Live music and touring have been on lockdown and fans as well as artists are going through withdrawals. We wanted to come up with something fun to help bridge that distance between fans and artists right now. What we came up with is something called The Lockdown Lowdown and it’s a Q&A session with fun questions for artists to answer. They’re not your typical interview questions, so it gives you a peek inside of the artists themselves. We’re big music nerds here at I’m Music Magazine and we love learning things like this about the artists that we love. We’re pretty sure that you’ll get a kick out of these, so we hope you’ll take the time to read them. In this installment, we sat down for a fun Q&A session with Ghosts of Sunset.
How have you been doing during the pandemic and how are you spending your time?
Todd – John and I actually spent our time very productively. We wrote and recorded our whole new album during it remotely. The album is called “No Saints In The City” and will be out in the fall or winter of 2021 on Golden Robot Records.
John – Grateful for the ability to continue writing and recording new music in addition to other avenues like social media events keeping us connected to performing music. Going forward as things open up, the face to face interaction is one that no performer will ever take for granted again.
Have you been working on new music?
Todd – We have actually been writing more new music since the completion of “No Saints In The City”. Always pushing forward!
John – For sure. As of right now, we’re completing the first two songs which we hope will be a part of our third Golden Robot Release and our second full-length album for the label.
5 albums that changed your life:
Todd – The Police (Syncronicity), Poison (Look What The Cat Dragged In), Def Leppard (Hysteria), Bon Jovi (Slippery When Wet), Blink 182 (Enema Of The State)
John – The Beatles “Rock n Roll Music vol 1&2” , Bruce Springsteen “Born to Run”, Uncle Tupelo “Anodyne”, Faster Pussycat “self-titled”, the Jayhawks “Hollywood Town Hall”
5 artists that influenced you as a musician:
Todd – Stewart Copeland (The Police), Rikki Rockett (Poison), Vikki Fox (Enuff Z’ Nuff), Travis Barker (Blink 182), Butch Walker
John – John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Chris Robinson, Jimmy Page, Taime Downe
Your 5 favorite live albums:
Todd – Poison (Swallow This Live), Kiss (Alive, Alive II, Alive III), Blink 182 (Mark, Tom and Travis Show)
John – Aerosmith “Live Bootleg”, Lucero “Live in Memphis”, the Tragically Hip “Live Between Us”, Johnny Rivers “Live at the Whisky A Go-Go”, Beatles “Live at the Hollywood Bowl”
Life on the road; 5 of the craziest/funniest/scariest tour stories:
Todd – 1. Near Miami, Florida we saw a car hit a highway divider head on (Super Scary). 2. We were driving to Chicago in one of the worst ice storms ever and turned back around cuz it was way too dangerous. 3. After a gig in Grand Rapids, Mi (I think) we heard a voice and did not know where it was coming from and there was a guy sitting in a tree asking about our band. 4. John and I would do many early afternoon walks in Key West, Florida looking for the best Bloody Marys in town. 5. I remember our bassist being super high before a gig in Indiana and seeing a cop and just losing his mind. All Fun Times!!!
John – Driving from Chicago to St. Louis after a Chicago gig in a snow and ice storm and losing count of all the vehicles in the ditch. I thought we might actually die. / Closing the van door “latching it” on the guitarists hand in Nashville on the first night of a 7 night run / Stepping out of the van to pee at 3am in Georgia and having a state trooper pull up and ask in a long Southern drawl “what are you boys up to” / Getting drunk and losing my keys and wallet at the festival in Carbondale IL and after searching for hours having a random person walk up and say “is this your wallet” / Meeting guitarist Michael McAdam from Steve Earle’s band “the Dukes” at a gig when he was playing before us.
Your 5 favorite movies:
Todd – Grease, Shawshank Redemption, Remember the Titans, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Can’t Buy Me Love
John – “This is Spinal Tap”, “The Last Waltz”, “Fletch”, “Eight Days a Week: the Beatles touring years”, literally ANY music documentary ever made.
Best and worst advice you ever heard:
Todd – (Worst) No girls in the studio. Huh, What??? (Bast) Write for yourself, Not for what others want you to write
John – “Best: keep your gratitude higher than your expectations.” Worst: “its ok to have another drink, you’re fine”.
Strangest thing you ever autographed:
Todd – an album I didn’t play on
John – Body parts are always weird, like if you’re not gonna tattoo that, what’s the point. Autographing an album I didn’t play on feels weird when I’m a hired gun.
If music was over today and you had to go into professional wrestling, what would your wrestling name be?
Todd – “El Schorcho” after the Wezzer Song
John – “The Town Drunk” or “Captain Dip-Sh*t”
