Melbourne based troubadour Harry Hookey is about to release his debut album Misdiagnosed. Hookey’s twelve track debut album was recorded with his friend, producer and mentor Nash Chambers.

Hookey entered Chambers’ Foggy Mountain Studios with the intention to record some demos, but the tracks came together so effortlessly, it was decided after the first evening to record the album instead. You can hear that spirit in every cut on the album: this is the sound of musicians playing in a room together, excited by the possibilities.

They also had a guardian angel watching over them all the way from 1965. This angel took the form of Cowboy Kate, the seductive muse of acclaimed international fashion photographer Sam Haskins. The poster, purchased by Hookey from a second hand market in Melbourne was hung in the studio for inspiration and it seems only fitting that the same shot that inspired Hookey, now graces the album’s sleeve.

“It became a running theme throughout the recording: is it good enough for Cowboy Kate? Every song had to live up to her,” says Hookey.

We asked Hookey to give us a track by track run down of Misdiagnosed which is out this Friday April 25th via Warner Music.

Man On Fire

“From the moment we started tracking man on fire, I knew it would become the album opener. This song sets a tone. I can hear 4 guys in a room together buzzing with excitement. Sam, Jack and I had played a lot live before we tracked, but had never done anything – the three of us together – in the studio before. Initially, this session was just about getting down some demos that would ultimately guide the album recording later on. We weren’t quite sure what kind of record we were making, or which musicians we would use to make it. However, from the moment we started tracking, we knew we had it.”

Sometimes

“Sometimes came about late one night in the studio. We’d finished tracking for the night, and as had become a custom, the fellas and I hung around the studio for a while, drinking, talking shop, spouting our delusions of grandeur and gawking at Cowboy Kate. I threw this chord progression on my brothers and experimented with a few lyrics that had been washing about in my head. In about 15 minutes we had sometimes, ready for the tracking. I often throw infant song ideas at my brothers. I find their playing brings them to life in a way my limited abilities cannot. And feedback is pretty instant on whether a lyric works or is just plain horse shit. You won’t find anything more blunt or true than a brother’s opinion. I’m lucky to have them.”

Where I’ll Be Found

“I think of where I’ll be found kinda like a painting. I have a very specific image in my head of what this song is about, but I wasn’t good enough to paint it so I thought I’d sing it instead. I got the inspired by an interview I saw with Neil Young when I was a kid. He said all he had done in his career was “wade up the river in search of the source”. I like that image. I’m still not sure if Neil Young is actually in the painting I envisage in this song or not, I guess I’ll find out one day if I ever get around to actually painting it.”

Misdiagnosed

“I studied law for a good 6 years after I finished high school. And I began working in a legal practice 5 days a week, chasing things I thought I should want. I left the practice one afternoon, booked a flight to the US the next day, and wrote misdiagnosed on the plane. It’s just a simple break up song, but a break up with a whole way of life that didn’t suit me.”

Something To Die For

“Not much to say about this song. Every line is true. And the person who inspired it may never know they did.”

Rolling Wheel

“I don’t know if it’s always been like this, or I’m making observations particular to my generation. But it seems to me there is a great pressure on young people to grow old, get responsible, hop aboard the conveyor belt and become their folks. I see it professionally, in attitudes, in relationships, across the board. And believe me, I’ve got nothing against anyone out there doing their thing in any context. Only respect from this end. I just know that I’m not ready to cut my hair, and hop aboard the conveyor belt just yet. I’ll be bald soon enough and it won’t even be an option. At any rate, that’s what I told the girl in this song…”

Audrey’s Song

“I come from the Gippsland region of Eastern Victoria. It’s a green pocket of great people and places that not a heap of folks know about. I started seeing a girl from Queensland who had a penchant for high fashion. I’d just started writing songs and thought I’d be both romantic and frugal by writing her a song for her birthday as a birthday present. The song didn’t go over as well as I’d hoped, and the relationship didn’t last much longer. I still dug it though, so I reclaimed it and started playing it in my set. I guess that makes me an indian giver? Who cares. I always liked the Indians more than the Cowboys anyway.”

Let Me Die (In Loving Arms)

“A close friend of my father’s died suddenly one afternoon from an unexpected stroke. He was in the medical game, and knew exactly what was happening to him as it happened. He called his wife into the room. He told her not to call an ambulance but just to lay with him and hold him as he went. It was different for my grandma. She slowly lost her faculties over the course of about 10 years. She always kept in good spirits in spite of her steady decline.

Both very special people to whom I owe this song.”

Lovin’ Touch

“Without putting myself in the same league as either of these guys, I see this song sitting somewhere between James Taylor and Kurt Cobain. This song is all about what you notice when you’re on the outside looking in. When I was a rower at school, I remember a group of us stumbling upon a dead body in the Yarra River early one morning. We were never told who it was, or what had happened. I think of that morning whenever I sing this song live.

It was great fun to record – this was the second track we embarked upon. The moment Nash joins the band with his kick drum is one of my favourite moments on the record.”

Vanishing Act

“This track is my favourite production moment on the album, courtesy of my friend and mentor Nash Chambers. We had been struggling with many attempts at this song. Rhythmically it had been quite a challenge. We just weren’t feeling the same energy on in it. It was 1 am, and the discussion was had as to whether to leave it off the record, or give it one more try. Looking up at the poster of Cowboy Kate on the wall (the poster that now graces the front cover of the album), we resolved to give it another shot. Cowboy Kate deserved better. Things suddenly got weird. Sam got funky on the banjo. Jack put a mandolin through a wah pedal, and nash became a mad scientist on kit. We ended up staying up till dawn, experimenting with a whole lot of different sounds. Became just about my favourite night in the studio. Thank you Cowboy Kate.”

Come And Go

“This was the very last track we recorded on the album. One sunday afternoon in autumn. I had been mucking around with one of Nash’s Gibson electric guitars the night before, and come up with a riff I liked. I found some lyrics I’d scribbled on a napkin at a bar – who knows when. I don’t have much of a system when it comes to writing, just throw all my ideas in a little satchel bag and revisit them when I’m fishing for inspiration. Anyhow, we started to track with the band, fully intending it to be a guide for later recording. But everything started to flow in a perfectly organic way. Instrumentation, lyrics, vocals. Nash stopped the recording half way through and said we need to do this for keeps – capture the energy of us all syncing before we knew too well what we were doing. I jotted down a few extra line guides, Nash pressed red, and we recorded the whole song live, everything, just as it is on the record. I can hear it when I listen back. Everyone just locking in. Gives me a real Sunday afternoon feeling. To be honest, I’m just stoked they let me play electric guitar. Probably a one and only type deal.”

Last True Believer

“I think quite fittingly, the last song on the record goes out to Cowboy Kate. She cast a watchful eye over the whole record, from beginning to end. I’m proud of the way my brothers played on this album, particularly on this song. They had never done anything in studio before, and really went above and beyond the call of duty. Nash and his wife Veronica organised an epic cuban pork spit roast after we finished tracking this day, one of the great highlights of recording on the foggy mountain. So my brothers, BBQ pork and Cowboy Kate are the trinity of things that come to mind when I listen back to this song. That’s a party in my book.

Thanks for taking the time to listen to my album. I feel incredibly privileged to have had the opportunity to record it. I hope you enjoy the songs, hear something or someone you know in them. Or failing that, just enjoy hanging with Cowboy Kate for a while.”

Misdiagnosed is out on Friday April 25th via Warner Music Australia. Pre-order via JB HiFi or iTunes

Harry Hookey Tour Dates

Saturday 26 April – Blue Gables Winery, Maffra, VIC
Sunday 27 April – The Fox Hotel, Collingwood, VIC
Thursday 1 May – Django Bar, Marrickville, NSW
Saturday 3 May – Caboolture Muster, Caboolture, QLD
Sunday 4 May – The Foggy Mountain Jam, Twin Towns, QLD
Saturday 10 May – Rainbow Hotel, Fitzroy, VIC
Sunday 11 May – Vine Hotel Wangarratta, VIC
Friday 6 June – Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine, VIC
Saturday 7 June – Mollongghip Town Hall, Ballarat, VIC
Sunday 8 June – Hepburn Springs Hotel, Hepburn Springs, VIC
Thursday 12 June – Grace Emily Hotel, Adelaide, SA
Saturday 22 June – Broadbeach Country Music Festival, QLD
Friday 27 June – The Foggy Mountain Jam Mittagong, NSW
Saturday 28 June – The Foggy Mountain Jam, Rooty Hill RSL, NSW
Sunday 29 June – The Foggy Mountain Jam Hexham Bowling Club
Wednesday 9 July – Big Red Bash, Birdsville, QLD
Tuesday 29 August – Gympie Muster, Gympie, QLD
Wednesday 30 August – Gympie Muster, Gympie, QLD

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