Update: Hawker Heights in 2020.

(And Beyond. For the Blues and Beyond)

Let’s Get Through the Mess

Hi everyone. I’m sure we’re already uttering, “2020, what a year.”

Not the first (or last time) we’ll hear that, huh? As we know, COVID-19 has caused havoc across so many industries, including in the music industry, but more tragically, caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people around the world, in circumstances not experienced since plague days.

While this is going on, and while our own governments at state and federal level start bickering over who’s doing what and how well or poorly, there seems to be a light—albeit distant—at the end of the tunnel. I personally can’t see most gigs in Melbourne happening until New Year 2021, but there may be work for those who live off it, doing attendance-limited events like weddings and corporate events over summer; just not public gigs.

For original music like I do, I think we need to support the venues who put local acts on their stages week in week out across Victoria right NOW. Especially if they are also known as a destination for good food and drinks, too. I posted about this on my Instagram not long ago right here. To cut a long story short: the stronger they are in the hospitality sense, the better position they’ll be in to be hiring local acts sooner rather than later.

New Music: the Slowest Tide Rising

As for me, if you’ve followed my socials over the last year, I’ve dropped several hints about new music, whether it takes the form of an album or it trickles out in the more modern way one ‘single’ at a time. And as of this update, I honestly expected to be much further along the line for making it a reality.

The truth is, I HAVE been working on new stuff, with basic forms of new tunes ready to go, along with lyrics etc, the COVID thing really took the emotional wind out of my sails. It first appeared as a golden opportunity to take advantage of the extra time we had to get those back-burner-ed projects on the boil. But there was also something eerily numbing about the whole thing. Just before Stage 3 restrictions hit Melbourne, I was indeed working on vocals at at local studios, refining lyrical lines and all that.

But when restrictions got heavier again (this time stricter than ever)—combined with Melbourne’s deep winter gloom—I just felt totally devoid of inspiration and ideas, especially not knowing an end date (yes, I’m a VERY deadline-orientated person!). All I wanted to do was hibernate at my desk building websites (like this one) and learning other things outside of the musical realm like getting better with InDesign for desktop publishing and basic HTML coding. On the upside, I finally got my more ‘high end quality’ blues guitar lessons for YouTube up and running in the form of Blues Guitar Snacks.

AND, my other band, jazz funk/rock jazz group Pickpocket, led by bassist Craig Strain, is currently releasing new music, which was recorded a year ago. Check out Pickpocket’s new music here.

So yeah, basically everything but music creation itself has been my ‘basketball’ that has kept me sane through this, a la Principal Skinner stuck in the storeroom:

Where All This Going

As for my project’s direction, a while back I decided to do something different with Hawker Heights, reaching back to my life of grooves above almost anything else.

Some years back, I played in a Melbourne band called Deep Street Soul. Their angle was funk and soul from the late 60s through the early 70s that was a little rougher around the edges than say that of Earth Wind & Fire and Tower of Power. It was a big learning experience for me, finding out about music so obscure it was only released as a 45” within a 20km radius of an act’s town or borough. This music was (is) primarily Black. And playing it live was a blast; I personally love nothing more than playing as a sideman with a great drummer+bassist engine room and chugging rhythm all night.

These gigs were also fun. Of course, when you build the groove, the people will come; we played some packed gigs with this band, with many people dancing all night with un-wipe-able smiles on their faces for the entire duration. I wanted this experience again (don’t get me wrong, getting my ‘jazz blues’ stuff out via South by East has been fun, too!), so I decided to write music from the groove outwards. And I’m still working on it.

I’m now dipping into the wells of New Orleans, southern funk/soul and American late 60s rarities for inspiration: Earl King, Dr John, Magic Sam, Lee Dorsey, The Meters, Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, as well as modern descendants of the same lineage such as Jon Cleary and James Hunter (UK).

As for personnel, I’ve been hitting up my regular guys to see what part of the ride they’ll be with me on, and there’ll be changes for Hawker Heights.

The Hawker Heights Hammond Combo as the current lineup will remain the same (myself, Remie dePree and Felix Elliot) with the same setlist of jazz-orientated blues, plus new tunes from the soul jazz genre that are yet to be added. It will also remain a favourite trio of mine for playing the more community-minded gigs with special guests etc; basically a vehicle for fun blowing sessions with some of Melbourne’s best instrumentalists on a regular basis (see: ‘Hawker Heights Jam Society’).

Hawker Heights, the Band(s)

The biggest change is likely to be for the main Hawker Heights unit. I intend on recording this next material in much the same way as South by East was done: in ‘Steely Dan’ fashion with a mixture of my regular musicians and auxiliary folks who specialise in doing certain things.

But as a live act, I’ll be looking to solidify what Hawker Heights ‘is’ when you come to see ‘us’ live. Contrary to the last couple of years, I’ll be looking to solidify a regular ‘band’ as a lineup, and won’t be taking gigs where member substitution is necessary. I really miss the ‘we’re all in a band’ camaraderie, and I’d really like to try and create something like that again.

This can be a difficult proposition for someone who is 43 years of age, who plays the genres I do, and who has a network of similarly-aged and musically-minded musicians who have a list of tour and gig-inhibiting factors in their lives such as family commitments, contracts for gigs that actually pay well, work commitments and teaching commitments. But I’m going to try and make it happen, whether it requires some young guns coming into the fold or not.

The biggest initial change will be that my good mate Remie DePree has opted to not be a part of this next phase of the main band, mostly due to the new stylistic direction; look, I can’t fault the guy for loving the blues that we’ve been doing so far. For the indefinite future, he’s still my ‘Hammond combo guy’, and for the infinite future, we remain good mates.

Oh, and also, I’ll likely be bringing another guitar player into the the regular live lineup so I can concentrate on being a better frontman on the vocals; I think that’ll be fun — just the occasional guitar lick from me as opposed to a sustained barrage of solos (sorry to disappoint!), haha. We gotta keep this thing funky.

See Y’all on the Other Side

So there you have it. That’s where I (aka ‘Hawker Heights’) am at. It’s a tough world for everyone right now. But my aim is to return to the stages of Melbourne with something that helps folks forget their troubles for a few hours a week through good-time tunes and backside-moving beats.

Catch ya soon — Neil