Ligeia

So guys first off tell us a little bit about who’s in the band? Where you
all grew up? How you met each other? And how the band formed?

Ryan, Phil, and I are all born and raised in Western Mass and Bennett and CJ
are from Enfield, Ct. We met playing shows together (in different bands) in
our local scene and we decided to start Ligeia as a serious project for
once. We solidified the line-up in early 2005 with the addition of Bennett on
bass and CJ on guitar.

Where is the name Ligeia derived from?

Ligeia is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. It's a depressing, overly
romanticised love story about mourning the loss of the lady "Ligeia". It was
just a name that we didn't absolutely hate and we just decided to stick with
it for the long run.

You’re also a fairly new band, forming in late 2004/ early 2005 how did
Ferret come across you guys? Did you record a demo and send them out? Or
was it word of mouth from your live shows?

We actually played a couple shows with Nora and did some demo passing back
and forth with Carl Severson. We got into the studio to record a full length
entitled 'your Ghost is a gift' in December 2004 and April 2005. We started
tracking with Ken Susi at his home studio and Ferret became more and more
involved. We couldn’t be happier about being on Ferret, the label's roster is
absolutely incredible and the dudes at Ferret are like family.

How would you describe your sound?

Our sound is based upon heavy honest music with melody. We attempt to cover
the spectrum of emotions through the most honest portrayal as possible. We
write music that we identify with personally and we strive to express the
truth whether it is positive or negative.

You’ve chosen an interesting name for the album is there a story behind the name - I mean I take it you guys weren’t moved by the film ghost? Or that you have any supernatural abilities that allow you to communicate with the dead? (Or do you? cause that would make for one hell of an interesting interview could we pretend?)

We felt that the title 'Your Ghost is a Gift' was appropriate considering our name Ligeia and the subject matter contained in many of the lyrics.
Although the title can be interpreted differently 'Your Ghost is a Gift' was the perfect was to say 'fuck you' without being stupid or cliché'. Many who hindered our lives with personal crisis and relationship drama prior to recording the album definitely help to destroy our overall sense of hope and we just felt the title fit perfectly.

Have any of you ever experienced a supernatural occurrence? Seen a ghost?
Moved an object telekinetically? Or made someone spontaneously combust?

Okay so one night I was sleeping in my house and it was like 4am and I woke
up to a black hooded figure standing by my bed and he was holding a big
shiny ass knife. At first I thought 'is this guy really trying to rob me
with a knife? " Then I quickly proceeded by attacking this "figure" and
only succeeded to run straight into a concrete wall breaking my nose and
giving myself a severe confusion. The second I hit that concrete I realized
no one was there. It was a pretty sweet ghostly fotch dobbler picer for
sure. Unfortunately I am still confused by the situation but it’s was definitely
funny as hell.

I’m sorry, English humour getting the better of me. I’m not really one to interpret lyrics mainly cause I always read something and misinterpret it but also because lyrics are such a personal thing to the person writing them. So naturally I'm interested in what the process men’t to Keith? What sorts of event's inspired him? Rather than make my own
assumptions.

The lyrics for “Your Ghost is a Gift” are a hundred percent honest and
mainly represent hard times and how I dealt with my own personal hardships.
Although I’m sure many of the lyrics can be interpreted in different ways,
most of the words were written to vent out emotions I couldn't comfortably
express any other way. The songs on Your Ghost is a Gift gave me a chance to
speak out against my situation and it made something positive out of many
extremely negative experiences. I am extremely grateful to have this record
available for others to enjoy because I put everything into the lyrics without
a doubt.

Were you guys in bands before? And what was your involvement within the
hardcore scene prior to the band?

We all played in separate hardcore metal bands in the western Mass
scene. Phil, Ryan and myself started Ligeia as a serious project based around
truth and music. We focused on writing music we felt rather creating music to admire duelling guitar solos, drum solos, and workday meaningless lyrics. This band is who we are and we are extremely grateful for the chance to play music we enjoy everyday.

Also what had you been doing before you went out on the road and the deal
was made? Were you in college or working full time?

We had been playing so many shows around New England just as a local band and we also did many run down DIY tours down the east coast and across the Midwest before signing to Ferret. Phil was still in High school when we
started the band and I was studying Business Management in college as well,
but we soon decided to spend 100% on Ligeia before we lost our chance. We
all work shitty jobs when are home to raise funds for tour, but hopefully
someday we'll be able to fund ourselves accordingly.


This is going back a few years ago now but I did an interview with From
Autumn To Ashes when they came over to the UK for the first time off of the
back of “Too Bad Your Beautiful and I remember asking them what there
parents all thought of there music and how they preceded to tell me about how they
would walk about there home town in FATA merch and kids would come up to them and
ask where they got the shirt & how they knew the band and the parent would
quite proudly say “my sons in the band Are your parents / family into
your music? Are they happy for you and do they understand why you want get into
a van and drive around the country?

Our families are definitely supportive especially now that the record is in
stores. But it wasn’t always like that what so ever, we definitely paid our
dues. I just think that they finally realized that we weren't going to let
anything or anyone stop us from playing music.

“Your Ghost Is A Gift is rich in both emotion and melody as it is
aggressive and it’s refreshing to hear that all blend so effortlessly. I
take it your all happy with the outcome? What was the recording experience like? (How
much time were you in the studio? Was this your first experiences penning
an album? Were there any unexpected challenges that needed to be overcome?)

We absolutely love Ken Susi and everything he did to help us. The recording
process was definitely intense but well worth it. We tracked drums in a day,
guitars and bass in a like 3 days and we tracked my vocals in a matter of
days as well. We recorded the album in December 2004 and April 2005 due to
ken's hectic touring schedule, but we did scattered days here and there and
got the record done.

Are any of you straight edge and what are your sentiments towards the
straight edge movement? Do see it as still being relevant to the state of
hardcore today? I believe it’s great thing within our scene to promote the sort of diversity that allows it’s members to explore avenues such as faith, veganism or abstaining from a drug fuelled lifestyle and for those sorts of sentiments to be actively promoted and up for open discussion because without an outlet for self-discovery and free thought how would we ever grow as people?

We aren't a straight-edge band, but we respect people of different lifestyles
and we do not impose our own lifestyle upon others. I think straight edge is
definitely vital to hardcore today for sure; there are an absolute abundance of incredible straight edge bands out there that make incredible music. I am sure people are more than aware of that and enjoy all types of music much like ourselves.

Is the song “I’m Sorry Your Ugly” in reference to drug abuse and the effect that it has from changing the personality of someone from the person you knew them as into this vision of emptiness and indifference to the life they once led? That beauty is within, how fragile that all is and how quickly that can all change? (And if that interpretation is wrong you are now aware of why I don’t try to interpret lyrics that often haha) Was the theme behind that song based upon a personal experience?

I'm Sorry You're Ugly was a song about someone close to me that became
completely deteriorated by the depths of addiction. They ruined their
self-respect, self-image, and destroyed relationships with people around them. Drug abuse at such an extreme level isn’t acceptable and people need to realize that being dependent of a substance isn’t cool and it can be extremely destructive. Although it's definitely interesting to see how people change when under the wrath of addiction. We aren't a straight edge band but we can understand the serious consequences of drug abuse and the social affect of drug abuse. The song was based upon a first hand account and the lyrics showcase that exact
deterioration.

Tell us about some of your favourite shows or tours? How are you all
adapting to the constant state of being on the road? Do the guys and girls
at Ferret give you much of a break?

We toured with August burns red and Ion dissonance recently which was
incredible. We also did an east coast tour with Ringworm, August burns red
and Demericous. Right now we are out with From A Second Story Window, Dead
to Fall, and Ed Gein, which has been absolutely incredible, these dudes are brutal as hell and every night is a party. We have a full US tour coming up with our label mates Misery Signals as well. We just love meeting new friends on tour and we generally love to have a good time.