Based in North Park, Of Sons and Ghosts -- featuring members of the band Ricksha -- played their debut gig in May 2010. “The band is named after the recent departure of three of our most influential father figures,” says singer-keyboardist Lane Dawson.
Their music falls somewhere between shoegazer and lo-fi, encompassing many types of music from indie to shoegaze, from alternative country to folk and little bits of reverb mixed in for effect. “We have many new paints and brushes to create the picture we are going for,” says Dawson. “Our music is lo-fi, with a shoegazer kind of vibe.”
“But destroying the art you created with distortion and noise can be equally satisfying,” rebuts singer/guitarist Danny Medina. “The five of us are extreme music lovers, and our tastes are very similar, but there’s a wide range of influences.”
Singer-guitarist Barry Ligman describes the band’s music as “ambient, indie-noise garage rock, like a gentle melody quickly disrupted with distortion and controlled noise. We want to keep all of our options on the table for creativity. We have a pair of dice with our influences on them, we roll em’, marry the sounds together and hope we miss by just enough to make the songs sound like us.”
“We love the contrast of something beautiful over something chaotic,” says singer-bassist Brian Grover. “Whether it be dark lyrics over a tranquil sound or a light falsetto sung over a heavy, distorted wall of sound.”
Drummer Adam Eidson puts it this way: “It’s about finding that unique sound, the niche, that will allow us to stand out. We are trying to imagine success by taking our time and getting the right sounds in the precise spots.”
Adds Grover, “We are trying to work with as much local talent in San Diego as we can. This is talented music city and we want to be part of it.”
In Autumn 2010, they began recording an album co-produced with Christian Cummings, former drummer of Crash Encore.