THE GHOST OF PAUL REVERE will play two shows this weekend at Portland House of Music. In the top photo, courtesy of Matt Cosby, from left are band members Max Davis, Sean McCarthy, Griffin Sherry and Matt Young. In the center photo, by Ben Goodridge, Griffin Sherry, left, rehearses with Ghost of Paul Revere band members in Portland on Tuesday.
THE GHOST OF PAUL REVERE plays during their Southeast tour earlier this month.
The shows mark a break from the road for the band, which has been touring the Southeast United States for the past month and will travel to the west coast a for six week stint on Monday.
Extensive touring is nothing new for The Ghost of Paul Revere, but their beginnings date back to playing local shows in Portland and the Midcoast.
“We came together five-and-a-half years ago,” said Griffin Sherry, who sings lead vocals and plays lead guitar. “I was doing open mic nights at the Dogfish in Portland, three hours of singing and playing. One night I invited some friends to come play a few songs with me.”
Those friends were Max Davis, Sean McCarthy and Matt Young, who grew up with Sherry in Buxton. Sherry said that as soon as he began harmonizing with Davis and McCarthy, something special happened.
“We played a three hour gig a few nights later, and before we knew what was happening, we were recording our first EP,” said Sherry.
Sherry had been performing his solo shows under the name Griffin Sherry and the Ghost of Paul Revere, a name that he said came to him in a dream back in college, but shortened the name to its current form as soon as the band formed.
The band toured locally for its first few years, playing venues like Frontier Cafe in Brunswick, all the way up to Camden and Belfast. Sherry said the band started touring outside of Maine three years ago.
“We borrowed a lot of cars, and eventually bought our own van,” said Sherry. “You get real close when you live out of a van.”
The majority of Ghost of Paul Revere’s songs are driven by three-part harmonies, a hallmark of many folk bands. The addition of a banjo and harmonica lends the band more of a bluegrass look, but Sherry said that looks can be deceiving.
“We look like a bluegrass band, but we write and play like a folk band,” said Sherry, referring to the deeper lyrical content typically used by folk groups, as well as the addition of piano and cello on various tracks.
Sherry said that a lot of his music is also influenced by R&B, giving The Ghost of Paul Revere a funky edge, as well. Sherry said groups that blend different genres — such as The Avett Brothers, Radiohead, Trampled by Turtles and the Punch Brothers — are band’s biggest influences.
“A lot of folk bands and bluegrass bands are in love with traditional music, and that’s great, but we like to mix it up a little,” said Sherry.
Each band member typically writes something to bring to the recording studio, Sherry said, but that process is only the beginning of a long evolution to the final version of a song.
“We bring in the bare bones of a song, and from there it becomes a collaboration,” said Sherry. “With our new record, for the first time, we all spent some time in the studio just writing. Then the structure and timing comes when we play, and the song takes shape.”
Sherry said the new album, which is slated for a summer release, is the band’s most ambitious to date. While the band has debuted many of the songs on the road this year, this will be Portland’s first listen to many of the new tracks.
“We’re very strategic with how we treat Portland shows,” said the band’s manager Derek Lombardi.
“We usually go on the road for six to nine months between shows,” Lombardi said. “That makes shows here more special, and these upcoming shows give the band the opportunity to showcase new material to their hometown.”
Though The Ghost of Paul Revere normally performs as a quartet, the band has added several other players for the Portland shows, including cellist Kevin Oates, pianist Ben Cosgrove and Rustic Overtones drummer Tony McNaboe.
“We’ll be adding drums to a lot of our previous songs for a new feel, but we’ll also do a lot of stuff with the original four of us,” said Sherry.
Lombardi said that the addition of drums into some of the bands’ songs is a “very natural progression to explore different sounds,” and that there was never any pressure to try and sound more like a rock band.
“Tony’s drumming is a great addition to our songs,” said Sherry. “It allows us to explore new avenues with each song.”
The band planned to rehearse with drums, piano and cello all week in anticipation of this weekend’s shows.
“I’m really excited about these shows,” said Sherry. “There’s nothing like coming home to play.”
Once the Portland shows are over and the band heads back out on the road, their tour has no end in sight. Their west coast swing is followed by a spring and summer full of festivals and an east coast swing. But Sherry said that’s how the band wants it.
“This will be our biggest year of touring by far,” said Sherry. “It’s kind of nutty. It’s really about making sure we are out in front of new people, both in Maine and around the country, playing as hard as we can and making people happy. If that coincides with a rise that’s awesome, but we’ll keep playing either way.”
The Ghost of Paul Revere plays the Portland House of Music on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.
bgoodridge@timesrecord.com
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