Freddy Ruppert, on a short break after his European tour to promote the release of 'New Love', the second album from Former Ghosts, takes some time out to answer a few questions for Grapevine…

For those who don’t already know, who is the brain behind Former Ghosts and where are you from?

My name is Freddy Ruppert, I'm from Los Angeles - and I guess you could say that I am the brain behind Former Ghosts. I do all the song writing as well as decide what direction a project goes in... So if that is what you mean by brain, then yes.

Former Ghosts is also partly a collaborative project, can you tell us a bit about who else is involved?

A few of the people that I collaborate with are Jamie Stewart from Xiu Xiu, Nika Roza from Zola Jesus, and Yasmine Kittles from Tearist. I also have collaborated with Jherek Bischoff and Sam Mickens of the Dead Science. On record so far, Jamie mainly contributes some synth parts or some textures while Nika and Yasmine both contribute vocals. Sam has contributed guitar and vocals to a track on the Old Love mix tape and he is a vocalist I would love to work more with in the future. Jherek, so far I have just collaborated in the live setting.

How would you describe your music?

Pop filtered through experimental lenses and textures.

What are your influences?

Love and romance from all of its extreme places.

Who else do you admire in music today?

I mainly listen to bands that I am friends with. I am drawn to my friend's bands because I have a personal connection with what they are doing. I admire my following friends and look up to them a lot: Felt Drawings, Tearist, Whitman, Continues, Table.

You’ve just finished a European tour, how did it go?

It was great. I love touring Europe. The tour was with Zola Jesus and Xiu Xiu so it was great to have all of us together. We rode in the same van and it was a lot of fun. I think my favorite part of touring is just being in a brand new city every single day and meeting new people and seeing new and old friends. I don't look forward to playing the shows too much. The tour was exhausting in the sense that all three of us had major technical issues during the tour.

Where was your favourite place to visit and which was the most enjoyable show you played?

My favorite place to visit is Prague in the Czech Republic. My favorite show I have played was in London at the Luminaire with Parenthetical Girls.

Well thanks Freddy, for giving up some time on a precious day off to talk to us - now we'll let you enjoy the rest of your day!

Thanks.

For more info on Former Ghosts, take a look at www.myspace.com/formerghostssleep