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Honored would be an understatement with this interview, to delve into the brilliant mind behind Ghosts of Paraguay, David Templeman. A personal long time favorite producer of mine and I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I did!

 

FA: Well, my obvious first question would be: What’s the story behind the name Ghost of Paraguay? I know you are in Essex, but do you actually have ties to Paraguay? I’ve seen that asked often on your Facebook page and am quite curious myself.
GoP: Yes I do get asked that a lot. Well the only story I have for that is that the name Paraguay is a phonetically beautiful sounding name. I always try to instil beauty in my work, hence the name.

FA: Can you give us a little history on how Ghosts of Paraguay began?
GoP: Well I have been producing and playing piano for many years (about 15 to be precise) under various aliases and very nearly gave up a few times. I just got to the point one day whilst traveling Australia when I decided I would just make whatever I felt like rather than what I thought people wanted to hear.

FA: Your music has caught the support of producers such as Phaeleh, and you’ve had much success over the past year, with releases on Loodma, Summer Rain, Seeking Blue and self releases. Looking back, did you ever see this coming?
GoP: Well you always want people to listen rather than hear your music, so although I didn’t expect it, it is want I wanted and I’m so glad people are taking notice and even more happy that it moves some people.

FA: So what comes next for Ghosts of Paraguay after “On the Run” drops? You’re quickly breaking gravity with success, please tell us there’s no end in sight for some time!
GoP: Well I am currently working on a album called “The Piano Sessions” which is purely my piano composition’s with my best friend Aidan Dullaghan singing. It’s just gonna be me playing the piano and Aidan singing, all live with very little editing.

FA: Speaking of “On the Run”, it’s generating a lot of buzz! Any surprises in there that will differ it from your previous release(s) such as Silent Souls?
GoP: To be honest, I don’t really like “On The Run” as much as “Silent Souls” I feel I’m going down a road with it that’s unnatural to me. But I’m happy people like it and I hope people get enjoyment out of it. I do really like “Beyond Reason” though and looking back I think that would have been better as an album track.

FA: Silent Souls broke the mold in so many ways, breached boundaries that others would probably struggle with producing. The end result was [to me] a beautifully played out story of sound that couldn’t help but evoke emotion, is there an actual story to this album?
GoP: Well kind of. For me it’s a journey from start to finish of me coping with my daemons, ending with a song dedicated to my wife Anna, who through it all is there at the end waiting for me.

FA: You have definitely become known for your ambient, atmospheric, garage-esque and soulful chillstep sounds, do you ever experiment outside of those genres? Harder sounds perhaps?
GoP: I do but I’m sorry to say that they will probably never leave my computer. Although they are probably quite good they still feel unnatural to me.

FA: I’ve heard that you enjoy painting and drawing, is any of your album art a creation of yours? Do you plan to ever incorporate your own artistic talent in there in that aspect if not?
GoP: I have always been good at art, and I do plan to do the artwork for next album but so far I haven’t had any input into artwork.

FA: The setup! Home studio or otherwise, and your favorite software to use?
GoP: I used to have a huge studio with tons and tons of outboard gear but over the years I have slowly got rid of it all in place of my laptop and a few plugins. All I have now are my Alesis M1 active MK2′s a Controller and my laptop running Logic Pro 9 and Native instrument Komplete that’s it.

As for plugins I don’t use that many, it really annoys me when people spend thousands on every plugin they can get there hands on. If you have every plugin under the sun you never get to become an expert with any one of them. It’s much better to use a few good plugins and use them to there full potential, you can achieve the same sound with a few as with hundreds. Plus at the end of the day it’s the producer that makes a good track not the plugins.

FA: Who would you say inspired you to start producing, and who inspires you still today?
GoP: I’m not sure really, I think it was the creative side of me which developed from an early age. I have such a broad range of inspiration, I wouldn’t say anyone person inspires me. Just feelings.

FA: Any releases (outside of On the Run) in the future pipeline that you can hint at?
GoP: Yes, I have a Single being released soon with an accompanying video and some remixes by some very talented people.

FA: If you could pick any of your tunes to recommend to a first time listener, which would it be, and why?
GoP: Probably “The River”. I find that song is to me perfect. when you create anything there is always something your not quite happy with but I feel that song said exactly what I wanted it to say.

 

You can find out more information about Ghosts of Paraguay by visiting:

Ghosts of Paraguay / SoundCloud / Facebook

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