DEBUT SINGLE FROM AUSSIE CELTIC-PUNKS MADIGAN’S WAKE

We bloody love Australian Celtic-Punk and get really excited when news filters through of a new band coming through and Madigan’s Wake are worth getting excited about!

Their is something about Australian Celtic-Punk that hits the nail right on the head. It has a grittiness and a rawness about it that is unsurpassed in the scene. The bands have a way of story telling within their songs and subjects that somehow touch upon the history, places and working class politics of Australian life no matter what the subject they are singing about. So we always get a bit excited when we hear of a new band developing over there on the t’other side of the world.

Madigan’s Wake formed in 2021 with brothers Damian and Albert Peck on guitar, mandolin and Irish bouzouki and taking up the main Punk vocalist roles. On violin and tin whistle is Elly D’Arcy who also takes on lilting vocal solos amongst their fast-paced set. Brent Quirk takes his place behind the drum kit and the mixing desk and Jimi Coelli on the bass guitar. Taking traditional Folk instruments and combining them isn’t new but the way they do comes across as fresh and original. This year sees the release of two singles and their debut album through the independent Melbourne record label, Headstone Records. Elly and the Peck brothers come from strong Irish backgrounds and they followed the same path as many 2nd and 3rd generation Irish, listening and loving traditional Irish folk music from the Dubliners, Wolfe Tones, Irish Rovers and Planxty at home and getting into Punk music away from home. Added into the mix were great Aussie bands like Weddings, Parties, Anything and Roaring Jack and you have a dynamic blend of intense, fast-paced story-telling music. Their songs are narratives of Irish people both now and gone before who fought for justice, freedom and a life of opportunity.

Madigan’s Wake left to right: Jim Coelli – Bass * Damian Peck – Vocals / Guitar * Elly D’Arcy – Violin / Tin-Whistle * Brent Quirk – Drums * Albert Peck – Vocals / Mandolin / Irish Bouzouki *

Their debut self-titled single is out now on iTunes and Spotify and is a nod to the Peck brother’s maternal grandfather Thomas Patrick Madigan drawing on memories of growing up in the Madigan family with all its chaos and adventure, the drinking and dancing, with their flaws and generosity, and of life in this working class family in one of the roughest and toughest suburbs in Melbourne, Port Melbourne.

“The gentrified people of Port Melbourne today would be horrified at what the Madigan’s put the good people of Port through back in the day. But as kids we loved it and we loved them. So Madigan’s Wake is a tip of the cap to an amazing, real and often crazy family and to a time long gone.”

(chorus)

Madigan’s Wake Madigan’s Wake

You know the crowd will be so great

Madigan’s Wake Madigan’s Wake

For drinking they won’t hesitate

Madigan’s Wake Madigan’s Wake

Every room in hell will shake

Madigan’s Wake Madigan’s Wake

You better not be bloody late!

They picked him up and carried him

And threw him in the ground

They covered him with concrete

So he wouldn’t make a sound

They danced a jig to midnight then

Until the banshee yelled

“He pays the price in purgatory

That’s where he now does dwell”

(Chorus)

The men were drunk by midday

And the women followed suit

We headed to the Bridge Hotel

We took our usual route

We sang old Irish rebel songs

And then was asked to leave

I heard stories of my family

Embellished though they be

(chorus)

They toasted him and roasted him

And told so many lies

They said he was the greatest man

To ever be alive

When the kids were put to bed

Then things got really strange

I heard my family speak in tongues

And roll around deranged

(chorus)

As the sun was coming up I went outside to cry

I was sad and broken hearted

That my grandfather had died

So I walked back to East Esplanade

Where I thought his ghost would show

But I fell asleep and dreamt of him

Where I thought he’d NEVER GO!

Madigan’s Wake Madigan’s Wake

You know the crowd will be so great

Madigan’s Wake Madigan’s Wake

For drinking they won’t hesitate

Madigan’s Wake Madigan’s Wake

Every room in hell will shake

Madigan’s Wake Madigan’s Wake

You better not be bloody late!

Recorded at Headstone Records in December 2021.

Thanks to Headstone Records and video producer Cameron Galea.

Their debut album has been recorded and mixed by Brent Quirk, and mastered by Tony Mantz from Jack the Bear’s Deluxe Mastering in Melbourne. Release date is not until February 2023 and will be simply titled Madigan’s Wake. Expect their second single ‘Before the Devil Knows I’m Dead’ in October 2022 and a third single in February 2023 ‘Thunderbolt (The Gentleman Outlaw)’ that will precede the album.

Contact Madigan’s Wake Facebook YouTube Spotify