There is no denying that the Covid-19 pandemic had a massive impact on the music industry, in many different ways. There were overwhelming and countless negative circumstances caused by the widespread illness, but some artists, like The Ghost Club’s Domenic Dunegan, found ways to extract a silver lining in the midst of the turmoil. PopCulture.com recently had a chance to catch up with Dunegan, who shared with us how both the pandemic — and Bruce Springsteen — helped to shape the band’s music.
It all started, Dunegan explained, six years ago, when he got the opportunity to see The Boss live. “In 2016, my dad was like, ‘Hey, do you want to come to this concert with me?’ I’m like, ‘Sure, who is it?’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, Bruce Springsteen’s coming to town and my friend bailed on me. You want to come?’ And I was like, ‘Sure, Why not?’ thinking I’m just going to go to a show, have a good night, but I leave that show just completely changed.
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Dunegan continued, “I was like, ‘Holy mother of God, that guy has the greatest job in the world.’ He made me feel a certain way and it’s like, ‘If I could replicate that feeling even in the slightest little degree, I’d be happy.’ It went from that little dream in my head to the point where I had to actually try to figure out how to do this. I didn’t know how to do it. And it was just YouTube tutorials, writing things and hating them, and then just doing that over and over again until I start releasing music.
He went on to share that things started getting traction online. And then just as things went on, more and more people came around that eventually formed the live group of it.” But then, “COVID hit… right as soon as we were about to start playing.” While this certainly could have derailed the band’s plans, Dunegan says they chose to use the time “to work on rehearsing, getting that settled. And it’s just been one little stepping stone after another into trying to steer this thing into the direction that we want to be in and we’re getting closer as time goes on.”
Dunegan added, “I’m going to look at the bright side of it and realize I had a lot of time to put a lot of rehearsals under my belt. It kept everybody’s morale surprisingly there because it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah. We’re here now, but we can’t do anything because of COVID, so we just got to wait for it,’ versus getting out there and falling flat on your face.
Pre-Covid, Dunegan was working with legendary rock producer Matt Squire on some of The Ghost Club’s early tracks, but these days he’s been working with a new musical mentor. “I have a current working relationship with now with Eric Palmquist and he’s like that, but to a deeper extent to where you give him your image that you want and he does everything that he can to help achieve that vision. And every time I go back, I just learn a little more. I figure out a little more about myself.”
He continued, “I’m going to be heading back to work with Eric pretty soon on the next batch and I feel like the next batch we got’s something actually pretty special just because I’m jumping both feet forward into the concept that I’m going into next. And it’s great to have people like that, that are on your side, that believe in what you’re doing and aren’t just trying to complete a job. They’re trying to help you.”
Dunegan also offered some insight he’s gained over the past few years, explaining, “People say, ‘Oh, it’s music business, not music friends,’ but you do need music friends for music business to go smoothly. That’s the one thing you learn, too, just having an extended stay with somebody. You learn real quick if you’re able to go out and stay with somebody for more than just a couple days because there’s been times with people, it’s just like, ‘Man, I thought we were all right, but I really would like to be alone right now.’ But thankfully, everybody that’s involved, we all get along like peas and carrots and whatnot, so no complaints there.”
Most recently, The Ghost Club dropped a brand new single. “Don’t Let Go,” along with an accompanying music video (which fans can check out above. The track is an undeniable homage to Springsteen, which Dinegan says “was definitely a hundred percent intentional.” He explained, “I was on the phone with Eric Palmquist. We were talking about the concepts of the new song, and this was at one out of five. And I would mention this song and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I would definitely like to try to bring Springsteen to a modern context.’ And I said that as a throwaway statement, but it really stuck with him and he really, really reinforced that and wanted me to chase that on that song.”
“In hindsight, I wish I’d have done that a lot more with the other ones,” Dunegan continued. “Because there’s a lot of time that is involved in making a song, from writing to producing, to getting it mixed. There’s a year in between where you’re making other stuff and it’s just the response I’ve gotten from this one, it’s just been unanimous. People point out this one and it means a lot to me because it’s the most heartfelt thing that I’ve made stylistically, representative of what I want to sound like. And now because of that, I’m just going to double down on that and keep moving forward and seeing how that goes.”
