Artist Profile: best dressed ghost

Photo Credit: Dan Acosta

best dressed ghost, the garage and surf-inspired punk band from New Jersey, has taken a leap of artistic confidence in the release of its second record, Let’s Go Home, in March. When tracing the creative threads through the trails of their first record, however, a singular characteristic of the band’s work becomes clear— all four members possess a special sort of creative unison, elevated by the sheer charisma and energy that percolates not only through frontwoman Stef Leo’s personality-laden vocals but also through the band’s relentless willingness to adapt to the diverse vibrancies that each track demands.

As a teenager, Stef was constantly involved in the New Jersey music scene in some way. She was a frequent show-goer, and she spent many nights working the merch table for bands her friends were involved with. But despite this growing entanglement, she never truly envisioned herself as the person on the stage. She was, for a long time, content solely with her love for the music in her local scene.

But during the Pandemic, Stef had nothing but time on her hands. With the encouragement of Nino, who later became best dressed ghost’s lead guitarist, she picked up the bass, which was quickly followed by the electric guitar. As she gained experience as a guitarist and became more and more confident in her creative abilities, she pitched an idea to a small group of friends she had come to know around the NJ scene.

She wanted to start a band.

Everyone agreed with the expectation that it would be a casual affair: maybe one or two rehearsals every few months, some time set aside to play music with friends. But Nino knew, from their very first rehearsal, that there was something special there.

“From that first rehearsal, I [knew] there was something cool here to work on’. I knew the music was there. Stef hadn't started really singing yet, but I know Stef and her personality. So I was like, ‘As long as you're honestly yourself, this is gonna be cool. She is the person you hear on those records. That is who Stef is. She is so honest. And that's why the music connects… because of Stef's lyrics and the way she delivers them. And I knew that was gonna happen. And sure enough, it did.”

They booked their first show with the help of some connections Stef had in the local scene, and when they got a positive response from that audience, they decided to take things further. They began playing shows all around the local New Jersey scene, and as time went on, they decided to follow the natural path of recording an EP.

The fruits of that labor are represented on 2024’s Dead Rock, a project that leans, at least partially, into the surf-rock sound that Stef envisioned when she started the band while still maintaining the punk-dominant motifs that were the product of the group’s combined influences.

But in hindsight, the band admits they were somewhat reserved on that album from a perspective of creative experimentation.

“I think, when [we were] starting out, I was sort of, personally, tiptoeing. At the time we started playing the music the state of music was very singer-songwriter, very Phoebe Bridgers. I'm gonna be pretty gingerly about it,” said Stef, “And then you start to see that, like, I could do whatever I want. In fact, not only can I do whatever I want, but people are like, ‘I want this. Be loud, yell, run around, do whatever… And people are behind us. We live in a really good musical community. And everyone has really embraced us.”

Patti, the band’s bassist, put it more bluntly when discussing what they wanted to do on the second record.

“I think when you're a new band, you don't want to piss people off. You're like, ‘Oh, let's be careful not to offend anyone. And then you're like, ‘Actually, I do want to offend some people.’”

In between projects, they brought in a new drummer in Joestar, who had worked for years as a percussionist with other projects around New Jersey. They saw best dressed ghost play live at a local venue, and when they heard the band was seeking out a new drummer, they jumped at the opportunity.

What immediately struck Joestar was the freedom with which the band operated in their creative process while still managing to find a workable unison— compared to more rigid environments they had been in, best dressed ghost’s method of following the sound wherever it took them was, in many ways, a breath of fresh air.

“I came in with a session-drummer mindset, and I was like, ‘Alright, when we're in the writing process, what are you guys thinking? And they were like, ‘Oh, I never really thought about that. We just kind of just do it.’ And I f*cking like this mentality because what's so structured about it? It was just very lax. I think that's how the best songwriting came out was just being very relaxed and coming up with [our ideas] in that moment.”

Their second record, 2026’s Let’s Go Home, bears this freedom and this loosening of internal restrictions wholeheartedly. From the cutting, sardonic calls to action of the opener, “Kay, Babe” to the cunning riffs of tracks like “Funhouse” to the slower-built sonic authority of the closing, title track, best dressed ghost cuts no corners either in their instrumentation or their lyricism. The subject matter is bluntly honest while maintaining an innate sense of humor; the arrangements manage to convey the necessary energy while grasping onto a tightness and intention that perfectly carries the project across its five-song duration.

The band, in short, feels as though Let’s Go Home is the most deeply accurate representation of their artistic objectives to date.

Even as they begin to lay the groundwork for their next project, their work over the past couple of years will remain a testament to their connectedness and the collective personality the band possesses. Let’s Go Home, and the way they’ve implemented the energies of those tracks into their live performances, are evidence of that fact.