts Mill, Port Adelaide on Saturday November 9. Tickets from MoshTix…

Also on tour on the following dates…

Tickets on sale via thyartismurder.net