(From left to right) Jim Moginie ,Evelyn Finnerty, Alan Healy, Samuel Mogadisco (at rear), Bird, Peter Mackie (crouching) and Lefty Wright make up Shameless Seamus and the Tullamore Dews.

There is a new Irish Australian supergroup on the scene, led by former Midnight Oil guitarist and songwriter Jim Moginie.

Shameless Seamus and The Tullamore Dews is a mix of traditional Irish music and Australian rock.

The seven-member band is made up of well-known exhibiting painters and sculptors, members of Midnight Oil, Mental As Anything and The Cockroaches, along with traditional players.

Shameless Seamus is Moginie’s folk alter-ego. He is on vocals, guitar, ukelele and bouzouki (similar to a mandolin). He claims distant Irish heritage in Tullamore in Offaly and describes himself as a ‘student of Irish music’.

He says although Irish trad music is difficult to play and there is a sense that you must be Irish to do so, he is relishing learning about it in his 50s.

“I’ve been to Ireland a few times and travelled around doing a couple of sessions. It’s such a good vibe to do those things. It’s hard to play but it’s really good to play and it gets people dancing,” he says.

Moginie worked with Declan O’Rourke and was part of the Feakle Traditional Irish Music Festival while in Ireland. The guitarist and songwriter says he is happy to be singing other people’s songs for a change.

The Dews have been playing trad standards such as The Leaving Of Liverpool and The Cliffs Of Dooneen at their early gigs.

“I’ve always loved people like Christy Moore and, you know, I saw him back in the ’90s when he played in Australia and it blew my mind how good he was,” says Moginie.

“Probably since then was when the whole thing got started and since then it’s been a growing passion for me. The band’s really just an extension of that. Some are Irish, some are Australian, and rockers. It’s an intersting combination – traditional music with a heavy bottom,” he says.

Dublin-born musician and artist Alan Healy helped to pull the band together. He has performed with The Dubliners, Christy Moore, The Wolfe Tones, Fureys, Foster And Alan, Mary Black, Stockton’s Wing and was a founding member of Irish bands The Gingermen, Róisín, and Sons Of Róisín.

Lefty Wright (aka Stephen Coburn) is on vocals and mandolin and, along with Bird on drums and bodhrán, was a founding member of ARIA Hall Of Fame inductees Mental As Anything.

Evelyn Finnerty from Cork  is on vocals and fiddle. Poet and drummer Samuel Mogadisco is on cajón and percussion.

Peter Mackie is on bass. Mackie was a member of The Cockroaches, a precursor to The Wiggles.

Moginie says they have plans to record some songs, but for now they will focus on their upcoming gigs.

They play the Gaelic Club, in Surry Hills, on Friday, November 11.