Artwork by @coffinbirth
https://soundcloud.com/chasingghosts/sets/homelands-ep/s-wPIYqEDpVTn
DIG the third track to drop from Chasing Ghost’s forthcoming EP released this Friday [June 4th] and is just as potent as its previous two single drops. The first track to drop from the band’s HOMELANDS EP was SUMMER a punk-rock driven track that takes the listener on a journey through the grieving eyes of an Aboriginal Elder retelling the true story of the Towel Creek Massacre, NSW in which a sole child survived.
Wall of Sound “When it comes to addressing Indigenous affairs in the music scene, no one does it quite like Chasing Ghosts frontman Jimmy Kyle.”
BUSTED LUNG the second track dropped is inspired by a true story of a random act of violence towards a young Gay man [a friend of Kyle’s] in a hate crime which took place in inner city Melbourne. The survivor in an act of courage forgave his attackers and advocated they not serve prison time.
Scenezine “Every track on the forthcoming EP is about real people and real situations, all of them born from intense real-life stories”.
EP Artwork by @coffinbirth
New single DIG explores Australia’s history and treatment of Aboriginal peoples from the English invasion through to the modern period in a chronological order asking the listener to dig a little deeper into our history confronting the frontier wars, Aboriginal resistance, the mission area of assimilation, the stolen generations and indentured servitude, the mining industry and native title and finally deaths in custody.
“I was scared to write these songs, because a lot of the topics are challenging,” says Jimmy Kyle, a proud Goori man, of the Thungutti mob from the mid-north coast of NSW.
“But that’s how I knew I was onto something. It made me feel nervous.”
Stream the EP ›› HOMELANDS https://soundcloud.com/chasingghosts/sets/homelands-ep/s-wPIYqEDpVT
“I know people are going to come after me with some of these songs,” he says. “But I know in my heart that telling these stories is right and telling them in the way I do is the right thing to do. I know my audience is predominantly non-Indigenous, so I have to engage them in a way that engages their heart. Because that way they’re not going to be judged, but they can put themselves in an empathetic position to go on the journey.
To find the answer he lent on his bandmates: Josh Burgan (guitar/vocals), Aaron Schultz (guitar/vocals), Jake Dargaville (drums), Chris O’Neill (keys/vocals) and Rohan Welsh (bass). Together they breathed weight and volume
into Kyle’s compositions, staying true to the core organic elements that define Chasing Ghosts – no autotune, only real instruments – while willingly following their chief songwriter into new musical territory.
Deadly quotes from media 2021 ›››
Wall of Sound “When it comes to addressing indigenous affairs in the music scene, no one does it quite like Chasing Ghosts frontman Jimmy Kyle.”
Rolling Stone -“’Summer’ on track to be one of the most powerful entries in their discography to date.”
The Guardian “Australia’s best new music for February…weaving English with his native tongue, and delivering a powerful punk song with sugary hooks and a thrilling momentum that belie the horrors of such a massacre“.
The Partae “’Summer’ is one hell of an amped track with a beat that drives so strong it has the legs to keep rockin’ all Summer long.
Scenezine “Every track on the forthcoming EP is about real people and real situations, all of them born from intense real-life stories”.
Hysteria Mag “Jimmy Kyle honestly admitted that he “was scared to write these songs.”
