Making Hay while the Starr shines
Before he comes to Adelaide to play at the Thebbie, Men at Work frontman Colin Hay has a little detour he needs to do with a Beatle.
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COLIN Hay is trying to do an interview over the telephone while explaining what’s wrong with his car to a Los Angeles roadside assistance mechanic.
Yes folks, the founder of one of Australia’s most loved rock bands and writer of unofficial national anthems is beset by the same dreary problems as us ordinary people.
“Yeah, that’s not working,” he tells the workman. “I’m on the phone, so if you need me just yell out.”
“Sorry about that,” he says in his still-broad Scottish accent. “Where were we?”
Well we were talking about the weather in California (unseasonably cold and rainy, he says) and which part of the world feels like home these days.
“Well, Australia is definitely still home,” Hay says, but after a pause for reflection adds “I mean, it’s as home as anywhere else.
“But I’ve been here in California for 30 years, so this feels like home to. And then if I go to Scotland, that feels like home. I suppose I have a lot of homes, for different reasons.
“It’s a weird thing. My sister is still there in Melbourne, but since my parents died there’s less physical reason to go back. But I have some great old friends there and I love going there to see them and I like going to Australia and just wandering about the place, because there are a lot of places to wander.”
Despite his global citizenship, to most of the world this North Ayrshire-born singer will always be associated with the Australia thanks largely to Men at Work’s smash hit Down Under, which went to number one in Australia, the UK, US and Canada.
We played it when we won the America’s Cup, and we played it when we closed the Sydney Olympic Games. And Hay still plays it to this day, despite having a celebrated solo career and successful sideline as an actor.
“Of course, why wouldn’t I play it? I’m not insane,” he laughs.
“It’s been a very good song for me, it lives inside me and it’s part of who I am.”
But anyone expecting a run through of Men at Work’s greatest hits at the April 24 Adelaide show is in for a surprise. A good surprise. With wife, Peruvian singer Cecilia Noel, Hay has assembled a white-hot band of mainly Cuban musicians to take his music to new places.
“They came down to Australia last year and loved it, so I’m looking forward to taking them back again,” he says.
“It’s interesting seeing a place with fresh eyes.”
But before he comes back to Australia, Hay has a tour he needs to do. Just a little tour with one Ringo Starr.
Starr famously compiles a different All Starr Band for every tour, and Hay has been participating on and off since 2003. The 2019 line-up will feature Hay, Toto’s Steve Lukather, Santana’s Gregg Rolie and others.
Playing with a former Beatle is, according to Hay, “a wonderful experience”.
“This will be my fourth tour with him. They have lists of people that they ask. You have to have had hits yourself – it’s essentially a great cover band. And it’s Ringo, so it’s top of the food chain as far as I’m concerned. To have him playing your songs, it’s quite an experience.”
SEE: Colin Hay with Cecilia Noel
Thebarton Theatre
April 24
Tickets: ticketmaster.com.au
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