Live

I Am Ghost, Blessed By A Broken Heart

Emma Murphy 04/12/2008

It has been a hectic year for the now five piece band I Am Ghost, recent departures of three band members and constant touring would see many bands fall apart but not these guys, in fact spurred on by recent difficulties IAG are determined to be bigger and better than previously anticipated. Formed in 2004 the band hail from Long Beach, California, recently releasing their second album Those We Leave Behind in October to mixed reviews, but with an ever-committed fan base behind them.

Many thousands of miles away from IAG's hometown of sunny California, I had the chance to meet up with the guys in the polar opposite climate of the absolutely freezing Cardiff Barfly. Lead singer Steven Juliano seems more confident and comfortable with IAG as a band, after recent troubles and strife which culminated in the band members' departures. Combine this with a completely new album plus a European tour, and Juliano appears surprisingly optimistic that the band are now on the right track that they so longed to tread.

Commanding the audience's full attention, it cannot be doubted that IAG look like they mean business. Juliano has a diverse voice which, teamed with his energetic band, all adorned with enough eye makeup to make Robert Smith look like he's lacking, the 50 people in the crowd start to actually wake up. Bearing in mind that the audience have had to try and survive the utter boredom of the two previous acts who had to run off, after blaming their poor performance on missing their partners.

IAG arrive to perform their set with songs including Pretty People Never Lie Vampires Never Really Die and Killer Like Candy which is passionate and raw, with dirty guitar riffs and Juliano's ever-evolving vocals and meaningful lyrics. The band are used to playing much bigger venues than Cardiff's compact Barfly and as Juliano told me as he looked worryingly round the room at the lack of people, 'I have played to audiences of 5,000 or even 6,000 people before'. The audience turnout here was far from packed, in fact embarrassingly empty, but IAG made the most of the situation and treated the few fans in the venue as they would do a fully packed arena.

IAG have gone through numerous changes over the last year but instead of falling apart and drifting further away from each other it would seem that a stronger IAG now seem to reaching their full potential.