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Interview with Ghostland Observatory's Thomas Turner
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When I attended ACL Fest in 2007, I heard rumblings of this upstart Austin duo by the name of Ghostland Observatory. The band was billed as sort of an electronic disco mish-mash, which wasn't really my cup of tea. Nevertheless, I checked them out that Sunday night, only to have them literally blow the skin right off my face. Since then, I've followed the band religiously, and am excited to see them return to ACL Fest this Saturday night.
To advance the show, I recently caught up with Ghostland musical mastermind Thomas Turner to talk ACL, stardom, and college football...
CH: I know you're a UT football fan, being from Austin, but turns out you're a fan of all things college football.
TT: Yeah, we travel a lot on the weekends, so a lot of times we'll do sound check early in the day, then get to a bar or hotel so we can check out some games on TV. Then we'll play the show, go back to the hotel and watch "SportsCenter."
CH: ACL '07 was a coming-out party of sorts. What's it going to be like this time around, having more expectations placed upon you?
TT: In '07, that was to that point the largest crowd we'd played in front of, and it was still early on in terms of the rise of the band. We (Turner and bandmate Aaron Behrens) had been to ACL a couple years before that (as attendees) and said how cool it would be to one day be up there on one of those stages. Then we were. But since '07, we've played a lot of festivals, and we're hoping our performance will help set us apart this year.
CH: What's it like being one of the two headliners (along with Dave Matthews Band, ugh) for the Saturday night of ACL?
TT: We didn't plan on getting to this point, but we always hoped we'd get there, to gain that level of success and be on that stage in Austin, Texas.
CH: What's the vibe like in terms of a festival versus a club show?
TT: From a production standpoint, festivals are bigger, so they require more time and effort. It's a bigger event with a bigger audience, and it's always fun to look out 200 yards and see people watching you play. We want everyone to feel it, so we're going to pull out all the stops, so that the people that may not know us can witness it firsthand.
CH: Aaron is one of the more theatric people I've ever witnessed on stage. What is it about him that produces such a great stage presence?
TT: He shines live. We rehearse and all that, but when the lights go up, that's when it's real, and when he really hits the next gear. He enjoys that, and really gets into it. It's natural to him, and not scripted at all. It's completely live.
CH: How's the group feeling off-stage these days?
TT: We're having fun. We have a four-person crew now ... and we have fun, play jokes, and try not to take ourselves too seriously. The shows are a lot of fun, and after they're done, we just chill out together.
CH: What's up next in terms of musical output?
TT: The plan is to get through '09, and lock away in the studio in the winter. When we were recording our other three records, we all had other jobs on the side, so we worked on music when we could. We'd play a few shows, and that was it. Nowadays, we're touring nonstop, flying all over, and it's hard to shut down on the road. But next year, we're going to really take it slow in terms of thinking about new music. We're not going to shortcut it; we're going to take our time:
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