Pepper's Ghost 'Shake the Hand That Shook the World' album

PEPPER’S GHOST is a blue-collar Philadelphia band that has crafted a sound belying its geographic origin: harmony-rich and literally vibrating with manic energy, the five-piece struts the bleeding edge between polished showmanship and beer-fueled rock 'n' roll mayhem.

For frontmen Anthony and Michael Montesano, multi-instrumentalist Rob Bennett, bassist/vocalist David Hartley and a drummer known only as Zil, their collars may be blue but their songs are multi-colored.

Pepper’s Ghost is set to release their Hybrid Recordings debut Shake the Hand that Shook the World in the Spring of 2005. The album is the culmination of five years as a band, and for brothers Michael and Anthony, a lifetime as musical partners. Raised on a strict diet of the greats, the brothers Montesano effortlessly write songs from an era when rock always came with roll and music was fun.

The record was produced by the legendary Andy Johns, a colossal man with the industry track record and personality to match. Johns, whose credits include The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St., Led Zeppelin's IV and Television's Marquee Moon, relished the opportunity to work with a hungry young group. "This band has so much to give, especially vocally. With these guys, you set up a couple of mics, they sing, you do a few takes and it's done! Working with them was a distinct pleasure." The sessions took Andy back to the glory days of rock 'n' roll--"I've only worked with two bands this good before, and I don't even need to mention who they are."

The result of the collaboration is a rock 'n' roll record in the truest sense: an analog gem polished through performance and song craft, not with ProTools or pitch correction. With Shake the Hand that Shook the World, Pepper's Ghost blasts the proverbial cobwebs out of a genre sagging with dead weight, and has a hell of a good time doing it. And it is precisely this marriage of art and fun--the high-brow and the low--that has enabled them to capture a spirit that so many other bands have reached for, and missed.

Their 2001 independent debut, Opening Night, brilliantly featured the accompaniment of a fourteen-piece orchestra--all friends of the band. For the live recording, Rob borrowed some books on orchestration and just "figured it out". Critics adored the record, with the Philadelphia Inquirer likening it to "Paul McCartney in a Motown Cabaret, directed by David Bowie".

Pepper's Ghost continued to do-it-themselves with their highly successful follow-up EP, Bang, which they recorded in Zil's basement with virtually no recording experience. Critics fawned once again. Recordoftheday.com described it as "One of the best CDs we picked up at SXSW... there's a real breadth and quality of songwriting across all four tracks" and Origivation Magazine called Bang “the closest thing to perfection any unsigned act could hope to create”.

It gets better: In 2004 Pepper's Ghost finished the construction of their very own tour bus—complete with a fully-functioning kitchen, running water, an array of entertainment options and sleeping quarters for eight—all from the shell of an old school bus. Dave Hartley, the newest addition to the group, "never thought that being a Ghost would require so much skill with a hammer and a saw". The Grey Ghost, as they lovingly call their bus, is a lot like their sound: more than merely a resurrection of the past, it is the old and the new mingling to create something totally unique.

Anthony Montesano - Vocals, Guitar
Michael Montesano - Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Harmonica
Rob Bennett - Piano, Guitar, Mandolin, Hammond, Vocals
Zil - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
David Hartley - Bass, Vocals

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Pepper's Ghost - Shake the Hand That Shook the World