Heavy, alternative two-piece rockers Ghosts Of Men announce the release of their joint single with Samantics on 5 February. ‘Hold On’ comes ahead of the band dropping their second album ‘Exhale’ (from which it’s taken) on 14 May 2021. The band will release another single, ‘Tell Me Why’, in March.
New music is perhaps just what we need to cheer us up at this point in time. Ads of Ghosts Of Men said of ‘Hold On’, “We’ve been going for about 5 years and over that time have released a fair bit of music, toured the UK and Europe a lot and built up a decent following especially on the grassroots and small/medium festival circuit. Sam of Samantics (it’s only him) has been on the same journey and our paths cross many times a year at different festivals on different stages and we became good friends. The collaboration idea started when we invited him to sing the verses of one of his songs on a well known song of ours every time we played the same festivals. The energy was fantastic, so we wrote a tune together.
Sam suffers badly with his mental health, this is no secret and it’s present in every lyric he writes. Clegg (guitars/vocals) struggles too and I’ve battled addiction for many years before getting clean – we’ve all been through the wringer and all of our songs reflect an inner struggle – and are inward looking. We don’t tackle politics, we talk and sing about what’s inside, and ‘Hold On’ is what fell out of all three of us.
Obviously current goings on have shaped and moulded the song and it takes on a whole new dynamic in that it can be seen as both a rally against inner struggle and to hang in there against what’s going on externally. Either way, what we’re saying – nay, insisting; NAY, SHOUTING – to everyone is to ‘HOLD ON’ – it all gets better….”
The ‘Exhale’ album itself was slated to follow a busy Summer of gigs and festival slots in 2020 but, like all of us, Ghosts Of Men have had to bunker down and play the waiting game. Previously, the band have toured extensively in Europe and played great Festivals; particular highlights being RosRock with Skindred in the NL, and Bearded Theory and Beautiful Days. The band are a potent live force, being described as, “Like a two piece Queens of the Stone Age, if Queens of the Stone Age were entirely composed of Morecambe and Wise” by BBC Radio. However, make no mistake, this band are deadly serious when it comes to the music and to playing live – having already performed over 150 festival dates.
Royal Blood, White Stripes, Suicide, Black Keys, The Kills, Carter USM, the world of rock has seen a few two-piece bands that can overcome the perceived limitations of the a limited line-up, strip back to essentials and really bring the noise. In fact, Les Carter from Carter USM said, “Ghosts Of Men are amazing. People always said that my old band made a big noise for two people, we cheated though, we had backing tapes. Clegg and Adam take it to a whole new level. Awesomeness drips from every note.”
This new single, and indeed the ‘Exhale’ album, is fuelled, often, by the darker side of life but always struggling towards the light, this is a band full of fight and fever. Don’t give in, breathe out… and ‘Hold On’.
