“I like the idea of things that are lost but still follow you around, or things that are there but might vanish at any moment,” says guitarist and vocalist Grant Wicks, when asked about the inspiration for his band name, Walking Ghosts.

“I’m told a ghost walk is where you leave a party or night out without saying goodbye to your friends,” he adds. “Restless, mercurial, a bit standoffish. Sounds about right, I suppose.”

Wicks rounded up the rest of his Ghosts—keyboardist John Crand, bassist Jason Desmarais and drummer Thom Lopes—one-by-one, “kind of like a gang of gunslingers in an old Western.”

“Except it wasn’t in the desert,” he says. “It was the dead of winter and [Sierra Grille booker] Mark Sheehan helped, and recommended good Korean films to watch, too.”

Influenced by artists as far-ranging as Neil Young, The Gun Club, Reverend Gary Davis and Ennio Morricone, the rollicking group is united by an unbridled love of live music.

“The band really loves to listen to live recordings,” Wicks says. “Like Dylan’s Royal Albert Hall concert in ’66, which was actually at the Free Trade Hall, or Zeppelin at the actual Royal Albert Hall in 1970. Neil Young & Crazy Horse at The Fillmore East or Black Sabbath in Paris, both in 1970, are also unbelievably good.

“We like the untamed nature of it. There’s a fantastic electricity and unstoppable quality to certain bands live. They’re feeding off of the audience and each other in a way that perfectly captures a specific moment and is completely unforgettable at the same time. You can feel it in the air, even on a recording. That’s also why we love guys like Reverend Gary Davis and Skip James. They haunt you and comfort you at the same time.”

This philosophy extends to its own live shows.

“We tend to try a lot of new ideas off the cuff, with extended guitar solos and drum breaks,” says Wick. “You don’t see a lot of rock and roll bands doing that these days, but we like to be forced to listen to one another and think on our feet.”

The quartet heads into Verdant Studio this July for the recording of its first album. The inimitable Justin Pizzoferrato will engineer.

“Verdant is this wild studio in the middle of the woods in southern Vermont,” Wick explains. “They’ve got a ton of vintage gear, including some equipment from the old Abbey Road studio that was used on the White Album. We’ll be mixing down to tape, then putting it out on vinyl and as a digital download in the fall.”

Wick is also looking to set up his own recording studio in the Valley. “I’ve got some nice tape machines and some other great old gear that I’m dying to put to work,” he says. “Hopefully, we’ll get a nice milkshake maker and a pinball machine in there too.”

You can find Walking Ghosts on Facebook or at walkingghosts.wordpress.com.