Awkward isn’t the end of the world. Allyson Baker of Dirty Ghosts gets by just fine with her awkward self. Sure she didn’t like her voice and refused to sing for years until one day she looked at all of her completed songs, with no vocals. She gave in. The final product falls somewhere in between dubstep and a guitar riff billowing down an echo chamber, Baker’s voice biting off vowels and wallowing in her words.
Dirty Ghosts newest, Metal Moon, comes from Last Gang Records and is co-produced by Aesop Rock, who happens to be Baker’s husband. But don’t let that give you the impression that Baker is cool beans, because how cool can a band be when they base their name off a Norm Macdonald joke?
Smashed Chair: What did your parents listen to? What songs instantly remind of your parents or your childhood?
Allyson Baker:A lot of 80's funk, R&B and jazz. The Gap Band, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Ashford and Simpson, Tower of Power, Rick James, Anita Baker, and lots of Luther Vandross, mom and dad's fave. Anything off Quincy Jones "Back on the Block" instantly reminds me of riding in the back of my parent's car.
SC: There was a time when you didn't want to sing and then you said, 'Fuck it.' Is this pretty common for you in your major life decisions?
AB:Yes absolutely. A lot of major life decisions for me are a result of my resisting something for a long time and then I'm backed into a corner and I give up.
SC: Is it easier now that there are so many devices to listen to music to get your name out there or is it more difficult, because it's just one big soup of noise?
AB:I think it's easier but maybe it's more difficult to manage.
SC: Have you gotten a lot of flack from drummers because you went the route of pre-recorded percussionisms? (that's not a real word)
AB:Actually everyone's been really cool about it. Live though, we use a drummer and also there's live drumming on the album that wasn't there before so maybe it's a little less offensive.
SC: Dirty Ghosts are touring up and down CA (California) - could you tell me one positive and one negative of the Golden State?
AB: Positive - You can be out of the Tenderloin and in Napa in an hour and change.
Negative - I really can't think of any except maybe that California is not a part of Canada.
SC: Since your band's name comes from an old Norm McDonald joke, does that mean you were awkward teenagers growing up? Who wasn't right? Please make me feel better with a story.
AB:I'm still pretty awkward as an adult. Last time Norm was in town my friend Chris McVicker (Swiftumz) and I waited outside for him in the dark like two creeps after a gig and completely weirded him out. We forced him to talk to us which in turn made him feel obligated to invite us to the bar he was going to. So we walk over there with him and his friend, everyone is uncomfortable and Chris and I are secretly high fiving each other all the way there. So Chris and I go to the bar to order a drink and Chris starts laughing and says "Oh my god dude turn around!" I look behind me and I see Norm and his friend making a beeline for the back door and then immediately get into their car and drive off.
