When Chordblossom came into existence, it was always our aim to shine a spotlight on the artists and bands that make up the music scene in Northern Ireland. We’ve been doing it for over ten years now and one of our favourite methods is our Introducing feature.
Put the kettle on, curl up on your sofa and and join us for a quickfire Q&A with some of our favourite new musicians. Who knows, maybe you’ll even discover your new favourite artists.
This iteration of Introducing features the musical talents of North Ghost who just released their latest single ‘Good Luck Trying’.
What was the inspiration behind your artist name?
We all reside in the North Coast. So, it just came about as a play on words. However, after we had come up with the name, we discussed how it had a nice connection to those memories of growing up here. So it kind of fell into place nicely.
You’ve just released a new single. How did it come about and what does it mean to you?
‘Good Luck Trying’ is the second single of our debut EP. We had about 7 or 8 demos we had been working on and kind of moved between all of them. This one we kept coming back to. I guess you could say it’s a bit of an angry song, even though the verses are pretty and soft.
I’ve never really gone into great detail about reasons behind lyrics, as I like the idea of people making up their own story when they listen. But yeah, it’s fun, it’s loud, it’s got a middle 8 that’s probably the heaviest thing we’ve ever done together and a chug at the start which sounds like a shotgun blast of pop punk to the face. What’s not to love.
Have you any more releases or studio time lined up for later in the year?
We have 2 more songs to drop this summer. We record and write in our home studio, Paul (Black) our vocalist/guitarist has been producing all our tracks. Then we’ve been working with legendary engineer Romesh Dodangoda for the mix.
Tell us about your song writing process.
It kind of happens differently each time to be honest. Sometimes Jake (guitar) will bring us a sequence of chords that inspire us. Or Paul will have a melody he pulls from his vault! Other times I’ll hear a tune in my head on the drive home and sing it into my phone, which we then write around. Lyrically, I tend to fall back on old text message conversations or movie lines to inspire a concept.
Who were your favourite artists/bands growing up? Have your influences changed over time?
Growing up? We would have listened to all the usual suspects (not to be confused with the wedding band “The usual suspects” from Northampton that brought you covers of ALL your favourite hits for 8 years before calling it a day), Blink 182, Green Day, NOFX, Motion City Soundtrack, Jimmy Eat World mixed with some of that midwest emo like American Football and Sunny Day Real Estate.
You can hear little bits of influences creep into our music, but to be honest we don’t really go out to write a song that “sounds like” this or that. We just write what sounds good to us and let it happen.
The 2022 NI Music Prize has just concluded, what’s been your favourite album and single released this year?
Bella Pacifica was an absolute beast of an album, so I’ll go ahead and say Axis Of.
If you weren’t musicians, what line of work would we find you in?
We all work in the creative industry. I’m creative with ideas (Shay), Jake with code, and Paul with hair. Jay is the only musician out of the 4 of us that does this full time, because he’s an absolute unit.
If you could collaborate with one artist or band from NI, who would it be and why?
Bicep. Maybe they could remix a track of ours and turn it into something completely different. Mixing genres is the way to go for collabs.
It is intensely difficult to be successful in the music industry. What does NI need to do to invest in/develop to boost your chances?
I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is more (world class) venues to attract global touring acts, with that, local bands will have more of a chance to get involved and showcase their music. It’s no coincidence that people say you have to go to places like London/Manchester to even have half a chance, that’s because the infrastructure for success is all there. There’s probably a ton of different variables at play here, funding won’t necessarily fix all of them either.
I’ve read some other people talk about a universal funding system for musicians. That would be the dream. To be honest, if we could do this full time and spend all our days writing and playing, we would, and we’d have albums and albums done already. But we don’t have that luxury, because we have bills to pay and need to eat. So jobs are always required.
What does success look like for you?
Would have had a different answer to this years ago. Success is us still enjoying this after a long time. When you hear that other people enjoy it too, that’s success.
You’re going out on tour and can have anything you want on your rider, what would we find on yours?
So instead of a rider, we would like to use this opportunity to donate the money to the beautiful people over at…nah just kidding, tons of Jack Daniels and loads of TVs to throw out windows. If there’s any of our rider left over after we’re done, I want it destroyed. NO ONE else can enjoy it…
Where and when can we next catch you live?
We’re looking for live opportunities this summer. Keep your eyes on our socials for announcements.
If you enjoyed this feature and fancy discovering some more new artists, we suggest you jump on over to our archive of Introducing pieces.
If you are a band or musician based in Northern Ireland interested in taking part in our Introducing feature, we recommend submitting new music to us via our Contact page and if we enjoy it, you’ll no doubt hear from us.
