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  Ghost Interview
interview 0375 added
23.02.06 words: Mr
Lingo
technical:
QED
GHOST…….a name that strikes fear in the heart of UK producers, and pushes them to raise their game. He’s about to drop a whole load more knowledge on heads with his Debut LP ‘Seldom Seen Often Heard’. We sent our very own ukhh.com Super Sleuth Mr Lingo down to Ghost's lair and get an exclusive interview… ch-ch-check it
out.
Lingo: Right, thanks for making it down, how about you tell us a bit about the Ghost that we might not already know?
 All good. Thanks for dealing with it Mr Lingo.
I’m sure there’s a lot that people think they know about me and what I do and it’s now time I really got out there and showed them what I’m dealing with musically.
They might not know I work behind the scenes of Hip Hop and have done for a long time, I work at Boombox Distribution taking care of the export side of the business. I’ve been able to help push good UK Hip Hop to lots of places overseas and raise the general profile of the music.
People still forget I do the ‘Midweek Session’ Radio show every Weds on Itch fm, I’ve been doing that over 4 years now.
And also I’ve had 2 EP’s out before the forthcoming LP which people might not know of, ‘Ghost Stories’ and ‘Let Em Know’.
L: Any reason for the name?
Well you know once I get head into the music I don’t really leave the lab too much except to maybe get weed and food now and again. It’s quite consuming dealing with music so I’ve been M.I.A for a couple of years in terms of going out and catching up with people, but it requires a lot of time, so yeah people rarely see me.
L: So how are things working out on Breakin Bread?
It’s working out ok man, we’ve been working together now since 2003 and things are working out well. You’re always going to have times when both parties want different things but the important thing is how you deal with those kinds of situations. They’ve supported what I’m doing and these days you can’t ask for much more than that.
L: Do you feel part of the label collective?
It’s taken some time to feel that way as I’m so used to doing my own thing for so long and taking care of everything. I still get involved a lot on what goes on with my business to an extent, but I feel like they’re doing what they can to look out for me and obviously it’s in there interests to do the best job they can for the label as well. I’m an investment at the end of the day so they’ll be looking to make sure what they invest they get back. I do feel part of the label though and together things have been getting better as time goes on.
“...It’s quite consuming dealing with music so I’ve been M.I.A for a couple of years in terms of going out and catching up with people, but it requires a lot of time...”
L: How long have you been working on the new material?
A long time! Recording and mixing it took me a year, and then I had some time before that thinking how I was going to piece it all together, I guess I was thinking about how to bring it for a while, but really it took me about 6 months to have a clear idea what I was doing, wasn’t an overnight decision.
L: Your LP is about to drop how much is this a change/step up from Ghost Stories and Let Em Know?
 It’s not like totally different in terms of the vibes to the other EP’s, I’ve just stepped my game up a lot in other areas since then. Bear in mind those first 2 releases are quite old now and the music even older. The way I see it is that I was still finding my feet with the earlier EP’s, and as time went by I started understanding what I was trying to do.
I’ve been able to develop what I was doing on Ghost Stories and Let Em Know and fine tune it, make it better, more in depth production, better mixing and expand on the music side of things.
L: How much do you live up to the title of the LP?
Quite a lot actually! Not always a good thing cause I don’t get to chill out to often or catch up with people, but I’m a workaholic and I’d just rather be at home doing music than out talking shit while drunk.
L: Do you work with any of the other BB artists?
Well me and Natural Self are gonna remix a track of each other’s; I’m looking forward to doing that. We’re all doing our own thing but I never rule any collaboration’s out.
“...I’d just rather be at home doing music than out talking shit while
drunk...”
L: How inspiring is it working with Kashmere, Verb T and Asaviour?
It’s very inspiring, these guys what ever anyone says are all great emcee’s, when there albums come out people will see more to them than what they have already, bear in mind as an artist your continually improving and developing, these guys are right on there game.
When you have people who hear the music and then write lyrics to the music and it fits the mood of the music it adds another dimension to what you’re doing, that’s the sort of people I wanna work with. To be fair it was inspiring working with everyone on the album for many different reasons.
L: What else can we expect from Music for Heads?
 It’s all a question of time basically. If I had the time I’d like to release some projects via Musicforheads, not only mine but bring other people through, but I’m very much caught up doing other things right now.
What you can expect is to see some of other people projects being mixed by me, that’s something I’m going to develop more, I like mixing so people have come to me about mixing there projects, be it EP’s or albums or whatever. That’s something I’ll be building up over the next year, Musicforheads will be recording, mixing and helping other artists on that level.
I’ll continue to do some guest production for other people also, I did the title track for Asaviour’s banging LP ‘Borrowed Ladder’, and a track for Kashmere’s new LP, stuff with Verb T, me and Dubbledge been working on tracks, Parke etc… I’m just going to continue to make good music and my productions are all done under the Musicforheads logo.
L: What is your favourite tune so far you’ve been involved with, either on the LP or not? Who did you really relish working with of the LP?
I like them all, Serious. It’s not even about what’s my favourite tune, it’s more about if I caught something when I was making the tune, a track off the LP called ‘Round Trip’ is one of my favourite’s, it’s an instrumental feat Biscuit on flute, I just think I got my mood at that time locked down, some epic shit. ‘Basic Instinct’ feat Abstract Rude also off the LP I’m pleased how that turned out, and ‘Learn Respect’ feat
Dubbledge.
Any artists I’m into and get the opportunity to work with I look forward to working with.
L: What else have you got coming up after the launch, you touring at all?
People are putting a tour together at the moment, I’m looking forward to getting out and playing the tunes, when you spend so long in the studio dealing with it you just wanna get out there and play the shit! I’’ be doing a few things though, we got the launch party going on as well on the 15th March at the Social in the west end. I’m hoping to get overseas as well as I’ve been doing some good things in a few places.
“...The people around me motivate me, the artists I work with, and listening to good music motivates me. Also everyday life and the up’s and down’s that we all go through keep me motivated cause when bad things go on I try and use that energy towards the
music...”
L: It’s been a long slog, what has kept you going and motivated?
A few things really, I hate failing, if I start something I’m gonna try and finish what I started, and when I got serious I decided I wanted to get to a point where I could make a living off music, and I intend to make that happen. The people around me motivate me, the artists I work with, and listening to good music motivates me. Also everyday life and the up’s and down’s that we all go through keep me motivated cause when bad things go on I try and use that energy towards the music.
L: In terms of development how long did the LP take, and what experiences helped with its conception? How did this differ from your EP material?
 It’s taken me my whole life; everything has helped me in one way or another. As I touched on before, the physical time it took recording and mixing was just over a year, and then the time I spent before that was about 6 months of hard thought about it. I mean I wanted to do an album from time but I wasn’t about to put the first 13 tracks I’d recorded out as an album.
So I just thought about it a lot until I’d got the backbone of what I wanted, then as I was doing the music I would mark certain tunes that I’d keep for the album. And then I’d speak to the emcee’s and find out what they wanted to deal with.
Man it’s been an interesting couple of years so many things went into the album, I find that I can turn that sort of thing into some music and you’re at times when I hear some of the tracks I remember what was going on at the time, good and bad. Just life shit generally helps.
Generally the reason the LP differs from the EP’s is just the quality has been stepped up, and I’ve expanded on the music so it’s not straight simple kick kick snare patterns all the way through, I’ve made the music listenable and packaged it so people are gonna be like that looks like the shit. All round we’ve stepped up the game, it’s an important time for me to show people what the deal is.
L: Is this the one of all your releases makes the biggest impact yet? It’s getting support from Lamaq amongst others right?
Without a doubt. I mean any support from any DJ’s is all good, and the smaller DJ’s are equally as important as the major one’s, you gotta build from the ground up, and I’ve worked my way off the ground floor now.
Lets be honest you never know how your release is gonna do, it’s a funny thing the music industry. People are gonna have to listen up and take notice though and this album will make that happen for me, it’s all good doing EP’s and 12’s but people only really start to take you seriously when you come with the total package.
“...I mean any support from any DJ’s is all good, and the smaller DJ’s are equally as important as the major one’s, you gotta build from the ground up, and I’ve worked my way off the ground floor
now...”
L: On ‘Talk To Me’ you’ve brought in Devorah, how was it working with a different type of artist?
I love it, I’m looking forward to doing more of that in the future, I said it before I won’t ever really rule out any collabo’s bar a few exceptions!
L: Everyone says you’re Boom Bap. How do you categorise your production?
Well if they still say that after the LP then all good. Fuck know’s, people like to put you in a pigeon hole so they can sell and market you. I just make music and I let other people do the talking, I just deal with my business, that’s all I can do.
What you have to remember is that people up till now have only seen a very small percentage of what I’ve been doing, as it all starts to get released then you’ll see the full spectrum of what I’m doing.
L: What is the end goal for this year?
A Mansion and a yacht, finish the next full length project, do the tour get a holiday and do show’s overseas as well.
L: Hahahaha, yeah that’s nice. Who should we have to look out for, people you rate etc?
Invisible Inc, Ghost on tour, DJ IQ, Beat Butcha, Kashmere, Dubbledge, Asaviour, the Japanese version of Seldom Seen Often Heard, Verb T, Musicforheads on the mix, more new music from me and all the rest that I can’t remember, lots of great music on the way though.
L: Any shameless plugs, or shit to get off ya chest?
‘Seldom Seen Often Heard’ March 20th double LP/CD; watch out for the video for the title track coming very soon. We’ll see people on the tour and just watch out for more music.
I’d just like to thank everyone who has been supporting and continues to support my music, Big respect. See my LP for a list of shouts, and everyone who I forget if you know me and I speak with you, you know I mean it for you even if it
ain't said.
Na no need for being shitty, I’m releasing my fucking album, and if that doesn’t make me happy what the fuck am I doing it for.
Pz
- Mr
Lingo
- Photo Credit: Jeff Metal & Jamey
Howard
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