Pete Ahonen

Ghost Machinery vocalist/guitarist Pete Ahonen

Ghost Machinery is the brainchild of Pete Ahonen, one half of the guitar duo for Finland`s awesome Burning Point. While BP is full-throttle Power Metal of the highest order, GM explores different facets of the Hard Rock/Metal genre, even delving at times into more melodic, AOR realms. But make no mistake; Ghost Machinery is every bit as potent as Burning Point! Having reviewed the band`s debut, "Haunting Remains", I contacted Pete and chatted him up at length; as usual, Pete gave me another great `view. In fact, this is something of a milestone; Pete is the FIRST artist to have not only two reviews on this site, but two interviews, as well! To celebrate, crack open a cold one [or two] and check out what Pete had to say THIS time....

West Side Dave: What brought about the formation of Ghost Machinery? Pete Ahonen: Well, it all started when I wrote "Temples of Gold". The song didn`t quite " fit" to the Burning Point`s style but to me it sounded cool and I didn`t want to throw it away so I wrote couple of additional songs ( In the same vein) and I called few friends , Jussi and Tapsa, to record the songs. Just for fun : ). In the end the 5 track promo cd , "Ghosts in the Castle ", sounded great and I thought, Wow, maybe there is something in these songs, and we started "hunting" the record deal. So , here we are! WSD: What are the differences between this band and your OTHER band, Burning Point? PA: I think that Burning Point is more aggressive sounding and the Ghost Machinery will bring my AOR influences more forward. Ghost Machinery`s sound is much more keyboard orientated whereas BP is more like "Twin guitar" massacre : ). Of course GM will sound heavy metal and  those fast &  furious tracks will always be part of the GM album too!!   WSD: You are in TWO recording/touring bands. Isn`t there a risk of "burning the candle at both ends"? PA: Oh man, I´m like that Duracell bunny, I just keep going and going and..heh heh. I don`t know, at the time it seems that I have the energy doing both and I have a little "projects" on the side waiting : ). New Burning Point album is written ( 12 new tracks) and I am constantly writing new stuff and the second Ghost Machinery album is almost written . I don`t know how many songs there will be on the cd but I have written 10 new ones already!:) WSD: What are some of the highlights [for you] of the bands` debut "Haunting Remains"? PA: This is not a good question for me because I love them all. They`re like my babies, it is hard to pick any specific song. Maybe this would be a good question to Jussi or Tapsa!: ) [WSD sez: "Hmmm, good idea! What do you think, Jussi and Tapsa?"] WSD: What prompted you to record a version of Gary Moore`s "Out In The Fields"? PA: We did a version of the song with BP in our "Salvation By Fire " sessions but I wasn`t happy with that so we decided to drop it off from the album. As we were thinking about our sessions with GM I remembered the song and we thought to give it a go. I wanted it to be very near to the original song and so I asked my friend Ville from Sentenced to do the Phil Lynott`s vocals and to me it sounded great. And I wanted that one of my closest friends, Mikko Myllylä, to be part of the GM family too , so I let him play all the guitars on that song. He`s very gifted player!! Definitely a name to be remembered! WSD: The album was released on Sound Riot Records in Portugal. What are the advantages of being on this label? PA: I believe that because they are not releasing a new album like every week they`re more focused on a one band at the time and not "jumping" from a band to band. Doing this to this band and doing this to this..you know what I mean. More focused.