Every year, the sizeable, music-loving crowd that flocks to Central Texas each fall for the Austin City Limits Music Festival grows exponentially. For this reason, among others, we’re proud to boast Ghostland Observatory, the local group that’s winning over fans across the nation, as one of our own. In an exclusive to Brilliant, lead singer Thomas Turner reveals what makes him tick and how it all came together.

Julie Horwitz (Brilliant): When did you first come to Austin?

Thomas Turner (Ghostland Observatory): I came to Austin in 1997. At that time, I was promoting shows and stuff, so coming here was definitely a music related move.

JH: How did you and Aaron (Behrens, singer of GLO) meet each other?

TT: Around 2003 or 2004, there was an ad in the Chronicle. Aaron’s band wanted a synthesizer player, and I answered the ad. That band ended up doing other things, and branched off from one another, but Aaron and me stuck together.

JH: What do you like about performing in Austin?

TT: It’s where we live. A show like ACL is especially [good] because it’s an opportunity to play for the people who live here, while also representing Austin the best we can for the people who don’t live here.

JH: You started your own record label, Trashy Moped; when and how did you start the label? What are the advantages and disadvantages (if any) of having your own record label?

TT: We had just done one record, and were working on our second one. [At that time], we didn’t have any record label interests. I just took this as an opportunity to start my own label, and I thought, “Why not try this with my own band?” It seems to be working for us. With anything that’s do-it-yourself, you have control, and you are your own boss. On the other side, there are more hours and everything is done from the ground up. We started from the ground up, and established a strong foundation. We won our fans over the hard way [since bands who are with big record labels get much more promotion]. We have great fans.

JH: When did you know you were going to pursue music?

TT: (laughs) I didn’t know at the time, but I remember being in seventh grade and being in either algebra or pre-algebra. I got into an argument with the teacher; I told her some junior high school comment like, “I’m never going to have to use this”. I told her I was going to be a drummer in a rock band, and she told me I was still going to have to know about finances and expenses. I guess we were both right.

JH: How long have you been wearing the cape onstage, and where did you get the idea?

TT: I probably started wearing the cape in 2006. My wife made it for me; I told her I wanted something to wear onstage that was different than normal band attire. I wanted something that represented our music, but I’m also not very mobile onstage because I play keyboard and drums. A week later, she came to me with the cape and I was like, “perfect”.

JH: What is the significance to the name “Ghostland Observatory”?

TT: I don’t know, it could mean lots of things. For us, it was just what was happening at the time. We were looking at photos from the Hubble telescope, and sometime later we called the observatory, and everything came into place.

JH: When you’re not on tour, where is home?

TT: Austin.

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