Biography
‘The Ghost Club‘ originally surfaced as the name of a 7″ single released by The 3D’s Dave Michell and Denise Roughan back in 1996 – a wonderful slice of melancholy that slipped under the radar on release. Within a year The 3Ds had released their swan song ‘Strange News From The Angels‘, and decided they’d done pretty much all they wanted to do with the band.
Mitchell and Roughan had soon relocated to London and took on the name as their new group, with fellow ex-pat Jim Abbott stepping in complete the line-up, giving Roughan an opportunity to switch between bass and drums. The resulting line-up brought all might of destruction to the groups sound – with songs on their debut such as ‘Punch (your brother)‘ just exploding.
The trio practiced in an old railway arch, and with an eviction pending laid down debut full-length ‘Ghostclubbing‘ in just 2 days – capturing a healthy does of fire and brimstone:
We recorded all the live stuff pretty much in one day, and there’s only one guitar overdub, a couple of vocal overdubs and added slide guitar to one song. It was all done so quickly we barely realised we’d recorded it when we got up on the Monday.
Dave Mitchell – Otago Daily Times
The resulting album worked so well that when it came to record its follow up the trio deployed the same approach, knocking out ‘Suicide Train‘ in a solitary day while crammed into a cold basement in Hackney. However, living and gigging in England was never an easy experience for an unknown kiwi group – and it was a full 5 years between the debut and sophomore release.
Ghost Club called in quits later that year, and in 2008 Roughan and Abbot (who had married in 2007) returned to New Zealand, with Roughan joining powerful Wellington-based group Marineville. Mitchell stayed in London and formed Evil – another trio of ex-pat kiwis fronted by Roddy Pain, with Liz Matthews on drums.
Members
- Dave Mitchell (guitar/vocals, The 3Ds, Chug, Evil, Floating Eels, Ghost Club, Goblin Mix, Heliogabalus, Leather Apron, Plagal Grind, Exploding Budgies, The Magick Heads)
- Denise Roughan (bass/drums/vocals, Ghost Club, Look Blue Go Purple, Marineville, Pink Plastic Gods, The Renderers)
- Jim Abbott (drums/bass, The Worst, The Jellys, Toad)
Discography
- Ghostclubbing (2001, Flying Nun Records)
- Suicide Train (2006, Flying Nun Records)