09 May Interview with The Sound of Ghosts
Interview by Summer Armstrong
The Sound of Ghosts are a Folk-Americana band that have been playing together since 2014. The band consists of 4 members: James Orbison, Anna Orbison, Jon Sarna, and Joey Mackey.
A unique aspect of their band is that members interchange for some of their shows. They have legendary trumpet player, Paul Litteral, and a fiddle player, Hero, who play with them from time to time.
With every band name, comes a story. The name of their band has a special meaning behind it. One of James Orbison’s close friends, Dave Lamb, was in a band called Brown Bird. The band was doing very well at the time, playing at Stagecoach and touring all over when Dave was diagnosed with leukemia. After his passing, James was inspired to pursue music again. As a nod to his good friend, the band was named after Brown Bird’s first album, The Sound of Ghosts.
As a band, many of their influences are scattered around. When asked about their inspirations, Anna says that, “the people in the band listen to such a wide variety of music, so I think that’s honestly one of our strongest suits. We’re just music appreciators across the board” – Anna Orbison, for FanFlex.
“We definitely pull from all different areas to kind of make our sound. I think that’s what makes us different. We’re not a straight-forward folk-band or Americana or rock, we kind of blend. We are [just] constantly trying to keep pushing the envelope forward” – James Orbison, for FanFlex.
From their blend of music, playing live and getting to play for others is where the band thrives. They live for high energy shows and leave it all on the stage. Getting to play live and being huge music fans, concerts are an experience they think fondly of.
“It’s just the experience of connection. You don’t really get that anywhere else…and it always makes you think of this one moment. That’s really cool, but I think [as far as like] the human connection piece, there’s no substitute for that and we all need more of that” – Anna Orbison, for FanFlex.
Talking about what excites them most about FanFlex, James speaks about “the opportunities to connect with different venues and build relationships and [also] to see that FanFlex has multiple venues in different states. I think it’s a unique thing [as well] is when you join FanFlex and you become a part of their community, you don’t only have access to what is available in your own city, but throughout the United States…” – James Orbison, for FanFlex.
As for future projects, they are flushing out new songs and are excited to head back into the studio!
Don’t miss out and catch The Sound of Ghosts’ show at Hotel Ziggy on May 13th!