Undulating and revitalising, the brand new single Wash Off The World out today from Tasmanian singer-songwriter Bully Hay drives home a message of empowerment and inspiration, topped off with the addition of The Tea Party’s Jeff Martin on production, recording and mixing duties. Also armed with an accompanying music video, Wash Off The World marks Bully Hay’s first single off his forthcoming debut album, Black Dogs and Songbirds due out later this year on Wednesday October 30.
Bully swung by for a quick Q+A
Hi, thanks for taking the time to chat with Hear 2 Zen, what have you been up to today?
Hi! Thanks for having me. Today I’ve had the rare opportunity to sit (reasonably still) and get some life admin out of the way. I’ve been meaning to get a bunch of instruments off to my luthier for some maintenance. Aside from that, preparing some travel arrangements for touring in September.
Tell us about yourself, how long have you been performing/creating music for?
I’m Jonathon (Jonno) Coleman, but in Music I’m Bully Hay, a nod to my great uncle Max (nickname “Bully”) Hay who was one of the Rats of Tobruk in WW2. I’ve been creating music for over 20 years from my home in Tasmania where I’ve lived my whole life. I have a very musical family so have always been surrounded by that kind of creativity. I’ve been quiet on the performance side for the last few years as life commitments took centre stage. But now, I’m back in the thick of it and very excited about getting out there and playing.
Who are your greatest inspirations? Why?
My brother Christopher Coleman has always been an inspiration to me musically. He’s a brilliant songwriter and lyricist. I have been lazy or distracted in the past to release music and every time Chris would put something out, I’d be really inspired and would give me that kick up the backside to do something. Jeff Martin from The Tea Party also just for the pure originality of their sound. Drawing on very deep themes and rich arrangements in the songs. I was lucky enough to have my album produced by Jeff which I’m very thankful for.
How do you create music? Are you lyrics/story driven, or does the music/melody come first? Explain your process.
The music and melody always come first to me in my process. I’ll start with an instrument and will create a song structure that interests me. As thats happening I’ll sing a vocal line of just nonsense and as that happens, words form and are written down. I’ll then catch a theme from that and build the lyric around that first line and melody. By the end, I realise what I’m writing about. So, sometimes its coming straight out of the subconscious. But yeah, always music first that has to grab me.
What has been your greatest challenge so far in performing/creating music?
Bully Hay is a new project and a debut album on the way. So, not being an established artist these days is really hard to promote. Its grinding from the ground up in the digital world, navigating algorithms, trying to expand your audience and needing followers. Also having to generate constant content outside of the actual art of the music can be distracting from what I’m actually trying to do, which is just create and release music.
Tell us about your new release Wash Off The World, how did it come about?
Wash Off The World is a song about feeling trapped within a system. The daily grind of feeling like you’re “Running On A Wheel”. Feeling busy but also feeling like you’re getting nowhere. In work and life and relationships. Realising you may well be on the wheel forever unless you snap out of it and change the cycle. So for me it was running into the ocean and washing it all off. Cold weather therapy in musical form perhaps.
What advice do you have to artists who are just starting out?
I think there has never been so much noise and distraction in the music industry. The squeakiest wheel gets the oil I guess, but there’s a lot of music out there that is promoted really well, but isn’t necessarily very good. Focus as much as you can on your art. Make sure its the best it can be for YOU and remind yourself why you’re doing it. To create and share your music is a joyful exciting thing. To promote it is a business. Gather a team to give you a hand and try to share some of the promo duties around so you dont lose sight of what you’re trying to do with your music.
Tell us your favourite Zen practice.
At the moment it would be simultaneously drinking a nice red Wine, choosing a good Vinyl to put on and listen to while cooking up some form of deliciousness
