Australian musician Claude Hay will play Whanganui for the first time next week.
Australian musician Claude Hay will play Whanganui for the first time next week.
Hailing from the world heritage-listed Katoomba in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, award-winning Australian solo artist Claude Hay invokes the best of stomping traditional blues, hard rock and booty-shaking funk, all delivered with slide guitar chops to burn and a vocal range to match.
Hay is perhaps the world's ultimateDo-It-Yourself musician, forging his live sound on the back of looping technology which allows him to create a band vibe without the band.
This approach has seen this fiercely independent artist build an audience for his music globally with the release of four award-winning homemade albums.
Hay visited New Zealand for the first time in August last year at the Bay of Islands' Jazz and Blues festival and returns this month to do a run of shows in his solo One Man Band mode in the North Island to promote his fourth studio album Roller Coaster.
This album highlights Hay's writing just as much as his unique guitar and vocal approach, which stayed in the top 10 Australian AMRAP charts for four weeks at the time of release.
From the the gutter funk-slide blues of Forget About Me and Bowie meets-chain-gang eclecticism of a tune like Hold You Up to dub-meets-roots of " - the Roller Coaster album is a tour-de-force from an artist at the peak of his craft and one who's not afraid to let his inner hillbilly shine such as in 241 and Winner.
Hay's accolades include charting top 10 in USA's Blues Billboard charts, supporting Seasick Steve, Joe Bonamassa and the likes, touring Europe annually, playing all major blues-based festivals of Australia and winner of Best Album and Best Artist of the Australian Blues Music Chain Awards.
Claude Hay: Whanganui Musicians Club, Savage Club Hall, Friday June 16 at 7.30pm. Tickets at Gatshack, 71 Ridgway St.
