Why Fish And Chips And Beer Were Involved When Recording

Ghost Towns Of The Midwest have a sound that ambles on down the back roads of Americana (possibly somewhere around Illinois). The band formed around the songs of singer-songwriter Cam Ewart — who's shared the stage with Australian stalwarts like The Drones, Tim Rogers, and Chris Russell — the latest of which are being launched this week as GOTM's new EP Home — well, mostly the latest anyway.

"[It's] mainly newer tracks. One track, One Eye On The Road, was actually meant to go on our last EP, and would have suited it in terms of genre. I think it stands out on this collection as a bit of a lift in energy that works really well though," muses Ewart.

"All we needed to do was walk out on the deck and have a beer, or order some fish and chips, and we'd all gain a collective perspective on things."

It's the first effort by the band as a five-piece, with Ewart's brother Ben coming in to add mandolin, double bass and a fourth vocal, and was recorded by Myles Mumford at Ewart's mountain home in Melbourne's outer east. Apart from suiting the EP's name and theme to a tee, the location came with certain benefits whenever the pressure started building up. "Having the studio at home meant that all we needed to do was walk out on the deck and have a beer, or order some fish and chips, and we'd all gain a collective perspective on things. We're pretty deep like that," Ewart says wryly.

What the band forged from all that perspective is a clear step away from the alt-country core of their previous release, 2014's Field Recordings Of..., the band drawing from a fuller stylistic palette. But talking to Ewart it's pretty clear that driving factor that shaped production had little to do with pigeon-holing genres.

"We've got two members moving overseas," he says, "so we were feeling that idea of 'home' pretty strongly at the time of recording.

"We wanted to get down what we had been working on. Plus, the idea of the freedom of a band able to do whatever it wanted, regardless of genre and bullshit was apparent. We felt at home. Hence the EP name." Ewart continues, " We just went with we what felt was best, so we knew that whatever we recorded, regardless of style, [would be] liberating."

They've been road-testing the EP, giving the songs a chance to evolve in a live setting. It's an essential step for any release, but particularly for Ghost Towns, considering their preferred recording methods. "There are no overdubs," says Ewart. "All instruments, including vocals were recorded live," says Ewart, "Anything else robs the performance in some way. It's how we have always worked best. California was done in one take. You can hear my dog bark about halfway through."

Does that mean what you hear is what you get from the recording to the stage (minus dog barks)? "We always leave room to mix things up, and this can be down to where songs are placed in a set, or the crowd on any given night."