LA duo United Ghosts creates a dizzying sound, mixing hazy guitars with lush synths and boy/girl vocals. While influenced by Kraut-rock, classic psychedelia, and shoegaze, the band is clearly focused on the future. The Cameo featured and standout track “Out of Love” has rightly been described as “effortlessly cool” (Volume Magazine UK). The song has a pulsing synth loop that makes you want to sprint to the nearest dance floor. You can find more of United Ghosts’ music at unitedghosts.com.
We spent a few minutes chatting Axel and Sha from United Ghosts. Their responses are memorable to say the least. Check out the full Q&A below!
What’s your favorite link on the internet right now?
Axel: BBC 6 Music, for their documentaries and top new music shows.
Sha: Lately my favorite thing is avoiding it… ;) I love listening to radio shows that play our music as they usually play other new stuff that I like. Intro with La is a cool chick who interviewed us in London.
If you could watch anyone from history’s Cameo, who would it be?
Axel: Salvadore Dali
Sha: I concur, and Robin Williams.
Favorite things?
Axel: Recording gear, vinyl records, Speaker Bear (a toy bear that plays iTunes out of his belly, got him on tour in Japan), synths, guitars, books, airplanes
Sha: Innovative music apps, rollerblades, video shoots, cities with cool art festivals & good public transportation, wasabi, swiss chard
Best film score ever?
Axel: John Carpenter movies for the amazing vintage synths, especially “Escape from New York.”
Sha: Soundtrack from “Vampyros Lesbos” (“Sexadelic Dance Party” by Manfred Hubler & Sigi Schwab)
Who are three people that have inspired your music?
Axel: It changes a lot, but I always come back to Kevin Shields, Michael Rother (of NEU!, Harmonia), and Bowie in Berlin. And Sha, of course ;)…ok that’s four!
Sha: Brian Eno, my crazy piano teacher Ms. King who had me sit on a real elephant’s foot with a zebra skin cushion while playing Chopin, Axel Steuerwald
If your house was burning down, what’s the one thing you would grab?
Axel: My Fender Stratocaster I’ve had since growing up. I once had to “retrieve” it from a bad dude in London who stole it.
Sha: My kitty, then the Rickenbacker bass. My first keyboard already melted to the floor in a friend’s apartment fire…
What will your first Cameo be about?
Axel: Maybe a dream. I had a cool one recently where I was in Tokyo and I could hop like I was on the moon, but I’d locked myself out of my apartment. I could almost fly but still couldn’t get back in!
Sha: Sailing away in a bathtub on the tsunami.
Best concert venue on earth?
Axel: Alexandra Palace in London. Best ones we’ve played: Troubadour LA, Roxy Prague, Hoxton Bar and Kitchen London, and White Trash Berlin.
Sha: Yep
Tell us about the last video you shot on your phone?
Axel: A huge, beautiful cross spider wrapping up a wasp outside a window in Germany.
Sha: Phantogram and the moon at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
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