BROOKLYN, NY- Brooklyn’s rock group Ghost King- Carter McNeil (Vocals/Guitar), Noga Davidson (Bass), Daniel Sweeney (Drums) and Pete Spengemen (Guitar/Synth)- threw a wild sold out party for their new record, ‘Dunbar Swamp’ at Trans Pecos. Photographer Rick Perez was there to capture the madness and talk with the group about death, finding your sanity, and the long process of putting out their record.
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So Tell me about your new ‘Dunbar Swamp!
It was recorded over a year ago, written over the course of a year before that, and it took a year to release it. It’s been a long time!
Oh wow, three years in the making. Why did the process take so long?
It was really special and we wanted to make sure it came out properly. There’s a million ways to put out a record these days, and there was a lot of trial and error before we figured out what we wanted.
A lot of the songs on the album have different moods. What kind of journey are you taking us on ‘Dunbar Swamp’?
It’s a lot of the life and death battle with yourself. You wake up in this happy world and then it comes crashing down and the journey is finding your sanity again. Along the journey there is this force that is following you the entire time. Eventually, the force envelopes you and you let it take you and it’s okay.
What do you think that force is in your lives?
Death.
One of your singles, ‘Slither’, was recently featured in a ‘Rip Curl’ video, that’s rad! How did that happen?
It was for a Rip Curl shop in the British Isles. The creator of the video contacted us and wanted to use ‘Slither’. We are working with him on other surf videos as well, it’s pretty cool.
Carter, you recently made a social media post about how 5 years ago you were in one band, and then started to branch off and focus on this current project, Ghost King. What would you tell that Carter of 5 years ago?
Just have fun and not take yourself too seriously. I do take my art seriously, but I learned to not stress about it. It’s music, so enjoy it. We are fortunate enough to do what we do.
What have your learned about yourselves in making this record and being in Ghost King.
Dan: I’ve definitely developed as a drummer, in working with Carter and in other projects. I’m happy with the level to which we got these songs and getting tighter with each other has been a great experience.
Pete: The more I’m playing the more I’m improving and it’s great to be part of a group that wants to better than what they are. We all have the same goals and want it to be something special.
Noga: As a person who doesn’t play on my own much, I love being part of a group who is constantly practicing and working on new songs. It feels good.
What’s next for Ghost King?
We have been focusing on this show for a long time so all of our energy has been on this. We will definitely be recording and working on new songs.
Follow Ghost King on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
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