1. As of now the band is doing a mini-tour up to Oregon in March and also playing some locals shows here in San Jose, CA. We've been writing some new music which we're pretty stoked about. We have this new track called Sleeping Panther which is a throw back to the 70's classic rock thing and another new track which has an 80's Dio kind of vibe to it which we get a kick out of playing. It's a lot of fun to have that variation.1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
2. Two years ago when we did the EP was more or less our demo in order to get gigs or have something to sell or give away at our shows when we started out. Those tracks were some of the first we wrote as a band trying to find our style and sound development. We've come a long way with our writing and style since then in a short time. The musical direction for the album sort of came pretty naturally. We didn't try to force ourselves to try and write an album. We spent a long time piecing together the songs so they all sounded consistent with each other. The longer tracks like Fall Of The Dagger and First Light were collections of these super insane cool riffs that came to us at such a fast pace, before we knew it we had a 14 minute track. All of us really pushed ourselves to make it as rad as possible.2.Recently you have released a new album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical direction of the new release and also how does it differ from the ep you had released 2 years ago?
3. The album's lyrical content is comprised of subjects like the after life, aliens, the metaphysical world, mythical beasts, Native Americans, time travel, space adventures and booze. When we write a new song we come up with a topic or story they want to tell that matches the music. The title track "Fall of the Dagger" is about an exiled alien who travels through space and time only to crash-land his spaceship (the Dagger) on primitive earth. He is accepted by the native peoples, participates in their smoking rites, and eventually gives them the gift of the electric guitar. Weird shit like that. Of course there's also the drinking songs. Hah.3.Can you tell us a little bit about about the lyrical topics and subjects of the new album?
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Forgotten Gods'?
4. Got the name from a novella by H.P Lovecraft called The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. Here's the quote, although its really not that great of a line: "There he bought his passage to Celephais on a great green galleon, and there he stopped for the night after speaking gravely to the venerable cat of that inn, who blinked dozing before an enormous hearth and dreamed of old wars and forgotten gods."
5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
5. Some of the best shows we've played have been completely random. We played at this local club that we've played at a bunch of times but this one night was different. One of those freakish nights where the place was packed, the crowd was super into it and we had a blast. Unfortunately we left our merch booth unattended and a bunch of people stole our shirts. Which was kind of lame and cool at the time because we heard the next day tons of people were sporting our shirts around town. Another great show just happened last week up in Oakland. We played with Cropburner, Disateroid, and Sludgebucket who are also all Bay Area stoner rock bands. It was a blast having tons of people there all into the same style of music. The best thing about it was you can see our small scene here starting to thrive and get bigger. It's a great feeling when something like this starts building, you just wanna rock even harder next time. Our on stage performance is focused around the music first, rocking out, pounding some micro brews and having a toke or two. We've had a few on stage bails which have been pretty funny which makes for good laughs and stories. We love to party.
6.Do you have any plans to do any live shows outside of California in the future?
6. Right now we're pretty focused on getting up north to Oregon and Washington. There's also been some talks about heading to the southwest like New Mexico, Arizona, Austin TX would be pretty solid. We've just acquired a van for us to tour in so at this point the sky is the limit.
7.Have you received any label interest for this band?
7. Not really. We talked about maybe shopping around for a label before we put the album but we realized we're a lot better off having everything under our control. We worked hard at making it what it is and we figured it would kind of suck if someone had control over that. We might be down someday if the right label came along, but for right now we've got a pretty good thing going.
8. The response to our album has been great. We've even got fans out in Norway and Sweden. The internet has really helped us spread our music. Everyone seems really into us and digs our style even though we're not super heavy droned and doom. We have a progressive rock sound which blends will with our stoner rock vibe. We love all the positive feedback we get from our fans, we love that they get what we're doing.8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of stoner and doom metal?
9. For the future I think we're going to keep on keeping on with the sound we have. We've been keeping the newer tracks short and sweet. When we write songs they're created out of jams at practice. If something sounds bad ass we'll record it, then email it to each other so we can jam it out next time. We do that a few times over and next thing you know we have a new song. It's all in the jamming and that's the creative essence of the band.9.Where do you see this band heading into musically during the future?
10.What are some of the musical styles or bands that have had an influence on the band members?
10. All three of us come from such a huge array influence. Anything from Mahavishnu Orchestra, Steely Dan, The Meters, Black Sabbath, Alan Parsons Project, Rush. It goes on and on. We're all pretty well versed in everything from Funk, Reggae, Fusion, and Metal. Sometimes at practice it's pretty normal to go into a reggae jam or jazz fusion thing just for fun. Keeping up those chops makes you a better well rounded musician. Non of us could ever possibly think about playing just one style of music. But we always keep with in the stoner rock sound first and foremost.
11.For readers that will be hearing of the band from the interview, do you have any links they can look up to hear your music?
11. Website: http://ghostsandfire.com/
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
12. There's two bulls standing on top of a mountain. The younger one says to the older one: "Hey Pop, let's say we run down there and fuck us one of them cows?" The older one says: "No, son. Let's walk down and fuck 'em all."
