“I Love Hate You” is the third studio album from one man ‘swampy rock stompin blues’ explosion Claude Hay. The follow-up to his acclaimed 2010 long player, “Deep Fried Satisfied”, from which the title track won an award for Best Song of 2011 at the Australian Blues Music (chain) Awards, “I Love Hate You” is a harder edged and more variable outing than any of Hay’s previous efforts.
Work on the long-player began at the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis (origin of the likes of Elvis and Johnny Cash) before Hay returned home to complete it in his ‘self-built’ Blue Mountains home studio “Vader Studios”. Says Hay: “I had a horrible experience traveling from LA to Kansas via a greyhound bus (36 hours) so as you do, you write about these experiences and whilst passing through Memphis I thought I would throw it down. Absolutely loved that studio, it was like a time machine, it still has all the old recording gear from when Elvis and Johnny Cash laid stuff down there. Pure awesomness.”
Indeed, as is the way with such things, a lot of the material on “I Love Hate You” stems from “experiences on the road and in life. I do over one hundred thousand km per year for about 11 months of the year, a lot of it in a tour van I’ve personally customized to be my home away from home, so you get to see a lot of things. The last 12 months has seen me cover France, US, and so much of Oz, I never found I had not much to write about. There was always something somewhere that I loved or hated”.
Out September 21st through Only Blues Music, “I Love Hate You” the album was mixed and recorded at “Vader Studios” (Hay has a huge back-lit Darth Vader on the wall overseeing his production). The album sees Hay move slightly askew of his traditional blues roots and towards his passion for rock & funk, and yet still incorporates the signature slide, four-on-the-floor rhythms and gut-bucket sensibilities that he’s known and loved for. Featuring plenty of major guitar riffage (“When you write about things that give you the shits you tend to plug the guitar in and crank the gain” muses Hay), overall, the album also bears a more refined approach to songwriting and production than Hay’s previous outings. Breaking new ground for the renowned one man band, Hay looked to take his cues from acts like The Black Keys and The White Stripes and even invited a few other musicians to feature on a couple of tracks (most notably the rhythm section of Sydney band, Chase The Sun who appear on both Turn It Up and Good Times).
Lyrically, the concept album highlights the juxtaposition of Love & Hate, things Hay loves, hates and loves to hate. In his own words: “I Love Hate You the album title track is literally about my love/hate relationship with my motorhome. It’s broken down so many times in the last 2 years, the damn thing has almost sent me bankrupt. But I’m kind of stuck with it cause I’ve fitted it out inside to be this awesome, pimped out, funky arse home away from home. Stone Face is about my hatred of today’s world of going into a retail shop and getting no service whatsoever. People don’t know anything about their products anymore and seem to just hate their job. Hence the title Stone Face. It drives me nuts. Where Have You Gone is about life in general and how I constantly seem to run out of time.”
But as the album title reflects, there’s equal parts love, again in Hay’s own words: Good Times and Blues Train are literally about 2 awesome venues I love to play in Australia. The Blues Train (Queenscliff, VIC) is something special. It’s four carriages decked to four stages that always has music loving crowds that go off. Good Times is about a wicked little pub in Maitland NSW, fondly known as the Junkyard to locals. Great pub and great people. Both places have been supporting live original music for a long time.”
A big believer and practitioner of the D.I.Y. (do-it-yourself) lifestyle, Hay built himself a new guitar for the new album. In his usual style, it’s not a straight forward piece of work. As he explains: “she’s a resonator type guitar I guess made from a $7 baking tray, scrap bits of metal off broken washing machines, left over timber from my deck and bits of guitars I have in my ‘guitar graveyard’ the place where bad experiments go. She’s got a unique sound, somewhere in the sound of a resonator crossed with a banjo of course with a bass string with separate outs, sounds weird but I love her”. A ‘Cigar Box’ style guitar, Hay has outfitted ‘Stella’ (as he fondly refers to her), with a bass string and three pick up’s; Peterman bug, Bill Lawrence single coil and an EMG bass pick up.
For those of you absorbing this electronically, check the video below to see how Hay goes about creating and looping.
Claude Hay is an artist that ensures that his music dictates his lifestyle and not the other way around. Mid-October will see a film clip released for lead single I Love Hate You, inspired by the western wiles of HBO’s Deadwood combined with excess frivolities in the confinements of Hay’s touring van. A sneak peek of film production stills from the coming clip can be found here:http://tinyurl.com/9tqzpwe .
Currently on tour in the UK as we go to press and the album hits shelves in Australia, Claude Hay will be hitting the road across Australia tolaunch “I Love Hate You” September through October, catch the man:
“I Love Hate You” Album Launch Tour
SEPT 28 – The Velvet Lounge, Mt Lawley, WA
with Morgan Bain and Junior Bowles – 8:00pm, $12
SEPT 29 – The Fly By Night, Flytrap, Frementle, WA
with Morgan Bain and Junior Bowles – 8:00pm
OCT 1 – The Perth Concert Hall, Perth, WA
with Joe Bonamassa (support)
OCT 5 – The State Theatre, Sydney, NSW
with Joe Bonamassa (support)
OCT 6 – The Northern Star, Newcastle, NSW
with Fox Control – 8:00pm, $10
OCT 12-13 – The Mission Evolve Festival, Mission Beach QLD
Details www.missionevolve.com.au
OCT 19 – Solbar, Maroochydore, QLD
with Marshall Okell -8:00pm, $15
OCT 20 – The Byron Bay Brewery, Byron Bay NSW
4:00pm – 6:00pm, Free
OCT 20 – The Australian Hotel, Ballina, NSW, 7:30pm, Free
OCT 21 – The Joynt, Brisbane, QLD
with Transvaal Diamond Syndicate – 4:00pm, $5
OCT 26-28 – The Sydney Blues & Roots Festival, Windsor, NSW
Details www.sydneybluesfestival.com.au
OCT 27 – Food ‘n’ Groove Festival, Bexley Park, Bexley, NSW
(afternoon show) – 1.30pm – 1.55pm
OCT 28 – The Grand Junction Hotel, Maitland, NSW
with Kim Churchill – 5:00pm, Free
NOV 2 – Baha Tacos, Rye VIC, $10
NOV 3 – The Blues Train, Queenscliff, VIC
NOV 4 – The Workers Club, Fitzroy, VIC
with Mr Black and Blues, Claude Onstage 4:00pm, $10
NOV 9 – The Albion Hotel, Albury, NSW – $10
NOV 10 – The Bendigo Blues Fest, Bendigo, VIC
NOV 11 – The Glenelg Surf Club, Glenelg, SA – Free
NOV 15 – The Heritage, Bulli, NSW
with The Pennys – 8:00pm, $15/$12
NOV 16 – The Front, Canberra, ACT
NOV 17 – Club Sapphire, Merimbula, NSW
with Genevieve Chadwick – Free
NOV 22 – The Peachtree Hotel, Penrith, NSW
with Mojo Bluesmen – 8:30pm, Free
NOV 23 – The Oxford Arts Factory Gallery, Darlinghurst, NSW
with Mojo Bluesmen – $12
NOV 24 – The Katoomba RSL, Katoomba, NSW
with Mojo Bluesmen
NOV 29 – The Odyssey Tavern and Brewery, Geelong, VIC – $10
NOV 30 – Harvester Moon, VIC
with 8 Ball Aitken
DEC 1 – The Bluestrain, Queenscliff, VIC
DEC 2 – The Westernport Hotel, San Remo, VIC – Free
DEC 6 – The Port Macquarie Hotel, Port Macquarie, NSW
with Mojo Bluesmen – Free
DEC 7 – The Cabarita Sports Club, Cabarita, QLD
with Mojo Bluesmen – Free
DEC 8 – The Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna, QLD
with Mojo Bluesmen – Free
DEC 9 – The Bucca Hotel, Bucca, QLD with Mojo Bluesmen – Free
DEC 12 – R-Bar, Hamilton Island, QLD – Free
DEC 13-15 – Paddy Shenanigans, Airlie Beach, QLD – Free
DEC 16 – Longboard Bar, Townsville, QLD – Free
DEC 19 – The Rails, Byron Bay, NSW – 7:00pm, Free
DEC 21 – The Vanguard, Newtown, NSW
with Chase The Sun, Cass Eager, Lachy Doley, The Widowbirds – $30
DEC 22 – The Victoria Hotel, Orange, NSW – 8:00pm, Free
with Pete Akhurst – 8:00pm, $15
I Love Hate You is out Sep Fri 21st through Only Blues Music and available through www.claudehay.com.au
FB: http://www.facebook.com/ClaudeHayMusician
Twitter: @claudehay
