Ghost Hospital Interview

Interview: Blast & the Detergents vs. Ghost Hospital: Mike from Ghost Hospital and I have played a lot of shows together, he even performed with my improv noise group, The Billfolds, at 2008’s International Noise Conference in Miami. We share a split lo-fi cassette as I play my alter ego Modern TV. Needless to say, this is a loaded interview between two friends.

Christopher Nadeau: yo
Ghost Hospital: so whats happening?
CN: not much. biked downtown and nothing was going on so we pretended like there was for an hour and now we're home. hey I have a serious question for you. who would win in a fight? a t rex or a flying saucer?
GH: a flying saucer, i'm afraid. those little arms just don't cut it.
CN: hmm. i see what you're saying. one good chomp though...
GH: true. hey check this out: rocket reducer in chicago picked up some copies of the record. just got em in today. SS picked up some too and Florida's Dying. SS and Flo Dy both sold out the first day (SS in 4 hours) and had to reorder.
CN: that is huge news! its great to think that more than just a circle of friends is hearing yr tunes. i love that feeling.
GH: its nice to hear when complete strangers besides your friends dig the music you put out. its rewarding.
CN: so you just went through the process of mastering some recordings of yours, dealing with a vinyl pressing plant and putting out your own 7 inch record on your label, Teen Ape Recordings. how was that whole experience?
GH: it was quite a learning experience trying to shop around and find the best quality work for the best price. i shopped around for months trying to find the best that i could afford. i mastered with Jason Martin of this band Starflyer 59. he does all his recording and i'm a big fan of the sound. reverb soaked surf pop.
CN: where is he geographically?
GH: riverside, ca- south east of LA. lots of pressing plants have their own in-house master guys, but from what i heard, they usually suck. unless you go thru united and they sub with Prarie Cat who is the best around and cheapest from what i heard.
CN: its amazing how america sprawls and sprawls. i feel somewhat cut off down here in florida, but here we are dealing with east of LA and San Francisco and Indiana and bla bla bla. for example, you started playing music in Pittsburg- how does playing music up there differ from down here in flor-ee-da?
GH: its more eclectic here… kind of like the population seems- like no one is really from here. pittsburg to me has a more regionalized sound… which happens to be bad. there are like 250 strokes rip off bands in pittsburg
CN: ha- thats not good for anyone.
GH: this band Kim Phuc from there put out a great single last year.
CN: your 7 inch has been moving around the country quite a bit in the couple weeks since you've unleashed it on an unsuspecting public. how would you describe the ghost hospital sound in 12 words or less? COUNT EM DAMNIT!!!!
GH: single white male seeking alpha male seeking robot fireflies in outer space. i really think florida has a lot of good shit going on right now.
CN: ha- we played at the brass mug last night and the band that played before us covered rebel girl by bikini kill.
GH: oh wow-how was it?
CN: they did a pretty lame version b/c i think their guitarist was into different music like eric clapton or something.
GH: that's hilarious. he had no clue.
CN: so when we played we asked your bassist, kat magyar, to sing hamster baby with us and she totally owned that bar for 3 minutes. it was amazing.
GH: cool that you guys pulled it out of the hat like that. im still convinced that transitions is probably the most receptive to Blast and the Detergents bar none. i love that place.
CN: yeah transitions art gallery consistently bleeds integrity, situated in the beautiful old rusty industrial sector of tampa behind the skatepark of tampa.
all ages shows are just the way to go. bar crowds down here are all washed up grubby socialites. but thats ok- whatever works for them, you know?
GH: yeah, seems like that everywhere. 21 and up you get these really snobby, stella drinking art critics constantly NOT having a good time. punk to me is a good time
CN: haha they wouldn't know art if i took a shit on their face. what is the best way to make a guitar feedback for a full two minutes with the least amount of effort?
GH: a dan electro and the gain on 11. it also helps to be broken hearted.
CN: on that note- thank you for your slapdash answers to my slapdash questions. i'm going to cut and paste this interview like a bastard burroughs wet dream and hope to salvage a couple lines for our friends in san francisco- lets hope the dinosaurs and flying saucers at least have a coherent message for us when the time comes.

Christopher Nadeau skronks, contorts, writes songs and guitars in Blast & the Detergents and Modern TV and he’s sponsored by no one… d’uh.