Gallows Ghost are a female-fronted 6 piece band whose sound is described as electronic rock and roll, with some added folk, in the form of cello and violin. Kate Young, daughter of Hammer Horror diretor Robert Young, has the voice of an angel – full tones and pitch perfect. They cite their influences as being Alice in Chains, Primal Scream, Maya Jane Coles, Massive Attack, Chemical Brothers, Hammer Horror, H.P. Lovecraft, Jonathan Glazer, Iris Van Herpen – vocally however Kate reminds us of Annie Lennox or Florence Welch. Apart from singer Kate, Gallows Ghost is made up of Lewis Young (bass and keys), Mako (guitar), Hannah Lloyd (Cello), Rachel Swift, (Violin) and Jack Darvill (Drums). They’ve only been together as a band for 18 months, but their sound is slick and polished, and, with the help of Bristol producer Chris Gouldstone, have come together to make their new EP, “Arrows”, a thing of beauty.
They’ve certainly not been sitting around in that time. Gallow’s Ghost has played various venues and festivals including headlining the Bestival Bandstand, Bush Hall, Oxjam, Wilderness, Secret Garden Party and Metropolis Studio Sessions and other places around the UK, where they are gaining a steadily-increasing fanbase.
“Arrows”, title track from the EP, is due for release on 26 January. It’s a haunting melody with soaring strings and pulsing drumbeat. Gallows Ghost will be performing an acoustic set at The Camden Lock Tavern on February 5th and will have a full live gig for their EP launch at Hoxton Bar & Grill on February 25th. The EP will be released on 23 February.
Give us the potted Gallows Ghost story!
Myself and Mako the guitarist started a couple of years ago writing folk songs together but we always had a bigger sound in our heads. And in a really bizarre and serendipitous way we started bumping into various musicians in all sorts of strange places and they gradually all became members of the band and Gallows Ghost was finally born!
You have a very polished style considering you’ve only been together for 18 months – to what do you attribute that?
We really spend a lot of time writing and creating our tracks, pulling them apart and working them over and over before we before even get them into a rehearsal space. We have such esteemed influences we really don’t want to put stuff into the world that isn’t on a par or at least aiming to be. I must say the band are all pretty amazing musicians so that helps!
Tell us about your musical influences:
We are into a lot of different styles. As well as coming from traditional folk like Shirley Collins, Burt Jansch and Fairport Convention, some of my favourite singers are Doug Pinnick, Chris Cornell, Layne Stayley and Jerry Cantrell from Alice in Chains….we kinda love a lot of old metal and grunge! We are also hugely influenced by trip hop and electronic music and adore Massive Attack, Moderat and London Grammar. The list really is endless!! I guess each member of the band has a huge melting pot of influences where they are coming from musically and the combination of that makes us sound like we do.