MAINE, USA — After the COVID pandemic canceled their tour in 2020, The Ghost of Paul Revere is hitting the road again this year with stops in the U.S. and Europe.
The tour officially kicks off at the end of February and includes one stop in Maine over the summer.
Bandmates Griffin Sherry, Sean McCarthy, and Max Davis have been friends since they were three. When fans watch them perform, they'd swear bandmates had been jamming together since then. But it wasn't until their teen years that the trio started playing music together.
"We all loved music, and we listened to music a bunch together. I mean, all those minivan rides we had as kids going from point A to point B," McCarthy said. "But we didn't start playing music together until we were in probably 10th grade."
The band was officially formed in 2011. All three perform vocals on their tracks. Sherry plays guitar, McCarthy plays bass, and Davis plays the banjo.
In 2018, the group added Charles Gagne as the band's drummer. He'd been a close friend of the band for years and was a natural fit.
McCarthy said he and Davis would visit Griffin at Dogfish every fourth Thursday night in the early years. Sherry was performing there solo at the time.
"We found out we'd get free beer if we sang with Griffin," McCarthy said.
"We've got to hook him somehow," Sherry said, laughing.
It wasn't too long after, McCarthy remembers feeling like the group might be on to something.
"One of those nights I just remember being down there, and it was completely filled up. And it's only like 50 people in there, but they were singing along to the songs that we were singing, and that was the first time that was kind of a 'what's going on' moment. Like, this is bigger than what I thought it was originally," McCarthy said.
He continued, "The next time was on the stage at Empire, opening up for Dark Hallow Bottling Company. That was our first kind of real show in Portland, and the audience there was singing along with the songs. I remember getting the goosebumps and just kind of freaking out for a little bit."
Since its start, the group has released seven albums. They consider themselves to be in the Americana genre. Their most recent album, "Good at Losing Everything," was released in summer 2020.
The band said the album covers heavier topics than most might be used to hearing from them and that it unwraps a lot of their personal experiences.
"For me, it was kind of coming to terms with the life of touring out on the road and having that draw to be back home with loved ones all at the same time pursuing this very exciting and unique thing," McCarthy said. "I think a lot of other stuff had to do with a general kind of a feeling of loss. We're getting older. We've all kind of been through some hardships, and part of, like, I said, the honest music that we're trying to create is, to be honest about the subject matter with the people who are listening to it too."
"At the end of the day, it's what creating is about," Davis said. "That kind of processing of emotions and trying to figure out how to get a grip on things in life and understand things a little bit better."
When the pandemic shut the world down as everyone knew it, music and that creative process became a lifeline for the group.
"In the greatest times, you turned to music. And in the worst times, you turn to music," Gagne said. "When everything was shut down, and we were suddenly just home, that was a great release and the greatest therapy."
In addition to their upcoming tour, the band plans to release a new album.
"We're really excited to start playing those songs live because they're pretty different than anything we've ever done before," Sherry said. "I think it's going to take some people by surprise."
Those interested can also catch The Ghost of Paul Revere at Sugarloaf, Carnaval Maine, and their eighth annual Ghostland Music Festival.