For a new band on the scene, buzz can be a four-letter word. Some bands chase hard after it, doing whatever it takes to get noticed and get ahead. Others allow it to find them, accepting a sudden wave of attention that can be as fleeting as it is overwhelming, hanging loud overhead like guitar distortion piercing out from a stage amp. So what’s a young band to do when the buzz not only greets them after releasing a debut single, but piles up in remarkable fashion after only unveiling two more?
Follow it all up by making the best motherfucking debut album possible.
That’s what The Ghouls are doing after a wild 2024, the Lowell indie alt-rock band capture unrivaled momentum and unleash a powderkeg of a debut album, Handle With Care.
This is the Ghouls just getting started, and the culmination of the buzz, the awards, and the sweat and the fury of one of the best live shows in town manifests itself at maximum volume through the indie and alt-rock quartet’s blistering debut. And like the attention that found The Ghouls early on, it takes roughly three seconds for Handle With Care to reach a frenzied cruising altitude. Moments in, vocalist and guitarist George Danahy lets out a primal “Let’s go now!” scream on fiery opener “Pocket of Gold” as the band – guitarist Peter Trainor; bassist Jacob Babcock; and drummer Bryce Maher, who all recently met as students at the University of Massachusetts Lowell – comes together to unleash an unbridled fit of rock and roll fury.
“I hope this record is universal for the listener,” Danahy admits. “I hope it is an album they choose to listen to while working out, while driving, on amazing days, and on awful days. Handle With Care reflects how young our band is in the grand scheme of things, in a positive way. There are many wildly different sounding tracks on this record, yet all of them still sound like they come from us. It all still feels cohesive.”
That cohesion is in play across the album’s nine tracks, which Danahy first drafted as demos before taking to the band to find their final form. The Boston scene first got introduced to The Ghouls in late 2023, when powderkeg debut single “Hellbound” first hit the streams.
Handle With Care, is made exactly how the band wanted it – and needed it – to be made. It takes their live show and puts it on record, it filters a vast array of influences and desires and condenses it into one tight, comprehensive record that grabs the listener at “go!” and never loosens the grip. Just like the hand holding the grenade on the colorful artwork.
