On August 1st 2007, John Goff was pronounced dead. He died in his small house in Abilene, Kansas from a severe asthma attack. This was the influential event that caused John’s best friend Steve Moss, to start The Midnight Ghost Train, as a eulogy to John. “Something had to be done,” Steve says. “John’s memory and life has to be remembered in some way.” Moss then moved to his hometown Buffalo, New York with a plan to start a band, record a record, and go on tour. This was the idea and the drive that fueled The Midnight Ghost Train’s engine.
As soon as Moss arrived in Buffalo, he began to recruit members for the band. The original lineup included Steve Moss on vocals and guitar, Toby Cole on bass, and Jake Levin on drums. The Midnight Ghost Train has never been too sure on what direction they wanted to take their sound, and what genre to ordain to. All they knew was that their life and soul needed to be dedicated to music. Moss is a big early blues aficionado, so it was inevitable that the music would have strong roots in the blues. It was the heavy (stoner rock) side of their music that was most surprising since the band was never into much heavy music. “But when I’m on stage I love to bang my head and have the feel of loud amps and drums behind me, and when I pick up an electric guitar I like to play it heavy, and with force,” Steve says.
When it came time to record their first record, The Johnny Boy Ep, the band replaced their bass player, Cole, with Keith Harry-Carrey. This record was very diverse in sound. Ranging from heavy rock, straight up blues, and even acoustic and piano driven songs. Once the record was finished, Moss started to book their first U.S. tour. They had no idea how to do it, how they were going to afford it, or how to be successful at it, but they knew they needed to be on the road, live for the stage, and they were willing to give up everything in their life for it. Before the tour started, Keith had to be replaced by Brandon Burghart, because of Keith’s complications with being on the road and being gone from his daughter. So Burghart, Levin, and Moss took off on the road in the summer of 2008, and started what was to become a long, long life of touring.
