tblspn.net/ianw/holyghosts

the holy ghosts were around late80s/early90s - the music tended to be based on song ideas by eugene carchesio (now a visual artist, based in brisbane) but with maximal improv input from the others, ie. ian wadley and clare mckenna (ex-Xero and erstwhile GoBetween) and for a while pat ridgewell - until he left to form yet another lineup of small world experience

as it happens, the holy ghosts recordings you can hear on mySpace were recorded at the first regrouping as a 3-piece, at the start of 1989.

while the name had been suggested at previous jams, the first holy ghosts appearance was at a night of performance art in the spring of '87, in the John Mills Himself building, as a two-piece: eugene carchesio reading from a script, ian wadley improvising on drumkit .. these two went on to record on 4-track, in the same venue, also incorporating guitar, bass & saxophone .. with ian's relocation to melbourne towards the end of that year, a series of holy ghosts gigs & home recordings were made, eugene on guitar & vocals, pat ridgewell on guitar - this line-up, with ian on drums, played a bunch of shows in melbourne, supporting such bands as fungus brains and venom p. stinger
also playing each gig were cut (icluding eugene, mark dean & sue) and gobble-gobble - an instrumental group featuring the unorthodox (in tune & timing) bass-melodies of mark zervoudakis set to ian's drums & eugene's guitar
a few months later, ian returned to brisbane, clare mckenna joined on drums, with ian on bass - sometimes they swapped - and this 4-piece line-up recorded extensively on the 4-track
after his departure from the band, pat continued to engineer the live sound, and the 3-piece version supported sonic youth on their first visit to brisbane
the group released a number of live & studio recordings on the tapes "wounded" & "horses on fire", and were also included on a compilation or two