Can you provide a brief introduction to people about the band? Where are you from, what kind of music, how long you have been a band?

We’re a 4-piece (currently 3) indie rock/alt/emo band from Toronto, ON, Canada. We’ve been rocking and also rolling for about 3 years.

This is your first US tour, what’s the experience been like? How are the venues, and the people you have met so far?

The experience has been pretty good so far! We've had a few shows fall through, unfortunately, but all in all, the kids who've come out to the shows have been really into the jams. It's so nice to see people genuinely interested in what you're about when they've never heard you before. It's surreal man. People are great sometimes.

What are some activities that you do to stay busy on the road?

Not too many activities actually. When we're driving, we generally just chill - listen to music, talk, read, sleep - the drives on this run have been fairly short so our attention spans haven’t really been an issue. When we actually arrive at cities, we like to explore as much as possible, not just hang in the van or venue. We also like finding new tattoo shops and getting tattooed everywhere. We did, however, have a couple days off and had some nasty games of Settlers of Catan with Kayak.

Have you had the chances to stop and see any of the sites along the way?

Yeah, since it’s our first time to a lot of these places, we’ve been trying to go to the main attractions in each city. Obviously spending the day in NYC was badass (mainly Halal Guys), looking over the city of Pittsburgh from the top of the incline, Letchworth State Park, Hoover Dam in Columbus, etc. Also seeing a legit frat house was crazy haha. We don’t have those in Canada.

Image from Buffalo, NY show at The Lair. Photo credit: Veronica Mullen Media.

You had some difficulties even before you played your first show on tour.

First of all, it’s a long, expensive process to get P2 visas to tour the states, which is tough for bands on smaller tours. On top of that, our bassist quit a few weeks out from tour, so we locked in a US fill-in, who bailed the first day of tour. So we got the bass tracks from our recordings, put them to click and that’s our bassist for this tour.

The band you are touring with Kayak Jones, comes from a pretty far distance away. A lot of smaller tours usually end up being booked with bands from the same area. How did you guys hook up with Kayak Jones, and what is it like to hang out with another band day after day for weeks?

We got hooked up with them from our agent. I guess they’ve worked together before and thought we’d be a good fit. The majority of this tour has been in areas that neither of us have been which is interesting. They’re great dudes though - it’s been cool chilling with them.

Have you been fortunate enough to find places to stay on the road?

Lots of people have put us up which is very cool. So great of people to open their homes to us. Some nights we haven’t been able to find a place though, so we’ve definitely crashed in the van in Walmart parking lots.

Do you think you adequately packed for tour, or are you missing any essential things? What’s one piece of advice you would give to others on packing and preparing for tour?

I think all of us have packed everything we’ve needed haha. I would say, personally, bringing lots of medicine, Echinacea, multivitamins are a great idea - you tend to not eat very healthily on tour. And right now I’m sick, and regretting not trying to have more vegetables every day.

Let’s talk a little about your music. You have a more unique sound than a lot of the pop punk bands that are starting to break out of Toronto. Could you describe what influences you have had that helped shape your music?

Bands, events, people etc. I don’t really think we’re grouped into the pop punk scene, not that it’s not good music, but we do try to have a different sound than a lot of what is coming out right now. Bands we’re heavily influenced by would be Jimmy Eat World, Now, Now, Bloc Party, American Football, etc. I don’t think there are any events or certain people that influence us, other than musicians in certain bands. Although, 2/3 of us are music producers/engineers so great producers always come to mind when trying to push boundaries creatively.

Can we expect any new music from First Ghost soon? Are you finding time to write it? Do you find it easier to be creative and come up with new songs on the road or at home?

We’re actually putting out a “re-imagined” EP very soon which is a few of our songs done in completely different ways (different arrangement, structure, instrumentation, etc.), while we work on our first full length. We have about 20 songs we’re working on right now, most of which we have some sort of demo for, that we’re planning on putting to tape in February. We have actually been writing a good amount on the road. Seeing different bands every night and talking with different bands for sure inspires new ideas.

Any shout outs, or last thoughts?

Thanks to everyone who is coming out to see us for the first time, as this is our first time to any of these cities. So cool to see. Also to everyone who helped put the shows on - the DIY scene in the US is real as hell. And just a quick shout to anyone wanting to hear what we sound like, our latest EP “Secret Talk” is on Bandcamp, iTunes, Spotify and Apple Music. Please check it out!