Ghost Writerz – the story so far…

20th October 2015WORDS: Jago

Over the past year you may well have heard the Ghost Writerz receiving regular airplay from some of the UK’s biggest radio DJs such as BBC Radio 1’s Charlie Sloth, BBC 1Xtra’s Mistjam or Capital Xtra’s Ras Kwame; just to name a few. What is the story behind this mysterious duo and where can we hear more of their music? That’s a question that I imagine is on a lot of people’s minds. So, I thought it was only appropriate to offer a deeper insight into who the Ghost Writerz’s are and their story so far.

Harry ‘Sleepy Time Ghost‘ Metcalfe and Jason ‘Jimmy Screech’ Bradshaw began working together after meeting at their mutual friend and rapper, Airklipz‘s studio in Lewisham (South London). They worked well together and quickly released a ridiculously strong re-work of the late great Gregory Isaac’s ‘Rumors’ on white label, which gained the support of the underground community as well as top ranking selectors such as David Rodigan. At the time this was on the airwaves you could tune into hear special dubplate versions of the track left right and centre.

After the success of ‘Rumors’, radio DJ’s and the general public alike were hungry for more music and the Ghost Writerz quickly followed up with ‘Back It Up’, which originally started off life as a dubplate for radio DJ’s. Everyone was spinning this, from the likes of BBC 1Xtra’s Toddla T to Kiss FM’s DJ Hype. It was around this time that record labels started knocking at the door. After careful consideration the duo decided to sign with independent record label Tru Thoughts/Sharp & Ready. ‘Back It Up’, became the first official release and an introduction to the album that was to follow.

The Ghost Writerz got their heads down and worked intensely at Unit 137 to gather an album worth of tracks together. I remember the vibe in those early stages, when I’d be jamming at the studio and Jimmy Screech would come through to voice the riddims that Sleepy was hard at work building. It’s not all the time that you’ll see the energy that these two create when working together in the studio. A ton of great tracks came together and some underground tracks were even released around this time, such as the collaboration with London reggae band onlyjoe in the form of a fresh vocal approach to the ‘Revolution Riddim’.

Once the album was ready, they dropped a video for ‘Back it Up’ and shortly after this went out they released a collaboration under the title ‘How We Living’, with Manchester producer Pete Cannon. The list of releases really does go on and on (a current full discography is at the bottom of this page). Another one that I have to mention is their remix of the Quantic release ‘Spark It’, which features legendary vocalist Shinehead.

The next official album single to be released was ‘Tell Me’. This was the second in a series of crisp music video releases to come from their working relationship with Tru Thoughts/Sharp & Ready and as with all of their releases, the support from the big time radio DJ’s was outstanding.

Their debut album GWz All The Way dropped earlier this year in July and is rammed with vocal features, which include Rodney P, Serocee, Amy True, RTKal and G.O.L.D, the list goes on…

The third single from ‘GWz All The Way’ was released a couple of months ago, in August and is titled ‘For The Love’. This release also included a heavy weight B side ‘Wind Up Your Waist’. Another point to bare in mind when delving into the short but already thriving history of releases from these guys, is the fact that on top of everything that has been released there’s a bag of remixes.

Apart from the releases they’ve put out, the Ghost Writerz have also been regularly gigging at festivals and club nights all over the country. This is only the story so far and this project is just going to keep on growing. Trust me, I’ve heard ridiculously good music that’s dropping real soon, as well as some of the songs that are going to be on the second album. You lot are in for a treat!