As the dying corpse of winter makes one last desperate grasp at our ankles down at the wintery, cold and blustery antipodean outpost of Backseat Mafia, a heart warming ray of sunshine is blasted our way by the radiant A. Swayze & The Ghosts with their new single ‘Tell You All The Time’. It is released ahead of their much anticipated album ‘Let’s Live A Life Better Than This’ due for release on 25 October 2024.
‘Tell You All The Time’ is the third single off the album and incontrovertible proof that this lutruwuta/Tasmania band is one of the most exciting bands coming out of the great southern land. It continues the development of the band beyond the stridency of punk into something more subtle – a synth-based glam stomp with a pulsing beat and a sneer. Of course the thing that makes A. Swayze and the Ghosts so special remains intact: the swagger with a swing wider than the gait of a sailing ship caught in stormy seas.
Andrew Swayze’s voice is filled with insolence and poise, urgent and expressive as he sings of his experiences isolated during the pandemic that had an ultimately positive effect:
I felt like we were becoming a product, controlled, and I was no longer enjoying the fast booze and drug-fuelled lifestyle we had created. It wasn’t long after that I quit drinking and was forced to recluse while the world shut down. I found some peace and quiet and learned that was what I needed to function and be happy and experience love.
The expression is stark and lyrical:
Just fed up
With having constant company
Now I sit alone
All messed up but I feel at home
Free yourself
So beautiful
Come together hand in hand
Be in love and feel out of control
Indeed on the evidence of this and the preceding two singles, A. Swayze and the Ghosts have found a vital voice and delivery mechanism that brings to the fore their artistry and creativity: an endless horizon that suggests growth and expansion into something bigger than their constituent parts. They join fellow compatriots like Johnny Hunter (now based in the UK, Radio Free Alice and Charvez Cartel) producing some of the most exciting post punk music around.
‘Tell You All The Time’ is out today and you can download and stream it here.
‘Let’s Live a Life Better Than This’ is due out on 25 October 2024. Four years in the making, the guitar-led, dance-forward record was written between Naarm/Melbourne & secluded spots across lutruwita/Tasmania and recorded at Sunset Pig Studios, self-produced in a first for the band and mixed by Andy Savours (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Rina Sawayama, Arctic Monkeys) with Swayze tracking the bulk of his vocals in his spare toilet/DIY soundbooth.
A. Swayze and the Ghosts will be making an appearance at Sydney’s SXSW in October. Details of their forthcoming live dates are as follows:
5 October – Chopped Festival – Dja Dja Wurrung Country/Carisbrook VIC
16-19 October – SXSW Sydney – Gadigal Country, Eora/Sydney NSW
You can pre-order the album here.
Feature Photograph: Rick Clifford
