Maggie finds her ‘Seoul’ in band

Maggie Devlin provides the vocals for the group and this summer the members were lucky enough to play a festival in Korea called Pentaport. Now they’re working on new material, which is almost ready for recording.

New Blue Death got together in the summer of 2012, with some of the members leaving popular bands in Seoul to take up the new project. Maggie had just quit her first band in Seoul to focus on writing. The Cookstown woman had originally come to the South Korean capital in 2010 to explore this part of the world.

“At the beginning of spring 2013, Adam Brennan (frontman) contacted me to ask if I would be interested in singing backing vocals at their album launch,” Maggie told the MAIL. “I had been a huge fan of Adam’s since I first saw him play with On Sparrow Hills and so I jumped at the chance.”

“The album launch went well and the boys asked if I could join them for a few more gigs, which I was pleased to do. Singing with the lads is really special - we’re like this big machine: when the set starts, you kind of disappear and lose yourself. I’ve always been a singer but it’s never felt like this before,” she added.

After that stint, the Cookstown woman became a permanent fixture of the band, but she admits that they are struggling with the non-musical side of being in a band. And she said she has witnessed a lot of musicians struggling in Seoul as they try to make it big.

Maggie said the members are aware that getting Facebook ‘likes’, booking promo spots and keeping the social media machine rolling is really important, but it’s not something that comes naturally to them.

“As for the future, we want to finish this album and actually get it out there for people to hear. We’re all in our late 20s and early 30s, so there’s no big dream of ‘making it.’ We just want people to listen to our record and we want to play shows for people,” said Maggie.

She said when they finish their contracts next year their aim is to tour Korea, China and Japan, and if the project is going really well, maybe a small North American or European tour could be on the agenda.

Visit the website and ‘like’ the band at: www.facebook.com/newbluedeath.