| GIVE UP THE GHOST |
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| BIOGRAPHY |
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Winter can be cathartic. While watching their breath leave their mouths in the winter of 2000 Give Up The Ghost warned that “The Ice Age Is Coming.” Instead of cutting their teeth on the hardcore scene they took a bite out of it. They’ve shaped a sound and aesthetic in less than two years that’s identifiable and contextual. The immediate emulation of their sound and image by their peers illustrates the point.
A demo, two 7” EPs and a full length record titled Background Music were all crafted before the ice had cracked on the Charles River. Founding members Tim Cossar and Wes Eisold weren’t just fans of hardcore music, they were steeped in its history. Cossar was a member of Ten Yard Fight whom Eisold had roadied for on many of their national tours. Hardcore would be the framework for their band, the thin lined sketch that they would fill in with colorful lyrics, genre bending song structures and an image new to the genre. Instead of adhering to the tight confines of punk and hardcore G.U.T.G, let their diverse musical tastes permeate their songs. Initially you might not see the link to Archers Of Loaf, Joy Division, Pulp, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Morrissey, Fugazi, Lifetime and My Bloody Valentine in G.U.T.G’s sound, but it’s there.
At the base of it all, it’s unhappy kids painting bleak images based on their experiences. The difference simply lies in the brush. Visually, Give Up The Ghost pooled many different resources to identify themselves. Employing Converge front man J. Bannon (Converge, The Hope Conspiracy, Cave-In) and Linas Garsys (AFI, Nerve Agents) to craft this image tapped into the cynical tone of the band while creating something appealing and unique. At the base of this foundation is a thread that is woven into any punk rock or hardcore kid, the “fuck you” attitude. It’s this honesty that has made them favorites, not sellouts.
Give Up The Ghost’s pedigree is rich and long. Since the release of their Demo in 2000, the band has been on a perpetual tour that has brought them across the US numerous times as well as Europe last fall. G.U.T.G. has toured with bands as diverse as their influences such as Avail, Hatebreed, Glassjaw, Hot Rod Circuit, The Hope Conspiracy, Poison The Well, Kill Your Idols and Converge.
Their approach regardless of audience is the same: hit the crowd in the mouth with power and energy and hope they spit back. Along the way G.U.T.G. has taken enough time off to release two successful EPs on Bridge Nine to prep their audience for Background Music, their debut full length on Equal Vision Records (Saves The Day and Converge).
Released in the summer of 2001, the album is a modern classic and was instantly touted as the much needed shot of adrenaline the gasping corpse of hardcore needed. With their recent appearance on the Atticus Compilation along side Blink 182, New Found Glory and Jimmy Eat World, as well as a week of UK dates and a continuation of their perpetual US tour, Give Up The Ghost continues to redefine and challenge who and what they are visually, musically and spiritually and are taking thousands along for the ride.
Look for Give Up The Ghost’s long awaited new studio album, We’re Down Til We’re Underground, this September.
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