MUSIC INTERVIEW: GHOSTLAND OBSERVATORY

Aaron Behrens & Thomas Turner Go Forth Into the Musical World with Light in Their Hearts

The Austin, Texas-based duo of Aaron Behrens and Thomas Turner first played together in a band called Waking Helix, forming the basis for what would become Ghostland Observatory when using their former band’s rehearsal space to try out some new ideas when their former band-mates were away on a holiday break in late 2002. Over the subsequent years, Aaron and Thomas have established a near legendary reputation for their frenetic live shows based around Thomas’s costumed skills behind the synths, drums, and keys, coupled with Aaron’s front-of-stage prowling accompanied by microphone and guitar. On recent tours, their efforts have been further enhanced by a simply spectacular laser light show which has to be seen to be believed. Buzzine’s Stefan Goldby made a pilgrimage out to the shores of Irvine Lake in Orange County, California to chat with the boys before their appearance alongside Snoop Dogg at the 2011 Pacific Festival…

 

Stefan Goldby: Summer is here, we’re at Pacific Festival here in OC and it’s been a busy few months for you guys since Codename: Rondo came out. Does festival season kind of bring on a new lease of life for you as artists with such a legendary live show?

 

Aaron Behrens: Oh man, I tell you, I think the lease of life started when we first started this band… The summer festival is cool, though. It brings a whole different dynamic – it’s throw-and-go. All the plans are out the window. It’s like get here, throw your stuff on stage: let’s do this. So it does in that aspect.

 

SG: Well there is also the aspect of coming in through the gate of a festival, and leaving the real world behind… You create an otherworldly atmosphere on stage: Do you feel like the festival crowd is halfway yours to begin with?

 

Thomas Turner: I love the festival crowd. The reason why is because you see the clothing. The festival-goers – it’s a different clothing than you would see at…

 

AB: It’s like no clothing…

 

TT: Yeah, 2pm on Monday during the workweek. So the clothing is different, the hairstyles, and the things in the hair. There’s like glow-stick feathers and…

 

AB: …the peacocking…

 

TT: …and the glowing headbands. And it seems like, as the night goes on and it gets later, there’s less and less clothing for males and females – humans alike – and you don’t see that during your regular work-week at all anywhere.

 

SG: We’re almost a year on since Codename: Rondo came out: With a little bit of hindsight, have those songs changed for you now that they’re a touring animal as opposed to a studio one?

 

TT: I think people are more comfortable with them now. I think that when we first released them into the wild, people were afraid maybe – a little bit scared, frightened, and now they’re more comfortable with them. And we’re more comfortable with each other, doing them together. So I think that combination is just good for everyone.

 

SG: If you think back to a time when you were more uncomfortable with the songs, is there a day, is there a session, that stands out in your mind?

 

AB: I honestly think this record, when we started writing and recording it, was the most fun we’ve had. We didn’t go into it thinking that we needed to do this or this or that. It was just like, “Let’s just have a good time with it,” and that’s what came out on the record.

SG: Is it fair to say that the storytelling element is stronger in this album than it has been before?

AB: I think it definitely came out – just the different approach of being laid back. Once again, being able to entertain different thoughts and not feel like you have to go this certain direction every time.

 

SG: Aaron, you said you don’t make albums – you make trotlines. That’s a good quote, and everybody is now pulling it, I suspect! Are there any new trotlines starting to ferment ten months down the line here?

 

TT: There are a lot.

 

AB: Oh, there is plenty in the cellar right now.

 

SG: [Laughs] And when, perhaps, might they be brought up the steps, blinking into the sunshine?

 

TT: As soon as they are ready to be released into the wild.

 

AB: We’re cultivating them, we’re petting them and feeding them…

 

TT: We’re feeding them all kinds of substances.

 

AB: Yeah, all kinds of different GMOs…

 

SG: I don’t think there’s Olympic testing yet for songs…

 

AB: No, there’s not. We’re okay with that. We’ve checked. We’re okay.

 

SG: [Laughs] When you guys started out, Thomas said it began as an agreement between friends to “heal your beat-driven hearts and to please your rock & roll souls, and to ignore things in the background”. It’s been more than five years now since delete.delete.i.eat.meat: Has the nature of your agreement changed in that time?

 

TT: I think it’s gotten better because we’ve grown together and we’ve grown up together, and we’ve probably spent more time with each other than any other person that we know, just from traveling and performing and rehearsing and everything. So the relationship and the agreement has gotten better. And the reason, from the beginning, we didn’t ever want to take it too seriously, like “Oh, we’re a band and we’re all serious…” It’s just two guys, and we just try to kick out the jams and that’s that.

SG: We loved the trailer you put out for Codename: Rondo – sort of film noir-ey but mostly just awesomely fun. Where was that idea born?

 

TT: There was no idea. We went out to the desert, we put on our costumes, and we started rolling tape and edited it down, and that was it.

 

AB: A lot of burnouts in the desert.

 

TT: Yeah, danger. We scared the camera guys a few times. We were trying to get them to [laughs] lay down with the camera and then we would drive over them.

 

AB: We tried getting them to stay in the middle of the road as long as possible before we hit them, and Thomas was just gunning it, dude, and the dude was just like, “Aaaaahhh,” and he had to leave his camera there, right? And we’d drive over the top of it...

 

SG: It turned out fantastically! And your live show is so visual. So, why aren’t music videos more of what you guys do? It’s there in the live show, but why not more than that.

 

TT: I don’t know; I guess if we wanted to do music videos, we would, but I think it’s kind of cool to see what fans do, because we don’t care what they do with our stuff, so if they make videos or incorporate it into their home videos, we’re cool with that.

 

AB: It’s something we haven’t really cared about.

 

TT: We like to perform and make music. I never signed up to be a music video director.

 

AB: And that’s probably part of just us having our own label – it’s just us two.

 

SG: In terms of keeping it purely independent…you really have. You’ve been doing it all yourselves… what do you think is the biggest lesson you’ve learned?

 

TT: Trust no one. People change. There are vampires – they really do exist, and there are werewolves. They do exist, and some of them don’t come out at night – they come out during the day, and they wear strange clothing also, just like the festival-goers.

 

AB: Exactly.

 

TT: The main thing I learned.

 

SG: Here at Pacific today, Red Rocks tomorrow, Utah on Wednesday…Those are some pretty spectacular spots that you’re hitting. People always kind of bitch about ‘seeing the world while you’re touring is a terrible way to see the world,’ but it seems like one of the things you’ve learned is how to do it right, at the very least. How much does that play into the tour planning for you guys, seeing as you are independent and you can make that routing decision however you choose?

 

AB: I think we definitely base a lot of it around our families and stuff like that. We talk to each other before planning the tour, and what our priorities are and everything else, and the rest of it is like, “Let’s play wherever they want us to play.” We’ll see you there. You want us to play there, we’ll be there. Make it happen.

SG: Your live show has got a lot going on up on stage: What would come together for an idealized version of the live show?

 

TT: A lot of bass. You’ve got to feel the bass…

 

AB: Bass underneath the stage.

 

TT: Under the stage, you feel the vibration. Loud monitors – good-sounding monitors, clean…and a good crowd.

 

AB: And no thought.

 

TT: Yeah, just doing it.

 

SG: Has anything on the road ever been as dramatic or cool as you filmed in that trailer?

 

AB: Oh yeah! Man, you’re going back eight years of different occurrences and happenings – there’s a lot coming up in my head.

 

TT: Yeah, we did a photo-shoot. Remember when I was a gunslinger out in the desert somewhere? I think that was in Utah or Wyoming. We just pulled over on a dirt road and did some stunts. And then we’ve done some stunts on airplanes. We actually got kicked off of an airplane.

 

AB: Ya’ll did. [Aside] I was not with them.

 

TT: Yeah, on our way back from Seattle. They kicked us off of our flight. We had already sat down, and they said, “Get up. Get out.” No joke. Alex (the tour manager) is the reason we got kicked off of our flight. I think we’re banned from that airline. And there’s been some stunts with TSA that we’ve done. There’s been some public…what is it called?

 

AB: Indecency of exposure.

 

TT: Indecent exposure from him [pointing at Aaron].

 

AB: I used to wear track pants. I’m uncomfortable. I want to be comfortable on a plane, right? Flip-flops, track pants. This guy [pointing at Thomas] likes to pants people, and it becomes a problem when you don’t wear underwear underneath it. And people get sights of things…children get sights of things on airplanes and they get offended.

 

TT: They make complaints.

 

AB: Yeah, so it’s a lot of horseplay, a lot of shenanigans, a lot of tomfoolery.

 

SG: Usually, one of the best things about heading out onto the road is to make it home at the end of it. Your home is a place that us and the rest of the press are reasonably familiar with once a year. I love Austin. I’ve been there away from SXSW, but it is a different town for that week. What are your best tips for survival for that week? Other than avoid 6^th Street, maybe?

 

TT: I don’t want to say.

 

AB: I don’t want to say.

 

TT: I would say… No, we should be nice.

 

AB: We should. Let’s be nice.

 

TT: Okay, I’ve been really excited about going to SXSW when I was younger. I would say you get sidetracked into trying to see the big acts and wait in the long lines, but then there’s tons of other cool stuff that you can just stumble into. One of my favorites was Japanese Noise Night. I don’t know if they still do that. But stuff like that, or just weird things where there might not be a huge line or there may not be a big act, but it’s a fun party.

 

AB: That’s the great stuff, yeah. Don’t go see what everybody else is going to see. Try to stumble in to these little corner bars and corner things that people are shoved into and trying to do their thing, trying to get exposed. Those are the cool things.

 

SG: All right, well seeing as I can’t draw you on when a new record might be, then I’m forced to just let you finish the interview pretty much however you like. So my final question is just simply this: With what words would you like to end your interview day today?

 

AB: Go forth.

 

TT: Love forth.

 

AB: With light in your heart, children. The world is your playground.

 

TT: Repetition is a form of change. Decency. Respecting boundaries.

 

AB: And breaking them as well. 

 

Ghostland Observatory’s ‘Codename: Rondo’ is out now on their own Trashy Moped Recordings. They are coming soon to a stage near you. Please take heed and go forth and see them.