Many months ago I was standing in the middle of a pumped crowd at Providence’s beloved AS220, waiting for the next band on the bill to start playing, when up on stage came a group of musicians led by Alex Whitelaw. I remember thinking that he, the lead singer and guitarist, felt like someone entering our sphere from a faraway time and place, even before I heard the music. It was such a tight set, with unexpected rhythms, a ‘60s pop vibe mixed with a contemporary punk sound and some bossa nova beats sprinkled here and there. Add distinctive vocals and harmonies, with lyrics that made me listen even closer, and that was it – I needed to know more about them immediately. What I’ve learned is that Spirit Ghost is Alex’s “creative moniker” and the name of the project he started at Rhode Island College (and finished in 2012). When asked why he started when he did, he replied, “Not wanting to wait for other people to be around before I started making music, so I just started writing everything myself.” Now, years later, he has what he calls a “steady lineup” of fellow musicians who play live gigs alongside him and have begun the recording and collaborating process on a new album (one being finalized as you read this interview!). In addition to Alex, Spirit Ghost has Corey Camara on drums, Joey Distasio on bass, Charles Peterson on keys, and Tim Zoidis on guitar. Before getting into our conversation about collaboration in music, constant growth, and how it is the artist’s job to earn the audience’s attention, I’ll go ahead and tell you that you need to go to a Spirit Ghost show. There will likely be no banter but there will be unpredictable transitions and sounds, as one might expect in the spirit world.
Alex: I think my first show ever was at AS220 actually… and it didn’t go well, ha – but that’s fine.
Mayté (Motif): You can’t just say that and move on, I want to know what happened!
A: I mean, in hindsight, I was rough around the edges. I just needed to practice a lot more and maybe be more ready to perform live; and also not a ton of people were there, which isn’t crazy for your first show ever.
M: In doing some research I found that you described the process of starting this project as a slow one, where the “songs weren’t very good at first, but over time… became okay!” So I wanted to hear from you, what is better now?
A: Oh, I just know what I’m doing, kind of. Still not really, but at least it feels a little bit better now… a little more cohesive. I actually know how to write a song. I feel like it’s one of those things about the internet. It is good because you can just write stuff and release it and there’s no real pressure. You don’t have to have a label or anything. But at the same time, you release a lot of stuff that’s pretty bad when you’re starting out, and then you kind of look back on it later and you get embarrassed. But I think it was all good practice – you don’t get to be good if you don’t make a bunch of shitty songs first, I think. Also, I don’t think I’m good now. I always feel like that sounds like I’m good now, I don’t think that – I’m fine.
M: I get it, you’re still growing, becoming. Everybody is, really.
A: Yeah, we should be doing that constantly, right?
M: Yes, exactly. Thinking about the songs themselves, you do all the songwriting yourself?
A: Yes, but even that is starting to change. Sometimes, genuinely – people don’t want to be in the writing process, because it’s more work than just playing live shows or doing whatever, right? But again, this lineup, specifically, my drummer is very down to just be around and be doing stuff with me. So it’s been kind of nice to have a writing partner that doesn’t control the melody or chord structure. He’s been very nice to have as a person in the mix.
M: You’re saying that the process has evolved.
A: Yeah, and I would like it to evolve more, because I think it just makes live performances better, the more you play together too. I think it’s good when one person has a vision that everybody is there to support. And then once you start playing enough together, and they understand how to support that vision in the right way, it makes sense that they would naturally kind of ease into helping shape the writing process with you.
M: What is that vision for you?
A: I honestly have no idea. I think I’m horrible at writing consistent-sounding music… typically, what’s going to tie it together is lyric-based stuff and what I’m exploring there, just because I can’t seem to lock into a genre. I love country, punk music, rock. I love every genre you could imagine. I feel like it would be boring to me to write a whole country album. I’m more interested in the lyrical side of it – what I can kind of talk about, and that’s changing all the time too. I used to only write love songs because that’s all I really had the capacity to write. But now I’m starting to feel more comfortable writing about inner family dynamics or whatever else might be going on in the world at large.
M: When I saw you play I felt like I heard a little bit of everything, which I loved. And I read something about how you’re inspired by the ‘60s. Then I listened to your song, “Line by Line” and thought, “This sounds like very cool oldies music with a spacey and punk ending.”
A: Yes, I feel like whatever you can kind of synthesize and combine, in theory, is the good stuff, right? It’s not a direct rip off of ‘60s stuff. It’s got some other element to it that makes it modern. I really like that band, the Nude Party, because I feel like they do the ‘60s thing, but then they have contemporary lyrics about global warming. That’s how you do it – in a way that feels satisfying or new.
M: Is there anything that you want to share about the new music that you’re working on?
A: I just feel proud of what I have written. I thought I wasn’t going to keep doing this. I’m glad I kind of accidentally wrote another album. It seems like I’ll always return to it [music], no matter how hard I try to be like, “I need to take a break…” I will inevitably crawl back to it and cobble something together. I’m really proud of the lyrics in this one, and some of the melodies, and I’m very happy to have this new band playing on it, because I think that they’re going to make it sound really, really good. It’s a bunch of people who get what I’m trying to do and then are very good at supporting it, which is huge. When you have that, as somebody who’s just writing the core ideas, to have people come and flesh it out and do it in a good way is really nice.
M: You’re getting the support you need for what you’re trying to build.
A: Yeah, I feel like sometimes musicians can have egos, so it’s very nice when you have a group of people that you can be like, “Hey, this isn’t saying you’re a bad musician, but maybe try this instead of this,” and then their response is like, “Oh, yeah, totally, I can do whatever.” It feels really good when you can have open communication with people and that makes you more open too. It starts to feel more like this is a healthy, growing thing.
M: So in addition to a ‘60s sound, I heard some Latin rhythms in your music. How did you choose that?
A: I just have a natural affinity towards world music, specifically Brazilian music, and I really like when people sing in different languages because it takes me out of just listening to whatever the words are doing, and remembering that they [the vocals] can just be a melody line that does really interesting stuff. Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Italian sound really nice, and mixing that with some of those rhythms has just always been kind of a thing that I’ve enjoyed. My guitarist was just making fun of me for my inclination. I like to combine jazz chords with punkier stuff, recontextualizing some of those sounds into less of a bossa nova feel, or a less jazz-focused thing, and having a pop music structure sounds really good to me… I’m a sucker for a major seventh. [Aren’t we all?]
M: As a listener, the variety keeps you engaged somehow. Is there something that you’re hoping the people that go to your live shows will walk away with?
A: Yeah, especially with this lineup. I want the show to feel like a show, right? I don’t want to play a song and finish and be like, ta da! Now here’s 10 seconds of silence while I awkwardly tune an instrument. I thought it would be fun as a band at a local live show to just play a non-stop set. I really hate talking in between songs, I’m not a stand-up comedian; it doesn’t add to the experience at all. So I would much rather say we’re gonna play for 25 to 30 minutes as tightly back-to-back as possible, and try to think about sounds in a way that we can blend them together so it feels natural and not disjointed. I wanted to do something that keeps people engaged the entire time, because I think ultimately that it is up to the person on the stage, you’re a performer putting on a show. It’s not supposed to be like, “You should just watch me because I’m out here,” you have to earn it. That’s a big thing that I’m talking about with a lot of people these days. There’s a ton of work that you should be doing to earn people’s attention, that’s my ethos at live shows.