Sorry Ghost Talks Creative Processes, Upcoming Releases, and Sources of Inspiration
Photo by Sammie Wuensche
Los Angeles-based indie-rock band, Sorry Ghost, has come a long way from its origins as a pop-punk band. In an exclusive interview, Songbird was privileged to chat with members Daniel Anton, Matthew Polito, Tate Silver, and Sean Duong.
Matthew and Daniel, childhood best friends from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, moved to Los Angeles around three years ago and met drummer Tate by pure chance. Tate trained Matthew on his first day of a new restaurant job, which led to him subtly mentioning to Matthew that he played drums and offering to fill in for their drummer.
“They thought it was a coincidence. I was subtly plugging myself the entire time. Because they're like, ‘We don't have a drummer.’ And I was like, ‘I'll help you guys out. I'll just learn your songs so you can practice while your drummer's out of town’” Tate admitted.
Sean’s addition to the band was also one of chance–his former high school band set out on an East Coast tour and discovered Sorry Ghost through Spotify recommendations. Their manager contacted Sorry Ghost, asking them to join the tour. Sean explained that, while on tour, he quickly felt at home with the group and was ready for a change. Over a conversation at Applebee’s, the boys asked Sean if they would ever be interested in moving to Los Angeles and pursuing a career in indie/alternative rock. “We basically did to Sean what Tate did to us,” Matthew laughed.
Once Sean had returned to Florida, Sorry Ghost officially asked him to join the band, and he agreed. “I sold him a dream,” Daniel joked, reflecting on how they essentially convinced 21-year-old Sean to uproot their entire life to join their group.
Since Sorry Ghost’s inception, their music has seen a shift in genres from pop-punk to more traditional indie-pop. Matthew explained that after finding an audience in the pop-punk sphere, they realized that their music didn’t quite reflect what they were listening to or writing anymore. After reflecting on the genres and artists they were more frequently listening to, such as the Strokes and Cage the Elephant, they decided to shift their sound while keeping the songwriting process the same. “It still has the pop-punk sensibilities, but packaged into music that doesn't sound like pop-punk,” Matthew explained. They also detailed how writing pop-punk caused them to feel restricted to a very specific sound.
As for artists that inspire their music today, each member finds inspiration in a wide range of musicians. “I feel like we all pull different bands into [our music] that [create] one sound,” Tate detailed. Matthew expanded on this, explaining that because they all listen to various genres and musicians, they never feel as though they are trying to emulate one specific sound or mimic any particular band.
“Even though we’re in a band and all very close, very rarely is there a band that we [all listen to]. Like, Matthew and I listen to a lot more rap and R&B than Sean and Daniel. So we’ve been listening to Kendrick’s last album, which just swept at the Grammys, which was great. And then I feel like Daniel and Sean listen to more of the Turnover vibe,” Tate explained when asked about their music tastes that don’t particularly influence their music.
“I’m the only one in the band that likes Five Seconds of Summer,” Sean admitted, earning himself lighthearted teasing from his bandmates.
Each member had a unique introduction to music, but none of them came from overly musical backgrounds. “All of our parents hate music,” Daniel joked. He explained how he began in his church choir as a child and transitioned to trombone in his school jazz band before ultimately switching to guitar in high school. Matthew shared a similar introduction to music, attempting to learn drums in middle school before switching over to guitar.
Tate’s background was slightly more music-based, with his older siblings being extremely musical. His older sibling, closest in age to him, played drums in their church band, and Tate essentially learned by watching them. “Honestly, I attribute a lot of my abilities to, which tells you a lot about my abilities, playing Rock Band. No joke. I learned how to move my limbs separately from just playing that. The hardest part truly is the limb independence. So truthfully, I owe a lot to Rock Band,” he admitted.
Sean’s musical journey stemmed from a lack of athleticism in elementary school, he explained. “I tried getting into sports in elementary school and realized I sucked at every single one of them–flag football, youth soccer. And then, for some reason, I got really into beatboxing around fifth grade. Naturally, around sixth grade, I was like, let’s [learn] a real instrument. So I actually learned drums first, as well.” From there, he drummed in his local church band, met more musically-minded friends, learned guitar, and began to write songs.
Sorry Ghost’s latest release, “box breathing,” was a song that almost never was. From start to finish, the song took around a year and went through multiple iterations (including one with a screaming part in the bridge). Initially, Sean brought the chords and the chorus, which remain the same today. However, they put “box breathing” on the back burner while producing and releasing other songs. Daniel refused to let the track go, rewriting the verse several times until it became the one on the recording today.
“That is somewhat indicative of our whole process,” Daniel explained. “We get very much in the perfectionist mentality and it has to pass our ears first before I believe anyone would want to hear it.”
“If we still like the song, it's not done. If we're still enjoying it, it means we haven't picked apart every part of the song. It doesn't necessarily mean that the song has changed before it gets released, but if we're not tired of it, it probably means we didn't listen to it enough to be certain that this is how the song should be,” Matthew expanded.
Much like the song, the music video for ‘box breathing’ underwent several versions before Sorry Ghost settled on the final product. Initially, Daniel proposed the silly idea of having huge boxes with bare legs sticking out of the bottom, which led to the idea of the boys running around town wearing the boxes. However, after doing a photo shoot for the song, they ultimately decided to scrap the idea of having a narrative-based music video and instead focused on visuals.
“Our good friend Nico…helped us execute this vision of this whack-a-mole idea that you see in the background, where we’re playing in the foreground, but then our heads are popping out of the boxes in the background. It’s visual, rather than it being our typical narrative draw,” Matthew explained.
Like many other modern musicians, Sorry Ghost has leveraged social media to grow their audience. However, they bring a unique twist to this marketing strategy, recording what their typical “jam sessions” look like. While it’s still up in the air whether or not those videos are staged (it’s up for interpretation), Daniel shared that there is always a kernel of truth.
“That's what rehearsal is like, where it's like 90% us just dicking around and not necessarily being super focused. And then these are the kinds of conversations that are floating around. And then usually what will happen is somebody's like, ‘All right, guys, we need to actually work. We are technically a band. We're not a podcast. So we need to write some music,’” Matthew explained.
Aside from their “jam session” videos, Sorry Ghost regularly posts various comedic TikToks, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, which they explained helps them bring in new listeners. “[We had to] find that medium ground of making funny, engaging videos that people will like and want to follow, but also tell them, ‘Hey, we're a band. This is a song you would like,’” Tate shared regarding how they properly utilize social media platforms.
Sorry Ghost has a lot in store for 2025. With three songs recorded already and several more in the works, they plan to release many new tracks this year. They also shared, exclusively, their plans for a West Coast tour at the end of April and longer-term touring over the summer. For East Coast fans, there is hope—they expressed their desire to play more shows on the East Coast in the future.
As both a band and individually, Sorry Ghost deeply values authenticity. “What we try to do is just be authentic. So we do that in our music. We try to do it in all of our social media—anything with our brand is just to be yourself. And I hope it comes through in the music and the lyrics that we write. It’s supposed to feel very much like, ‘this is what you get, ’ and we're all human, and we're all going through similar things,” Daniel detailed.
Stream Sorry Ghost’s music on your platform of choice, and keep your eye out for new releases and tour announcements this year!