The Phantoms, who are playing the Ralph's Life CD launch party in Edinburgh on April 30th came on the kennel's radar last year and have impressed ever since.The Phantoms are Colin Simpson on Vocals and Rhythm Guitar, Colin McKillop on Lead Guitar, Peter Stewart on Bass and Backing Vocals with Brad Young on Drums. They began with local gigs in their home town of Broxburn, and have since branched out into Edinburgh and Glasgow, landing gigs at venues such as Cab Vol, The Electric Circus, The Liquid Rooms, Maggie Mays, Sneaky Petes and Pivo Pivo, getting them noticed on the way by Jim Gellatly et al.
Revolution by The Phantoms
The Phantoms recently released their new single 'Revolution' to no small amount of critical acclaim at a launch night in Sneaky Pete's in Edinburgh and it's the perfect example of how they've built up a stronger, fuller sound. With that in mind Ralph posed them some of his usual incisive questions...
Ralph: Obvious question first, where do your influences lie?
The Phantoms: Kasabian, The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys
Ralph: How did the band get together?The Phantoms: Met through school, the band got together through the breaking up of a previous band, but we all met through school.
Ralph: Over the last year the tracks you've released have developed a bigger more 'grown up' sound...where does the inspiration/development come from?The Phantoms: Not really sure, every time we release something we think it has to be better than the last, sound, bigger. A lot of our inspiration comes from listening to our own stuff. With everything we release we have to be convinced its
better than the last thing we did.
Ralph: Given you've been noticed and plugged by Jim Gellatly any approaches/plans for playing some of the festivals this year?The Phantoms: Not as of yet, maybe next year, maybe a bit early for us.
Ralph: Studio or live?
The Phantoms: Couldn't possibly choose. Studio is great because it means we get to release something new, but playing live is great, we love the energy.
Ralph: The new single 'Revolution' has been picking up airplay, any hints as to what's next?
The Phantoms: 'Revolution' was a massive success for us, radio play from everywhere like Forth One, Amazing Radio etc, we made The Scottish Sun to promote it as well. We've got a couple of gigs lined up at the end of the month, but we'll probably start working our next release after that.
Ralph: Bacon Roll or Gregg's Steak Bake (you can't have both)?The Phantoms: Bacon Roll
Ralph: Who would you most like to share a bill with and where?
The Phantoms: Kasabian are playing a hometown show is Leicester in the summer, that would be incredible.
Ralph: Album or EP?
The Phantoms: Album
Ralph: Finally, any plans for venturing further South in the near future?
The Phantoms: We did a tour last year and played quite a few dates down south. We're not really sure about this year but we'll wait and see.
If you're in Edinburgh and want to catch the Phantoms live then come along to the Ralph's Life CD Launch Night in Electric Circus on April 30th - tickets are only £4 in advance by clicking on this link and includes sets by Universal Thee and Steve Heron
