Family values

While local synth popsters World’s Greatest Ghosts (WGG) may never win a Grammy, they certainly display more spirit than anyone who turned up at the much berated awards show earlier this week.

With the energy and playfulness of small kids left on their own, World’s Greatest Ghosts have created a brand of music crackling with the excitement (and propensity for eight-bit noise) of a Super Nintendo.

WGG are armed with only one EP but have played more shows in the past year than many local bands can even dream of.

The history of the band is piecemeal, though ultimately they had to look no further than the ranks of their own families to find potential members. In 2003, Jesse and Casey Laney (synthesizers and vocals/guitar, respectively) started writing what Jesse calls “silly songs” in their home of Nashville, Tenn. 

“After a couple of years writing and playing in our loft in Nashville,” Laney says, “I committed the worst of band sins and moved away for a girl I had met in college—who ultimately ended up my future wife and bandmate Emily [bass and vocals].”

Jesse and Emily were then displaced by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and made their way to Portland.

“The musical itch never really went away,” Laney continues, “so I talked Casey into moving across the continent, as well our good friend Brandon Anderson [guitar], who I knew from college. We decided to all move into a house and start a band together.”

Emily had never played the bass before and Jesse had only been playing the keys for a couple years. The odds of them making it as a band seemed slimmer than any of these skinny Nashvillians.

However, fast-forward to 2009 and you will see that with only an EP and a lot of excitement, WGG have netted a solid new drummer (John Damiani), a legion of basement dwelling fans and a deal with local record company Lucky Madison Records.

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” says Jesse Laney about how they became popular so quickly. “The only guess I can give is that we have been working really hard. Portland, as anyone will tell you, has one of the most happening music scenes around these days and we feel like we’ve been in the right place at the right time. For the last two years I’ve just kept booking shows with bands whose songs I really liked, and it’s been a blast.”

These luxuries have afforded them the ability to continue making their Devo-esque brand of pop.

WGG are a refreshing alternative to the mainstream. They do not take themselves too seriously but love making music enough that they can make audiences love music as well.

They are even so bold, in songs like “On the Shore,” as to challenge the sea, touting: “We built our houses on the sand…/This house, it isn’t big enough, for all of us/Someday I think it’s gonna fall/But we don’t care.”

The sentiment of something seemingly negative, channeled into the endlessly positive is echoed in how Jesse Laney describes their mode of songwriting.

“It usually takes a little while for the songs to come out,” Laney says. “I would love to say we can churn out songs in one super happy afternoon, but they usually involve a good bit of grief and frustration, especially between us brothers. Ultimately, though, I think it helps us write better, although it might be shaving a few years off our life. Buts that’s what family is for, right?”

Whether they are singing of mazes and monsters or provoking aquatic life, World’s Greatest Ghosts have the ability to excite, while simultaneously keeping it a family affair, one in which even their audience is welcome to join in.