The Ghostwood Project

I had read quite a bit of hype this year about The Ghostwood Project, an instrumental band who have been referred to "as one of the best and most innovative bands on the Galway live scene", but after seeing them live last month I was left wondering what all the fuss was about.


They have been described as sounding "like a more rocking Mogwai with some of the epic moments of Godspeed and the off tune avant rock of Sonic Youth", by which description I should like this band quite a lot, but I was left feeling rather underwhelmed. Perhaps my expectations were set too high after reading a name-checking involving such bands, but at times The Ghostwood Project can seems like not much more than a scripted jam session of punk/metal riffs, lacking sufficient variation to keep a gig interesting over the full course. Regardless of having an abundance of talent for cranking out those quite infectious riffs, without sufficient variation I'm sceptical as to whether this alone will ever be enough to raise them above their current status as a cult phenomenon.

To date they have released two demo EPs, one of which is available online at Road Records. Some of these demo tracks can be streamed from their myspace, along with a video of them performing a track titled “Tom Selleck is an innocent Man” live last year. According to their myspace, they had planned to do a UK tour in Sept/Oct 06, although this does not seem to be materialising from looking at their gig listings. Instead, they have further gigs around Ireland lined up around this time-frame. Perhaps worth checking out once if you have not done so already, but don't be expecting anything sensational.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/theghostwoodproject