Listen to This!

Reviewing the Essential


Ghost Mice Debt of the Dead

Recommended by McBride


The latest disc I've come across that I would recommend to anyone is "Debt of the Dead" by Ghost Mice.

I discovered Ghost Mice last year at "The Fest" in Gainesville, Florida. The exports of G-ville that you may have heard of include Against Me, Hot Water Music, Less Than Jake and Tom Petty-- Okay, minor gap between that last one, but true none the less. I love that down-home-feel punk rock that comes out of that corner of the world; perhaps we just lean towards what we grew up on or perhaps it was just a happy coincidence that I was born a couple hours south of there, either way I love that swampy punk sound that G-ville is famous for the same way I love lightning, afternoon thunderstorms and air that is just wet.



The year before I was confined to a single little sweaty little venue running a camera (as I was doing this past year). But I got to see some of the most amazing live bands I've seen in ages. I got to see Ventura's own Glass & Ashes a whole continent away from their home of sunny beaches, audio-ly peal the faces off the crowd. I got to see Baroness, one of the kings of the new Southern drudge metal, engulfed by their own audience. I saw at least 3 two-piece acts that sounded thicker than any 5 man punk act I've seen on the Sunset Strip.



But The Fest's ability to attract these amazing bands meant that it was growing. This year they were up to six venues and one of them was the park amphitheater in the middle of downtown. The Fest itself boasted a pretty wide variety of acts. But this was Gainesville so running down the center of the roster was a strong axis that went from the hard and mind-bending post-hardcore to alt country. Fun thing was the same guys getting down on a wood porch stage in the afternoon were the ones you saw screaming unrecognizably into a distorted mic the night before.



Needless to say they had to pick wisely which bands to put in the enclosed sweaty little theaters and which they let loose on the public park. The park was tough to set up a camera crew for so they just sent me there to "Pick up this band Ghost Mice. They're kind of interesting". I left a show that consisted of a few friends' bands for the unknown that was Ghost Mice.



By the time I got out to the park in the middle of town, people were already there and waiting. Again: never heard of them before. But they had a lot of people. That too I thought nothing of. "They're all just the gutter punks and under-agers who couldn't get tickets to the real shows," I figured. Up on the stage the sound man had set up 2 area mics. This is what you put up when all you're doing is making something louder, not plugging in any instruments, no sound work, tuning or boards... not really. And up walked a guy with a bad devil-lock/krishna look and cute blonde gal, Hannah, who's smile would've been too big for her face. He had a guitar, she a violin.
They played and it was obvious. I thought nothing of it. It just seemed right. They had a crowd of a couple hundred kids many of who by the second song had camped out on the stage, sitting on the monitors. Everyone seemed to really know and love this duo; more than even they realized. The guy, Chris, made a joke about how they always play living rooms. Their name Ghost Mice was the quietest thing they could think of. But their songs connected to each person individually and enough individuals make a crowd.



A few songs into the set they played a tune titled "Up the Punks". "Up the Punks" is a great song that demonstrates the amazing ability Ghost Mice have in their song writing to be very critical and have the punk attitude but yet very encouraging and uplifting. It's an anthem song about how the youth of our rock'n'roll subculture really have done some good things and when it got to the refrain everyone sang along. I put it together then that everyone wasn't here because they couldn't get into the other shows, the really were here to see this band.



And you can't help but tap your feet and remember the lyrics of the music. They sang about getting lost in Europe, wishing they were billy goats because money sucks, and perhaps the finest work of songwriting I've come across in, well-- forever, their recount of forging coupons to get free pizza and the gut-wrenching path that lead them down called "Free Pizza For Life". By the end of that song everyone was shouting "Free Pizza For Life!" I'd never heard the song before and I was shouting "Free Pizza For Life!" I was worried about the camera audio and I was shouting "Free Pizza For Life!" If you get their split with it on there you'll yell "Free Pizza For Life!"



After the show I had to buy what I could. With only $10 to my name I picked up a split and a full length. Both are great. But if you can only get one, get the full length because it's all them. They have the engrained passion and message to appease even the most callous of social rebels and they have the genius melodies to make my mom feel warm and fuzzy and the song writing skills to suck anyone in.



The full length I ended up with was the disc I recommend to you today, "Debt of the Dead". The songs demonstrate all the kudos I gush on them here. The only thing I didn't like is that they did not record it live and their work is so f-ing human that not recording it live, no matter how good of a job they did in the studio, did shave a little something off. But that said, this is still an album that I could recommend to ANYONE. Whether you came for the folk stylings or the guy screaming bloody murder, this band and their album will work for you and were strangely at home were I discovered them nestled shyly between the two at a music fest down in the swamp.



You can get the disc from Plan-It-X Records at www.plan-it-x.com, PO box 3521 Bloomington, IN, 47402.





*You can also find Ghost Mice on myspace at www.myspace.com/ghostmice1