GHOSTHOUSE
Sam Lapides - guitar, vocals
Billy Frank - drums
John Thoman - guitar, vocals
Kurt Kummerfeldt - bass
The unmistakable GhostHouse sound can be traced to the eight track tape player of the family car of lead vocalist and songwriter Sam Lapides. At first, Sam was force fed a steady diet of Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Vanilla Fudge by his older siblings. Later, his sister and oldest brother introduced him to the guilty pleasures of Black Sabbath, Steve Miller Band, Alice Cooper, and Jimi Hendrix. While driving her son to school, Mrs. Lapides serenaded him with country music. Somehow from all the chaotic musical influences blaring from a '63 Chevy Impala, Sam forged the strong Lyrical style that is GhostHouse.
Sam Lapides started out as a drummer, paying his dues as a drummer/lead vocalist for popular Ann Arbor, Michigan punk bands The Mortals and Phil Seiden's Tool & Die. With Phil Seiden's help, Sam recruited a band to give life to his musical ambitions. The Folkminers developed a rapid local following almost immediately and released a Phil Seiden produced EP in 1987. Dissatisfied with the limits of a small town music scene, Sam traveled first to Boston but eventually settled in 'Sin City', Los Angeles.
Sam began to play acoustic sets at the many beach bars located in Venice and the South Bay. One day while performing The Dream Syndicate's "Burn", the song's author, Steve Wynn happened by the bar. Being drawn into the bar by the familiar sound of the song, Wynn approached the band stand and inquired of Sam which Grateful Dead song he was playing. A couple of more years passed as Sam grew more accomplished with his song writing. The beach joint circuit where one played to drunk yuppies for 5 hours at a time convinced Sam he needed to finally put that band together he had moved to LA for. About this time, Sam attended an Empty Set/Ron Asheton show at the Coconut Teaszer. Acting on the spur of the moment, Sam enlisted Empty Set drummer/songwriter and Detroit native Billy Frank to help form what became GhostHouse.
Billy Frank convinced ex-RainParade guitarist John Thoman to join the embryonic line-up, as well as bringing in former Green On Red keyboardist Chris Cacavas and the aforementioned Steve Wynn to work on the band's first recordings. Bassist Kurt Kummerfeldt was signed to play bass.
Italy's Club De Musique Records signed the new band to record a CD for European release. Handling the production for Musique Records were Steve Wynn, late of the Dream Syndicate who produced the cover of "Burn," and Larry Goetz, producer for Opal, War, Viva Saturn, and Empty Set. The CD contains fourteen songs. Besides eleven Sam Lapides originals and the aforementioned "Burn", "Still She Waits," written by Steven Roback and originally recorded by Viva Saturn, there is "Down The Road," a Steven Earle tune that melds perfectly with the GhostHouse sound.
Following on the heels of its Fall 1993 debut, GhostHouse is readying recent live recordings for May 1994 release on Club De Musique Records. The band is joined by former Continental Drifters' Gary Eaton (guitar, vocals) and Dan McGough (keyboard) as well as former Coal Porter Chris Buessem (banjo, mandolin) and Junkyard Love's Billy Blaze (tambourine, vocals) for The Band's "The Weight" and Neil Diamond's "Cherry Cherry". Other songs slated for inclusion on the live release are seven new Sam Lapides' originals and selections from the first CD.