The trip from Scotland to Australia was like going from a black and white, dismal world to a colorful, sunny paradise. Colin Hay, only 14 when he left Scotland, remembers the feeling all too well. His family left for the promise of a better life in what seemed like a new world. This new world, Australia, had him singing, literally.
Hay said he was always surrounded by music; his parents owned a music shop in Scotland, but sold it before they left for Australia.
“I’ve been surrounded by pianos and guitars ever since I can remember,” Hay said. For Hay, living in Australia helped his start in the music business. Hay and Ron Strykert started an acoustic two-man band turned into the band Men at Work when John Rees, Greg Ham and Jerry Speiser joined in 1979. The band met through friendship; Hay said the start was “just one of those things that just happens.”
“Band members just find each other, through friends and wanting to just play music.” Hay said.
The Grammy award-winning band hit stardom with its song, “Down Under,” “Overkill” and “Who Could It Be Now.” Hay said the band knew it would hit it big in the music industry.
“We had a lot of ambition and drive,” Hay said. “We wanted to be an international band and tour the world.”
And the band did just that for the six years it was together. Hay wrote a majority of the songs Men at Work produced, including co-writing “Down Under.” He said song writing for him was not always difficult, but a lot of his songs he wrote “stoned.”
“I went through a period where a lot of songs just popped up,” Hay said. “Ideas for songs are everywhere.”
The band broke up, according to Hay, due to the “usual problems bands have.”
“Six men together for six years gets pretty boring,” Hay said. “The usual communication break down happened.”
In 1987, just a couple of years after Men at Work’s break-up, Hay pursued his own musical career. He couldn’t give up music, so he went solo. In his career so far, Hay is happy with most of his songs, especially “Overkill” and “Looking for Jack.” “Looking for Jack” is a song about what people are looking for in Los Angeles, inspired by a run-in with Jack Nicholson, who Hay said he is fond of.
He has come a long way since the days of Men at Work. His recent song, “I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You,” went platinum. The song — lyrically about missing someone — is not a reflection on Hay’s personal life, even though it has “bits” of him in it.
“That song is a story,” Hay said. “It’s not really based on any particular person in my life, but there’s always a certain amount of autobiography in a song.”
Hay has also guest starred on Scrubs and many of his songs are played on the show.
“It’s fun being on television, and saying ‘yes’ is easier than saying ‘no,'” Hay said.
He said he looks at himself during the days of Men at Work and has to laugh.
“I found an old video, and I thought, ‘oh my what was I thinking?'” Hay said laughing. “The clothes I was wearing and how my hair was — ahh.”
For him, those years were a long time ago, and a “crazy way to live.”
Besides his music, Hay likes to cook when he has spare time which is rare. He said he doesn’t even get to watch much television, and when he has spare time, he cooks for family and friends.
Hay is also quite the comedian. At his show on Sunday in UNC-Chapel Hill’s memorial auditorium, the audience was full of nonstop laughter. From jokes about Arnold Schwarzenegger to the poses of rock ‘n’ roll bands, the members of the audience laughed so hard, they had to wipe their eyes at the end of the show.
“You just have to thank God I’m not stoned; we’d be here for hours,” Hay said chuckling while he tuned his guitar.
After every song Hay told a humorous anecdote like when he played with Ringo Starr — a former drummer of his favorite band The Beatles — Hay acted out how he couldn’t help but look at Starr during the whole performance. The music and jokes kept the audience in applause and laughter throughout the show. Hay even told the audience he smoked marijuana “quite often” when he was a member of Men at Work.
“I stopped doing weed. I can’t see if there’s any children out there, but parents just tell your kids after the show, ‘Don’t listen to that man. He’s a bad man,'” he said, laughing.
Hay said his career is fun; he has something that one rarely achieves, the “complete dream job.” He even has his wife, Cecilia Noel, travel and sing with him often.
For Hay, touring by himself has been “quite the journey.”
“When I first started on tour by myself, I had like 10 people in the audience,” Hay said with a short laugh. “Maybe by the time I’m 84, I’ll have this f—ing place filled. But by then the Alzheimer’s will set in.”
In September, the “Scottish-born Australian” is coming out with a new CD. Hay said this new album is the thing he is most excited about. He will continue to make music until he physically can’t. For his dedication to music, he said he has his dad to thank.
“My father was a singer,” he said. “I think it was part of my make-up and my DNA.”
After touring, Hay will return to Los Angeles — where “everyone is looking for something.” Perhaps, as Hay put it, ‘looking for Jack.’ Until he returns, he’ll tell jokes and sings songs — both old and new.
