MORE THAN JUST GHOSTS

The new album from The Dead Maggies is available now (digital, CD & vinyl) from Folk ‘Til Ya Punk Records as well as from Spotify and all good online and, in Australia, offline stores.

“Holy fucking shit!! This album is just outstanding!”
– Jesse, Days ‘n’ Daze

“The Dead Maggies treat history as living stories, retold in an attempt to change the future. In their hands the aspirations and oppressions of our ancestors are more than just ghosts.“
– Andy Paine (full review here)

MORE THAN JUST GHOSTS is the new album from The Dead Maggies; yes, Tasmania’s wildest folk-punk, cow-punk, colonial cos-playing, gang vocalist story tellers are back with a powerful new release demonstrating their unique sound has developed into something really quite special.

‘One of the most distinctive voices you will hear in any genre’
– London Celtic Punks

The Dead Maggies are known for taking audiences on a ‘musical tour of Tasmania’s Dark Ages’ – (MONA; Museum of Old and New Art) through the oppression and resistance of ‘people whose history is being written out of the books’ (London Celtic Punks), More Than Just Ghosts brings 200 year old stories of rebellion, resistance and death back to life; remembers the Port Arthur massacre, and looks to the future and Australia’s closest neighbours Indonesia, as well as the past.

Port Arthur (More Than Just Ghosts 2020) remembers the tragic massacre of 1996 at Port Arthur where before, in the 1800’s, a penal colony (like a detention centre) enslaved and tortured convict-immigrants. This track is not so much a story than a zeitgeist about the tragedy and guns. Video made by Stormcrow Framework in Hobart, Tasmania.

The Dead Maggies have been accused that their dark ‘folk magic’ (The Music) gets audiences ‘dancingso hard they were breaking the floorboards’(Spiegletent)t; a trend looked set to continue (once the COVID-19 lock-downs are past us) as More Than Just Ghosts’ is raw power contained, wild not quite tamed, fast, slow and surprisingly beautiful music demonstrating the maturation of this wild band of ragtag fopos.

“Everything feels as though it’s exactly where it needs to be. Hit the nail right on the head. Not one bit of filler.”
– Jesse, Days’n’Daze (USA)

More Than Just Ghosts was recorded, mixed and mastered across 5,566 km of land and sea. It’s 2020 and a DIY folk-punk band from Tasmania (an island south of Australia) can now access the tools of a global industry. The recording was a bi-national effort; first demoed in Bass Studios, Bandung, West Java (Indonesia) and recorded by Jafar Pay before being sent to Hobart, Tasmania where Ivan Johnston recorded the drums. These tracks were then sent back to Bandung, where the rest of the band layed down everything else with Jafar Pay, who then mixed and mastered it to a perfection not generally expected of a dirty band of folk-punks from the deep south. Fitting then that the first songs from The Dead Maggies to step away from Tasmania, step to Indonesia and their friends lives there.

Lacey’s Redemption (More Than Just Ghosts 2020) follows the story on from ‘Matthew Brady’ (Well Hanged 2015). It tells of how George Lacey (1799 – 1827), who betrayed revolutionary leader Brady, sought to make amends, and how his actions and words led to the closure of Sarah Island, Van Diemen’s Lands most notorious concentration camp (then known as a penal colony). This was filmed and edited by Quinton Trembath while with The Dead Maggies in Indonesia.

And, for the first time the Maggies have included traditional songs, weaving ancient folk stories in amongst their modern and original hard hitting folk punk, exposing the links between the past and present of their music and lyrics. Fans of their early work won’t be disappointed though, the core of the album is still the swashbuckling adventures of bush pirates and convict rebels, in some cases following directly on from stories included in their widely acclaimed 2015 album ‘Well Hanged’.

You can also listen to the whole album on youtube right here:

Or on spotify…

More Than Just Ghosts (2020) is available direct from our collective: Folk ‘Til Ya Punk Records (we make more money that way). But here it is on spotify anyway so you can listen right now!

You can find the lyrics and learn more about the stories behind the songs in MORE THAN JUST GHOSTS here.