Interview – Jonathan Vigil, The Ghost Inside, May 2013

By Shane Pinnegar

Story published in X-Press Magazine’s issue – read it HERE

Full interview:

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: Hi Jonathan, thanks for your time today

Jonathan Vigil: Yeah, no problem mate

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: You’re in Japan right now I believe?

Jonathan Vigil: Yeah, we’re in Tokyo, it’s awesome – we love it here.

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: And you’ve just done a couple of weeks in Asia, including a few concerts in China – that must have been an interesting cultural experience

Jonathan Vigil: Yeah its certainly different from anything we’re used to, it’s just been awesome, really pretty big.

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: Excellent, is that one of the best parts about touring so constantly the way you’ve been doing, getting to see different cultures and the way different people live?

Jonathan Vigil: Yeah I think above all that’s what we all love to do, to see different cultures as we [tour] around, because seeing the different things people do and the different things we do – it’s definitely different!

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: So it’s not all just sushi and sake bombs in Japan, then?

Jonathan Vigil: [Laughs] Yeah, it’s a little more than sushi and sake bombs out here, that’s for sure [laughs]

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: Talking about China & Japan, do they get a lot of hardcore bands visiting, especially somewhere like China, you don’t think of as a huge rock market?

Jonathan Vigil: Definitely not so much. Like, China, I think is a little different in a way because of the way the country is run it’s pretty different to a lot of other countries, and I think it’s a lot harder for a band to go on tour. We were pretty fortunate to play some bigger festivals, but I think we definitely stood out like a sore thumb on those main stages. Most of the line-ups were… more mellow kind of bands, I guess you could say…

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: But did you still go across pretty well, even though they may not have known your music so well?

Jonathan Vigil: Yeah, the concerts were pretty fun. I think that in terms of the culture and the way the country is run there are big differences between us and them, but for what it was it was really excellent, but it didn’t seem to us like a ‘normal’ show!

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: For your Australian tour, you’ve got Emmure from New York, you’ve got Kiwis Antagonist AD and Hand Of Mercy from Australia alongside you – that’s pretty culturally diverse in itself, how did the line-up come together?

Jonathan Vigil: Well we tour with Emmure in The States, and they’ve been wanting to come down to Australia for a while. We did a tour with Parkway Drive through New Zealand and Australia, and toured with Antagonist AD for the New Zealand dates, so we’re friends with those guys. And we’ve played with Hand Of Mercy a few times in Australia, so putting it together we kind of wanted the line-up to be pretty diverse, but still kinda the same so it wouldn’t turn anyone away from the show. We wanted a really strong line-up ‘cos this is the first time we’re headlining down there so we wanted to make sure it was awesome!

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: Yeah – you’ve been Down Under a few times actually in the past few years. What is it that keeps you coming back so regularly?

Jonathan Vigil: You know, it’s always felt like kind of a second home for us. Ever since our first time there people have supported us kinda, even more than at home. The very first time we were down there was the first time anyone really cared about our band, even before The States, so Australia is a place we will always do our best to come to as often as we can because the kids down there really enjoy the music and they wanna keep seeing us.

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: Do you find that when you go to different countries that know your catalogue, the different countries have different favourites amongst your songs?

Jonathan Vigil: Ahhh… yes and no, I think certain songs do better in certain places, but not to a point where we have to change our set drastically.

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: What do you miss the most about home when you’re on the road – because you guys have been touring a LOT over the past few years?

Jonathan Vigil: Yeah we like to stay busy… we do it because we love it, we want to be out on the road playing and having fun, but I think the thing we all miss about being back home is hanging out with friends and family – I know that’s the case for me. I see pictures on Facebook or Instagram or whatever, of my friends hanging out and doing cool shit, and I go, ‘Well, missing out on that’, y’know. I’ve missed out on weddings and other cool stuff – it’s great what we’re doing, but you still get disappointed and miss your friends.

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: For sure. With four albums out now (if you include the A Dying Dream record), how democratic a process is writing your set list?

Jonathan Vigil: [laughs] It’s always a … ahhhh… a little bit of butting heads! But it’s okay, I mean – we wouldn’t play a set that one person was dead against, we all sign off on it, it just takes a little while to get to that point! It’s okay, it’s just the way we wanna do it, and when you get five different opinions about the way it should be, it kinda gets a bit frustrating, but it’s all part of working together as a band.

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: Your latest album is Get What You Give – how’s that been going down live? I’ve read some really good reviews about it…

Jonathan Vigil: Yeah it’s been real good. I think as a band you always want your new stuff to be doing better than your old stuff, so you progress and grow. And for us, this album is our first record for Epitaph, so we want it to do really well, and fortunately the songs are going over really well, and we’re playing mostly new stuff, so its going really well. The shows have been awesome and I think the fans are all having a really good time which is the point!

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: Absolutely! And how do you feel the band has progressed both as a band and as individual players, since going back to those A Dying Dream days?

Jonathan Vigil: [laughs] Oh I think we’re all better players – I know I’ve definitely got better at being a singer and a frontman, and yeah, I think you get to know the band a bit more and I think we all when we first started, picked up our instruments and just went for it, so fortunately its all kind of worked out for us but definitely it’s taken some time!

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: If you could go magically back in time and be a part of the recording of any one album throughout history, which would you choose?

Jonathan Vigil: Wow, I don’t know man, that’s a tough question… Well I’m actually a really big Misfits fan, and y’know I love the band but I think some of the recordings just don’t sound so good for the era they were recorded in, they just don’t sound as good as some of their other albums, so I can’t really listen to some of them. So I think it would be cool to get a band like that or another band from back in the day and give them the opportunity to record that stuff again. That would be cool.

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: Yeah, for sure… so can you give us a message we can send out directly to your Perth fans to get them fired up about next Thursday’s show?

Jonathan Vigil: Yeah – we’re looking forward to come n’ play, you know, Perth is an amazing spot and we’re looking forward to playing our new stuff for you so we’ll see you soon!

100% ROCK MAGAZINE: Excellent mate, thanks for that. Looking forward to when you hit Perth next week – enjoy the sake bombs

Jonathan Vigil: [laughs] Thanks man, take care

https://www.facebook.com/theghostinside

 

http://www.theghostinside.com/

Category: Interviews