But still, a never-ending stream of aspiring artists flocks to the City of Angels with star-studded ambitions, only to discover that the Southern California metropolis isn’t as well polished and welcoming as it appears from afar.
German artist Sebastian "Sushi" Biesler, the vocalist and visionary behind alt-metalcore project GHØSTKID, came to the same realization during a four-week L.A. stint while working on his album HOLLYWOOD SUICIDE, which was released on March 22 via Century Media Records.
The result is an open-ended offering of eleven tracks chronicling the toll and toil Hollywood takes on a creative soul. Biesler admits that he didn’t intend to write a concept album, but he quickly discovered that there’s “more than meets the eye to Hollywood.”
“I would say you have to see if from a different perspective,” he explains. “For me, when we entered L.A., in the first few weeks, it was definitely like, everything is so glamorous, larger than life; everything is so big — good food, partying, all that stuff. After two weeks I realized, ‘Damn, this is the first time that I really feel comfortable with myself.’ Then I thought about, why am I feeling this way?”
Throughout the sophomore effort, GHØSTKID touches on the price of fame with the opening title track before diving into darker corners with songs such as “S3X,” “BLØØD” and “MURDER” (featuring Code: Pandorum). Then there are the haunting true tales told on “DAHLIA,” a reference to the unsolved 1947 Black Dahlia murder of hopeful L.A. starlet Elizabeth Short, and “HELENA DRIVE,” an ode to Marilyn Monroe’s former Brentwood address, where the iconic celebrity was found dead of an apparent overdose on August 5, 1962.
Despite the sinister direction HOLLYWOOD SUICIDE ultimately took, Biesler describes his short stint in Tinseltown as personally transformative and even freeing. “I don’t know why, sometimes it’s really subconscious, but I had been in L.A. for four weeks, and that changed my perspective of being an artist in general,” he says. “It’s more like, ‘Okay, there’s a lot more about myself to discover.’ For me, I’m like a sponge. I’m just absorbing everything and a lot of vibes, even colors, my whole environment.”
For example, in his home back in Germany, “you have to play by the rules,” he says, whereas “in L.A., if you’re an artist, which is always connected to your persona, it’s celebrated differently."
“If I would go into a supermarket in Germany with a pink fur coat on, people would probably think that I was crazy or I just escaped from a mental hospital,” Biesler continues. “In L.A., you’d probably get props. … It means a lot more compared to Germany. It’s not that you’re only doing art; it’s like you’re living art. The understanding about being an artist is so different. That really helped me to step outside of my comfort zone, so I really learned a lot about myself.”
GHØSTKID vocalist Sebastian "Sushi" Biesler created a dark concept album while writing and recording in L.A.
Courtesy Emily Parry
But the overarching theme of a Hollywood diva’s “downward spiral” didn’t fully emerge until the final stages of recording. “That was a bit funny. During the finishing process in the studio, we figured it out that there could be something like a timeline in there as well,” Biesler adds. “‘HOLLYWOOD SUICIDE’ is about an artist living the dream or trying to make it. Then there’s this closure track, so everybody just finds a place to fit in. But that’s a reason sometimes you get into that downward spiral.”
GHØSTKID — which also includes guitarists Jan Marco “Jappo” Heinz and Christian “Chris” Kisseler, bassist Stanislaw “Stanni” Czywill and drummers Joakim Stephan “Steve” Möller and Maximilian Kotzmann (live) — will bring its Hollywood nightmare to Denver on Monday, April 29, during a show at the Ogden Theatre. Headliner Black Veil Brides, Dark Divine and Creeper are also on the tour.
The German group is exploring what modern metalcore can be, which may include a pinch of nu-metal and electronic. Biesler cites such bands as Bring Me the Horizon, Korn and Deftones among his favorites, but he isn’t necessarily married to metal.
“I’m not listening to that much metal music anymore,” he shares. “When a song has a special vibe or has a good chorus or whatever, I like it a lot. But I’m completely open-minded when it comes to different genres.”
The former frontman of trancecore group Electric Callboy also views GHØSTKID, which officially came together in 2020, as a heavier solo project that allows him and his bandmates to express themselves in more ways than just music.
“I’m wearing a dress right now on stage. In the beginning, it was more like, ‘Can I do that? Can I do it a bit crazier?’” he says, adding that Czywill has also recently started sporting makeup.
“When it comes to music or art in general, you’re just communicating on so many different levels,” Biesler concludes. “Music goes hand in hand with the aesthetics, what you wear on stage, how you express yourself through fashion, even graphic design. You've got so many different possibilities to tell your story. If you have a connection to the art that you are doing, there’s so much more to discover.”
GHØSTKID, 6 p.m. Monday, April 29, Ogden Theatre, 935 East Colfax Avenue. Tickets are $40.
