Review Fix Exclusive: Ghosts of Sunset’s John Merchant Talks ‘Miles In-Between’ And More

Review Fix chats with Ghosts of Sunset’s John Merchant (singer, guitarist, co-writer), who discusses the band’s origin, creative process, goals and standout work.

Review Fix: How did the project start? 

John Merchant: I had an idea for concept album based on the 1980s hair metal scene in LA and shared it with Todd Long. He and I have been making music together across several genres for over 30years. Both being big fans of that music, we dove in head first and after we finished the track “Miles In-Between” (our first single on Golden Robot Records) we decided it need the attention we would give a BAND, not just a “project”.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like? 

Merchant: We usually start with a riff, then build a musical skeleton to start working from. Next, we decide a storyline for the song and start with melodies and lyrics. While that is unfolding, we’re also adding instrumentation and musical parts that help us further the storyline while giving us parts that illicit the emotional response we’re looking for from the subject matter.

Review Fix: What’s your standout song? How was it written? 

Merchant: “Miles In-Between” will always be special because it was the first thing written for the band. It set the template for Ghosts of Sunset as a band and as co-writers. 

Review Fix: What are your goals for 2020? 

Merchant: Stay safe, happy, and healthy. Keep promoting Ghosts of Sunset via any channels available until we’re able to bring it to people in a live setting. 

Review Fix: How do you want your music to affect people? 

Merchant: An emotional connection. To have our songs become the soundtrack to great moments or even bring people back to a time and place in their own lives. The music WE love is woven into the fabric of our lives; we want the music of Ghosts of Sunset to do the same for others. We’re just keeping the circle going.

Review Fix: What’s next? 

Merchant: Promoting our second single on Golden Robot Records which is titled “Never Goodbye”. We’ll have a third single follow that, then the full EP release. We’re already in the process of writing and recording a full-length follow-up slated for a 2021 release. Hopefully when our industry recovers, we’ll perform some limited live engagements as well. 

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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