Hey all,

Our record label, Reversed Image Unlimited, has officially launched their website! Please go check it out here and let us know what you think!

Thanks for your help!

Hey we started a blog page at http://ghosttowntrio.blogspot.com Check it out!

Hosted By:
Ghost Town Trio

When:
Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Where:
Soggy Dog House
14613 Clifton Blvd
Lakewood
44107

Description:
With O Pioneers! This is an all ages house show. A $5 donation is greatly appreciated.

Click Here To View Event

Hosted By:
Ghost Town Trio

When:
Monday, February 23, 2009

Where:
Blue Rock Tavern
4114 Hamilton Avenue
Cincinnati
45223

Description:
Come check out Ghost Town Trio and O Pioneers! at Blue Rock Tavern!

Click Here To View Event

Hosted By:
Ghost Town Trio

When:
Sunday, February 22, 2009

Where:
Skull Alley
1017 East Broadway
Louisville
40204

Description:
With O Pioneers! & Comrede Ceptain. This is an all ages show. http://www.skullalley.net/

Click Here To View Event

Ghost Town Trio plays an ultra catchy form of pop punk with a lot of old school rock and roll influence. Not too long ago we had the chance to correspond with Ghost Town Trio vocalist/guitarist Andy as these Oberlin, Ohio boys were trekking across the country with Tin Armor.



Diatribe: You guys just released Have You Heard? on Team Science Records;
what can you tell us about the album?

Andy: Have You Heard? is a four and five song EP (CD version having one more song then the 7") To me, Have You Heard? really marks a change in direction for Ghost Town Trio. The songs are meant to be fun but still maintain some sort of substance that reflects a time in my life.

Diatribe: Besides the new album, do you have any other releases?

Andy: Yes, indeed we do. There are technically three other releases that we put out on our own, however, we really don't sell the first demo. The first EP is titled It's Time the Old Dogs Dead, which contains five songs, and the second EP is titled Lose Your Voice, which contains seven songs. Both were recorded in Los Angeles, California and released by ourselves on a label we call Cool Hand Records.

Diatribe: I always ask about influences, and I'm definitely interested in
your response. Listening to Have You Heard? I sense a little Buddy Holly and
a little Replacements, stylistically, throughout the album. What were your
influences during the recording process for the album?

Andy: It's funny you should say that. It seems we always get the Replacements tag, however, we had not listened to them until after most of these songs were written. Buddy Holly? Who isn't? Influences are a strange thing to talk about. I've never really thought about influences when I write but can usually tell what I had been listening to after the fact and I think the same goes for all of us when we bring our separate parts to the table. I can say that the three of us have been listening to mass amounts of Motown lately and even before the recording of Have You Heard?. I think that will be even more prominent on our upcoming full length record.

Diatribe: You guys just played Berea Fest and I'm a little embarrassed, as
an Ohioan, to say that I've never attended. What was the experience like
playing this year, or the overall experience of Berea Fest in general?

Andy: Oh man! As a touring band you acquire many friends in your travels. People who, if you lived within an hour or so of, would probably hang out with daily. Berea Fest is a chance to see and hang out with those people while watching all your favorite bands play in two days. It's long, exhausting, exhilarating, and the best time you can have at a show. This year was one of my favorite shows we've played in the last year and a half; Hands down.

Diatribe: Do you think that there are any distinguishing things about the
Ohio scene that you don't really find elsewhere?

Andy: Well for starters I can say that on the last several tours we have heard overwhelming compliments about the entire Ohio scene and the art that it produces. I think that you can find great things in any scene around the
country but Ohio has so many great things that are specific to Ohio.

Diatribe: Ghost Town Trio is in the midst of a tour with Tin Armor.
How did that get hooked up and what areas will you be hitting?

Andy: Well actually Garyn and I are writing this right now at the Flying M Coffee Garage in Boise, Idaho. We've been on tour with Tin Armor for about two weeks now and have nearly two more to go. We've been really close friends with them for several years and they quickly became one of our favorite bands. Matt O'Conke, the drummer in Tin Armor was also playing drums with us on our first couple tours.

Diatribe: On tour, what are some essential items that you can't survive
without?

Andy: Tetris :)

Diatribe: Classic, and annoying, Diatribe question; how would you describe Ghost Town Trio's music to someone who's never heard it?

Andy: James Jamerson Power Pop!

Diatribe: Thanks for taking the time to do this! Any knowledge you care to
impart to our readers in closing?

Andy: Finding new bands, music, and art is one of the most important things you can do. Please, please, please, give it a chance! Thanks Chris! Sorry this took so long.

http://www.mammothpress.com/index.php?area=readreview&pid=1456


Have You Heard
Ghost Town Trio

Reviewed by: John-Michael Bond [Tue, May 27, 2008 @ 12:57:49 AM]

For the love of God I hope Ghost Town Trio keep off of airplanes. An airplane took away the glorious rock and roll of Buddy Holly, and if given the chance those diabolical bastard machines might try take away his musical cousins in Ghost Town Trio too. Blending the simple, yet propulsive, upbeat melodies and crooning that pissed off parents and made the kids shake their asses in the 50's and a slight dalliance with punk the Have You Heard 7" creates a major stumbling block for the band's future. Namely, how the hell will they keep writing songs this good?

Throw Ghost Town Trio's name in the ring with Nightmare of You and The Hold Steady, groups who are obviously influenced by rock and roll's past without shamelessly aping it. In just four short songs they've managed to use almost everything I love about rock sing-a-longs with the notable exception of doo-wop back up vocals, but hey there is always next time. Have You Heard is more than just the name of this record, it's also sure to be a statement on the lips of the converted who hear it. Don't miss the boat, check these guys out now.

8 out of 10
RIYL: Buddy Holly, Hold Steady, Gaslight Anthem, or Nightmare of You.

"Cold Machine"
Ghost Town Trio

Add to My Profile | More Videos





"Rudimentary Ideas"
Ghost Town Trio

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Our Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Hailing from Pere Ubu's industrial Cleveland, Ohio heartland, young whippersnappers GHOST TOWN TRIO are a drilled and cranked pop-punk trio who play it straight and true over the course of this brevity-fuelled 7-tracks-in-23-minutes affair.

Led from the front by guitarist/vocalist Andy Cook, with a supple rhythm section of Garyn Jones (bass) and Justin Mitchell (drums - this latter now replaced by Ryan Tyhulski, according to their MySpace) sliding in behind, GT3 are very much the modern day guardians of the get-in-the-van, hard-working hardcore US acts of the late '80s/early '90s such as Husker Du and The Replacements who - lest we forget - blazed the breakthrough trail for Nirvana and their ilk.

I don't know for sure, but one gets the feeling that this no-nonsense approach probably translates into the band's studio sessions. 'Lose Your Voice' sounds powerful and oozes clarity, for sure, but also ensures the frills are locked in the panic room for the duration. The opening title track gives you a good idea what to expect: insistent and tight with trebly guitars to the fore, twangy basslines and crisp drumming lighting matches under the arse of the melody and a gleefully passionate Cook screaming his lungs out very nicely indeed.

The remainder turn equally impressive tricks, with tunes like 'My Hands Are On Fire' and the amusingly-titled 'This Guitar Makes Friends (And Kills Fascists)' celebrating the life of a hard-working band on tour and giving vigorous nods to both The Replacements and early Clash (in the omnipresent, Mick Jones-style "who-oh-oh"s) as they lob beer cans and career along the way. Elsewhere, they prove they have an above-average grasp of dynamics, too, with both the chugging, Fugazi-style menace of 'The Long Of The Night' and the coiled, Ruts-like explosions of 'The Roof Caves In' sticking in the memory long after the album's wound down. This latter, too, appears to be an anti-Iraq tirade, if I'm correctly reading Cook's tirade and lyrics like "your morals don't mean shit anymore."

The one place they wheel out some extra muscle is with the 'punk choir' terrace chorus of the defiant closer 'Rudimentary Ideas' - a celebration of the DIY ethic if ever there was - but really 'Lose Your Voice' screams itself hoarse on snappy, steroided-up pop-punk and reminds us that there's always room for this snotty, raging-against-the-dying-of-the-light stuff whatever the precarious state of the world. One can only hope no-one in the band suffers from the smelly sock syndrome that allegedly sank Husker Du in the end, because America's highways are all the richer for their van's continuing presence right now.

author: Tim Peacock