Here’s a band to watch straight out of Manchester! They call themselves Charlie & the Ghosts & they’ve been together for about 18 months. Their sound has been described as surf/indie/garage/punk but they jokingly describe their music as trash surf. Another thing you must know: the band’s lead singer is Alison Mowbray, a hot & stylish lady! Who doesn’t appreciate such becoming traits?

Anyway, Alison answered some questions for us so we could get to know Charlie & the Ghosts a bit better! Pretty cool person I must say.

001. Describe Charlie and the Ghosts in 3 words…

Pick one:
We. Are. Cool.
Fuckin. Great. Band.
Charlie an’t Ghosts (in manc accent)

*sigh*

Ok serious one: Surf, Punk, Indie

002. How many instruments to do you play?

We keep things pretty simple, with Guitar, Bass, Drums and Vocals, no fancy stuff. Makes us work harder and you can really sense that we put everything into our gigs.

003. First record you ever bought and where did you buy it?

Now this question isn’t fair as for one, most of us bought our first record at a tender age (me, 11) and therefore we were confused and foolish so i’ll just tell you where i got it, Woolworths in Ashton. There.
Adam says his was Meatloaf… i dunno…

004. What are you listening to right now?

BBC Manchester Introducing radio station. Plays new, unsigned bands from around Manchester.

005. What posters did you have on your wall as a kid?

Adam (bassist) had Iron Maiden, Bob Dylan and Muse on his wall
Me, i had terrible taste til the age of about 17 so when it improved it ranged from Libertines, Jeff Buckley, Muse and Pixies.

006. Name one song you’d hate to have stuck in your head.

Well if i thought about it it would be in my head, so not answering this.

007. Name 3 things you need when you travel.

Phone, Music, Notepad

008. What is your favorite thing you own?

I don’t really have a favourite thing, i like my flat, but i rent that.

009. Dead or alive, what 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival?

These are mine:
Radiohead
Pixies
Dead Kennedys
Sonic Youth
Siouxsie and the Banshees

010. Favorite city to play?

Manchester (obv)

011. Which song do you think the audience reacts to/enjoys most?

People tend to shout out ‘Woods’ more than the others, probably cos it was one of our first tunes. But we’ve played a new one a few times now called ‘On Pins’ and that’s been getting some good feedback.

012. Where in the world have you had your most memorable moments playing live?

Well we’ve mostly only played in the Manchester area so, Manchester! But venue wise we’ve had some good gigs in Roadhouse and i loved playing Night & Day for the first time, just because it’s a legendary place and i had previously always dreamed of playing there.

013. What does Charlie & the Ghosts do right before a show? Any rituals?

I dunno about the lads but i tend to be quite quiet beforehand, just nerves really, i can be a bit forgetful with lyrics so i’ll go over the songs a few times. And a few beers always help!

014. Stupidest thing you’ve done in the last 12 months?

Oh dont get me started! I wont even talk about how daft i can be. Anyway, as a band i think we need to practice more and procrastinate less.

015. What’s next?

We’re actually in the middle of looking for a manager, up to now we’ve done everything ourselves but we realise most of the time we dont know what we’re doing. We fluke things a lot of the time. We need someone who’s sole job is to promote us, then we can just concentrate on writing and gigging. We also want to branch out of Manchester and play some other cities as well.

End.

“Woods” | download

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“Worse for Wear” | download

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Charlie & the Ghosts | Live