You know how when Coachella, Lollapalooza and them reveal their lineups and way at the top are EDM acts you’ve never heard of? For a few years Ghostland Observatory was one of them. With Behrens raging on vocals and electric guitar, backed by Turner’s thumping techno beats and framed by spectacular shards of laser lights, Ghostland played rock music for the dance crowd, and vice versa, on the main stages at all the major music festivals. Together, these opposites attracted thousands of wildly devoted fans all over the country from 2006-2011, then went on a hiatus. On stage, Turner wears a satin cape his wife made for him, but all eyes are on Behrens, who dances as if his corpuscles have been replaced by electricity. The soft-spoken Turner, three years older, is more at ease surrounded by a bank of synthesizers or programming beats in his home studio. The gregarious, pigtail-wearing Behrens is a natural entertainer who’s been performing in public since he lip-synced and danced to “Achy Breaky Heart” as a third-grader at the mall.

Thomas Turner and Aaron Behrens photo by Jay Janner AAS 2007Īaron Behrens and Thomas Turner, who make up the Austin dance rock duo Ghostland Observatory, are as different as a live wire and a solid state circuit, Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz.

Ghostland observatory