I Am Ghost

HB’s Phoenix writer, Isaac Kiehl, caught up with I Am Ghost while they were there filming a video.

Since their formation in 2004, I Am Ghost has put out two releases, lost and gained members and gotten signed to Epitaph Records. The Long Beach, CA, band currently consists of singer Steve Juliano, bassist Ron Ficarro, guitarist Tim Rosales III, rhythm guitarist Chad Kulengosky and drummer Justin McCarthy.

Juliano thought up the band’s name while reading through a bunch of poems he had. Before searching for members, he put music on the Myspace page. “In three months, we had over 9,000 friends before the band even started,” he exclaims.

The band recorded their first EP, 2005’s We Are Still Searching on their own, burned 4,000 copies themselves and handed out everything — including CD’s, stickers and shirts — for free. After playing their debut show, they began getting record label recognition including from Epitaph Records. At their fourth show, they signed with Epitaph and immediately began writing their first full length, Lover’s Requiem.

After completing that album, they went straight to tour bus life. “We were kind of spoiled, Steve relates, “which led to a few members’ demise. The first year was dream-like. We were on Epitaph, had a tour bus, were touring the U.S. and playing sold-out shows. After that, we went to a van and trailer tour, because we wanted to save money (over paying for a bus). And reality struck.”

After plenty more tours across the U.S., I Am Ghost went back into the studio and recorded their second full-length album, Those We Leave Behind, released in October.

“It’s just 14, fast punk rock songs, and I love it because it’s something you can listen to over and over,” Steve expresses. The band is currently embarking on a world tour that will take them all over Europe, and then back to the U.S. for a long tour in 2009. I Am Ghost just finished a video for “The Saddest Story Never Told.”

“It will have five different rooms, appearing as one constant scene, with each room representing a stage of a relationship,” Steve explains as the concept behind the video. “We chose Phoenix to film in, because the director lives there.”

Watch for the band to be in our area, sometime in 2009.