A. Swayze & The Ghosts find new meaning on 'Let's Live a Life Better Than This' - the album is out today

27 Oct

Written By PR@Click Roll Boom

A. Swayze & The Ghosts find new meaning on

‘Let’s Live a Life Better Than This’

The album is self released by the band today

Watch the new music video for 'Sick Kinda WRLD'

Order / listen to the album

Watch the video

Praise for ‘Let’s Live a Life Better Than This’:

“Devilishly good Devo-y post-punk from Tasmania.” - Andrew Perry, MOJO (★★★★)

“they have found the confidence to throw whatever feels good into the mix. It is just that fervour that enables them to present the societal bedlam that surrounds us in a way that will bring people together en masse.” - Nathan Whittle, Louder Than War

“The Hobart-based rockers and ARIA nominees are bursting back onto our radar” - Rolling Stone

“Chronicling a journey of self-discovery and growth, [Let's Live a Life Better Than This] explores themes of self-destruction, love, and the power of change.” - Happy Magazine

Praise for ‘Paid Salvation’:

“end-to-end faultless” - Kitty Empire, The Observer (★★★★★)

“Paid Salvation is worth the entrance fee” - Andrew Perry, MOJO (★★★★)

“a confident debut from one of the more impassioned and exhilarating bands around.” - Narzra Ahmed, The Line of Best Fit (8/10)

“an intelligent, considered and passionate collection of art punk anthems with a smirking pop edge” - Ali Shuter, NME

“punches and swaggers its way into view as an enjoyable pop-laden record pure with immediate energy.” - Jamie Muir, DORK (★★★★)

“Impassioned, intelligent punk” - Bella Martin, DIY

Feature Album - Double J

ARIA-nominated - Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album

AIR-nominated - Best Independent Punk Album or EP

nipaluna/Hobart founded ARIA-nominated and internationally-acclaimed rollickers A. Swayze & the Ghosts today celebrate a remarkable transition from self-destruction to love with the release their new album ‘Let's Live a Life Better Than This’, a spiked-out, winkingly self-aware record documenting four years of growth and an intense evolution of the band’s sonic world via an eclectic mix of real-deal alternative rock, post punk, art rock, a splash of 70's dance-punk and beyond. Featuring singles 'Cool Cucumber', 'He Is Dead', 'Tell You All The Time' and focus track 'Sick Kinda WRLD', the album arrives ahead of a recently-announced slot on the Party In The Paddock lineup and the band's previously-announced national Australian tour this Nov/Dec. ‘Let's Live a Life Better Than This’ is out everywhere now, listen / order HERE.

Described by enigmatic frontman Andrew Swayze as "a punk band’s attempt to make a dance track", bristling focus track 'Sick Kinda WRLD' leans into house music influences for a chaotic examination of perception, psychedelics, mindfulness, and what it feels like to see beyond the reaches of reality, accompanied by a suitably tripped-out video - directed, shot and edited by Swayze and starring Meg Bradbury.

During a touring hiatus - their eventual return marked by 3x sold-out headline shows in support of lead single ‘Cool Cucumber’ this past May - A. Swayze & the Ghosts turned inwards and found themselves shedding old ideals to make music free from expectations, driven by the urgency of liberating from the creative boundaries they had subconsciously drawn for themselves. ‘Let’s Live a Life Better Than This’ lives in a dichotomy: an extroverted record that is largely introspective, chronicling shared and personal realisations around addiction ('Friends', 'Tell You All The Time') - with Swayze quitting drinking in 2019 - fear and consumerism ('Anthropology', 'He Is Dead'), mental health and Swayze's experiences with OCD ('Easy Come'), trauma ('Before I Left'), love and loss ('Others Exist', 'Puppy, Baby') and finding a path to liberation & resolution ('Cool Cucumber') in parallel to an oftentimes challenging journey of growth that Swayze says was intrinsic to the album’s creation.

He shares, “We started as a fierce, self-destructive garage-punk band, reeling from their career being derailed by COVID, to now an intentional and artistically liberated group held together by love and respect for one another. The making of Let's Live A Life Better Than This was the anvil upon which we were forged over the past four years of transformation, each song an honest and intimate document of something observed or learned. It wasn’t until we finished the album that we realised the long, at times challenging, but cathartic process of its making was exactly what each of us needed to grow. Our greatest hope is that even just a fleeting moment on this record resonates with you deeply enough to draw you closer to an authentic and better life.”

Written over four years between Naarm/Melbourne and secluded spots across lutruwita/Tasmania and recorded at Sunset Pig Studios, with Swayze tracking the bulk of his vocals in his spare toilet/DIY soundbooth, ‘Let's Live a Life Better Than This’ - self-produced in a first for the band and mixed by Andy Savours (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Rina Sawayama, Arctic Monkeys) - is the dawning of a new era for A. Swayze & the Ghosts. Densely packed with tight, punchy drums and percussion, Roland and Korg synths and a touch of saxophone, the guitar-led, dance-forward record signifies a zealous transformation, brimming with a renewed energy and intensity, non-traditional rock elements and an unwavering sense of passion and commitment.

It marks a departure from their previous “band-in-a-room” approach to now writing in the production process, initially spurred due to their rehearsal space lease ending & having “nowhere to make noise.” This ultimately encouraged a far more experimental approach as the band honed the nuances of each track, thanks to access to a limitless range of DAW sounds and a growing curiosity of genres like techno, electro, hardcore, trap, and black metal, adopting the ethos that “if something sounds good, don’t question it" - celebrated via collective media support from DORK, Daily Telegraph, rage, Rolling Stone, frankie magazine, Tone Deaf, Happy Magazine, The Write Drop, Music Feeds, AIR, The Sound Lab UK, triple j, Double J (rotation - 'Cool Cucumber' & 'Tell You All The Time'), The Student Music Network UK ('Tell You All The Time' added across 40+ UK stations), Backseat Mafia, Already Heard, RockNLoad and many more including community radio nationwide and Spotify's New Music Friday AUNZ & Local Noise.

First making their mark with their “end to end faultless” (The Guardian), ARIA & AIR Award-nominated debut album Paid Salvation (2020), A. Swayze & The Ghosts - Andrew Swayze (he/him; vocals), Ben von Fürstenburg (he/him; guitar/synth), Zac Blain (he/him; drums) and touring members Kieran Daly (he/him; guitar) and Joe Berry (he/him; bass) - continually push the bounds of what it is to be “punk”, and are heralded for their frenetic live shows marked by the unrivalled charisma of Swayze, and their highly expressive and consistent creative output. Across their debut self-titled EP (2017) and ‘Paid Salvation’ (2020), A. Swayze & The Ghosts, have become critically-acclaimed internationally, including nominations for ARIA's Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album and AIR's Best Independent Punk Album or EP, praise from The Guardian (UK), Mojo, BBC Radio 1, Beats One, Clash Magazine and NME, Feature Album on Double J, Album of the Week on The Music, The AU Review and MTV Australia, and syncs on the recent remaster of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 & 2 Soundtrack (‘Connect To Consume’). They’ve taken their “unpredictable, risky and unhinged” (triple j) live show to Splendour In The Grass, Falls Festival, The Great Escape (UK) and BIGSOUND among others, plus support slots with Jet, The Vines, Shame (UK), Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes (UK), Total Control and more.

Connect with A. Swayze & The Ghosts:

aswayzeandtheghosts.com