As artists, we are real people first. Some fans can seem to forget that. But when we can share our real life struggles and triumphs through our songwriting and the listeners can relate, there is a magic that happens. That openness creates real connection. Our recent discovery Bully Hay is an open book. He writes from the soul (and lets the demons out, 😂 ).
We caught up with the soulful songwriter to get a little deeper into his process and new music from his recent album Anywhere But Here. Enjoy the interview here:
First off, what is the story behind the name Bully Hay?
Bully Hay was the nickname for my Great Uncle Max Hay. He was a soldier in World War 2. One of the “Rats of Tobruk”. He passed when I was very young so my personal memory of him are just flashes. A tough old fella with a dry sense of humour. But the stories of him were around me growing up from my family. Bully, his nickname wasn’t to suggest he was a Bully in the threatening sense. It’s like a throwback to the old sailor days. A Bully Boy means that he was a bit of a lad, a larrikin. Someone who had a kind of cheeky disrespect for the rules but had a lot of fun with a lot of spirit. My name is Jonathon Coleman but in Australia, that name’s taken by a famous radio personality also sadly passed. So to avoid confusion I thought Bully Hay would be a good name to carry on with the music.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
Melodic acoustic rock, roots. Mostly acoustic based where there are soft ballads and soulful songs, mixed up with full rock, anthemic, soaring big rock band songs with big guitars and drums. It’s really those 2 sides of the coin. Music for small rooms but also for wide open spaces.
Which artists have had the biggest influence on you?
There are many. Everything I take in is like a sponge that I can’t seem to wring out. But I’m drawn to really genuine artists where you can tell the songs have just poured out of the heart. Like Jeff Martin & The Tea Party, Tracy Chapman, Eddie Vedder, Jeff Buckley, Crowded House and The War on Drugs.
If you could tour with one artist, who would you like to tour with?
I think at this point, I’d love to tour with The War on Drugs. It’s a real buzz listening to their songs unfold and build bigger and bigger as they roll on. Their audiences are really captive and listen hard and so I’d love to have our band along for the ride with them.
What is your songwriting process? How does a song come to you?
Always the music first. I love playing around with different guitar tunings where the chords resonate a little differently from the standard tuning. I’ll get a guitar melody first and start humming along a lyrical melody second, usually no words at that point. Then once the song structure is worked out, I tie in the lyrics. Usually I have no idea what I’m writing about until the song is finished. Once I look back, I realise what the song is about. It’s a fun way for me to write. It feels a bit like it comes from the subconscious.
Tell us about your latest album “Anywhere But Here” and how would you say it differentiates itself from your previous album ‘Black Dogs and Songbirds?’
Well, I didn’t know this at the time of writing the songs for ‘Anywhere But Here’ but it was charting a course through before, during and after periods of a long relationship (marriage) ending. It was without a doubt, the hardest and worst time of my life. As I mentioned just before about the song writing process, this is an example of the subconscious pouring out onto the page. It was rough. Extremely rough. But I look back on these songs and for me it seems it was like therapy getting those songs out. Anywhere But Here for means I wanted to be anywhere but inside my own head. Wanting to be somewhere and someone else. If I could have crawled out of my skin and flown away I would have. But had to rebuild and go on.
Black Dogs and Songbirds was different in a sense. That album was my debut and showcases a bunch of songs that are older, some written probably 10 years before. I hadn’t been playing music live or releasing music for many years. But I had a dream come true when I met my favourite artist (Jeff Martin from The Tea Party) after one of his shows in Hobart, Tasmania (my home town) and amazingly after sharing some songs over a few drinks, he offered to produce my record. So I ended up living at Jeff and his wife Melissa’s home for a couple of months working through that album. An incredible surreal experience. I now count Jeff (and Melissa) among my closest friends. Jeff got these songs out of me and enhanced them all. Black Dogs and Songbirds is filled with contradictions. The lofty highs and the crushing lows of life. When the Black Dogs are in control, its bleak and unforgiving, when the Songbirds rule, anything is possible. That album gave me confidence and propelled my along.
So when it came time to pull together ‘Anywhere But Here’ my drummer and old friend Drew Castles recorded and produced the album ourselves from my home studio and from what we’d learned on the first album off we went.
What do you hope that listeners experience and take away from your music?
I don’t really write for the listeners which might sound a bit harsh. I just like to get the songs out of me. Like a little exorcism. But I do hope the listeners feel that the songs are genuine. Some of my lyrics are non direct and often obscure and can be taken in different ways. I hope listeners find their own meaning to some of the songs and connect emotionally to them in their own way.
Do you have any tour stories worth sharing?
As I was just starting playing live again, I first hit the road touring, supporting Jeff Martin solo and acoustic. So it was cool opening up for him to his audiences. And as the tour rolled on, Jeff’s fan base became interested in my music. I remember the first night where the audience were singing along to my songs. My touring goal was simply to be far from home and have the audience knowing my songs and singing along. When it finally happened my heart could have bounced out of my chest. Looking over to side stage at the end, Jeff was standing there having watched the whole thing. Gave a little golf clap and slapped me on the back after the show. “I told you not to show me up” he said. Haha! Obviously he was being kind and proceeded to blow off the roof with his set. But from there, I felt like perhaps I could really do this.
How do you feel about the use of AI in music?
Hate it. Shouldn’t exist. I think artists should use their own minds, not computer hive minds to make music.
Your cover of Kate Bush’s iconic song ‘Running Up That Hill’ is exceptionally done. What made you choose this song to cover?
Stranger Things Season 4. I was watching this with my kids and “Running Up that Hill” is played all through that season. It stuck in my head and wouldn’t leave. So one day, I was messing around with my guitar in a DADGAD tuning and figured a way to limp my way through the melody and thought it could translate into an acoustic version. I felt like the lyrics of the song could be raised up and made a bit more emotional and later in the song rise up and be uplifting. It was a really fun song to play and I started road testing it while touring. The crowd were really getting into that song, so I decided to record it. Someone get it in front of Kate Bush, I’d love to hear her thoughts.
Your artwork on your albums is stunning; how did you go about choosing this art for each of your albums? Did you have a concept in mind, or did you leave this completely up to the artist themselves?
During Covid, I was following my tattoo artist Saskia Chowles on Instagram. Everywhere was in lockdown so she couldn’t work in her normal profession tattooing. So I could see she was creating these amazing oil paintings. I reached out to her and when the lockdowns were over I went over to get some tattoo’ing done. At the time I was yet to get into the studio to record my first album but had a bunch of demos, so I asked if Saskia would paint the album artwork. She had asked for some direction on what I wanted but I just asked her to take the demos and “Paint what you hear” and she did. The Black Dogs and Songbirds artwork she created is a gorgeous piece that now hangs in my studio. Incredible artist.
For ‘Anywhere But Here’ this was created by Taylor Stevenson. This one had some small creative direction from me. In one of my songs (Talk Me Off the Edge) there’s reference to an old willow tree leaning over to give advice, so I wanted a willow tree to feature. But Taylor added this nod to the first album cover that has these trippy flowers with eyes in the middle of the flower and peppered these throughout the artwork which came out beautifully.
Speaking of artwork, you just released your gorgeous, limited vinyl for ‘Anywhere But Here’. Can you tell us about this vinyl and what makes it unique?
The vinyl is a limited run at the moment. The material is called “Regrind” in a reddish colour. It’s made from the offcuts of other vinyl records in a red colour. Just think of it as recycled offcuts scraped off the floor and recycled into something useable. Kind of like me. Then pressed into this mottled deep red colour. Because it’s not uniform, each person’s vinyl is a little bit different.
As a working musician, can you share some advice for others indie artists looking to accomplish what you have?
Any time I ever tried to “Try” to be something, it never worked. I’ve found some small success in just being genuine and trying my best not to care too much in what people think about my music and just to write for myself. This way I can be sure the songs are genuine and if they resonate with people then that’s fantastic. And at the very minimum, if they don’t resonate with people but you are happy with what you’ve made, then that’s enough.
Those interested in your music can find out more at www.BullyHay.com , and for those interested in a sneak peek of the future of your music, what is happening in the Bully Hay camp in the future?
Touring! We’re in the midst of booking live shows across Australia and have some plans to tour New Zealand and hopefully Canada. So if anyone is keen to follow across socials, we’ll be announcing new dates that way and via our website.
