As a solo artist, Leonard works under the name Spooky Ghost. When Gerry moved to New York, he created the solo project Spooky Ghost as a forum for his continuing compositions.
BACKSTORY
Spooky Ghost is the name of the solo project by Gerry Leonard. The name comes from his bandmate Donal Coughlan’s nickname for Leonard’s guitar style and sound.
When Gerry found himself in NYC and working as a sideman, he felt he needed a place to put his compositions and songs. He created the project Spooky Ghost as a sandbox for his constant musical exploration and sonic experimentation. The main instrument is always guitar but in addition to the more traditional ways of using the instrument, the use of custom-made combinations of delay, reverbs, distortions, time and pitch shifting result in otherworldly textures. While there are always a lot of instrumental and ambient pieces in the work, encouraged by Laurie Anderson, Gerry also began to sing, write and record songs. This all led to the first album “Spooky Ghost”. After releasing his first solo album a series of “Sin É” and “Living Room” concerts in the East Village and LES put Spooky Ghost firmly on the map as a regular downtown happening. David Bowie showed up at one show to scout Gerry for his live band in 2001.
A second album “The Light Machine” followed, which was recorded at his friend Duncan Sheik’s Tribeca Loft. That album was described by David Bowie as “quite the most beautiful and moving pieces of work I have possessed in a long time.”
During lockdown Spooky Ghost recorded three ambient guitar-based EPs to become soundtracks to personal space. Called Viral Times, Vol 1, Vol 2, & Vol 3 are available on Spotify and other streaming platforms. A vinyl album of highlights of this project called “Continuance” has been mastered and in the works to become available in the fall of 2023.
A third Spooky Ghost album is also on the cards.
GEAR
From the beginnings of building his first electric guitar with his dad, Gerry has always designed and built his own sets of effects chains and systems. Often referred to as pedal boards there has always been a progression of these designs. Early days of a ’69 Gibson Sg, a Vox AC 30 and a Memory Man delay pedal have morphed into larger Muti Pedal boards in the 90’s to rack mounted switching systems to handle the demands of a 64-song set with the David Bowie band, there have been many iterations to say the least.
These days compact powerful rigs are the new brief. Having tried the new digital modeling set ups Leonard prefers to keep a more analog chain but incorporates some amazing new digital devices like the Eventide H9 or Strymon Timeline delay to handle the reverbs and delays. The distortions, however, are all analog pedals and selected to compliment the artist he is working with.
Everything is controlled by either Boss ES8 or MS3 style switching systems or a Voodoo Labs GCX 1 switcher depending on the gig and the firepower needed. The multiple rigs are available and tailored to the gig and so things remain flexible and versatile . Looping is handled by Strymon, Line 6 DL 4, Pigtronix Infinity and Boss RC 30 or Boss RC 500.
Another big part of the Spooky Ghost live set is the use of a PRS Hollowbody II. “This guitar developed by the guys at PRS is what I call a hybrid guitar,” Gerry explained. “It is like two instruments in one”. There is a beautiful 2 pickup / volume and tone electric side with vintage style pickups. And then there is a custom piezo acoustic bridge with some proprietary electronics to produces a very strong warm realistic acoustic guitar sound. This instrument produces a warm clear tone and by having two discreet outputs for Electric and acoustic allows for separate processing and looping of each.
This guitar is a mainstay on Spooky Ghost shows and Suzanne Vega duo shows. It is also the guitar featured in the Reality live DVD performance of David Bowies “Loving the Alien” arranged by Leonard.
Gerry also has a collection of vintage Gibson’s, including his first real guitar, a ’69 SG Custom which he still uses today, a ’65 Firebird with P90’s, some more recent SG’s and white Les Paul custom shop with Bigsby. He also uses a variety of guitars including PRS Custom 24, P22T, Fender Jazzmaster, Knaggs Choptank and Kenai J P2, Teisco del Rey, Rickenbacker 12 string among others.
Leonard uses a variety on amplifiers when recording at home or in the studio. He favors tube amps, small amps and combos like his 65 Fender Princeton reverb or 50s Fender Champ 600, A Somatone Roaring 40 2X10 combo was one of the main amps on Bowie’s The Next Day sessions alongside a Mesa Boogie TA 15. He also has a couple of Black Cat custom tube amps based on the Kalamzoo 2 circuit and the 50’s Gibson Skylark circuit.
But the main stay has always been Mesa Boogie amps. From the MK III combo bought with his first Island record deal to the current MK V series, Leonard has had a strong relationship with Mesa Boogie amps. He used a Nomad 100W head and Dual Rectifier 100W with 2 X 12” cabs on the Bowie tours. He still uses Lone Star 100W and 30w Special combos for tours and recording. Currently he favors using two small Boogie heads; the Mk V 25w mini head and the TA 15 mini head for touring with Suzanne Vega. He runs these into two Boogie 1X10 cabs and uses the Boogie Cab Clone IR for attenuation and a direct XLR to front of house.
GUITARS
Gibson
PRS
Knaggs
Fender
Teisco
Dussenberg
Supro
Furch
Huss & Dalton
Martin
Kay
Furch furchguitars.com
PRS prsguitars.com
Supro 1961 Dual Tone, The Reality Guitar suprousa.com/bowie-dual-tone
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Strings & Picks
Jim Dunlop
AMPS
Fender Princeton
Fender champ
Magnatone Panarama Stereo 2X10
Somatome Roaring 40
Mesa Boogie Lonestar 2X12 combo
Mesa Boogie Lonestar special 1X12 combo
Mesa Boogie TA 30 1X12 Combo
Mesa Boogie TA 15 mini head
Mesa Boogie MK V 25W mini head
Black Cat Philco custom amp
Black Cat Westone Skylark custom amp
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CABS
Mesa Boogie 2X12 Rectifier Cab-Horizontal
Mesa Boogie 1X10 cab
FX
Boss
Eventide
Strymon
Ibanez
JHS
Lovetone
Digitech
Red Panda
Hexe
EHX
Roger Mayer
MXR
Wampler
Line 6
Pigtronix
TC
Voodoo Labs
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Other Hardware
Wilkinson Bridge
Wilkinson Pickups
Ebow
NYC cases
ALBUMS
Hinterland
Kissing the Roof of Heaven (1990)
Hinterland
Resurrect (1992)
Spooky Ghost
Spooky Ghost (1998)
Spooky Ghost
The Light Machine (2002)
Spooky Ghost
Viral Times, Volume One (2020)
Spooky Ghost
Viral Times, Volume Two (2020)
Spooky Ghost
Viral Times, Volume Three (2021)
SINGLES
Hinterland
Dark Hill (1989)
Hinterland
Desert Boots (1990)
