Always be to always when you're weaving for them, mad trying to figure it out.
Just now, Like that's just a little bit of the debut single from singer songwriter Tom Busby, Waiting for Tomorrow, from his first solo album, Rockampton Hangover, and I got Tom Busby on the line.
Good Hey Tom, hey Bell, how are you made good?
Mate?
Now?
You recorded that song in Texas with the American singer songwriter Ben Couella. Tell us about.
That, Yeah, oh mate, it was a time of our lives. Look, it's an album. I'd be wanting to do it for a long time. My wife's actually Texan, she's been over here for almost now, and we've never been able to take kid's back. There's always been an excuse. We've got four kids and so they haven't met the grandparents and their cousins, and we've just never been able to. Yeah,
either afford it or the time wasn't right. It was too busy with Busby Maru and I went and wrote with Ben Kwala a need a hero of mine, and then all of a sudden, you know, the chemistry was just instant, and you know it was just one of those one of those opportunities I just couldn't knock, but I didn't know how to do it because I really just didn't want to go away from the family again for too long. And came home and told my wife and she's like, nah, we were doing this. I know.
We were always waiting for tomorrow. We're always making excuses, and so we packed up kids, pulled them out of school. I didn't know what was going to happen. And we just went over there for two months and got to not only did we record the album with my with my hero songwriting hero, and you know, in awesome Texas outside of Austin, we got to you know, hanging out with my wife's family and they're from a Pakistani background, and got to really immerse our kids into that culture
and grandparents and the cousins. It was really healing for my wife and it was really beautiful many more ways than just music.
I can hear. Mate. You're Queensland born and bred, aren't you. And where did you get your interest in music? Where did that come from?
Oh?
From a massive family, a big family, very very musical. I'm the youngest of eight kids. Yeah, Mum and dad have thirty thirty four grandchildren, including my kids, and it is all about music. Christmas, you know, is just just so much happiness, guitars, PI and a singing stealing microphones and I got to watch my brothers and sisters fight it off for the limelight and I waited my time, and.
So he what was your big break?
Look a number of things. But initially we recorded our album in rock Hampton on our own. Was fantastic. We had no idea what we were doing. We've got a grant and you know that you can even hear the songs and there's no choruses. There's something really naive about it.
But it's really beautiful looking back. And somehow, somehow, some someone passed of them on to a guy named Bruce Elder who was a very important music journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald, and he wrote the most amazing review, go four and a half stars out of five.
So how would you describe your style, well, Busby Maru, Well, I suppose you know, acoustic folkn spied pop. But I'm going to come out and say that my solo album is down down home country. Like at the end of the day, it's country. It's a country album.
And Busby Maru tell us about them. They've had gold and platinum awards, haven't they records?
And yeah, so that's that's my that's my duo. That's with my best smart Jeremy Maru, who's Torris right Islander, and he's just one of the most talented human beings ever. And we've we've had the most craziest journey. We didn't know that we could do this for a living. And we recorded that album Spoke About and it's just slowly snowballed and all of a sudden, you know, here we were having to kind of quit our jobs, and we
were like, what is going on? A couple of kids from Rocky a blackfire and a white feather, and does this actually happen? I thought, you just watched this on TV? And yeah, And then we were lucky enough to pick up a big swag of awards and be recognized by the trail music industry, and you know, most importantly, we had fans coming into our shows and those fans have now become friends and now they're coming to my solo show.
So man, just in a blink of an eye, it's just been like, you know, bang, twenty years, four kids each and just so many tours and tour in Australia and it's it's a bit of wild journey and we're we're really proud.
And you're stepping out into the solo spotlight. Was that difficult?
Look a little bit? I didn't like. I always wanted to do a solo album and everyone knew it. Jeremy was like wanting me to do it. I thought I'd do it after the third Buzzby Maru album, but Buzzby or were so busy and I don't know, it was a little bit nerve racking trying to do it without him. He's so you know, it's just so natural to us playing together. But I always knew I had to do it at some stage, and we decided we wanted to
have a break. So we wanted to We wanted a proper break from not not like frowrom each other or not from the music, just we wanted to break from relentless touring and we wanted to only tour if it meant something. And so we're really excited we made it. We made a decision to try to say no, and that that was my cause, like right, that was sorry, that was my call then to go right now. But you know, put my money where my mouth is and let's go on to us and get over to America and record my own album.
Now, you've got blues and cultury country influencers in it, haven't you.
Yeah, in this album for sure. I mean there's a lot of pedal steer, a lot of bit of Dobbro mandolin fiddle. But you know, it kind of takes after a lot of my favorite songwriters. You've got Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Kelly, and I'm really leaning into that for this album. And you know, I'm a bit older now. I'm not trying to be cool. I'm not. I don't care if it gets, you know, playing on the radio
added to playlist. I have a different mindset. I just want to record and play an album that I'm so proud of. It means something to me, and if people connect to that, then that's unbelievable. And I've been noticing that we just did my first ever solo tour, intimate solo tour, and it was yeah, sold out. It was ridiculous. It was only smaller shows, but they're all sold out and people singing the songs, and yeah, it's there's something buzzn't about it, and I'm have you written all.
The songs on your album?
Yes? Yeah, I wrote all the songs on this album and all the buzzby Maror songs as well. And with this album particularly collaborated with some key people. Ben Couela, who produced the album. I wrote a bunch of songs with him, and he was really inspirational for me because he just kept pushing me and gave me the I don't know, i'd say, the confidence to be myself for not you know, and to really trust our gut instincts.
So he's a key influencer there, and a bunch of other you know, best mates, and you know, some people I've looked up to. I show my songs and I love the idea of collaborating, so yeah, I write them all, but with a lot of help from some great friends.
So how important did you is it to you to perform in front of an audience?
Oh? Big time. It's so important, not only for you know, generating momentum for a project, or for an album or for music. But I really noticed that, you know, particularly with this tour. It's been a long time since Bu's been a toured like the longest break we had is about it. It's about a year and so I didn't realize until the very first show that I did down in Sydney's this beautiful little venue and or sold out
and I walked in and I just was buzzing. And so for my mental health, for my happiness, my wife, my wife often says it's actually been saying it a lot lately. It's like, if I'm not playing music, I'm not happy. And if I'm not happy, the family's not happy. So can I go out and get amongst it?
So where do we catch up with you in the next few months.
There's lots and lots about to be announced and we're prepping now a proper tour with the band. So I'm hoping that hits the you know, hits the websites and all that in the next kind of month or so that by the end of the year, you know, you'll be seeing me all around Australia. So nothing official of announced, but we're really working on it. It's a slow and steady process.
Tell us mate about your new single, cyclone, but.
Pretty much replicates this journey. It's stepping out of the you know, the shadows of Busby Maru and the comfort of Busby Maru, I should say, and into the spotlight on my own. And with that is a lot of nervous anxiety, but there's so much excitement as well, and that is what it's about. It's like stepping into the great unknown, just like that cyclone and that that crazy
cyclones that's smashed the east coast of Queensland. Quite often there's this like nervous tension in the air and it hits and but then afterwards you know, it might be a bit scary, but then all of a sudden you turn around that community spirit is just pumped up on steroids. Well that's with a vengeance.
Well Tom, we're going to play cyclone now. God bless it, and thanks for talking to us tonight. God bless you, Tom Busby, God bless it.
God bless you. My dad would say the same, thank you. I appreciate it, God blessing.
Great.
No Mama.
Scared anymore, just a little.
Cyclone.
Were unnown anymore And I'm in the middle.
You miss something I can lean into, You miss something I can run right through. I've been calked down a different plane. Something'screwing like a r roricane. Nothing like a dark man hanging on you know when I wiper, Well.
I'm that to the strain. I know, I'm yes scared any more, just now, Gray Side, I know anymore, And I mean.
The medal, Give me a sweet running down my cheek, give me blisters on my hands and face. When don't get stuff.
Gotta grab it good.
I wouldn't back out even if I could.
Nothing like a dark clan hanging on. You know when I will surrender, Well, I'm not gray.
Norm of a.
Scared and they leader and that the crazy sack phone where I had I known it. And I'm in the middle, and I'm mean the middle. I'm in the middle, head not to the grade. And nom I scared anymore, maybe just a little sad now Gray Cyclone were paid, I know anymore.
And I'm in the middle.
I'm in the middle,