BELIEVE IN GHOSTS
WHEN The A. Swayze & the Ghosts bandwagon is picking up more and more passengers, writes Kane Young
drummer Zac Blain “quit the other five bands he played in, to just play in this one”, Andrew Swayze knew that was a pretty good sign he was on a winner with his latest musical project, A. Swayze & the Ghosts.
Fast-forward a couple of years, and the Hobart garage punk band — featuring Swayze, Blain, Hendrick Wipprecht and Ben Simms — are arguably the hottest emerging act in Australia, and are quickly becoming one of Tasmania’s biggest musical exports.
Online music publication Ripe voted the band’s debut single, Reciprocation, in at No.14 on its list of the Best 100 Australian Tracks of 2016, and subsequent tracks ICU and Smooth Sailing proved just as popular with concert audiences and radio listeners alike. All three songs feature on A. Swayze & the Ghosts’ self-titled debut EP, which came out in November. They hope to release their highly anticipated full-length album by the end of the year.
Over the past 18 months the group has played at the Falls Festival, Mona Foma, A Festival Called Panama, Boogie Festival and By the Meadow, and shared stages with the likes of Total Control, Immigrant Union, Batpiss, The Murlocs, Gay Paris and The Stems.
Now they can add Jet to their list of supports, with the Ghosts to open for the chart-topping Melbourne rockers at huge shows in Newcastle, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne over the next three weeks.
The A. Swayze & the Ghosts bandwagon continues to pick up more and more passengers — including The AU Review, who named the group one of their “8 Artists to watch in 2018’’ — but Swayze isn’t one to buy into the hype.
“It’s quite exciting, gaining notoriety, but at the same time it’s quite confronting as well,’’ he said.
“I’m fairly reclusive in my natural state. When I perform, that’s when I’m a bit more outlandish. But as soon as I get off stage I’m generally shying away from the spotlight.
“There is probably some deeply hidden part of my psyche that craves that kind of attention in small bursts. I think I always have [craved that], so flowing naturally into being a performer seemed to be the path that has always been laid out for that particular part of me.”
Two-time National Live Music Awards finalists, A. Swayze & the Ghosts are renowned for their raw, energetic shows, highlighted by (an often shirtless) Swayze prowling the stage and busting Jagger-ish dance moves when he isn’t climbing the speaker stacks, wading into the audience, or swinging from the rafters.
“I think having a microphone, for me, is a big step forward that I wanted for a long time,” Swayze said. “I always wanted to be a frontman, but in the bands I played in previously I maybe stepped back a bit. I was playing guitar, a bit more in the background.
“But this band has always been fairly boisterous, all the shows have been fairly wild since the get-go. I think that has just encouraged that excitement that we get out of playing as A. Swayze & the Ghosts.
“I love having the ability to take the stage and just really let go.”
Before they jet off, A. Swayze & The Ghosts play at Hobart’s Waratah Hotel from 8pm tomorrow, with Babylon Howl and Slaughterhaus Surf Cult. Tickets are $10 at the door.