While melodic hardcore five-piece The Ghost Inside are no strangers to Australian shores, the band’s upcoming tour (featuring a list of impressive supports) is their first in headline mode.
The Californian metalcore outfit released their latest album Get What You Give last year and received their biggest response to a studio release yet. They’ve been promoting the new album with a large amount of touring, the band set to conquer Asia before they hit Australia.
In the middle of preparing for a gig in China, vocalist Jonathan Vigil expresses his excitement for the Australian leg. “We’ve got some cool supports and we’re really excited to come down there to do our thing and play the songs the people have been waiting to hear.”
Joining The Ghost Inside on the national Destroy Music tour will be controversial New York metalcore act Emmure, New Zealand’s Antagonist A.D. and Australia’s very own Hand Of Mercy.
Vigil reveals that the band hand-picked the supports. “We’re friends with Hand of Mercy and Antagonist A.D. and love Emmure, we’ve played shows with them a few times before,” he explains.
The frontman is justifiably proud of the Australian tour bill. “It’s definitely a line-up we’re stoked to be on and it’s diverse enough, but similar enough to result in a real good tour.”
The Ghost Inside are very familiar with Australia, having supported numerous bands on tour. “Our very first Australian tour was with I Killed The Prom Queen, just before they broke up, with Bring Me The Horizon and The Red Shore,” recalls Vigil.
The band then supported Deez Nuts for their second visit down under, then followed up with a stadium tour supporting metalcore giants Parkway Drive and The Devil Wears Prada on the ‘Deep Blue’ tour. “We’ve got some cool supports and we’re really excited to come down there to do our thing and play the songs the people have been waiting to hear.” – Jonathan Vigil
“We also came down last year to support The Amity Affliction on their ‘Chasing Ghosts’ tour’” says Vigil (a tour that saw them play alongside British outfit Architects and Australia’s Buried In Verona). “It’s really awesome going down to Australia, and there’s no language barrier either, which is a bonus,” he laughs.
When asked if there remains one wish-list band The Ghost Inside would like to tour with, Vigil replies, “We’re all really big fans of Deftones, so it’d be really cool to tour with them.”
With a lot of touring now under their belt, Vigil explains how important it is to mix things up from show to show. “It helps out a lot playing new songs after playing so many older tracks for a very long time,” he says. “We have been playing a lot of stuff off our new record which keeps us sane and excited.”
For Vigil, Get What You Give stands apart from what the band now consider their earlier crowd-pleasers. “I think for us the biggest difference for us this time was that we had a producer on this album,” he says.
“We’re all very proud of it and we just tried to write an album that was true to our sound. Fortunately for us it worked out well.”
The band have taken some time out between all the recording and touring, but as Vigil admits, they find it hard to stay still. “We get a little bit of time off, not too much though ‘because we like to stay busy. We start to miss [touring] after a week or two at home.”
The busy vocalist describes three essential items he brings on tour – “I’m kind of a big nerd so I like to bring my iPod and iPad as well as my PSP,” Vigil admits. “Those are the things that help when I’m like bored out of my mind when I’m stuck at airports with nothing to do.”
He pinpoints Street Fighter as one of his favourite PSP games – a publically known hobby for vocalist Frankie Palmeri of Emmure. “The first time we toured with them, he greeted me and invited me to play Street Fighter and Mob Wars in his tour bus.”
The vocalists bonded over five hours of gameplay, with no clear winner. “We both won and lost pretty evenly and it was pretty cool to get to know each other.” “There’s always a personal drive to be the best, but we have enough respect for each other …” – Jonathan Vigil
Like videogames, when it comes to music Vigil isn’t concerned about winners and losers. “There’s always a personal drive to be the best, but we have enough respect for each other to know which territories of the world one band will headline over another.”
To illustrate this, Vigil refers to the practical example of supporting Emmure in the US with a vice-versa model in Australia. “That’s where the mutual respect lies with us and other bands, so you tend to incorporate tour history of the area. In this genre, we all recognise the combination of hard work and this comes with a work ethic so there’s never any concerns.”
If fans are wondering what to expect ahead of the Destroy Music tour, this may give them some idea: “We’re going to be playing a lot of tracks and we’re going to be giving the fans the songs they want to hear – including those we’ve never been able to play on support tours,” Vigil confirms.
“I’m looking forward to having a good time and just coming down to all these shows around the country.”
Get What You Give is out now through Epitaph. The Ghost Inside will be performing at dates across the nation in late May and early June with stellar supports Emmure, Antagonist A.D. and Hand Of Mercy. Dates and details below.
The Ghost Inside 2013 Australian Tour
Thursday 23 May Amplifier Perth (18+)
Tickets: www.destroyalllines.oztix.com.au – 1300 762 545 – Heatseeker Outlets
Friday 24 May – Fowlers, Adelaide (Lic AA)
Tickets: Moshtix – 1300 438 849 – www.moshtix.com.au
Venue Tix: (08) 8225 8888 – www.venuetix.com.au
Saturday 25 May – Hi Fi, Melbourne (18+)
Tickets: The Hifi – 1300 843 443 – www.thehifi.com.au
Sunday 26 May – Hi Fi, Melbourne (U18)
Tickets: The Hifi – 1300 843 443 – www.thehifi.com.au
Wednesday 29 May – The Basement, Canberra (18+)
Tickets: www.destroyalllines.oztix.com.au – 1300 438 849
Thursday 30 May – Metro, Sydney (Lic AA)
Tickets: metrotheatre.com.au – 02 9550 3666 – Via Ticketek.
Friday 31 May – Panthers, Newcastle (Lic AA)
Tickets: www.mosthix.com.au – 02 4926 620 – Moshtix outlets – At the venue
Saturday 1 June – Hi Fi, Brisbane (18+)
Tickets: The Hifi – 1300 843 443 – www.thehifi.com.au
Sunday 2 June – Hi Fi, Brisbane (U18)
Tickets: The Hifi – 1300 843 443 – www.thehifi.com.au
