Sceneazine.com
Rearview Ghost
by John Smithson
L
oud guitars and powerful gritty vocals are the
fuel for Rearview Ghost ~ a self proclaimed,
“dirty southern hard rock band” ~ led by female vocalist
Josia and comprised of guitarist Craig “King of Noise”
Shadix and bassist Flip Cooper.
Recently voted north Alabama’s “Best Local Rock
Band,” “Best Local Female Singer,” and “Best Overall
Band” in the Valley Planet’s annual, “Best of the Valley 2013,” this North Alabama band has been bucking
trends and pushing boundaries by bringing back an old
flair and mixing in their own modern dirty rock twist
much in the vein of Led Zeppelin, The Dead Weather,
Foo Fighters and The Pretty Reckless.
I had the opportunity to do a litte Q & A with the
band. So sit back, pop the top on a cold one and enjoy.
Your band name where did that come from and
what’s the reasoning behind it?
Our good friend Shay Fogg helped us come up with
the name and since then the name Rearview Ghost has
taken on different meanings for us.
FLIP: Rearview Ghost, for me personally, means
you can never out run your past.
JOSIA: For me, it means although you’re moving
forward in life, you’ll always have your past behind you
Page 4
and hopefully learn from it.
So when did you guys start as a band.
Has anyone played in other bands together?
The band initially started with us (Josia and Flip)
around August 2006. Eddie Carpenter was the original
drummer and he and I were in a band called Bad Kar-
shows often? Do you have any upcoming shows?
We do play a lot of shows. Not sure off the top of our
heads how many we’ve played this year, but we really try
to be out there as much as possible. We’re always adding shows to our pages, and upcoming ones will be in
Nashville, Birmingham, Huntsville, Atlanta and Chattanooga very soon.
If someone asks you to describe
the band’s sound how would you answer that?
Dirty southern hard rock. We
definitely owe our producer Michael Wagener on our second album “Revolution of an Open Mind”
a lot of credit for letting us explore
and play around with our sound.
ma together. Craig joined the band in 2009 and that is
when it felt like we really had our true RVG foundation.
Who are some of you guys influences? Would you say
that’s where you get your
sound from?
As a collective we are
all inspired by so many
different artists that it
would be impossible to
name them all, but here
are some of the ones that
come to mind.
FLIP: My biggest influences would be The
Beatles, Nine Inch Nails,
Black Sabbath, U2, Nikki
Sixx, and Cliff Burton.
JOSIA: My influences are many of the same
as Flip’s- but also Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin,
Queen, Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, Heart…man , there
just too many to name!
I was also heavily influenced by my Italian opera
upbringing.
CRAIG: My influences can come straight out
of nowhere. A favorite
musician, artist, movie, or
even the written word can
spark a burst of creativity.
Do you guys play
Do you guys have a favorite place
that you like to play? What is it that
makes that place your favorite?
We personally don’t have a favorite place to play. Every venue we
play regularly has something special about it, but our fans are awesome everywhere we
go!
If someone was wanting to listen to your band where
would they find your music?
Our music is available almost everywhere, but we
recommend fans going to www.cdbaby.com/cd/rearviewghost to buy our music because they distribute
our music and it’s the cheapest place to get it. Spotify
is another great option because it’s free for the fans, but
our website is definitely a great way to get all of our latest updates on new shows, music, t-shirts and you can
check it out on www.rearviewghost.com.
If you were trying to convince someone to come see
your band what would you tell them? What makes you
different from any other band?
You won’t be bored with our show. We put everything we have into it each night regardless if there are
5 or 5000 people there. We have worked with so many
great bands that it really is from the perspective of the
pe