Not sure what to name your band? Ask a six year old. Thatâs what Ghost Beach did. Smart guys: kids are way more creative than grown ups. Ghost Beachâs Josh Ocean (yes, thatâs his real middle name) and Eric âDocâ Mendelsohn make up the NYC-based duo. Self-described as âtropical grit pop,â in part, Ghost Beach are the Venn diagram of their influencesâPeter Gabriel, Talking Heads, The Police, and Daft Punkâand then some, thanks to a shitload of synths, some nostalgic 80s sonics and even the occasional reggae groove. The sound is unmistakably their own.Below is the premiere of âWithout Youââa tune originally intended for RAC, which, due to timing, Ghost Beach ended up keeping for themselves. With complete creative control the albumâs closing track, is something of a departure, showcasing, in particular, their love for Ace of Base and UB40. We talked to the guys about focusing on the spiritual rather than the supernatural, collaborating with Betty Who, and the irony inherent in their imminent LP, Blonde.
Josh: We met a few years ago while we were in New York working on other music projects. We had another band with some other people.What band?
Josh: [Laughs] It was just another shitty band that we donât really talk about, that will go nameless. We wrote a bunch of songs and started producing them in our buddiesâ attic. It felt like its own thing, so we decided to stop everything else musically and focus on being an electronic duo. Thatâs how we started and became Ghost Beach.Whatâs the story behind the name?
Josh: The funny thing was, once we decided to start the duo, we got together with our friend Nick Hart who is a producer friend of mine. We were working with him on some songs for a while. He was helping us get started in the programming sense of things. We didnât have a name. We worked on music with him for six months and we had no name. One day, it got to the point where he was like, âWhat are you going to call this, what are you going to call this?â We were just like âWe donât know.â So, he played our music for his six-year-old daughter and she said we should call it Ghost Beach. We were like âOkay, sounds good.âI think all band should ask a kid to come up with their band names. How did she come up with that?
Josh: I donât really know. He said kids are really good at coming up with band names. He said my daughter could come up with band names. I was like, âNo, weâre gonna think of this.â It makes sense though, my middle name is âOceanâ and I grew up on an island. And Doc is spooky. Just kidding.Did you have hippy parents?
Josh: Yup. I did not make that up. I had super hippy parents that lived on an island. I was born on an island with no roads: Fire Island. Have you heard of it?Yeah! Iâve wanted to go out there.
Josh:If we have a party out there, you should totally come out.Iâll take you up on that! When I saw Betty Who, she said she worked on a track with you guys called âLovinâ Start.â How did that happen?
Josh: Betty has become a good friend of ours. We crossed paths over the summer and instantly had a connection, so when she asked us if we wanted to collaborate we were excited. She's a super fun person so naturally the session was exciting. We all kinda got to geek out on some guilty pleasure influences that we funneled into the track. We love it. We are excited for it come out![Read Noiseyâs interview with Betty Who here.]How did Blonde become the title of your record?
Josh: We didnât really think about it too much. We knew we needed to come up with a name for the album. We sort of woke up with the idea of calling it Blonde, which is an interesting ideaâitâs a state of mind, a hair color, which is a superficial thing. It has so many stigmas attached to it. Our music is bright and people associate it with this bright, poppy and happy thing. When Doc and I write music, it doesnât come from a very happy, poppy place most of the time if you listen to the lyrics.Doc: I think that what Josh said, Blonde is an idealized image in our culture. Itâs an idealized state of being: blonde and carefree. Thereâs an irony there when it comes to superficiality. I think that we equate it to something like that.You guys said that even though the lyrics sound happy, they donât come from a happy place. What kind of topics are your referring to?
Doc: I think a lot of our lyrics come from a place of longing for self-growth and an idealized state of feeling re-connected and in control. Thereâs a lot of growing up, living and growing older in this world. Thereâs a lot of managing what you can and canât control: that juxtaposition to scenarios. Whether or not we meant for it to be, the places we were in caused us to end up writing songs about that feeling.
Josh: Just to expand upon that, our song âMiracle,â which is one of our more popular songs, people hear the main chorus as âItâs a miracle Iâm in love again.â That song is really about being at such a low point that you have nowhere to go, but up. Itâs like, Iâll take another breath, Iâll see inspiration again. I think everyone has those moments from time to time. We wrote that in our tiny rehearsal space, and there were dead roaches on the floor. I think what Doc said was perfect.
Josh: I think when music is done right, it comes from another place. When Doc and I connect on writing a song, itâs a very easy process. In that sense, not to sound stupid about it, but thatâs a sort of supernatural thing: being hit with the right song. For example, the song youâre going to premiere, âWithout You,â Doc brought a brand new Volkswagen camper van. We drove to the top of this hill and wrote the song in 15 minutes.
Doc: It was like an hour.
Josh: It felt like 15 minutes. Thatâs an interesting thing. Whatever. The short answer is, no weâre not inspired by spirits. The spiritual answer is, yes weâre all connected to the spirits.Blonde is out on 3.4 via Nettwerk Records.Ilana loves peanut butter and banana sandwiches and good good music. Follow her on Twitter -@lanikaps.
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Noisey: You guys are currently in London, right? How is it over there?Josh Ocean:Itâs great. Today was our sightseeing day! We walked along the river, saw Big Ben, Westminster and had dinner in Shoreditch. Now weâre just enjoying a few nightcaps at this place called The Pineapple. Itâs near where weâre staying. It just seems like the appropriate place to hang out.I mean if there were a pineapple in the name, Iâd be there too. How did you guys meet?
Josh: We met a few years ago while we were in New York working on other music projects. We had another band with some other people.What band?
Josh: [Laughs] It was just another shitty band that we donât really talk about, that will go nameless. We wrote a bunch of songs and started producing them in our buddiesâ attic. It felt like its own thing, so we decided to stop everything else musically and focus on being an electronic duo. Thatâs how we started and became Ghost Beach.Whatâs the story behind the name?
Josh: The funny thing was, once we decided to start the duo, we got together with our friend Nick Hart who is a producer friend of mine. We were working with him on some songs for a while. He was helping us get started in the programming sense of things. We didnât have a name. We worked on music with him for six months and we had no name. One day, it got to the point where he was like, âWhat are you going to call this, what are you going to call this?â We were just like âWe donât know.â So, he played our music for his six-year-old daughter and she said we should call it Ghost Beach. We were like âOkay, sounds good.â
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Josh: I donât really know. He said kids are really good at coming up with band names. He said my daughter could come up with band names. I was like, âNo, weâre gonna think of this.â It makes sense though, my middle name is âOceanâ and I grew up on an island. And Doc is spooky. Just kidding.Did you have hippy parents?
Josh: Yup. I did not make that up. I had super hippy parents that lived on an island. I was born on an island with no roads: Fire Island. Have you heard of it?Yeah! Iâve wanted to go out there.
Josh:If we have a party out there, you should totally come out.Iâll take you up on that! When I saw Betty Who, she said she worked on a track with you guys called âLovinâ Start.â How did that happen?
Josh: Betty has become a good friend of ours. We crossed paths over the summer and instantly had a connection, so when she asked us if we wanted to collaborate we were excited. She's a super fun person so naturally the session was exciting. We all kinda got to geek out on some guilty pleasure influences that we funneled into the track. We love it. We are excited for it come out![Read Noiseyâs interview with Betty Who here.]How did Blonde become the title of your record?
Josh: We didnât really think about it too much. We knew we needed to come up with a name for the album. We sort of woke up with the idea of calling it Blonde, which is an interesting ideaâitâs a state of mind, a hair color, which is a superficial thing. It has so many stigmas attached to it. Our music is bright and people associate it with this bright, poppy and happy thing. When Doc and I write music, it doesnât come from a very happy, poppy place most of the time if you listen to the lyrics.
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Doc: I think a lot of our lyrics come from a place of longing for self-growth and an idealized state of feeling re-connected and in control. Thereâs a lot of growing up, living and growing older in this world. Thereâs a lot of managing what you can and canât control: that juxtaposition to scenarios. Whether or not we meant for it to be, the places we were in caused us to end up writing songs about that feeling.
Josh: Just to expand upon that, our song âMiracle,â which is one of our more popular songs, people hear the main chorus as âItâs a miracle Iâm in love again.â That song is really about being at such a low point that you have nowhere to go, but up. Itâs like, Iâll take another breath, Iâll see inspiration again. I think everyone has those moments from time to time. We wrote that in our tiny rehearsal space, and there were dead roaches on the floor. I think what Doc said was perfect.
Without a doubt. I guess a lot of listeners might take that in the literal sense though, for sure. Are there any supernatural aspects to your music?
Josh: I think when music is done right, it comes from another place. When Doc and I connect on writing a song, itâs a very easy process. In that sense, not to sound stupid about it, but thatâs a sort of supernatural thing: being hit with the right song. For example, the song youâre going to premiere, âWithout You,â Doc brought a brand new Volkswagen camper van. We drove to the top of this hill and wrote the song in 15 minutes.
Doc: It was like an hour.
Josh: It felt like 15 minutes. Thatâs an interesting thing. Whatever. The short answer is, no weâre not inspired by spirits. The spiritual answer is, yes weâre all connected to the spirits.Blonde is out on 3.4 via Nettwerk Records.Ilana loves peanut butter and banana sandwiches and good good music. Follow her on Twitter -@lanikaps.