Ghost of a Dead Hummingbird

Hailing from the windy city are and formed in 2011, Ghost of a Dead Hummingbird is a surprising band that although categorized as playing a style close to post-hardcore and even screamo, they still carve their own niche. The four piece push forth a loud and urgent sound that is akin to Thursday’s more angst-ridden noise and yet it still throws the listener for a loop with unusual instrumentation and rhythms that continually make you wonder what you’re exactly listening to. At each turn of every song, there is something new to be found and to get hooked on.

Ghost of a Dead Hummingbird is a band that has an inherent sense of melody and creating a textured ambience with their music. The influences are probably too many to list, but they’d managed to wear them on their sleeve, along with their heart. The band will see their full-length debut cassette via Butterfly Puke Records (who have recently released Awe Howler‘s Living With Spiders LP and cassette) on April 21st.

Not only can you listen to an exclusive stream of the album now, but we also managed to get some time with bassist and vocalist Matthew Meifert to answer a few questions:

The band’s sound is so unique and very much unlike what you’d typically hear coming from the Chicago area music scene, so who would y’all say are some of your influences and why?

We all listen to different music, but share many interests as well. For writing, we don’t typically take any one band or album as starting points of where we want to go. However, I have been inspired by certain parts or moods of songs I listen to; we tend to try to recreate the atmosphere in our own way.
Bands in our own area support each other every day and are providing the drive to make some form of art.
If we’re driving around in our van listening to something, it’ll probably be Tears for Fears’ Head Over Heels on repeat.

Gives us a brief history of the band since your forming in 2011.

We changed our name last year. The band used to have a different direction and sound that we pretty much completely remodeled after making the line up and name change. All of us have been involved with music since at least the beginning of high school; now years later, we are feeling much more confident in what we are putting out together and planning. I’ve been in a band with Jacob [guitars] since middle school, actually. It helps to know the people you have a vision with so well.

How has the local scene and even playing to audiences anywhere reacted and embraced you thus far? Any good show stories?

As I mentioned before, we have so many friends in other bands around the Chicago area that support us and each other. We’re all becoming connected and making more friends, leading to a stronger music scene and really great collaborations between artists of all kinds. Our shows have been very humbling; everyone has kind words for us and what we are now releasing. One really good show memory thus far was at The Subterranean in Chicago. It was us, Still Frames, I Made You Myself, and Lord Snow (only Lord Snow had played there before). Every band helped to promote it and bring people to make it a successful show. It certainly made a difference and it was fun to have our first show there with people we knew. I will never forget the friends and bands here who we constantly hang out with.

What are some of the future goals for the band?

Currently, we are booking a two-week tour for this June heading east to New York City and south to Florida before heading back up. This will be our first longer tour and we’re all looking forward to it. More recently, our full length is finally going to be heard by those who have been waiting months and months to see what we ran our mouths about for so long. I’m relieved to have this out and eager to hear any feedback and criticisms.

What draws the inspiration for not only the music itself but also the lyrics and the overall handling of their delivery?

When writing Sin forma, I found myself focusing on conversations I’ve had with people and situations that have arisen with them. We have never really been a band with a message; I prefer to tell honest stories. That’s what I want this LP to be, a collection of mildly-cohesive stories that people can relate to and imagine experiencing what is happening. I like to be as straightforward as possible with those I meet, I feel it builds a much needed trust between humans that is quickly dissipating by trying not to hurt feelings or be alienated for an opinion. We want music without a filter and strive to deliver it. - The 1st Five

Words: Jordan Gorsuch

Ghost of a Dead Hummingbird’s latest full-length was released in April. Sin Forma is the culmination of months of hard work from the Chicago-based quartet. Their sound is sharp and dreamy. The album’s first half moves at a breakneck pace, their post-hardcore style punctuated with dreamy shoegaze moments throughout the album. Voice memos serve as a basis to thematically connect the album and help ground the themes of loss, and youthful friendship.

The album is ferocious; a powerful shout into the void of the hardcore scene. The lyrics are poetic, and moments like the horn section on standout track “If You Need a Place to Stay” and the quiet instrumental “Still in Texas?” reflect a softer and more mature side to the young band.

Band member Matthew was excited to share his insights and the band’s experience on their recent summer tour:

“The tour went very well. So many moments that I could recall. Our favorite show/night collectively was in Cincinnati with Great Dane. First band played, then we got two songs in and cops shut down the house show. Within minutes, everything was being moved a mile and a half away to another house to continue. It was crazy but somehow organized itself well and it was packed into this tiny room at the second location where we and Great Dane finished off the night. We also spent some time at a beach in North Carolina and in caves passing through Tennessee. People’s Warehouse was rad! First time in Pittsburgh, we’d definitely come back.”

The LP ends up being a very cohesive experience. Fueled by anger and emotion and an even measure of regret. An album that leaves you with visceral images like ripping out your tongue, disassembly of body parts in order to keep a loved one, petals of flesh, and a father delivering books to his son in the hospital (a reminder he was once loved).

Visit Ghost of a Dead Hummingbird’s bandcamp and download Sin Forma for free. Alternatively, ButterflyPuke Records has copies of the LP for sale on translucent red vinyl. - The Grey Estates

Ghost of a Dead Hummingbird derives the names of their songs from text messages or conversations that lingered in the mind of one of these four Chicago boys, giving the tracks a simplistic, relatable honesty before you even hit play. “Poor Thing” may have a running time barely over a minute and a half, but you know in those 94 seconds that GOADH has left everything on the stage in a flurry of raw vocals and sonically brash guitars. Stream “Poor Thing” below and check out the band’s debut LP, Sin forma, coming out on April 21st.

Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Matthew - vocals, bass
Jacob - guitar
Andrew - drums, vocals
Richard - guitar, vocals

What’s your hometown (or what are your hometowns)?
We are all from the southwest suburbs, about 45 minutes outside of Chicago.

How did the band come together? How long has it been?
This band started back in late 2010, and our first show was in February of 2011. Everything was very different back then; different name, a few members aren’t around anymore, but overall it was for the better. I (Matthew) have been playing music with Jacob since middle school, but this current band is the product of people who can really work together and understand each other as friends. I’m grateful to have the band we do now. Ghost of a Dead Hummingbird was “created” during the summer of 2014 as we transitioned from our old name to this, along with an entirely new sound and outlook on our writing.

How have you grown since you started?
It feels like we have finally found our place where we can write and reflect positively on what we release. Being proud of everything this band puts out is of utmost importance, especially after years of high school band uncertainties and changes. Now that we’re older and in college, we can focus on what we want this band to mean to us and others, instead of more important things like finding a decent job.

What sets you apart from other bands?
I’d like to think we are a pretty honest group of people putting out equally honest music. I don’t want to put out something if it isn’t a true reflection of something in our lives or an experience we want to share with whomever else is interested.

What’s the best part about being in your band?
Being able to make something that has intrinsic and extrinsic value with your closest friends is something that everyone should try to pursue. When you look at a band from strictly a music standpoint, it can be fairly simple and transparent. However, it is really the human beings you spend endless hours and miles with that make the story and timbre of the music worthwhile.

Traveling and making connections is also something the band holds in high regard (any band can understand this). We have made so many friends through music and I know that will only continue to grow as we tour more extensively. Andrew and I have another project that has been out farther; it amazes me how much you can learn from seeing how other places and people work, live, and express their creations outside of your comfort zone.

More times than not, influences tend to bleed through. What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
Not trying to give a broad-stroke answer here, but it is difficult to pinpoint exact bands or albums that inspired the current direction in which we are headed.

Our tastes range anywhere from artists and composers like Herbie Hancock, to 80’s music like The Cure, material like This Will Destroy You, and to bands such as Saetia and Comadre (RIP). We all have a heavy mix of different genres that we enjoy.

What would you say the band has already accomplished and what do you have your eyes set on next?
We have a full length coming out entitled “Sin forma” on April 21st. It will be available online for download first, followed by a release show with other awesome Chicago bands where will we have some physical copies on a few different medias. Some of the songs were ideas over a year ago that Andrew and I (Matthew) resurfaced and reworked to compliment each other. November 2014 to March 2015 was spent at The Noise Room in Grayslake, IL, recording with the ever-so-handsome Jeff Leber. It was a really great experience working together with a trusted friend to create our first LP. As for the near future, we are currently planning and booking a two-week tour for June that heads to the East coast before going South and back up. A cover song as part of a tribute album that is being put together may also be on the way.

Thus far, what’s a favorite memory or something quirky that’s taken place with the band (in-studio, onstage, or elsewhere)?
Lately there has been a growing…fascination, I’ll say, with drinking a Chicago liqueur called Malört throughout many of the local bands in the area. For some, it’s purely an ironic love. For others, it verges on devoted worship. Perhaps like a poor man’s absinthe? I don’t know.

Is there anything in particular that you’d like people to take away from listening to your music?
When someone listens to our full length, Sin forma, I want that person to be able to find at least one thing that they love about it. The songs are all meant to represent a different experience, person, or conversation that either Jacob, Andrew, Richard or myself have gone through and saw fit to write about. All of the names we chose for the songs are actually text messages or things that have been said to one of us that for one reason or another, latched onto the back of the mind. As I was writing lyrics for the LP, I was hoping that the words and overall mood of each instrument accompanying them would put the listener into that situation or make him or her see what that blissful, sad, ridiculous, frustrating, or uncomfortable scene looked like. Many people who watch our band perform or listen to our demos will come up to us and tell us how sad our music was, although they enjoyed it. We do not necessarily try to make anybody feel down after listening to us or convey a single emotion from our performance. Many of our songs are about things that we have moved past and have learned to accept and talk about, but not all of them are inherently tearful stories.

If you could change something about the music industry, what would it be?
It would be really beneficial and interesting to see more music coinciding literature; giving books, newsletters, zines, or creative writing a stronger backbone in this industry and in local scenes. Whenever a band has some sort of extra DIY comic or even some small short stories to give out/sell cheaply, it really adds something unique to remember them by. This seemed a lot more prevalent during the 90’s and early 2000’s; more labels and bands should revive that (us included).

How did your band’s name come about?
As mentioned previously, our name wasn’t always Ghost of a Dead Hummingbird. During the transition, we debated several names and why we wanted to choose them. But one day, Richard suggested a name that sat well with all of us at once in the room. If you are familiar with a band by the name of Carissa’s Weird, you know where our name originates from and nods toward. All of us also enjoyed the slightly redundant nature of it. Our favorite question we get is, “If it’s a ghost, isn’t it already dead?"

What’s the biggest mistake someone’s made while playing?
A long while back under our old name, Richard tried to do some sort of jump during a song and completely wiped out backwards, detuning the guitar in the process. It was a bad show.

Any pre-performance rituals?
Not in particular. There is a post-performance "ritual” of sorts where we play this stupid game that involves being the first person to tell someone to “drive safe” as they are leaving. We do this everywhere though; it’s a bit hard to explain and definitely harder to explain why it’s funny to us. It started from an inside joke a long time ago and got out of hand from there.

Is there anything else you would like to add?
You can check out and download our two demos for free on our bandcamp; more updates are coming. We are working with some good friends to make CDs, unique tapes, and possibly vinyl in the future. If you like what you hear, share a weird story with us over a bottle of Malört. Sin forma comes out April 21st. - Property of Zack