Amanda Ghost

By Alex Teitz

Amanda Ghost is more than outspoken, vibrant and talented. She is also a rising star to watch with open eyes. Ghost comes from the dance scene in London but her album Ghost Stories exhibits a range of styles from dance alternative, to orchestral, and a myriad in-between. Ghost has gained notable supporters including Boy George and Elton John. FEMMUSIC caught up with Ghost a few weeks ago. Here’s what she had to say.

FEMMUSIC: Can you describe your songwriting technique?

AG: Oh my god. My songwriting technique. You know I don’t really have a technique. I think once I try to sit down and write a song like, “I’m going to write a song now” and it never works. Songs are really weird. Songs come to me when I least expect it like when I’m driving in a car, or doing the washing up or something. A very mundane thing like when I’m in the shower that’s when this idea comes to me. A lot of it comes to me through the experiences I go through in everyday life. Conversations I have with my friends, things I see on television, relationships I’ve been through. I think my brain sort of processes it and I get an idea. And then the melody just comes out of nowhere. It’s kind of bizarre. It’s kind of a magical process. I put it down to a lot of instincts. I think the technique is just instinct really, and it just kid of comes when I least expect it.

FEMMUSIC: You were reluctant to get into the music business at first. Can you tell me why?

AG: Yeah. What that was was in a way I’m a very confident person. When I was a kid growing up I was reluctant to become a singer because I wanted to become a singer but my father was very, I grew up with a very strict father and he always wanted me to go to college. And get a good education and become a lawyer or a doctor or something like that. He really didn’t understand the fact that I wanted to be a musician. So that kind of undermined my confidence in what I wanted to do. Having evolved in the dance scene in London, especially I worked in a nightclub, and I met these different sort of crazy mad creative very talented people: artists, designers, musicians and I just started working with them and it became evident to me that as I continued working that it was my love. I think if you do something that comes from your heart with honesty then you can stand up and be proud of that.

 FEMMUSIC: Tell me how you met the producers of Ghost Stories

AG: All the producers on the record I found. Through very different processes. My record has been A&R’ed in the traditional sense where they sign an act and they put them with this producer and that producer. I like variety in music. I love working with different people. I’ve worked with producers who haven’t worked out as well. I’ve worked with a lot of different people. I’m in a very fortunate position in that a lot of people wanted to work with me. My musical style is so varied that I’d write a certain song and I’d think, “Well this is a great song. Who would I like to work on this one with?” I don’t think you need one producer to do one record. I think the thread that ties in all songs on my album is me. I think producers kind of bring out what’s already there. Some people are better suited to other jobs than others so that’s why I worked with different producers.

FEMMUSIC: What was the biggest challenge making Ghost Stories?

AG: The biggest challenge was getting the mix..the balance right in the record because you suffer, when you’re so varied  and you’ve got so many styles, you suffer the challenge of the balance not being right. There being too many dancey tracks on there, there not being enough eclectic tracks on there. The sounds. I really wanted the album to be a journey. I wanted it to start with, “Sit up and notice me!” kind of “Filthy Mind” this is my statement. I then wanted it to kind of go on with more hippier or melodic mellower tracks and eventually finish with a dramatic orchestral track which is “Numb.”  And that was the big challenge which was getting it all to fit in. But you know what? It was actually kind of easy because the pieces in the jigsaw kind of made themselves. It wasn’t like a conscious planning. I was a bit worried about it, but it all worked out brilliantly in the end. It was almost like this hand was guiding me and the end of it we were like, “Wow! It all worked out really well.”

FEMMUSIC: What personal goals would you like to achieve with Ghost Stories?

AG: My ultimate goal is to have as many people as possible listen to the record, and get to hear it. Get to hear as much as they can on the radio. Get touched by it, and want it in their collection. My personal goal is for somebody to come home at night and think, “Before I go to bed I really want to listen to that track.” Put it on. Be it “Filthy Mind.” Be it “Cellophane.” And it touched them and it’s saying something that they can’t say themselves. That’s to me is the best music. When you put on a song and the singer is saying what you feel but you could never put it like that. It’s like, I’m not trying to be aspirational. I’m not trying to say, “Everybody. Don’t you want to be me? Look how fabulous I am. Look how I’ve got all the answers.” I don’t have the answers, but I am asking the questions. I think a lot of people out there have the same questions in their heads, and I think that’s probably why a lot of people out there can relate to it. That’s my personal goal really. That it reaches as many people as it possibly can.

FEMMUSIC: Tell me about the song “Cellophane” and what it means to you. 

AG: “Cellophane” is a song, a lot of people of our generation, late teens, twenty-somethings. That’s the thing about my music. It kind of goes across the board. “Cellophane” is all about getting up in the morning and looking in the mirror and saying, “Who Am I?”  cause it’s all about “Who are you!? Who do you want to be?! What do you want to be?! What are your plans for the future?! What are you going to do with your life?!” “Cellophane” is all about my insecurity about , “My God! Where do I fit in? What’s going on here? Nothing feels right to me at the moment. I don’t feel like I really belong.” The whole message of the whole track of “Cellophane” is it just doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that you don’t belong. In fact it’s great that you don’t belong. I think that’s what makes us as individuals interesting. Who wants to be a bland person? Nobody does. Who really wants to fit in? My biggest fear is being normal. When I was child growing up all I wanted to be was normal. And the message of “Cellophane” is kind of having this invisible skin, sometimes it’s a bit suffocating. This skin is what everybody wants you to be but inside you’re trying to be somebody else. The message is “Be That Somebody Else, “Be who you really are.” “Be true to yourself cause that’s the only way you’ll really be happy.”

FEMMUSIC: What one thing would you like to see changed about the music industry?

AG: I would like to see an attitude in radio changes. I think the general attitude stinks, the tried and tested. I would like to see that attitude changed and more people taking risks, more people playing interesting things rather than things we’ve heard time and time and time again. I’m not saying there’s no place for artists who’ve been around for many years. Of course there is. I don’t like the idea of eat them up and spit them out. I do think that bands are kind of overlooked because they don’t sound like everybody else. Before, many years ago, that used to be a plus in music. I think we’ve lost that aesthetic. I think if I could change one thing about the music industry it would be that we need to take more risks cause it’s the only way that music will move forward. Otherwise we’re going in a circle and music becomes boring. That’s the exciting thing about music is, “Where’s the next thing going to happen from?” So that’s the one thing I’d change.

FEMMUSIC: As a woman in the music industry, have you been discriminated against?

AG: Yes I have. Probably the biggest discrimination I’ve had has been is that I’ve written a song called, “Filthy Mind.” I don’t think women are allowed to sing about their filthy minds. I’ve had a few comments back from radio programmers who loved the track, and then they find out it’s being sung by a woman. Which I find weird because it sounds like a woman anyway. I mean I don’t sound like a man. I’ve had actual written comments saying, “Loved this track. Would be better with a male vocal.” And that’s come on guys we’re in the twenty-first century here. Women do have filthy minds, and “Filthy Mind” is not a sexual song. It’s not about sex. It’s not about I go around thinking about porn the whole time. “Filthy Mind” is about the fact that I don’t think normal thoughts. My thoughts aren’t all about things we’re supposed to think about, and neither is anyone else’s. If you really got into the dark recesses of peoples’ minds I think we’d all be a little bit shocked. I think maybe the world would be a better place if we actually talked about this stuff rather than glossing over it. And also when anybody does talk about alternative dark things I always find them very negative. “Filthy Mind” isn’t negative. “Filthy Mind” saying these thoughts are valid. They have their place. Let’s not hide them.

FEMMUSIC: I do find your reaction to be interesting. A lot of times when I ask that question to members of our generation, they say “no”, and don’t even blink.

AG: Oh yeah, right. That’s absolute rubbish because feminisms a dirty word. Any woman who goes on about discrimination is immediately dismissed. I think that’s a real shame because it totally goes on. Being a woman in this industry. Forget about it being a music industry, but an industry that’s mainly run by men. Men and women are very different. Let’s not kid ourselves and we’re all the same, and we’re all being treated the same. There’s always baggage to anybody. Being female carries baggage in this industry. Absolutely. Any female singer who says that that’s not true is lying. That’s the fact. That’s not the truth unfortunately. And I’m not going to be politically correct or be trendy and say, “As a woman it’s all equal” cause it’s not. And the people who have a hard time dealing with that, that’s their problem. That’s the truth. And I’m always, always going to speak the truth because that’s what I’m standing here for. That’s why I’m up here. That’s why I’m putting myself out there. I’m not interested in just selling records. If I did that I’d join a girl band. I’d join a pop group somewhere. I’m not interested in selling records      I’m interested in talking about things that really matter, and are honest. I think that we all especially singers, artists, designers, journalists we all have a responsibility for putting things out there into the ether that shape our society and our culture. We all have an influence. Even Britney Spears, she’s very important today. People dismiss her as being bubblegum and having no point, and I don’t do that. I think she’s very important. We can learn a lot from someone like Britney Spears about our culture and about our society. That girl has been a victim of discrimination. The fact that they take pictures of her in hot pants in a little girl’s bedroom. They wouldn’t do that if she was a young boy. There you go. It’s a huge double standard right now. Imagine the furor of a little boy in white pants with his little toy airplanes in a provocative pose. That would never happen in a million years. (Laughing) And then you ask yourself is Britney in control of it or is she a puppet. You just don’t know.

FEMMUSIC: What advice would you give to an artist just starting out?

AG: I would advice them to think long and hard before they sign anything. The quicker the buck is not always the better the buck. I think when you’re struggling and you’re poor and somebody pays an interest and says, “Sign this”, it’s the biggest cliché in the book.

I think the biggest piece of advice I could give to anyone in this business I s go and find out about every cliché that’s ever existed about rock and roll because I tell you something they are 99% true. Clichés exist for a reason. They actually exist. Go and rent Spinal Tap. Go and watch it cause it’s very true.

And don’t lose your sense of humor cause you’re going to need it. Don’t ever take yourself too seriously because it’s always really good to laugh. And enjoy it! So often people get up and they forget that music is really powerful and amazing and emotional and brings joy and so many things to people. It’s a powerful, powerful thing. It’s so easy to lose sight of that when you’re caught up, cause its such an industry now, music. It’s such a corporation. It’s such a business. And I think a lot of the soul has been lost in music. And I’m not talking about soul music. The actual soul exists in every musician. It’s hard getting up everyday doing interviews, and promotion, and touring being treated like you’re a written name on a piece of paper. You’re not, and there are people out there that really do love music and they’re in positions of power to sign you. You just have to keep on playing and hopefully one of those will find you.