Seattle's Jon Fickes released the A View Of Earth From The Moon in December of last year. I'd expect Closer To A Ghost to be in many 2018 End Of Year Lists. It's top notch Pop Rock, more akin to the Power Pop of the 90's. It feels more aligned to the more melodic and poppier bands of Brit Pop.
A review is to come here, but as you'll hear with the song selections that I've chosen, this is Top Notch stuff and I'm so looking forward to hearing these songs live. I'm also hoping to get Mick Dillingham and Jon talking to each other for a future feature in Mick's Interview Series. The album is a real must have for all.
There's so many hooks on the album, it's an astonishingly good debut. Very very British in it's feel and sound, anthems aplenty, as soon as it ends, you start it again. Here I have a few words with Jon about the album and IPO.
The album is very Brit orientated. You've cited your Brit Pop Influences in the past. Is that the reason for your IPO Liverpool appearance?
"I had an opportunity to play the IPO in Seattle a few years ago when I was in a band called The Fraidies, but I was playing some shows out of town the same weekend and missed out. I'm thrilled the fates have given me a second chance to play and what a better place to play it than in Liverpool?
At the risk of sounding clichéd, The Beatles are reason I play music. I was a ten year old kid in an eastern Washington farm town with dreams of being a Major League Baseball player and then I saw The Beatles Anthology. I instantly fell in love with them and my dreams changed over night. I traded in my baseball bat for a guitar and never looked back.
You do come across as a Music Lover?
The next years were spent playing music underage in bars, getting a degree in music, playing folk songs in New York City, indie rock in Seattle, and eventually joining a Beatles tribute band to fund my original music projects; albums, tours, PR campaigns, videos, etc.
That love of the Fab Four does shine through!
The Beatles tribute world has been a blast. I've played all over the world and shared stages with some of the biggest names in music and even a real Beatle. A show with Pete Best in Detroit was an absolute dream for the ten year old kid inside me who fantasised about playing The Cavern Club and hanging out with those young scruffy leather clad Beatles that were on the precipice of stardom.
Playing my own music on the same stage as my heroes is a true honour
You can listen to and buy Closer To A Ghost here. You really should. A View Of Earth From The Moon open and close IPO Liverpool, playing The Cavern Pub on Tuesday 15 May and The Cavern Club on Tuesday May 22.
In between those two IPO Appearances, you can see them in Sheffield, York, Glasgow and Leeds. Dates are on the Bandcamp page.
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