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The Teesside troubadour tells us about his perfect gig on the back of the release of his sea-soaked single, Exam Papers
Teesside songwriter, Glad Town Ghost, releases his latest track Exam Papers, a dark and isolated song of surreal, sea‑soaked reflections, including Bowie knives, Whitby cliffs, brown‑bread slang and veiled bruises.
The track opens with a soft exhale of breathy, harmonised vocals (featuring Bee Davison of Moss) drifting over contemplative guitar plucks, punctuating electric keys and textured ambience that gradually gather and resonate through the surrounding sonic space. Despite its local focus, it carries the unmistakable glow of an early‑2010s American indie soundtrack; an evocative, quietly cinematic listen.
Here, Dale tells us about what his perfect gig would look like…
My dream gig takes place at Liberty’s in Town, Boro. Instead of pub decor, Kevin McCloud and Salvador Dali have worked night and day to transform the inside of the building into something akin to Kublai Khan’s tent, they clashed but ultimately realise a vision they previously thought beyond either of them. The only remaining original features are the John Smith’s pump and the garish Jack Daniels mural. The iconic staircase is gilded with emeralds, Davidoff sponsor the event, everything smells of cool water and sweat.
Glad Town Ghost open the show but we play modal jazz improv instead of our usual set, Bee sings instead of me, I play an upright bass made from a Dyson ball, I only speak to tell a different joke between each song and the laughter grows with every punchline, they’re all by Norm McDonald but nobody has heard a single one.
After our 1pm reverse headline set, an 2010 level Libs all-dayer commences – Great Lake Swimmers, Iron & Wine, Vin Garbutt, Westerman, Warpaint, Alt J, Paul Simon and Nina Simone all play great sets and comment on the natural flair of my stagecraft, Queens of The Stone Age close the show, i guest on Millionaire, hitting a floor Tom. Josh Homme plugs our CDs and we sell them all, nobody has any cash smaller than a 50 bar note and I don’t have change.
We have an after party at Play, Middlesbrough, Aaron lets me DJ b2b with Tiesto, until 6am. He is so grateful for the amount of money I brought in that he gives me free pizza for life, i skip home, pockets full of dough, bag full of dough. Kevin and Salvador laugh as I go.
