Of Sons and Ghosts

Of Sons and Ghosts are based in North Park and played their debut gig in May 2010. “The band is named after the recent departure of three of our most influential father figures,” says singer-keyboardist Lane Dawson. “Our music is lo-fi, with a shoegazer kind of vibe.”

According to singer-guitarist Danny Medina, “The five of us are extreme music lovers, and our tastes are very similar, but there’s a wide range of influences.”

Singer-guitarist Barry Ligman describes the band’s music as “ambient, indie-noise garage rock, like a gentle melody quickly disrupted with distortion and controlled noise.”

“We love the contrast of something beautiful over something chaotic,” says singer-bassist Brian Grover. “Whether it be dark lyrics over a tranquil sound or a light falsetto sung over a heavy, distorted wall of sound.”

Drummer Adam Eidson puts it this way: “It’s about finding that unique sound, the niche, that will allow us to stand out.”

WHAT’S IN YOUR MUSIC PLAYER?

Lane Dawson:

1) “I’m really into the Black Keys’ new album Brothers.”

2) “I love anything Dan Auerbach puts out.”

3) “A.A. Bondy is a great songwriter, and his newest album, When the Devil’s Loose, makes me want to write songs.”

4) “I always have a heavy dose of Constantines in rotation.”

Danny Medina:

1) “The Deftones, Diamond Eyes, because the vocals and drums are amazing.”

2) “Spoon, Transference, for the super-cool, raw production.”

3) “Les Savy Fav, Let’s Stay Friends, because those guys really get it!”

Barry Ligman:

1) “Arcade Fire, The Suburbs, because all of their albums have inspired me.”

2) “Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago, because I want that falsetto.”

3) “Delta Spirit, History from Below. Just feels good.”

4) “The Constantines, Kensington Heights, though I’m afraid they’ve broken up.”

5) “The Walkmen, who I saw last year, and I’ve really gotten into them.”

Adam Eidson:

1) “The Dead Weather’s Horehound album, because it just gets under my skin.”

2) “The Sword, Age of Winters. So thick that I can’t help but love it.”

3) “My Hank Williams Sr. albums are in constant rotation. There’s no denying his genius when it comes to simple Americana.”

4) “Morphine’s Cure for Pain, because I’m a sucker for really happy music.”

5) “Muddy Waters’s Anthology album, because, if you think about it, there wouldn’t be anything without the blues.”

Brian Grover:

1) “Band of Horses, Infinite Arms, because of his voice.”

2) “Transfer, Future Selves, for the songs, which are brilliant.”

3) “Radiohead, In Rainbows, since they’re the best band ever.”

4) “Them Crooked Vultures, their self-titled album, because I’m pretty sure they moved rock music a bit further ahead with that record.”

MOST EMBARRASSING SONG IN YOUR MUSIC PLAYER?

Medina: “Is ‘It’s Raining Men’ an embarrassing song to have on one’s iPod? No? Then I guess I don’t have one.”

Ligman: “There’s a reason for everything in there, but John Denver always gets the most remarks. At least he’s not full of shit.”

Eidson: “Any Foo Fighters.”

Grover: “Mariah Carey. Hey, that bitch can sing!”

BEST BAND NAME EVER?

Dawson: “Prince Albert and His Bedazzled Coin Purse.”

Medina: “The Bubble Puppy is both best and worst, but mostly best.”

Ligman: “Nashville Pussy. Worst is probably Skinny Puppy or Tampon Death.”

Eidson: “John Cougar Concentration Camp.”

Grover: “The Rolling Stones.”

FAVORITE CONCERT?

Dawson: “Trail of Dead in 2000 at the Casbah. I had already heard of their live show, which has tamed a bit over the years, but when you see guitars thrown against the walls, drums smashed, bottles broken, hands bleeding, and blood rubbed on ceilings, that’s an amazing show.”

Medina: “Kiss in 1984, with my dad and brother in Fresno. I was in fourth grade — need I say more?”

Ligman: “I’d say Sigur Rós at the Civic Center. Their art show that accompanies that beautiful music is amazing.”

Eidson: “The best I’ve seen in a long time would have to be when Dead Weather played at the House of Blues downtown last July. I was mesmerized.”

Grover: “Roger Waters at Coachella in 2006. He re-created almost every classic moment of Pink Floyd, including the giant inflatable pig and a two-story-high prism with a light reflected through it, panning the crowd, like the Dark Side of the Moon.” ¦

Outtakes:
EVER BEEN INJURED ONSTAGE?
LD: “I stepped on a nail at 14 Below in L.A. They really should construct the stage better.”
DM: “Only when I do back flips and splits.”
BL: “Danny hurt my feelings once.”
AE: “I had a door fall on me once. These guys were getting high backstage and broke it. It fell on me during a song, but I never dropped a beat.”
BG: “My neck f-cking hurts the next day after a show. Every time.”

WORST MOVIE?
LD: “Jason Vs Freddy. I’m not sure why I thought it would be different.”
AE: “Ghost Dad with Bill Cosby. If Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable can’t make you laugh, no one can.”
BG: “That one with Will Smith.”

BEST THING YOU EVER WON?
LD: “I won a $10 scratcher once.”
DM: “I won Fantasy Football eight years ago, that was cool.”
BL: “I won a pretty good wife. Not sure how.”
AE: “I won a shotgun once. Only in America”
BG: “Two tickets to see Bright Eyes..I didn't get it then, but I do now.”

WHAT’S YOUR POISON?
LD: “Don Julio 1942.”
DM: “I heart IPAs”
BL: “Moscow Mule.”
AE: “Life.”
BG: “Knob creek on the rocks.”

WHAT’S ON YOUR BUCKET LIST TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE?
LD: “Just checked it off, thanks.”
BL: “Be content.”
AE: “Shoot the bucket to pieces.”
BG: “Have as much sex as possible.”

ANY FEARS OR PHOBIAS?
LD: “Pogonophobia, a fear of beards.”
DM: “Phobophobia. I fear phobias.”
BL: “Glossophobia. I don’t wanna talk about it.”
AE: “Questionnaires.”
BG: “That nobody ever hears my music.”

MOST POOR YOU’VE EVER BEEN?
LD: “I moved to Nashville out of college with whatever fit in my truck.”
DM: “What’s the date today?”
BL: “In my 20s, I had a lot of bad debts.”
AE: “I was living in a bunkhouse with about 40 other people, making $50 a week and working full time. Now that’s broke.”
BG: “When I was 26 years old, I had $25,000 in gambling debt, another $30,000 in car and school bills.”

MOST VISITED WEBSITES?
LD: “Stereogum is a great place to find new music.”
DM: “Beardsandbellies.com has everything you need to know. It’s like the Onion meets Perez Hilton, but for men.”
BL: “WWTDD.com, MSNBC, Yahoo, and Paste Magazine.”
AE: “YouTube, because I can find anything there.”
BG: “Yahoo, Pornorama, and MSN.”

THREE THINGS WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU?
LD: “I was number 51 in People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People in 2005, I have never bungeed off the Eiffel Tower, and I have never been to the Eiffel Tower.”
DM: “I secretly hate -- but say I like -- all reality shows that my wife likes, I was the camera guy in the movie Bring it On, and a Brazilian girl once told me I look like a Jewish Viking.”
BL: “I have webbed toes, I sleep all day, and I’m the greatest.”
AE: “I love sweater vests, I can’t stand the way peas feel in my mouth, and I’ve been an illegal alien twice.”
BG: “I’m making a solo album under the name Grover, I’d rather go the symphony than the bar, and I have a sister I don’t talk to.”


By jayallen 1:14 p.m., Nov 10, 2010
- San Diego Reader

...Over the next few weeks, expect new offerings from swing singer Miss Erika Davies (recently engaged to Scarlet Symphony frontman Gary Hankins), lo-fi shoegazers Of Sons and Ghosts (co-produced with former Crash Encore drummer Christian Cummings), psychedelic surf-rockers Space Nature (recorded by Keith Milgaten of Jamuel Saxon), and the ever-shrinking Incomplete Neighbor (now down to a trio), who are busily folding 400 origami penguins to give away with digital download codes for their new album Where the Penguins Live. - By Jay Allen Sanford | Published Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2010

Imagine your favorite local band; the sound they produce, the way the music seeps into your subconscious. You have all their releases, you anticipate their next album, and their next show. Then, without warning, you’re told that they’ve decided to take the band in a different direction. They’ve changed their entire approach to the music, and most importantly, they’ve changed their name. They are a brand new band. The line-up is the same; same guys on guitars, bass, drums, and vocals, but there’s definitely something brand new about this band. Now, imagine seeing them live for the first time. You go into the club with no preconception, no expectations. A brand new band.

In 1999, a band named Ricksha hit the San Diego music scene, and self-produced two strong releases: “Alien” and “Diamond Pressure.” Both albums were destined to be local classics, with a fresh, hard hitting sound, excellent musicianship and intelligent lyrics, but unfortunately didn’t get the airplay they deserved. After a brief hiatus, the band took a strong look at how they approached the last two albums, and decided to start anew, find a new approach to the sound, and see how things clicked. From the new sound arose brand new band: Of Sons and Ghosts (abbreviated OSAG for simplicity’s sake).

OSAG debuted at The Soda Bar in Downtown San Diego in July, and On Thursday, August 5th they played their second show at The Casbah, a popular local venue, considered the pinnacle club where all up-and-coming San Diego bands aspire to play.

“If you came to see Ricksha, they’re no longer a band” said guitarist Danny Medina, at the beginning of OSAG’s set. The announcement was received by laughs and cheers, as Of Sons and Ghosts proceeded to deliver a powerful 6-song set. Each song is distinct in its own right, with a clean, syncopated, ethereal sound that is certain to become trend-setting.

The two guitarists, Danny Medina and Barry Ligman complement one another by polarizing their tones. Ligman plays his arpeggiated lines on his Fender Stratocaster on a clean setting through a Fender Deluxe, while Medina plays his very warm, yet distorted, melodic lead parts with his Gibson Les Paul Gold Top, Memory Man effects unit and a VOX AC30. “I started using the Memory Man in rehearsals,” says Medina, “and everyone really liked the effect.” In effect, it had an affect on the overall sound, which Medina describes as “ghosty.” “It really made a difference toward our approach, and influenced the band’s name in a roundabout way.”

Vocalist Lane Dawson’s solid, rich, tenor voice equilibrates the ghost-like feel to the songs. “I use a lot more falsetto than I did in the other band,” says Dawson. “I really focused on the melody during the writing process, and we worked very hard on vocal harmonies as well." The vocal harmonies by Medina, Ligman and bassist Brian Grover are impeccable, and lend to the etherealness of OSAG’s ghost-like sound. The rhythm section of bassist Grover and drummer Adam Eidson drive the band with melodic bass lines and tight, syncopated rhythms that fill the room and force the audience to move. “I try to get a beefy tone from my bass” Grover said “with the tone knob completely down on my G&L Bass, I can still get a crisp tone and complement the drums.” In regard to the drums, Eidson said, “I try to come up with something different for each song. I’ll ride on a tom instead of the ride cymbals, use more kick on some songs, etc., just to keep it interesting.” Interesting, indeed. During their performance, as I looked around The Casbah, heads bobbed, feet stomped, people clapped along in time, while others attentively gyrated in one spot.

Of Sons and Ghosts is currently completing a 10-track album at Signature Sound in San Diego, which has a tentative release date of late-Fall. The CD, of which three songs are complete, will be self-produced with the assistance of Signature Sound’s Christian Cummings. The band felt that previous recording efforts were a bit rushed. “We really want to take our time on this one, and get it right.”

As for the band’s name, Medina states, “We could have called the band anything, really. I suggested ‘Monkey Butt,’ but that didn’t go over too well.” Be certain that Of Sons and Ghosts is a name that will be remembered and duly noted in San Diego for a long time. What’s in a name anyway? It’s the music that’s important, and OSAG certainly proved that point. The music is astounding. It’s fresh, unique, catchy, and will prove to stand the test of time. Shakespeare said it best when he wrote: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” If good ol’ Will had heard OSAG on this particular night, he very well may have said the same thing
- BarefootMusic