We’ve been given the honour of premièring the new Willard Grant Conspiracy’s film, which accompanies their new record Ghost Republic which is out this week. The film was made by Joy Camp’s Keven Kostelnik, with photos by Jason Hughes, text by Robert Fisher and music by Willard Grant Conspiracy, in that it is soundtracked by a full stream of the new album. Watch it here:
There will also be a Ghost Republic book. In the words of Robert Fisher, “The record and film will be joined by the release of a book called “Ghost Republic” that is a collaboration of writers and poets along with photographs that are both a hallucination involving the ghost town that is the former mining town of Bodie, CA and a meditation on places that have lost hope through imagining the characters who might have inhabited such a place.”
Ghost Republic is the first album from Willard Grant Conspiracy since Paper Covers Stone (2009) and the first album of entirely new music since Pilgrim Road (2008). The album was written and recorded in Massachusetts by David Michael Curry and Robert Fisher of Willard Grant Conspiracy.
Although the band was formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1995 and was based there for many years, Fisher moved back to his native California and has been living in the high desert since 2006. The ensuing years have seen numerous incarnations of the band, both live and on record. But one of the most enduring partnerships seems to be the one Fisher has with Curry. In many ways Ghost Republic is a celebration of this musical partnership. David Michael Curry is the band’s principle viola player and a longtime musical foil for Fisher’s evocative baritone. The viola and other instruments that Curry plays on Ghost Republic offer examples of his unique style that has made him a valued member of WGC during the history of the band as well as a constant member of the Thalia Zedek Band, the Hidden Tooth noise ensemble where he works with guitarist Chris Brokaw and his own Empty House Cooperative.
Here Robert Fisher tells of the origins of the Ghost Republic album “First there is living in the high desert. Lancaster. Quartz Hill. Littlerock. Pearblossom. A far flung corner of the county of Los Angeles. A place for the forgotten and for those the rest of the city wishes to forget. Land of theJoshua Trees. Land of the Rattlesnakes. The Mojave Green. An Outpost. The Devil’s Punchbowl. An inhospitable place that men have forced themselves upon in an uneasy truce between cheap land and great ambition. This land still has teeth and venom. The Border. Heading east, the next stop is Mojave, Death Valley or the Eastern Sierra Mountains where towns have names like Lone Pine and Independence. And the road negotiates with places like Convict Creek and Mono Lake. A road less travelled.”
Ghost Republic, the Record is available on Loose. Ghost Republic the Book, is being published by Ampersand. The Film of Ghost Republic, will be available for viewing on your favourite media sites.
UK TOUR DATES
17 Oct – BRIGHTON, Green Door Store
18 Oct – LONDON, Bush Hall
19 Oct – KILKENNY, Cleere’s
20 Oct – CORK, The Crane Lane Theatre
22 Oct – GLASGOW, Broadcast
23 Oct – NEWCASTLE, The Cluny 2
27 Oct – EXETER, Phoenix
28 Oct – BRUSSELS, Botanique
