New Ghost Hounds singer SAVNT felt like he had the perfect name for a song off their new album. With the lyric of “No, you’ll never find me, I’m a renegade,” that last word fit just right, but he didn’t know its significance in Western Pennsylvania.
“I have to say before I came to Pittsburgh, I did not. Now I do,” he said with a laugh. “It was really interesting because, essentially, I wanted the song to be named ‘Renegade.’
“But the band made the decision that it was just like, there’s a huge song called ‘Renegade,’ so you can’t use that one,” he said with another laugh. “I was like, cool cool cool cool. We’ll change it.”
Styx’s “Renegade” is an anthem at Pittsburgh Steelers games, which Ghost Hounds guitarist Thomas Tull would certainly know, as he’s a minority owner of the team. So that song from SAVNT’s solo career, which had been known as “Renegade,” became “You’ll Never Find Me” on Ghost Hounds’ latest album, “Almost Home,” released March 21 on Gibson Records.
The country/blues rock band, in a partnership with motocross racers Jett and Hunter Lawrence, will be performing the national anthem and playing Saturday at Acrisure Stadium as part of the Monster Energy Supercross FanFest.
Featuring guest appearances from Lainey Wilson on “Before You Leave” and Patty Griffin on “Long Road Home,” Ghost Hounds’ new album serves as SAVNT’s first with the band after stepping in for former frontman Tré Nation in February 2024. The new singer described it as a near seamless transition to the revamped lineup, which also includes guitarist Tyler Chiarelli, pianist/keyboardist Joe Munroe, fiddler Kristin Weber, bassist Bennett Miller and drummer Sydney Driver. And not long after joining, he made his debut with the band in a show at the Roxian Theatre in McKees Rocks.
”I tell the story all the time that the way that I got here was really because of the previous lead (singer), it was because of Tré. He found me in this show I did in New York, and he’s the one that alley-ooped me and was like, ‘Yo, you guys need this guy,’” said SAVNT, who performed on the 13th season of NBC’s “The Voice.” “So from the moment that I met the actual band, as I said our chemistry was kind of instantaneous and I just fell in love with every person here.
“When it came to the people receiving me, that was a little interesting because, I feel like it happens with everyone — if Phil Collins will go through it, then it’s fair game for everybody. But it didn’t take a long time for them to really wrap their arms around me. In fact, the first show that we did at the Roxian, one lady was like, ‘Hey, I’m so sorry. It was me who was kind of mean on Facebook, but I’m so glad that you’re here. Could you please take a picture with my granddaughter?’ It was like, just keep showing up. That’s what I keep telling people. Don’t worry about what people say, keep showing up, do your thing, be authentic and everything will be fine.”
In a Zoom chat earlier this month from his home in Denver, SAVNT discussed the new album, collaborating with Wilson and more:
With the new album being your first with the band, how did it feel to step right into it?
Step right into it is an interesting term actually being that this is my first album with the band. I want to say it was awesome, but that’s such a simple term, because a lot of times we were performing a lot of these songs already and we were just massaging them to get them exactly where we wanted to get it to. So getting into it and getting into the recording process was relatively easy because these people, our chemistry is insane. But I would say the biggest moment for me was not too long ago. We went to Hellbender, which is where our vinyls are being pressed. And I was able to hear my voice on vinyl for the first time. That’s a jaw-dropping experience, and it was like, whoa, this is actually a moment. This is a moment, you know what I mean? So that was cool and then hearing a song like “Down In The Dark,” it feels like it’s made for a record. It’s that ode to the throwback, so it just felt incredible, an incredible experience.
With that Roxian concert, what stands out to you about your first show with the band?
Being in Pittsburgh. It was snowing and it was winter in Pittsburgh, so it was snowing, the lines were wrapped around the block. I would say one of the standout moments for me, actually there were two, three, I don’t know, I loved the entire show. That’s when we first performed “Long Ride Home,” and that one was kind of a dream because when we first received that song, when Thomas … brought that song to us and I was like, ‘Oh, we have to do this one. We have to do this.’ So when he brought this to us, I said I absolutely need to do this song. So when we actually did it on the Roxian stage, just to see what the crowd’s reaction was, we were just like, all right, we have to actually honor the song in the right way and actually put out a real version of it. It was just a blessing that Patty Griffin said, ‘Hey, I want to hop on this,’ and apparently she says no to everything so the fact that she said, ‘Yeah, I like this. I like this guy,’ it was huge.
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So that’s one moment that continues to stand out. Another moment was a song that I had from my previous world, “You’ll Never Find Me.” The band heard it and was like OK, Step – SAVNT, my name is SAVNT, my real name is Stephan Marcellus but I go by SAVNT because I just want to be a superhero. Anyway, so they said they heard the song. They were like, dude, we kind of have to do this song. I was like, whatever you guys want to do, sure, cool.
The last moment would be there was this lady that was in the crowd, right? So she’s holding my hand and … she would not let go of my hand, dog, would not let go, so because she didn’t, at one point she just kind of let go and I had to do a somersault backwards, and I was still singing the song. It just created such a cool moment, so those are the most memorable moments for me.
Not long afterwards, you were opening for the Rolling Stones. That’s crazy, right?
Yeah. I think what was cool, the biggest moment, I don’t think anybody in the band knows this, but the year prior, I went to my first concert in a very, very long time and it was Coldplay and I remember saying and I was looking at H.E.R., who was opening for Coldplay and I was just like I could do this, I want to do that. How can I get there? So for me to have a moment where now with Ghost Hounds, with my band, I’m actually opening not just for any rock band, I’m opening for the (expletive) Rolling Stones, a legendary rock band. It was just like OK, this is how it feels to actually be living in your dreams.
With the album title in mind, what does home mean to you?
That’s an interesting question, because I always said that it’s not just home is where the heart is, but this is going to sound so corny, but literally, my wife and I were just in Nashville and we were just like, we can move here. And then we both had a moment of like, wherever you are, I’m good. That’s where home is. So it’s wherever your people are, that’s home.
With the duet with Lainey Wilson, it seemed like such a good fit together vocally. How did that recording process go?
That was amazing. So I went to her concert in Pittsburgh the night before. When you experience this person online or through video, it was just like, is she as cool in person? And I tell you, she’s cooler in person. She’s legit. She came into the studio and we just had almost like, again, an instant connection. I always tell people this, whenever it’s for you, it’s easy. You really don’t have to work it out, you know what I’m saying? I’m pretty sure you probably felt the same way with your line of work as well, the progression, of course you have to put that like hard work in in the beginning, but it just, when it takes off, it takes off.
And that’s kind of how it was even meeting her. So we got into the studio and she was like, ‘OK, well, where do you work from, where do you feel the most comfortable?’ And I was like, dog, I’m in this booth. I like to turn off all the lights. And she was like, ‘OK, I want to do exactly that.’ So we would go back and forth, kind of trading and have different ideas. Thomas, as I said, he is the pen of us. So he was just like, ‘All right, whatever you guys want to do. And how do you feel about this?’ And we just all were playing and kind of molding this thing together. And so it was really fun even recording (or) speaking to her afterwards. When she was hosting the CMAs, I texted her and I was like ‘Kill it!’ She’s such a really cool person.
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You appeared on “The Voice,” so did appearing on that show help prepare you for this role in the band?
Great question. I want to say, yeah, the first time that I was called a performer was on “The Voice.” Before that, I used to just stand still and sing, right? And Miley (Cyrus) was the one that was just like, ‘Hey, you’re a performer.’ And I was like, ‘OK, I’m a performer now. I must move.’ I think that kind of pushed me forward. But the reason why I think that this was more of a thing that just felt like serendipity, to be honest, it wasn’t necessarily because of “The Voice,” because it was so long after. “The Voice” had so many seasons, so many seasons from when I was on there from 2017 to now, I think they’re on, I don’t know, I don’t even know what cycle they’re on. It’s just so many people that go through it. So I will say that everything that I was able to learn post-that has helped me to be groomed for this position. And how quickly it can move because once you get picked up from “The Voice,” it’s quick.
I know that this album just came out, but is there also a blues album in the works too?
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Oh, wow, yeah, there is. Yeah, there definitely is. So this one did just come out and so we’re just focusing on pushing this one. We have some fun stuff coming because we were just inspired. And while we were in that creative space, we just wanted to continue to latch onto that. So we built out a whole blues album. And I’m really looking forward to see how that is received because it pushed me to dive in even deeper. A lot of our songs were like really heavy rock songs with a country twist to them. So it was like, OK, I can get into this. But when you talk about blues, you got to get in that, you got to get in there. (laughs) So yeah, I’m really hopeful for it to come out and see how it’s received.