Based in Shenzhen, GHOST is an EDM duo with it's members from Singapore and Korea. DJs Ronin and GTFO came together to start this in 2017 and have since gotten a residency in Face Club Shenzhen and played with top DJs such as Tiesto, Steve Aoki and Armin Van Buuren.
They have also been announced as one of the acts for It's The Ship China, we sit down with them to talk about their journey to playing Asia's biggest party at sea.
ADM: How did you guys get together? I understand that Ronin you're from Singapore and GTFO is from Korea. So how did the two of you find yourselves being based in Shenzhen?
GHOST: We met in the unlikeliest of places; Auckland, New Zealand when I was invited to consult for a new nightlife venue that was opening there, and Thomas (GTFO) was already living and working in Auckland at that time at another nightlife venue as a bar manager.
After the venue was launched, we were headhunting for additional staff and Thomas joined the team initially as an assistant bar manager. After our initial interaction, I made a recommendation that he be swapped out of that department to join programmes and marketing, and he ended up working closely with me for a period of time.
I left New Zealand when the venue stabilised to Shenzhen for my next job offer at one of the top nightlife franchises in China, Face. We kept in touch for about a year and when the opportunity arose I pitched the idea of joining me in China to Thomas, which he accepted. The rest was history.
ADM: With platforms like Pyro and Dianyingtai starting to become more popular in China, would you say that China is the new frontier when it comes to Dance Music and exploring dance culture?
GHOST: China is quite possibly the largest consumer market globally for dance music at the moment -- with nightlife venues, brands, music events both international and local popping up at exponential rates year on year since the dance music culture caught on. Musically it is still a very young market but is rapidly playing catch up due to consistent and heavy exposure to all things dance music related, therefore calling it the new frontier is quite apt.
ADM: That being said, what do you think of the Western DJs who are touring heavily in China?
GHOST: China is probably the biggest revenue-generating country in the world for Western DJs at the moment; their fees in China are generally higher than anywhere else globally, and the demand for their services is plentiful.
That being said, the western DJs who are spending a lot of their time touring in China are pretty smart to focus their efforts and make bank while the market is ripe and welcoming.
However, the market is also evolving rapidly and it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the initial momentum Western DJs had when they first broke into the market.
ADM: With the launch of It's The Ship China, it's amazing that you guys are now one of the supporting acts in such an endeavour. How do you feel about this opportunity?
GHOST: We are pretty stoked as this would be our first outing as a team in a different setting from what we are used to club and festival-wise. It would also be Thomas's first time on a cruise ship in his whole life so its going to be quite an experience for him personally.
ADM: What's next for Ghost after It's The Ship China?
GHOST: The second half of the year is already looking pretty crazy as we speak; we've got a couple of song releases lining up and possibly a couple more festivals and tours, but we can't reveal the details of those yet till everything is confirmed.
ADM: Is there anything else that you'd like to say to our readers?
GHOST: Contrary to popular belief, it is actually pretty tough doing what you love as a career, and sometimes downright frustrating when you have to make choices between what you are passionate about versus what "works" for the market, therefore we would urge aspiring DJs and people who want to make music a career to really think about what drives them, and whether or not it will be able to sustain them through the up and downswings on the path moving forward.
That being said, having passion, coupled with good work ethic, some great people working alongside you ( in our case, people such as managers, agents, music labels that truly believe in your work, and a fellow artists and producers with similar visions ) are essential in building your career and sustaining it in the long run, and we're glad to say we've met a few really cool people along the way that have helped us in one way or another, so this is also a shoutout to everyone who has been involved with our career to this point.
You can find GHOST at