![Colin Hay Discusses Males at Work, His Solo Profession, and the Music Biz [Part One]](https://intotunes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/ColinHay1.jpg)
Hay spoke to AllMusic shortly after the discharge of his newest solo launch, Man @ Work: Quantity 2, which like its profitable predecessor, accommodates “re-imagined favorites from throughout Hay’s wealthy catalog, together with Males at Work classics, solo album highlights, and new materials.”
And it seems that Colin was in such a talkative temper, that there can be a “half two” of his chat coming quickly.
Let’s. begin with discussing Man @ Work 2. What made you resolve to do a “half 2,” 22 years after the primary one?
“Effectively, it was actually Compass Data’ thought to do a sequel to it. I suppose as a result of the primary one was the best-selling solo album that I’ve executed, and I launched a few albums a few years in the past on the finish of the pandemic, an album referred to as Now within the Evermore, after which a covers document [I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself, as well. I’m not really sure why they decided to do it. It just seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“I’ve almost ‘mined’ all the Men at Work material or songs from that period, because the reason why we did the first one was that I started working with Compass, and they said, ‘Well, no offense or anything, but not many people know your name. But they know Men at Work. So, why don’t we do an album called Man @ Work?’ That’s why we did the first one. And so that contained different versions of Men at Work songs and plus some new songs.”
“And I think that the thinking was, ‘Okay, well, we’ll do a few more Men at Work songs, and then re-record some of my favorite songs from the solo recordings.’ But I’m not really sure beyond that, why we did the second one. I think it’s just basically because they wanted to perhaps do another version of the solo recording, which has done the best for me, which is Man @ Work.”
Were there any tunes you rediscovered or developed a reappreciation for while re-doing them?
“Yeah. I think all of them. All of the songs are interesting when you re-record them – you discover new things about them. And you put records out there, and it’s very difficult to get records noticed these days. Especially if you’re somebody like myself, who is in their 70s. And it’s not like everyone’s waiting for a new album from me, y’know? So, there are songs that I think could be well-served by putting them on another record.”
“I think all the songs that I re-recorded for this record were songs I really liked that probably most people are still very unaware of, that I enjoy. And I really enjoyed recording them again, and I really like playing them when I go out and play live. So, I think all the songs, whether it’s a song like ‘Catch a Star’ or ‘No Sign of Yesterday’ from the Men at Work days, or a song called ‘Frozen Fields of Snow,’ which I really like, and I really enjoyed recording that again.”
“I have a lot of material, but I don’t have a lot of finished material. When I’ve been on the road so much, I haven’t had much time to write and finish songs and record them. So, it may be that it turns out to be one of those interim records that you put out, that’s not a ‘best of’ in a way, but just a compilation record – which you can afford to do when a lot of the songs haven’t been overexposed.”
How old were you when you developed an interest in music and began writing your own songs?
“I think I was about 14. I started playing music a bit earlier. Started playing music when I was about 12, and then I started to write little songs, I think when I was about 14 years old from then on.”
How did you find you write your best songs? Is there a certain formula you have followed all along, or has it changed over time?
“Certain little things have changed. But basically, it’s the same process. I don’t claim to understand the process, really, but it’s just something that since the age of 14, I’ve always kind of done. Which is really just to mess around with musical ideas on guitar – usually guitar – and little ideas, chordal structures, little melodies pop into your head, and you follow them. And miraculously, often, you end up with a song.”
“The ideas are free-flowing really, a lot of the time, but the hard work is really finishing the songs. Occasionally, some songs seem to write themselves. And while that’s not really true, sometimes songs appear in a way that they seem to just appear, and you write them down. And so, it would seem like you grab them out of the air. And then some songs, you’ve got to wrestle them to the ground.”
Can you give examples of songs that were easy, and others that were difficult to complete?
“‘Who Can It Be Now’ was very simple. It took about 40 minutes and written in the bush of southern New South Wales with my girlfriend at the time. I was messing around with this idea, and that only took 40 minutes. And a song called ‘Maggie’ that I recorded quite a few years ago – I just wrote that down in one sitting, and that seemed effortless. And then ‘Overkill’ was a bit like that – the old Men at Work song. I’m trying to think of one that was difficult to write…the ones that spring to mind are the ones that were relatively easy.”
What do you attribute to the reappreciation of Men at Work’s music in recent years?
“Well, I’d like to say that there’s something a bit timeless about the songs. I think the songs have had strengths when they were first released, and they still have strengths now, and people discover more things about them. Because I think there was more things there to the Men at Work music that perhaps was missed the first time around. So, there’s a density to the music that was perhaps not fully appreciated, I think now.”
“And also, Luude [Australian electronic dance music producer Christian Benson], he did an digital model of ‘Down Beneath,’ which I feel charted once more, and was top-5 within the UK. And that did very properly. It did very properly on TikTok, as properly – so individuals turned conscious of the ‘Down Beneath’ track. However past that, I am probably not certain what is going on on with the children, and why they might select to reappreciate Males at Work. However I would wish to assume that it is simply due to the music, greater than anything.”
Trying again, how did you first cross paths with the members of what’s thought-about the traditional Males at Work line-up?
“Effectively, I would been by myself for years, and I met Ron Strykert in a yard in West Melbourne round 1977. He was enjoying a 12-string guitar. And it type of hit me like a bolt of lightning, in a means – I noticed this younger man, very shy man, enjoying stunning 12-string guitar. And I instantly thought, ‘Ah, I need to work with this particular person.’ So I acquired launched to him, and we chatted for some time, and I needed to go off as a result of I had a job, really, in a musical referred to as Ned Kelly. And so I stated to Ron, ‘Once I’m executed with this musical – which can most likely be a number of months – after I come again, we should always work collectively.’ And he stated, ‘Yeah, okay.’ And that was actually the nucleus of Males at Work – was Ron and myself.”
“We labored as an acoustic duo for a few 12 months – enjoying round a number of locations in Melbourne. And it was an excellent interval. We performed loads of covers – we performed loads of Bob Dylan and Beatles and James Taylor and Ry Cooder and various things. After which we’d put in these songs we would written. So, we had been growing this model, in case you like, of songs and songwriting which was fairly completely different from Males at Work, in a means. It was extra influenced by individuals like Nick Drake and John Martyn, and really type of meandering acoustic music.”
“And I had met Jerry Speiser, the drummer, at college. And Jerry referred to as and stated, ‘I need to strive enjoying with you guys.’ And so Jerry got here down, and it turned a three-piece. After which I would recognized Greg [Ham] for years, and I requested Greg to hitch. And Ron was enjoying bass then within the band. As a result of it was simply me and my guitar, Ron enjoying bass – which, he was an excellent bass participant, very creative. However I wished Ron to change again to guitar, as a result of he is a really unimaginable guitar participant.”
“Jerry knew John [Rees]. So, Jerry requested John to hitch. Over the course of most likely two or three months, the traditional line-up of Males at Work was born – I feel round October ’79, one thing like that.”
What was the music scene in Australia like on the time?
“We did not actually perceive it. We did not actually know what the music business was, or how to do that, or how to try this. We solely did issues our means, which, was to try to discover an viewers. We simply discovered a spot to play, after which individuals got here to see us. However there was a really wholesome…what you’d name ‘pub rock.’ There have been loads of pubs in Melbourne, and folks would play in pubs – which suited most individuals. It did not actually go well with all people, as a result of in case you play in a pub, you are a part of the leisure. You are not the leisure, since you’re battling alcohol. For instance, in case you had been a singer-songwriter who required individuals to hearken to your music and also you’re enjoying at a bar, you needed to type of combat towards individuals speaking. And so, it was actually conducive to rock music – since you had huge black packing containers [amps], and you could possibly beat individuals into submission by your quantity.”
“And in order that was what was occurring. There was loads of pub rock, and there was loads of bands enjoying, and loads of bands being signed. Y’know, we performed for a few years earlier than we had any curiosity from CBS – who ended up signing us. However I might say that for essentially the most half, it was a spot which was musically looking for an id, making an attempt to outline itself and do fascinating issues. And in loads of methods, we weren’t so slowed down by being both British or American. We had been Australian bands.”
“And due to the isolation, the tyranny of distance and so forth, you’d collect music and musical concepts from all elements of the world, and it might type of get all jumbled up, and it might grow to be Australian music with out it being too ‘definable.’ It had some type of high quality, which was only a feeling greater than anything – concerning the Southern Pacific, which was the place we had been all born and performed.”
“And it was superb. It was an excellent place to dwell, and an excellent place to have a band and play. I imply, earlier than we got here to America and began touring, after we turned well-known, we’d tour up and down the coast of Australia, which was unimaginable – only a stunning a part of the world, and folks would come and see you play. And it was magic. It was unbelievable.”
Who got here up with the identify “Males at Work”?
“Effectively, I considered the identify, as a result of I might see ‘males at work’ indicators all over the place. And I assumed, ‘Effectively, that is one thing that was simply in individuals’s consciousness, regardless that they could not understand it.’ However it was a reputation that had been put ahead, and we had a bunch of names.”
“However we needed to have a reputation, as a result of we had this residency to begin on the Cricketers Arms Lodge in Richmond. And the man calls, and stated, ‘Pay attention, what am I going to name you guys?’ And Ron stated, ‘Let’s go along with Males at Work.’ So, we did.”
If I can identify some Males at Work classics and in case you can share some ideas about writing them, beginning with “Who Can It Be Now.”
“My girlfriend and I used to have this little bit of a bush block, what they name in Australia, in southern New South Wales. And it was fairly distant. And I simply arrived there one night time, and it was in the midst of nowhere, and simply messing round with that concept. And it appeared to movement fairly simply and fairly rapidly. I simply wrote the phrases down, and that was it. The track was born, and took it to the band, and we began enjoying it that that week. It was type of a ‘crowd favourite’ from the beginning.”
“Down Beneath.”
“‘Down Beneath’ was a mix of Ron and myself. Ron used to offer me little cassettes of type of soundscapes that he had written – completely different musical concepts. Quite a lot of it was percussive-based or bass and percussion. And this little musical thought was precisely that. And he gave me slightly cassette which I might play within the automobile, and it was simply this [sings rhythm]. It was very hypnotic and tribal, virtually. I actually favored it.”
“And I would had this phrase operating round my head for a number of weeks earlier than that, which was ‘Dwelling within the land down beneath.’ And I simply began singing that line together with Ron’s little bassline, and it appeared to work. And I type of sang that every one the way in which residence. And I assumed, ‘That is most likely one thing.’ After which the subsequent day, I awoke and simply wrote down the phrases and the chordal construction to it, and we had a track.”
How usually are you continue to requested about what Vegemite is and did you ever eat it your self?
“Yeah, I nonetheless get requested about it. However these days I simply say, ‘Effectively, y’know, there’s a factor referred to as Google – it is fairly straightforward to seek out out what Vegemite is!’ However it’s a product of the beer business. It is a yeast extract, and Australians are introduced up on it. And you’ve got it on toast, or you may have it on a sandwich.”
“And sure, I’ve had had Vegemite many instances. I arrived in Australia from Scotland, by no means having skilled Vegemite. So, in the future in school, I had a roast beef sandwich and this child stated, ‘You need to swap sandwiches?’ I stated, ‘What have you ever acquired?’ He stated, ‘I’ve acquired Vegemite.’ That was the primary time that I ever skilled a Vegemite sandwich. And I fairly loved it.”
“Be Good Johnny.”
“Greg and I had been at rehearsal in the future, and the remainder of the fellows hadn’t turned up, so we had slightly time on our palms. And I acquired this new guitar pedal, slightly delay pedal, and I began messing round with the chorus firstly of the track with this delay pedal.”
“And Greg and I made a decision it might be cool to jot down a track from the standpoint of a kid who’s all the time been advised to toe the lane and to be good, and observe the straight and slim, in case you like. And like loads of children, we might nonetheless bear in mind being a baby and being dreamers and wanting to only make our personal means with out essentially turning into our dad and mom. And searching on the grownup world, and saying, ‘Yeah, properly, I feel perhaps we might perform a little bit higher than that.'”
“Overkill.”
“‘Overkill’ got here slightly bit later for me. And I feel I already made the conclusion that, as a result of we had been turning into fairly profitable, I assumed, ‘Effectively, nothing’s going to be the identical from this level on.’ And it is like asking your self the query about taking a dive into the unknown, and whether or not you had been going to be okay with that, as a result of issues had been completely different. You’ll be able to now not simply anonymously observe the world. And there was a sure darkness creeping into my life. And I feel what that was, was type of an growing love and dependence on alcohol – which was beginning to fear me.”
“Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive.”
“It is simply actually a track concerning the injustice of the world, actually, and the way tough it’s to be the underdog, or to have somebody who needs to make efficient change in no matter area you are in. I am making an attempt to consider what else I used to be going by at the moment…however I do not know, typically, simply issues pop into your head. You haven’t any actual motive, no actual understanding of why or the place it is coming from, and it turns into a pleasant melody. And I just like the play on phrases with Jekyll and Hyde and Heckyll and Jive – so, it simply turned a track.”
“It is a Mistake.”
“It was on the peak of the Chilly Conflict, and we had been fairly frightened of america, as a result of whenever you develop up overseas, you may have a really completely different view of America than whenever you really dwell right here. So, we had been all very involved concerning the Reagan years and anyone making a mistake. It was very influenced by the movie Dr. Strangelove. And the 2 superpowers in the end making a mistake and inflicting some Third World Conflict conflagration – which was going to finish up with no winners. That is actually what it was impressed by.”
“Every thing I Want”
“It was a love track. I feel it is a love track each to my spouse and likewise Melbourne as a metropolis. I’ve an excellent love for Melbourne.”
We acquired so many nice tales from Colin, be looking out for half 2 of this interview within the upcoming weeks.
