When Full Flower Moon Band released MEGAFLOWER in 2024, it didn’t just mark a breakthrough — it detonated one. A #1 Australian album, a sold-out vinyl pressing, and a viral reel that rocketed the Brisbane group into international feeds; it was the moment the band became unavoidable. One year later, Kate “Babyshakes” Dillon and the band have returned not with a standard industry cash-in ‘deluxe’, but with something stranger, bolder, and unmistakably FFMB: MEGAFLOWER Deluxe, a standalone 10-track LP that functions less like a bonus disc and more like a parallel universe.
“It’s funny because it’s not technically a new record,” Dillon laughs, joining us on Zoom. “But there are so many new songs. It feels like a new record. It’s going to take a minute before fans realise how much new music is actually on here, because the messaging around ‘deluxe’ albums is usually just a couple of extras tacked on. But this is its own album. It’s got legs.”
From the very beginning, Dillon was intent on breaking the mould. “If I’d done it as an ‘album album’, it wouldn’t be such a random selection of songs,” she says. “But that’s the beauty of this deluxe — I scattered the genre for a moment there.”
The concept sat dormant for a while. After a full year of touring, 2025 was supposed to be a period of rest. “My manager said, ‘I don’t think this will be an album year. You should recalibrate, sit on what’s next. Maybe think about a deluxe.’”
Dillon took that idea and ran — at a sprint.
“I sat with it for a couple of months and ended up putting together a pretty significant tracklisting. At one point my manager said, ‘Wait — you’re not doing just three songs?’ And I was like, ‘Oh no, here’s ten.’ It completely defeated the whole ‘take a break’ idea.”
Many of the songs pre-date MEGAFLOWER; others were written in the giddy aftermath of its success. “Some demos existed even before the album. “Speed Limit” was one I wasn’t sure belonged on MEGAFLOWER — it sits in its own world. I love singing it a cappella, and what a fun thing to do on a deluxe. “Harder Man” was basically written too, but it needed the guest artist.”
And then there were the songs born out of the process of making a deluxe, like the take-your-breath-away “Female Mechanic”.
“I realised I needed to fill time on the vinyl,” she laughs. “So I told the guys, ‘We’re going into the studio, just play this riff for eight minutes.’ But the more I got into it, the more I realised — oh wait, I actually love this song. I shouldn’t turn it into a piss-take. And then suddenly, there it was. A real track.”
It’s already become a live favourite. “We’ve played it maybe 25 times on tour. It’s hot and ready. It feels like part of the staple set now.”
Some songs took a stranger path. “’Smoking’ was meant to be on MEGAFLOWER, but I couldn’t work out where it belonged. I originally wrote it in a British accent as a kind of Sleaford Mods-style track for someone else. I sent it to Malcolm Besley from Northeast Party House, thinking he’d take it in that direction, but he came back with this punk angle. Eventually I realised I was forcing it to be something it wasn’t. And then Drunk Mums came into the picture and it all clicked. It’s crazy where it ended up from the demo originally.”
Others — like the fragile beauty of “Scene (Reprise)” — emerged in the studio at the eleventh hour. “I was editing ‘Scene’ and got frustrated with the structure. I chopped it up so hard that a new guitar melody fell out. I accidentally wrote a reprise. I love doing extensions live, where you finish a song and then keep singing the chorus for a bit of extra juice. So it was fun to officially release one.”
Her reimagined version of “Kiss Him Goodbye” came from a similar instinct to honour what had happened on stage. “We played Princess Theatre with this huge 13-piece band, and the arrangement was so grand. I’m trying to give this album low stakes, but have it mean something to the people that are interested. I wanted to document that version — the ‘live score’ of the song. But capturing live energy in a studio is tricky. I had to accept it as a studio performance, not a re-creation. Still, I wanted to archive the arrangement that I really loved from that show.”
Given her reputation as one of Australia’s most electrifying performers — the kind of frontperson whose presence can tilt an entire room — translating that intensity onto record is its own challenge.
“We hear ourselves a lot clearer in the studio. There’s less room for error. I’ve evolved from a very DIY approach, but even in proper studios, I never let go of the idea that we can chop, move, fix, rearrange — use the computer as an instrument. If something doesn’t have the live energy, I can still move it somewhere that feels good. It might not be the live energy, but it will be Full Flower’s recording energy. I think of them as two different art forms.”
2025 marks ten years of Full Flower Moon Band. “This lineup has been together about five years, but yes — me as Babyshakes? Ten years. It’s wild. The older I get, the easier it is to have the work validated. I’m more experienced at being a ‘rock star’,” she grins.
I first saw them live at BIGSOUND in 2022. I got there early, and was asking my various PR buddies – “who should I see” – the one name that kept coming up was Full Flower Moon Band. I saw them, and was blown away, and they have been on my ‘must see’ list ever since. Her memories of 2022 BIGSOUND are vivid. “I remember everyone with lanyards shaking our hands. And I thought, ‘Wow. We’re one of those bands this year.’ You can feel when people are talking about you.”
Brisbane remains the band’s creative heart. “Brisbane is the city that loved us first. We formed there, we met there. It shaped us. Now, as things grow, I feel more Brissie-proud than ever. I used to look at bands like DZ Deathrays and Violent Soho and think, ‘Why are they so proud?’ And now I get it. Something happens. It should be studied,” she laughs.
She’s equally proud of the band around her. “We’re all West End scallywags who stepped out and figured out how to do this. We get to look back and reflect: we were in a sharehouse together, and now we’re on this stage.”
For Dillon, the deluxe is both a celebration and a reckoning — the moment to draw a line in the sand. “I left everything on the table with the deluxe. It’s cathartic. I’m grateful enough people are interested that I can clean out the cupboard and move on. I know what the next record is. I know where it sits emotionally and sonically. It’s so satisfying to close this chapter.”
The future, especially overseas, looks bright. “Our UK and Europe tour this year went so well. We had 25 shows and I wondered if the numbers would hold, but every night people came out for a rock show. It was so satisfying. We’re definitely coming back. The plan is to be an international touring act. It’s no hobby!”
She laughs when told I’ve already ordered MEGAFLOWER Deluxe on vinyl. “I signed them all today.”.
MEGAFLOWER Deluxe from Full Flower Moon Band is out now. You can grab a copy of the vinyl HERE, purchase it on Bandcamp, or stream it from the usual channels (less the two demos).
You can keep up to date with the band via Instagram, Facebook, Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, and TikTok
Header image credit: Seamus Platt
