Ghost and the City:
A Human Being
in the Band
Ghost & The City is band lead by keyboardist Ash Maynor and vocalist Kia Fay. Their sound has been described as everything from neo-soul to trip-hop. A more accurate category might be sultry atmospheric soulful jazztronica. We sat down with the multi-talented duo at their studios in Jack London, where they’re hard at work on the upcoming project, Time.
ED & NATE: Would you mind introducing yourself.
ASH: I’m Ash Maynor -- I’m the keyboardist, bassist, guitar player, producer guy.
KIA: I’m Kia and I’m the vocalist and occasional tamborine player for Ghost in the City.
ASH: ...and shaker.
KIA: (laughs) Yes, I recently upgraded to shaker.
ED & NATE: How did you become a shaker?
KIA: My inherent ability to shake it.
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ED & NATE: And how did you come a producer, composer, and all those other things.
ASH: I‘ve been playing since I was 12. For some reason I started with piano, then gravitated towards guitar. Till about 25. Then I picked up the bass. These days, I gravitate towards synths and other things.
ED & NATE: Are you from California?
KIA: I was born in San Francisco. My parents grew up across the street from Lake Merrit. And I grew up in the Central Valley. Where I gained a distinct appreciation for hay bales and Conway Twitty. Then I came back to Berkeley for school. Then went to Hollywood and did a go of that. Recorded some music, but then I came back here and found my brother Ash.
ED & NATE: How’d that happen?
KIA: I was recording here, just across the hallway. And they needed someone to fill in for a Halloween show, someone who could sing Thriller. Now, if you ask me to sing Thriller, I will sing it.
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ED & NATE: Are you from California?
ASH: Definitely. Born and raised. Bay area. Grew up in South Bay. Went to school in Santa Cruz. Lived in SF for a little bit. But then the tech collapse happened, and ended up over here in Oakland. Been here for 10 years.
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I was recording here, just across the hallway. And they needed someone to fill in for a Halloween show, someone who could sing Thriller. Now, if you ask me to sing Thriller, I will sing it.
KIA: We’re both so Northern California.
ED & NATE: What would you say is the most Californian thing about you?
ASH: Easy. Tacos. I’m a taco connoisseur. I love it. I need it. Yes.
KIA: I feel like my eclectic taste in music is reflective of the fact that I grew up in Northern California. The fact that I get down with Queen, followed by Prince, followed by Chaka Khan, followed by...Shania Twain. I still have that in me too.
ASH: Wait -- can we edit that out?
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KIA: (laughter).
ASH: I think she’s right about the fusion, especially up here in Oakland. Bands here, they’re not just one thing. Everyone is a mix of so many different genres.
KIA: And not just music. Our personalities. Everything about me is a hodge-podge of so many commingled cultures and experiences in this tiny proximity. That defines so much of what I am.
ED & NATE: How does the Bay Area affect or influence how you create?
ASH: Right now, we’re in Oakland. Pretty big city. You can take that in and it can influence what you’re writing. Also, you can go an hour north or an hour south, & it’s a completely different experience
I don’t always write in Oakland. It’s a different flavor than if I go to South Bay and I’m sitting on my old piano that I grew up on. Different surroundings. I don’t know any other place like that, where you can literally change what’s around you so quickly.
ED & NATE: Tell us more about the South Bay.
ASH: Where I grew up is a valley. Behind my house is a big old creek, lots of wilderness, big old hills. When we record down there you can literally hear rivers and nature in the background. It’s a slower pace. Less distractions than the city.
I know a lot of musicians do the same thing. When we’re writing, we need to get out. Be somewhere else so we can get inspired in a different way.
KIA: Although the Bay is the only place I can imagine living, it’s also the most time consuming and taxing. It’s because of the emotional, financial and spiritual bandwidth it takes just to stay afloat here. But what that’s meant for me is that I make music because I truly love it. I mean, if I’m able to make music amidst 3 jobs, living in a city an hour and a half away, doing half the things we do remote, not sleeping -- basically all the things required to stay afloat in the Bay Area..
You can’t be an artist here and half-ass it. That’s not an option available to you. Most artists have to have multiple jobs. It’s nice to know that we make the music we make because we love it and it’s the music that we should be making. And anything else that comes from that is gravy.
But the Bay Area in its own special way really pushes you to the brink where you’re forced to make only the stuff that’s worth it. We don’t have time to make music that’s frivolous. It’s only the most pure, essence of what we want to communicate, because that’s all we have time to communicate.
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ED & NATE: Can you break down your creative project in 3 steps?
ASH: Most important thing is a mindset. You can come to a studio, grind away, spend 4 or 5 hours and get nowhere. But if you come in and you’re really feeling it, focused, it’s in and out. The best songs we’ve written are relatively quick.
Second, the right tools. You get up, say I’m going to work on this rhodes, this moog, my ableton, mpc...nothings working. But you have to know what you can do with these tools. So you’re noodling around, instead of working.
Lastly, trial and error. I’m one of those guys who will try something that it might not lead me somewhere, but I still have to try it because in failing now, it might lead me to it another time. So you can’t be afraid to go for it, and do different things.
KIA: Flexibility is critical for me. I would say that flow is a part of that. The concept of letting my brain go on autopilot. It’s hard to let your mind just perform. Getting my mind to that place is important. And then, just listening.
ED & NATE: Listening?
KIA: I think both of us spend a lot of time working solo. So when you get to be around another person, it’s hard because you’re used to listening to the voice in your head, the music in your head...but when you listen to what the other players bring to the table, then that’s when everything soars. When I’m really listening to what i’m playing with and I’m flexible enough to flow with that. It’s hard to do because we’re both perfectionists. We often talk about the concept of not letting perfect be the enemy of good.
ED & NATE: Can you talk about comfort? Where is the place where you find that flow?
KIA: We know each others personal lives so well. I’m very much a human being in the band. Not just a voice at the front of the band. Which often happens when you’re a vocalist. They look at you as a trained monkey who steps up at the front and does a good job.
ED & NATE: Do you remember your first pair of khakis?
KIA: I do. My first pair of khakis was from the Thrift Town in my local Modesto, California. My style in high school was very old-man chic. So I wore a lot of khakis and cardigans with some chucks.
ASH: That should be the name of the next album. Khakis and cardigans!!
ALL: (laughter)
KIA: I definitely incorporated khakis back in the day. I’d cut them off. As we used to say, “All pants are future shorts.”
ED & NATE: “Escalators don’t break, they just become stairs.”
ALL: (laughter)
ED & NATE: Can you show me your favorite item in this studio?
ASH: My favorite thing is the fender rhodes.
ED & NATE: What is it?
ASH: It’s an electric piano from ‘73. It has a lot of soul. I have an upright piano here. But this is what I write on. I feel comfortable. It’s like a friend I can come to when I have problems. It helps me get to where I need to go. I go through equipment a ton. Million synths, million keyboards. But this is always here. I’ll always have this with me. I’ll never get rid of this.
