Exclusive Interview: E.B & The Deadlights talk “Still See Ghosts”!

In the Internet Age its amazing how quickly things can snowball and you can go from starting a band to releasing an EP in a very short space of time. Conceived in the Spring of 2021, this very year, E.B & The Deadlights have wasted no time in getting their debut EP “Still See Ghosts” out to the masses on 3rd December; and it’s a full on studio quality drop too. The Belfast natives have a swarm of influences in, as you might have guessed, the horror-metal genre including Wednesday 13, Motionless In White and Alice Cooper and so the EP makes for the perfect antidote to those cheesy Christmas songs in the festive season. Here’s the first of a creature double feature with vocalist Ethan Beattie…

How have you found the reaction to “Still See Ghosts” so far?  “So far it has been great, between reviews and just the reception in general we seriously can’t express how much it means to us especially when you take into consideration we’ve only really been a band for about 9 months at this point”

We love the whole wrap-around of the title of the EP being dropped in the opening cut “Nightmare Or Reality” and in the title track at the end, it works really well – What are your favourite parts of the record? “Thanks so much, when I was writing the lyrics I thought that’d be a cool idea to end where we started and I’m really happy with how those two songs sort of bookend the ep. As far as my favourite parts, it’s hard to pick but I love the solo in Empty Frames. I think Andy really knocked it out of the park with that one. Then probably just the song Still See Ghosts itself, it was the first one we wrote for the band so it’ll always have a special place in my heart!”

The EP is surprisingly diverse and there are some moments that are really brave, “Devil Between Me & You” has a Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds kind of vibe to  it. Do you see yourselves as taking a few risks and not running on genre lines, or is it all just about writing and recording what sounds good to you and hoping people dig it? “Honestly for us the most important thing is that the 5 of us in the band are happy and we work on what we have till we’re 100%, be it an all out metal fest like nightmare or reality or a song with country swagger like devil. That being said, we know what’s us and what isn’t. I wouldn’t expect any songs that resemble something like Westlife any time soon haha! I love bands like Creeper who have evolved so much over the years and really are just their own thing. And of course if you look to artists like Bowie, who is obviously a massive influence on pretty much everyone we listen to, the variety of those tracks and albums is just amazing. I think a shorter way to say it is if it feels like something we would do we’ll do it”

The one element that is missing from the EP is the Cheese factor that some of your influences have; how conscious was it to stay away from that aspect and do something that sounds a step away while still having that darker undertone? “I don’t really think it was conscious at all really, the darker side of art has always appealed to me so when I write lyrics I tend to gravitate towards that side. Although I’m definitely game for us to do some old school Frankenstein Drag Queens from planet 13 songs in the future, I just don’t think we’d have a full release along those lines. Maybe a single or two though!”

What would mean more to you as a band next year? Opening for Wednesday 13 on their European tour run come October or playing a one off festival like Bloodstock in the summer? “Aw God I’d have to go Wednesday 100%. It’d be cool to play Bloodstock but let’s be honest we could probably do it again at some point where with Mr 13 I think our set would just go hand in hand with theirs. Plus it would be very cool to say you’re getting to open for one of your idols every night. I got to meet Wednesday last time he played Belfast and to say he was a gentleman would be an understatement!”

What’s next for E.B. & The Deadlights? “We have a show on the 15th December in Voodoo Belfast, tickets available now if you’re interested, then I’m pretty sure that’s us done for the year. Then just hit gigs hard in 2022, we’ve some good ones lined up, one I’m particularly looking forward to opening for Doyle from misfits. Apart from that we’ll just keep writing and hopefully have a few more songs out!”