6/2/2023 0 Comments Ghostnote band keyboardIt was Sput who brought Washington, Sparks and flutist Karl Denson to the party. “When we finally met it was a year before that Swagism session, but we were like brothers before we even saw each other face to face.” “Weedie and I were internet friends for a year and a half before we met,” says Werth. The way he talks, the way he moves, the way he plays, the way he thinks.” “And when you hear him play, he does even something different than that to you. “Weedie is somebody that when you meet Weedie, he makes an immediate impact on your life,” says Sput. The 18-track record gains depth thanks to contributions from the likes of saxophonist Kamasi Washington, keyboardist Bobby Sparks, trumpeter Justin Stanton and djembe player Weedie Braimah. If you listen closely you hear that it’s MonoNeon and AJ Brown communicating to each other and playing as one.”Ī long list of guest musicians and vocalists join Ghost-Note on Swagism. “One of the songs on the record is called ‘Smack ’em’. So now we have the three sax section: alto, tenor and bari, where the bari player doubles as tenor, and that is such a great sound. The third guy is another guy from the Dallas scene and he plays tenor primarily. “So now that makes sense to have both of them. Then to sub for him, the guy that we chose was primarily an alto player,” Werth says. “It started out with just Sylvester Onyejiaka and he was playing tenor and baritone. The band’s stylistic audacity grew as more players came into the fold. Sput and Werth put the expanded lineup to work on Swagism, incorporating elements of hip hop, Afrobeat, psychedelia and other global music forms. “The majority of the time, that sub had such a unique voice or a powerful voice on their instrument that inspired us that we wanted them to be part of the band.” “We started to try to tour more and if someone couldn’t make a tour we’d have a replacement or a sub,” says Werth. It just kept going until it got to where it is now,” he says. There were so many configurations of that within itself. “We had to consider starting a band, hiring guys to be in a band to help us share this music live. ![]() “The growth of the band’s personnel happened out of necessity when it came time to tour Fortified”, says Sput. ![]() In the meantime, Ghost-Note had transformed from a percussion-centric collaboration between drummer Robert “Sput” Searight and percussionist Nate Werth into an eight-piece ensemble featuring three horn players, two bassists and a keyboard player. Released in April 2018, Swagism followed the project’s 2015 debut, Fortified. It’s a bold name for a bold record the second from Texan funk-futurists, Ghost-Note. ![]() Words by Augustus Welby We chat to the genre-bending connoisseurs before their drop Down Under.
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