City Ghosts
Following the City Ghosts reunion gig at the Lamp tonight lets take a look back at the band back in the day.
City Ghosts
“There’s no point making music unless every second is truthful and done with your heart and soul” Greg
The two vocalists of City Ghosts have always placed the emphasis on the band as a whole, quickly putting down any emphasis when people describe them as the centre of the band. It must be strange as lately as Greg (who you might know from such bands as Mike Ward All Stars and Freaks Union) and sister Hester Ullyart (who you might know from such plays as Accrington Pals and March 15) find themselves very much the centre of attention as they come to a crossroads with the band as they prepare to play their final few gigs together as the current incarnation of City Ghosts alongside Lee Websdale and Nat Lawson before moving away to the bright lights of London. Where they hope to hook up with the bands electric violinist Will. “I think it will be a stage two kind of thing,” says Greg “A brand new lease of life for the band.”
In terms of front men and women, Hull has got a lot going for it. Baggot, Sara Sanchez, Simon from Fonda 500 all of who have the larger then life stage persona and dramatics to get the crowd worked up, so does studying drama help with this? “”I think it really does help if you’re comfortable on stage, we’ve both done plays for Hull truck and to have confidence so you don’t just turn into a bag or nerves,” comments Hester “To have that energy and give it your all so when you come of that stage you feel like you need to sit down in a dark room for a few minutes to cool down. You’ve got to get as much as what you’re feeling across as you can or there’s just no point.”
In their music the pair sound amazing together, intertwining their very different voices and complimenting each other so naturally it’s interesting to discover that the band came about in much the same natural manner “The whole process was very organic,” Hester explains “Greg had a lot of music written from when he was in other bands so we started practising it and suddenly we were a gigging band!” Amongst the harmonies and the urgent guitar noise lies a dark edge to the City Ghosts sound conjuring up images of spirits and ghosts from the past. Is it possible they represent the spirits of those who have died in the city? ”In a way yes. We’re just another generation, and there’s going to be another generation living after us living there moment who’ll forget about us. It is important to remember our background and all those people who have died the things that make you you” answers Hester with Greg agreeing, “It’s sometimes easy to think you’re the centre of the world, but so much will come after you too. We used to romanticise the past a little bit but now the music is more about looking up and building something new.”
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