On a night that featured Back Pockets (Atlanta, Georgia) Over Stars and Gutters (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) and two local groups, Polyamory and Company of Ghosts, musicians Patrick Hutchinson, Chris Stokes and Ali Roudabush shared some time to answer a few questions after their set at Sluggo’s Vegetarian Restaurant in Pensacola, Florida.


***Company of Ghosts Interview***

TCAS: Who are Company of Ghosts and how did you start?

CS: It’s a collection…a collective of people, it’s been ever changing…most of it, but its had the same lineup since…

PH: Company of Ghost originally started as my solo project and then right when it started I wrote a whole new line of music…away from my normal solo stuff. So I branched them off and we went through about 12 members in the first three or four months of Company of Ghosts and then landed…Chris (Stokes-accordion) and Adam (Cope-cello) and Jesse’s (aka Jesstro-washtub bass) been there from the start and Davey (Hooligan) was our original washboardist, but he recently came back and then about that point we got the pretty solid lineup of like me, Chris, Adam, Jesse, Travis, and Joe and then just recently it switched over to Ali (Roudabush) joining us on saw.

TCAS: What do you have planned for this year?

PH: We’re going in the studio in about three weeks…is the idea. Three or four weeks and hopefully by the end of July we’ll have a full length album out and maybe a little bit of touring.

TCAS: Is there a website that people can go listen to your music?

PH: We still have a myspace with demo recordings on it from way back. We’ll get a website fully operational once we get the new recording put together.

TCAS: What are your influences?

PH: Are biggest influences are probably Tom Waits, old-timey like ragtime music in general…

CS: Cab Calloway…

TCAS: The “Minnie The Moocher” cover…every time you guys play that…it’s like…boom!

PH: Squirrel Nut Zippers…

TCAS: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

CS: Don’t talk sh*t, ‘cause we’re all sh*t.

PH: That’s good advice.

PH: I would say “Talk sh*t if you want to. Do whatever the hell you want.”

(laughs all around)

TCAS: We’ve got the fecal matter going on.

PH: Yes…yes…fecal matter is very important in Company of Ghosts.

TCAS: Crunchy or Creamy Peanut Butter?

PH: Crunchy.

CS: Crunchy.

AR: Crunchy.
-Michael L. Smith

***Company of Ghosts’ next scheduled performance is June 17th in support of Nature Boys (Kansas City punk) and Zerox’ 82 (Pensacola hardcore) at Sluggo’s Vegetarian Restaurant.