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Alright Man, how how you doing today?
I’m good thanks, a little tired but good. I got a lil tipsy at the weekend for my boy’s wedding so I’m feeling tender.
Where you from?
I’m from Stratford On Avon, a small town in the Midlands, UK. It’s the birthplace of Shakespeare so we get mad tourists every day of every damn month. I like it though, I don’t get on well with crowded city life.
Describe your music in 3 words?
Deep. Honest. Funny.
When did you first start getting into Hip Hop?
I got into it when I was at high school. I started listening to Ice-T and just couldn’t believe some of the shit he was saying. I absolutely loved that he could put his rawest thoughts on a record and actually get it heard... and make money from it. Then I heard Cypress Hill and it pretty much went from there. The more I listened, the more I fell in love.
How did you first start getting into making music?
I started writing verses as a way of expressing myself. After a while I figured I’d see what the recording game was like so I went to a basement studio and laid down 7 tracks. They were awful!! The production was great (because I had no part of that) but my flow was horrendous. I remember I didn’t write any choruses because I literally had no idea how to, I had no idea how important the hook or chorus was in a song so I just left them out! After that I reassessed everything but mainly focused on my flow. As far as beat making, I’ve never had any part of that, aside from the back-of-the-room comments I throw at producers now and then.
Now at the moment your promoting your new debut album "Footsteps of an Angel of Sin" , What can we expect from this man?
Man, this album is pretty much my life. The album as a whole is based on a 2 year period in my life that I really struggled through. I think there’s only one song on there, it’s called Regular Guys and features Blade, which was written before the 2 year period started. Footsteps represents the period in someone’s life when they are completely lost, they don’t have the answers for how they’re feeling and they turn to thing’s they normally wouldn’t in order to get them through a tough situation. I listen to a lot of music and some of the stuff I was hearing was so focused on trying to impress the listener that I felt the artist lost the honesty that I was so used to hearing. So I based my approach on that honesty, I sat and started writing down exactly how I felt; be it happy, sad, aggressive, suicidal or whatever. I made a promise to myself that I’d write the album like I was writing a book, like a diary of fucked up events throughout the 2 years. I would say to anyone wanting to listen to the album, you can expect to feel like you’re gonna know me a lot better after listening to it than you did before. Honesty is my thing man, I’ve tried to keep everything as honest and straight up as I can, without upsetting those close to me. It’s been tough writing some of the stuff that you know your parents and loved ones would definitely not wanna hear... But I made that promise to myself and so they have to hear it; they always listen to a new track first though so they can prepare for what others are about to hear. There’s a mixture of songs on the album, some very funny, some very sad, some very angry and some just very chilled. It’s my life man.
And when roughly were you hoping on putting it out?
It was meant to be out the start of 2011 but I’m still putting the final touches to it. I’m waiting on one more verse to be sent to me and then it’s a wrap. The first single, Angel of Sin was released about 2 weeks ago and is available to buy on all major online stores (iTunes, Amazon, Tesco etc)> I’m hoping for an autumn drop at the moment. The second single which is called Land of the Lost and features Celph Titled is the next focus and then it’s the album itself.
Ok have you been involved in many open mics, or gigs?
Do you feel you may be missing out on some new fans, as you don't do live shows?
Yeah definitely. It was something I weighed up quite seriously in my head but at the time that decision was made I was playing rugby every weekend and training most nights, as well as writing music, recording, working and trying to have a personal life. I did originally start off with a view to do live stuff but the deeper I got involved with rugby and music, the more I ignored the important people in my life. The girl I had at the time, I felt was constantly being let down by me because I was either playing rugby, weight training or writing and recording music. The music itself could never be replaced and nor could the training and rugby so I evaluated it all and figured I would just never do the live thing, that way atleast I was at home with my family and friends instead of on stage somewhere with a bunch of strangers infront of me. I do travel and I have no issues with performing for people or meeting new emcee's and working with them, infact I literally this second just got off the phone with an airline to book up another trip to Detroit to record with my boy Solystic (check him out, very talented).... it's just I enjoy leaving the studio and shutting off, walking around my home town where everyone knows me as Chris and living a quiet life. It's a big weigh up but at the moment the reclusive lifestyle suits me very well.
What acts have you worked with so far?
I have collaborated with many talented artists. On the Footsteps of an Angel of Sin album you can expect to hear Celph Titled, Nightwalker, Blade of Mark B & Blade, Face of So Solid Crew, Mr CRF, Wordsmiff and a great singer called Sophie Sheppard. I’ve also worked with a bunch of others but you can check them out on my website. I’m in talks with 2 or 3 very good emcee’s at the moment about featuring on the next album and everything is very positive right now so hopefully the next project will be equally solid!
What are your influences? (This can be mc's/producers, but just anything that influences you to make the music you do)
Musically, my influences are very widespread. Pink Floyd, John Denver, Mike Oldfield, Led Zeppelin, Blade, Ice-T, Cypress Hill, Public Enemy, Springsteen. Life wise, my influences are my family and friends. I take friendship extremely seriously and only surround myself with people I feel I can be completely comfortable around. Once I feel comfortable I generally talk a bunch of shit to see what makes people laugh, cry etc.... I then use those reactions to help with what I write about. It sounds deep but it’s not, I basically say offensive dumb shit and if people laugh then I know it’s gonna work in a song. If it offends people then I know I have to dumb it down a little so the average human doesn’t start hating on me.
Links to check?
www.ghost67.co.uk
www.reverbnation.com/ghost67
www.myspace.com/ghost67
I’m also on facebook but you can just google me for that.
Ok before i go Dyou have any shoutouts?
Big props to everyone who bought the Angel of Sin single, I really appreciate you spending that hard earned money on my song. I really do, I feel blessed that you’d spend the time to do that. All the fans I’ve picked up along the way that stay true, make videos for me, plug my music, spread the word and do their bit to keep me moving. The handful of artists that I am very close to and speak to for advice – thankyou! Oh and strippers.... I wanna thank every stripper that’s entertained me! Mad love and big peace!
I wanna give a big shout to Ghost for taking time out to do this, Big Up to him
And go check for his music people, believe me it's dope.
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