Ghosts of the Pacific is a Seattle based hard rock band that pulls roots from the rich history of the Seattle music scene. GOTP creates original hard rock songs with a metal energy and spirit. GOTP puts on a high energy live show, we integrate visuals and theatrics to bring a local rock show that stands out above the rest. We understand that even though the audience is coming to a local rock show, they expect to be entertained as if they were going to see a big budget touring band.
Ghost of the Pacific was founded by Sean and David Kebely in the late summer of 2016. The bands original lineup consisted of; Josh Williams on vocals, Sean Kebely on guitar, Francis Hunnycut on bass, David Kebely on Keys and Brad Turner on Drums.
In December of 2016, it was mutually decided that drummer Brad Turner would leave the band to pursue other musical interests. Michael Ball was the first drummer we auditioned that same month. He showed up completely prepared and ready to rock. He was such a good fit that we didn't feel the need to audition anyone else and he was officially named in January of 2017.
Bassist Francis Hunnycut decided it was time to move on and focus on other areas of his life. Kyle McClelland filled in for a couple of shows but Francis eventually came back to rejoin the band on an interim basis until we could find a suitable replacement.
Several bassists auditioned in an attempt to fill Francis’ spot. When Tom Evans arrived for his audition and began playing with us, a wide-open pocket was created and his powerful, edgy sound was an awesome fit. Tom was officially announced as the new bassist early that September. Tom played with the band for a year before deciding to move on.
With the bass player spot being up for grabs once again, we recruited long time friend and videographer of the band Paul Cary. With Paul having a history with the band shooting our first two music videos and being a general fan of the band, it was an easy transition.
Our first studio album, the Human Machine, was released April 20th 2019. The recording line up for the album consisted of; Josh Williams on vocals, Sean Kebely on guitar, Paul Cary on Bass, David Kebely on keys and Michael Ball on drums. We came up with the concept for the Human Machine during the writing process of the album. We decided to tell story through a 3 part music video trilogy.
Click the link to watch the trilogy. VIDEOS
Shortly after the release of our album “Human Machine” bassist Paul Cary announced he would be parting ways with the band to focus on raising his new born son. Drummer Michael Ball also announced plans to move to Japan to pursue his career goals. Evan Ingalls was the first bassist we auditioned and new immediately that he was the man for the job. Evan is the youngest member of the band. Evan brings a much welcomed energy and discipline to the band. Jody Harstad fell into our lap completely by chance. We needed a last minute fill in for a show and Jody stepped in to help out. The very first practice with Jody felt like he had been playing drums for Ghosts since day one. Jody was as excited to join the project as the band was to get the privilege to play with such a seasoned professional.
Born in Everett, Washington. Started guitar at 16 years of age and began singing professionally at age 25. Studied vocal lessons under maestro David Kyle, who taught great vocal artists such as Geoff Tate, Ann & Nancy Wilson, Layne Staley and Chris Cornell. Previous bands I've sang for have been Core, Syztem7 and Invertical. I play acoustic shows as a side career in the local Seattle area. In one of my previous bands, we have traveled to Texas SXSW three consecutive years to perform on multiple stages. In past, I have also played the Whisky a GoGo in LA as our touring destination. I currently sing for Ghosts of the Pacific which is based out of Seattle, WA.
Sean Kebely was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1984. He grew up in a musical family with his father being an accomplished piano player. Sean would fall asleep most nights to his father playing the grand piano in the other room. Sean loved listening to music. At a very young age, he was given a portable CD player and would spend most of his time listening to U2 and Bob Seager. Around age 10, Sean told his father that he wanted to learn to play guitar. Sean’s father wanted him to learn piano before learning guitar. His reasoning was that piano is a more linear instrument and learning the fundamentals would be more straightforward. After taking some piano lessons and working with one of the first computer software based piano training programs for a few months, it became apparent that Sean’s heart wasn’t in playing piano. Sean’s father agreed to let him move onto learning the guitar. After taking guitar lessons on his father’s acoustic and not really learning the music that he wanted to play, Sean began to lose interest. A couple years later, Sean was given an Ibanez Stratocaster Copy Package from Costco. The package had an Ibanez Stage Star Strat copy with a tiny Ibanez combo amp and an Andy Timmons instructional VHS. The Ibanez was much easier to play then the old acoustic guitar he had originally tried to learn on. Sean began taking lessons from local guitar hero Lyle Ronglien. Lyle taught Sean everything from Black Sabbath and Guns N’ Roses songs to scales, modes and theory. One thing Lyle preached early on was not to get stuck in one style of playing, a tip that didn't have much weight with a young kid but paid off later in his career.
Metal and hard rock became the genre of choice for Sean in his early teenage years. Bands like Guns N’ Roses and Pantera has had a huge influence on Sean's playing style and taste in gear. Some of the very first guitars he owned after the Costco Strat were a DeArmond Les Paul copy and a Washburn Dimebag signature guitar. The amp Sean played for most of his early years was a Marshall JCM 2000 TSL head and Marshall 4x12 cabinets.
Sean has played in many bands over his musical career. At age 15, Sean formed the band Nosfaratu with his high school friends. Nosfaratu was a 4-piece death metal band where Sean covered rhythm and lead guitar duties. This was Sean's first experience in writing songs and developing them with other musicians. At age 18, Sean moved out of his parent’s house and moved in with a couple roommates. One of the roommates clicked with Sean musically and they formed the acoustic duo Creep and the Milkman. This was quite the change of direction for Sean but playing in an acoustic duo with one guitar really forced him to focus more on his rhythm playing skills. After Creep and the Milkman, Sean floated around between various cover and original bands. Perfect Pistol was the next serious band that Sean played in. He was recruited to play guitar by bassist Paul Dehass. Paul met Sean when he showed up to Sean's house to change the locks. After talking gear and musical influences, Paul asked Sean to come try out for his band Perfect Pistol. Sean played in Perfect Pistol for about 8 years before the band fell apart.
After being in a serious band for 8 years, Sean decided that the next project he worked on had to be for fun. Sean decided that there would be nothing more fun than to start a band with his dad. Over the years, Sean had been playing Christmas songs with his father and even played a couple open mics together. Together, they started the band Ashes of Mercury with the former singer of Perfect Pistol, Jim Reagan, and the original drummer for Perfect Pistol, Brad Turner. Ashes of Mercury played at some local shows but was short lived. Wanting to continue to play music together Sean and David, Sean's father, put out a call to local musicians to form another band, Ghosts of the Pacific. GOTP have gone through a few lineup changes since the beginning, but the core of the band has always been Josh Williams on vocals, Sean Kebely on guitar and David Kebely on keys and synths. With adding Evan Ingalls on bass and Jody Harstad on drums, Sean feels that the current lineup of the band is the strongest it has ever been.
Born in Berkeley, California Dave started playing piano at the age of eight. He took classical piano lessons through high school, entertaining friends at parties playing rock and roll. He has studied with Joel Robbins in Phoenix, Arizona and Allen Youngblood in Seattle, Washington. His first record bought was Jerry Lee Lewis’s Great Balls Of Fire, and still considers “The Killer” to be one of the greatest keyboard players of all time.
Dave got away from actively playing while raising a family and starting and helping to run a Montessori School with his wife Linda. He teamed up to form the Christmas Rock n Roll band Grinch sleigher with his son (Sean Kebely), then another band called Ashes Of Mercury. After Ashes of Mercury broke up Sean and David started Ghosts of the Pacific.
Michael Todd, born in Bellevue, Washington (2001) became fascinated in playing drums since the age of 15. His father would share his music collection ranging from classic rock bands such as Boston, Electric Light Orchestra and Styx to the hard rock bands such as Volbeat, Foo Fighters and Metallica. Having two older brothers who shared their music collections as well with bands such as Slipknot, Trivium and Hellyeah.
At the age of 15 he started his first band called Genocide. Soon after they went and recorded an EP called the "Cry For Help EP", featuring 2 original songs and a cover of Enter Sandman by Metallica. Then a year later they changed their name to Crimson Angel. The next year (2018), they changed their name to Break The Oath being the final change. They recorded a demo with three songs the band wrote called the "Break The Oath EP". The band played a handful of shows around the Seattle area including El Corazon, opening for AVOID at their first CD release show, The Crocodile, The Wildflower, Club Sur Rocks and The Redmond Firehouse/Teen Center. Unhappy with the results of the band, Michael left to focus on himself with drumming.
Over the years Michael attended several clinics featuring Todd Sucherman (Styx), Steve Smith (Seattle Drum School), Chris Coleman (Beck) and Glen Sobel (Alice Cooper) to name a few. He attended a few camps where he befriended Michael Derosier (Heart) and Jeff Kathan (Spike And The Impalers). He also had the chance to interview Alan White (Yes, John Lennon) and became good friends with the legendary drummer. Since the beginning of his career, Michael had been taking lessons from Chase Culp, drummer for many bands including Iron Dragon, Point One and Crying Spell to name a few. To this day he still takes lessons.
Soon after he joined a cover band that focused on 70s, 80s and 90s rock n' roll. The band never left the studio but it encouraged Michael to adopt the nickname "The Lion". Soon after leaving the cover band, he joined another band which also never got off it's feet. After feeling irritated with the band and always butting heads with another, he decided to leave. Afterwards, Michael decided to sit and wait for his big break. And thus he got an email from Ghosts Of The Pacific. After learning all the songs for the audition, it was a success. And now the new drummer for GOTP, Michael The Lion Todd.
Coty Murry was born in San Diego, CA in 1986. He grew up listening to many genres of music during his early childhood but it was in 2000 that he heard the Greenday album “dookie” for the first time in its entirety and he was captivated by not only the music… but specifically the bass playing. It was then that he bought his first bass and dove into the world of being a musician. He’s been active in the Seattle music scene since 2001. Playing and performing bass and guitar in many different bands and genres ranging from country to metal. He’s now happy to have found his home laying down the low end for Ghosts Of The Pacific.