Making Hay
Image: Colin Hay Band. Image: hero
In June and July, Colin Hay will be making a homecoming of sorts to Sydney and Melbourne.
You see, Hay is now a citizen of the world, holding a UK, Australian and a USA passport, and he associates all of them with ‘home’.
“When I touch down in London, but more so when I go to Scotland, it feels like coming home, and when I arrive in Melbourne I feel like I am coming home, and when I arrive back in LA I feel like I am coming home,” Colin Hay said. “I am always coming home somewhere,”
Starting in Geelong and then Melbourne, the tour takes a detour to the outback for the Big Red Bash before heading into NSW with the Enmore on July 5, Civic Theatre Newcastle July 6 and finishing on July 7 at Anita’s Thirroul.
“I love the Enmore, and I have played Anita’s before, so we will play Tihirroul and then off we go,” Hay said.
It has been 41 years since Hay, as a member of Men At Work, had a world-wide smash with the album Business as Usual, which contained the hit single “Down Under”, propelled in part by the successful Australia II America’s Cup bid, for which it was the theme song.
You can’t keep a good song down, and a version of “Down Under” by King Stingray has been used in the 2022 Tourism Australia campaign, while Luude’s earlier bass’n’drum version reached number 5 in the UK’s Top 40 charts.
Most recently, the Tones And I version has been taking on a life of its own.
“I was involved in the process of the Tones And I version when she recorded it,” Hay said.
“It is beautiful.”
Over the years since the demise of the original Men at Work, Hay has kept the band going for odd spots, but it is the band that he has been working with for the past seven years that he will be bringing to Australia and wants to talk about.
“The band that I am working with now sounds fabulous,” Hay said.
“They are all very skilled musicians and play with great flair and personality — and they weren’t even alive when Men at Work were around.”
Consisting of three Cubans, SanMiguel Perez (guitar/tres/vocals) Yosmel Montejo (bass/vocals) and Jimmy Branly (drums), the band is rounded out with Grammy Award winning Scheila Gonzalez (keys/flute/sax/vocals) and Cecillia Noel (vocals/percussion).
“My wife (Noel) had a band in the ‘90s called Cecillia Noel and the Wild Clams and she has played the Blues Festival and has been here before with me,” Hay said.
Since the heady days of Men at Work, Hay has recorded 15 solo albums and is constantly touring, either solo or with his band.
“I go on the road a lot and I am playing to people who have heard my records and that is why they come, not because it has much to do with Men at Work, but I always play Down Under because it is a big song,” Hay said.
When not on the road with his own material, since 2003 Hay has been a regular vocalist with the Ringo Starr Allstar Band, and will be heading back on the road with them again immediately after returning to the States.
“Its great playing with Ringo. He was in The Beatles, my god! And we have two tours this year,” Hay said.
Hay says that even if you are not aware of much of his new material it is a great show.
“It’s like when you go to a party and you want to see some friends but you also want some interesting conversation with a couple of strangers,” Hay said.
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