Buy It NOW!

 

 

Strictly speaking, Ghostland Observatory is not a band. It's an agreement between two friends to create something that not only heals their beat-driven hearts, but pleases their rock 'n roll souls. Taking the working man's approach, Ghostland Observatory spend countless hours in their Austin, Texas, studio. Operating completely outside the music industry, they have released two albums in less than a year, and have moved audiences from coast to coast with their live performances and unique style. Now the duo -- frontman Aaron Behrens and producer-drummer Thomas Turner -- is about to self-release a third album, Robotique Majestique. Behrens' vocal style and stage performances are unique and uncompromising, and he has drawn comparisons to Freddie Mercury and Prince. Turner is heavily influenced by electronic artists such as Daft Punk, Laurent Garnier and Green Velvet, as well as rockers such as The Animals, David Bowie and The Clash. The duo is part of the leading edge of a new world order. The two have never had anything to do with the music industry and have self-released their albums, yet they are big enough—through word of mouth and internet buzz—to appear on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and put out a live DVD. We caught up with Turner for our music issue.

PLAYBOY: Ghostland Observatory is a two-piece band. Did you and [vocalist] Aaron Behrens ever try to add more members?

TURNER: When we were first working together we were playing really experimental stuff. We stopped, came back and started writing more Beatles-type standard rock. We needed a bass player and a drummer. Then either the drummer would flake out or the bass player wasn't into it. We missed a couple of gigs because of it. We said, screw it and decided to make it a two-piece. We made it work for a while with those songs. Then we started making our own sound with the tools that we had, knowing it was going to be a two piece from there on out.

PLAYBOY: Having only two members must be tough. Did you ever fight and break up?

TURNER: Yeah. When we were first going at it we would practice from seven at night until three or four in the morning and then go to work. We were seeing each other almost every day. We saw each other more than we would see anyone else. Some drama is going to go down eventually. There were a couple of those but over the years it taught us that we're two completely different people who connect.

PLAYBOY: One of your first jobs was promoting raves in Austin. Got any horror stories?

TURNER: The last party I did was in a two-story warehouse downtown. Somebody called the fire marshall. He showed up and found some codes that were not kosher. The cops showed up with riot gear and shut it down. After that one I decided to do something else. It was getting really stressful. I checked out the DJs and how they flew in, banged it for an hour, got paid and flew home. I thought, that's where the real money is at.

PLAYBOY: What's the best live show you've seen this year?

TURNER: I didn't get to see it! We were too tired. For Lollapalooza in Chicago, we drove all night, loaded in first thing in the morning, played at noon, had to go across town and load in for an after-show at midnight. My plan was to see Daft Punk perform that night but by the time I got to where we were staying it was already six o'clock and I hadn't slept. I thought I'd crash for a couple of hours then catch a cab down there and catch another cab to the after-show but I decided the last thing I wanted to do was to get stuck behind 80,000 people trying to catch cabs and miss the after-show. Afterwards, I went back and looked at the YouTube footage and thought, you idiot! You should have gone. It looked insane.

PLAYBOY: Where did you get the cape you wear on stage and do you own more than one?

TURNER: I did own more than one but I threw it out at the Austin City Limits concert. My wife made both of them but she made me one for the ACL performance that was extra sparkly for the lights. Before the show I realized that we might not ever play for that many people again. I thought, I'm throwing the cape out. I asked my wife if it was cool and for a long time she kept saying, I'm not going to keep making you these things so you can throw them in the crowd. But as soon as we were walking out on stage she said, alright you can throw it out if you want. After we were done I chucked it out there so I'm back to owning just one.

PLAYBOY: Did the cape show up on eBay?

TURNER: No. But after our show we were driving back to put our gear in the studio and I saw a dude walking down Sixth Street where are the clubs are and he had the cape on. He and his buddies were having a good time!

Return to