Roadkill Ghost ChoirBefore their summer tour takes them to a couple of festivals you might have heard of — Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza — the musicians of Roadkill Ghost Choir will take the stage Friday night, May 16, as Nightfall headliners. Since their Facebook page lists only a single band interest — long hair — we cast our net a little wider to see what others are saying about this indie folk/rock band from DeLand, Fla. Here’s what we gleaned from their website and other online sources.
¦ Who they are: Three Shepard brothers make up half of the band: Andrew (vocals, guitar), Maxx (drums, vocals) and Zach (bass). Rounding out the six-piece ensemble are Kiffy Meyers (pedal steel, banjo, guitar), Joey Davoli (keys, trumpet) and Stephen Garza (lead guitar, vocals).
¦ How they started: Originally, Andrew Shepard began writing and recording music alone. By the end of 2010, he was offered a solo gig but decided performing alone would be “terrifyingly boring,” he told a River City Eco Fest blogger in Jacksonville, Fla. He first turned to his brothers to play drums and bass, then Meyers “came out of nowhere to play pedal steel. … A few shows after that, Garza joined to play guitar, and that’s how it all happened.”
¦ How the name came about: A story in the University of Georgia student newspaper, The Red & Black, has this explanation from Garza: “There really isn’t much behind it. I started with another band, and the name was Lester Possum and the Roadkill Ghost Choir. When I joined these guys, they needed a name, and they really liked Roadkill Ghost Choir, so we stuck with that.”
¦ Influences and sound: Their “spacey rock music” is influenced by Wilco, Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan and Fleetwood Mac, with undercurrents of Radiohead and Nirvana, along with Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Kurt Vile and War On Drugs.