“…this is what folk punk is all about…”
London Celtic Punks
“…created their own genre… Tasmanian Convict Punk”
ABC Tasmania
The Dead Maggies are story tellers and music makers, weaving tales from Van Diemen’s Land’s dark and turbulent folk history, with fast, powerful, toe-tapping, foot-stomping, wild folk music that makes you dance, shout and folk till you punk.
This raucous combination of folk and cow-punk, with heavy drums and gang vocals burst onto the Tasmanian music scene in April 2013, forming on the inaugural celebration of Margaret Thatcher’s death.
A few months later they released their debut record ‘Sing about dead people’ and started moving like a convict on the run.
By November 2013 they had released their first full length album ‘Well Hanged’ with songs played on national (Triple J), local and international radio; being featured on podcasts from Germany to the USA. After touring Europe in 2014, they smashed the Tasmanian summer festival circuit and toured eastern Australia again and again.
In 2016 they toured South East Asia and started hitting the Australian national festival circuits hard. A trend continuing in 2017 where they have played some of the biggest festivals, on the best stages at the crucial time slots for when the party really needs to start.
In between playing the Australian summer festival circuit, and setting off to tour England for the second time, The Dead Maggies launched a pair of EP’s – ‘Wild Dogs & Flannies’ and ‘The Wild Folk’ receiving critical acclaim and national airplay. These releases saw both a continuation of fierce tunes set in Tasmania’s past, and the inclusion of powerful stories from the present day. The tour that followed saw them performing at Boomtown Fair – one of the biggest and most renowned festivals anywhere on earth.
2018 saw them take on the usual Australian tours, some festivals such as Huon Valley Midwinter, Kiama Folk By The Sea, and Quinty. 2018 also saw some unheard of time off with a couple of injuries, some parenting commitments, other music projects touring, life jobs and the like, and a lot of well needed rest and relaxation 😛 The end of the year went off with a bang, with shows with Days N Daze, Brisbane Punkfest in the wake of their own folk-punk baby HOBOFOPO.
2019 and the injuries; babys and lineup changes had all settled down, so back to the usual interstate trips for pubs shows and festivals, including The National Folk Festival and Yonder. They found time for another Asian tour, this time having a week at the end of the tour to hang around West Java and spend some time recording some of the tunes they’ve been slowly penning down over the last two years. The result is the 11 new songs which form the 13 tracks of More Than Just Ghosts released 20/3/20. With amazing reviews coming in already its getting played on Triple and Double J as well as the ABC. The planned album launch tour was canned as COVID-19 came to town at the same time. The Maggies, having taken vows of solitude, will lift off again when the virus sleeps.
Consisting of seasoned performers from rock, punk, folk, classical, metal and thrash, The Dead Maggies mix their backgrounds and styles on traditional instruments in a less traditional way. They’ve played alongside all the best folk punk bands in Australia and countless touring acts. They’ve had articles/interviews in music magazines such as; Punkulture (France), Warp (Tasmania) and The Music (NSW/VIC) to name a few. They have performed in all corners of Tasmania from Devonport to Eaglehawk Neck, toured Australia, Europe and Asia. Festival highlights include Port Fairy Folk Festival, The National Folk Festival (twice, ACT), Dark Mofo, Falls Festival, Mofo Faux Mo, Psyfari (NSW), Illawarra Folk Festival (twice, NSW), Yonder (QLD), Punkfest (twice, QLD), Kiama Folk By The Sea (twice, NSW), Taste of Tasmania (three times), Fractangular (3 times), Amplified, Jackey’s Marsh Forest Festival, Huon Valley Mid-WinterFest (4 times), Quinty Folk Fest, Festival of Voices and 10 Day’s on The Island in The Famous Spiegeltent – where the stage manager asked the audience to settle down, as they were dancing too hard for the floorboards to handle.
The Dead Maggies put on an engaging show, a juxtaposition of deep and dark lyrics of oppression, revolution and death; set to energetic and exciting music. This unexpected pairing captivates people from all walks of life. The audience can be completely absorbed in a dark and desperate story, whilst dancing like a maniac to rip-roaring music all at once. No wonder they were nominated for Live Act of the Year (NMLAS). Their songs, their music, are great – but their live show is something else entirely, you should see it.
www.facebook.com/thedeadmaggies
Email: [email protected]
On stage they are a mix of double bass, banjo, clarinet, fiddle, guitar, a lot of drums, a lot of vcoals, flannies, mohawks and lively stories about death.
The Dead Maggies are from Hobart, Tasmania which is a place you can find on some maps.
The Maggies’ Family:
Teresa Dixon: banjo, vocals
Hannah Morrell: fiddle, vocals
Gruf Mongrel: guitar, clarinet, vocals
MD: double bass, vocals
David Dixon: drums, backing vocals
Quinton Trembath sometimes joins the maggies on the accordion and as a supporting solo artist or photo/video guy on their national and international tours.
Sam Wellings played drums 2018/19 recording More Than Just Ghosts.
Colin Reynolds played ganjo for the Maggies throughout 2017.
Bicket played drums with The Dead Maggies from the very start ’til 2017.
Ruben Reeves played drums in 2017/18 Burnie played accordion / keyboards in the band for ages, he still does on the occasional gig in Hobart, and he came into the studio to record Well Hanged with us.
Simon Slaughter played ganjo in the original lineup 2013-2015 (Sing about dead people)
Ryan Garth has occasionally rocked out on bouzouki on various gigs since 2013 and came into the studio to add some uilleann pipes, low whistle and harmonica to Well Hanged.
Lucy de Vreeze sometimes jumps up and sings with us! Like on Well Hanged!
Jen Spen played violin in 2013.
Dominic Francis plays a lot of gigs in Tassie with us and jumped up to sing along in Well Hanged.
The Tarkine Commotion Choir are a ragtag bunch of musicians and singers we worked with to put on a show for The Bob Brown Foundation. They came and sang on Well Hanged too.
Bek Binnie has done art for us. Katherine Tattersall, Josh Troy, Georgia-Lucy, Bat, Andrei & Angela Nikulinsky and Kellie Spicer (and many more) have made media with us. Steve lets us practice in his shed. Gibbo lets us live in his pub.
And the hundreds of people in the local community who make everything happen, and be awesome.
Beer: for everything.
Some extra info
Europe 2014 included 15 shows in 17 nights across Scotland, Wales, England, France, Germany, Belgium and the Czech Republic. Performing in squats, pubs and clubs to big crowds, hectic dancing and beer swilling they played with some great local bands. One highlight was in an Irish Pub, in Germany, full of New Zealanders where a former member of the Pogues came to watch.
Their debut minialbum ‘Sing About Dead People’ (2013) quickly sold out and was remixed and remastered for a second pressing in April 2014. Two tracks have aired on Triple J and it was ‘Tasmanian album of the week’ on ABC Local Radio and high rotation on Edge Radio as ‘Edge Radio Recommended’. Sing about dead people was picked up by international internet radio stations in the UK and US, and feature on Celtic Punk Rock Radio (Europe) ‘Sampler CD 2014’.
The full length album ‘Well Hanged’ was released in November 2015 through Folk ‘Til Ya Punk Records; a new label formed by The Dead Maggies and their friends, and distributed through MGM records. In its first it has been featured album of the week on ABC936, 2BoB and Edge Radio. The track ‘Black Mary’ had multiple plays on Triple J, and the track Billy Hunt was voted in at #48 for 4ZZZ’s ‘Hot 100’ poll of song of the year 2016. ‘Well Hanged’ has been featured on many internet radio stations across the world and has had a glowing review from London Celtic Punks. It featured on many ‘Album of the year 2015’ lists, including; #7 for London Celtic Punks (UK), #12 for Paddy Rock Radio (USA), and #18 for McSlon Irish Pub Radio (GER). It was also feature album on Celtic Punk Rock & More (ESP) and two songs picked for their annual compilation album. The film clip for single Jorgen Jorgenson was ranked #3 for film clip of the year for Celtic Rock Radio (GER).
Since ‘Well Hanged’ was released late 2015, the band has undertaken five interstate tours, and a two-week tour of South East Asia, where the band spend a week in Java (organised by Indonesian Celtic Punks), and a week in Vietnam (organised by Other Road Records). The album has sold out, and is onto its second pressing. They have played most Tasmanian Festivals, including running HoboFopo folk-punk festival, and taken interstate trips for gigs including Psyfari Festival, Illwarra Folk Festival and Kiama Folk by the sea, and invitations from acts such as The Crooked Fiddle Band and Punkfest Brisbane, performing to hundreds of patrons at each of these events. The band recently performed at Port Fairy Folk Festival and The National Folk Festival (two of the very biggest Australia has to offer).
Wild Dogs & Flannies and The Wild folk were recently released. Produced by Chris Townend (Violent Femmes, Daniel Johns and many more). With tracks being aired on Triple J, an outstanding review from London Celtic Punks and 4zzz, and high rotation on community radio stations, they are hot off the press and being tasted all around.
