“Decent hardcore bands are ten a penny, great hardcore bands are few and far between but on this showing Ghost of a Thousand are hardcore legends in the making. Gallows who?”

That was how Andy Latham signed off his review of Ghost of a Thousand at the Manchester Attic in April. Read the rest of what he had to say
here.

By the time people were starting to take note of Ghost of a Thousand, the band had been doing their thing for around three years. Front man Tom recalls the moment things started to take off for them:

“It all really kicked off with the record coming out, before that we'd toured quite a bit but they'd been fairly low key support tours. When the record came out a lot of people that hadn't really paid much attention to what we were doing started checking us out. I think people in this country take a while if you're doing something different, I mean we're not doing really heavy metal stuff.”

The album ‘This Is Where The Fight Begins’ made it into our pick of 2007 releases. Read the review of it
here.

Before and after that spring tour, Ghost of a Thousand have been on the road with bands who’s company it’s worth being in when trying to make an impact, namely Gallows, Zico Chain, McQueen and Poison the Well. Tom told us, “we've picked up quite a few fans from those other tours, particularly Poison The Well but even McQueen, which is quite funny as we weren't expecting to get any fans from that tour!”

When we spoke to Tom during the spring tour, the boys were still gunning for spots at Reading, Leeds and Download. All came off, with R13 catching them on the Lock Up Stage at the Leeds Festival. Despite being the tricky 12 PM spot, they drew a healthy sized crowd of a few hundred, and although we note that this set wasn’t perfect, it’s clear the band left their mark in a positive way. Read more
here.

The summer also featured an impressive support slot with Gallows that saw them play to places around the UK they were yet to visit. One such stopping point was their debut gig in
Bristol, that although extremely short, prompted our reviewer Adam Venton to comment “it's obvious to all in the room that TGOAT are a young band full of raw energy that, given their extensive touring schedule, could, and more than likely will, win over many more fans and make a mark on the hardcore scene. They certainly won the crowd over tonight, hands down.”

Their critically acclaimed live performances can be credited to the fact that they come from the massively competitive musical city of Brighton, where anyone not fully focused can be left by the wayside. A few of our favourite acts of 2007 originate from Brighton, Zico Chain, Floors and Walls, Your Army and McQueen, with the music college in the city playing a major role in acting as a meeting point for wannabe band members.

Tom: “I've never been there but McQueen are all from there as far as I'm aware. The thing with Brighton is that you have to be really good to make any impression because there are so many good bands and everyone is a bit too cool for school and just stands there with their arms folded and you have to shake them up a bit to get any reaction. It can make it tough but it just makes us better because we know every time we play Brighton we have to do the best show.”

The major support slots continued to come for them, with an invite to tour with Alexisonfire seeing the band on the road for much of November.

Dates are already lined up for early 2008, see when and where
here. So although Ghost of a thousand have taken over three years to reach the point where the debut album is out and making a real impact, the next year is likely to involve tours, tours and er, more tours.

See who else has been featured in our Band of the Day series
here.