A Chat With Darren Hanlon

Known for his poetic lyrical turns and distinctly Australian voice, Gympie-raised singer song-writer Darren Hanlon has formed a legion of admiring fans. Calling from Melbourne, Darren Hanlon spoke to Soulshine’s Max Easton on the eve of the release of his new album, ‘I Will Love You At All.’

Max Easton (Soulshine): You’re actually quite a difficult person to figure out location-wise. I’ve read variously around the traps that you’re Tasmanian, that you're from Gympie, went to uni in Lismore, recorded this album in Oregon…

Darren Hanlon (Darren Hanlon): Wait, did you say I’m Tasmanian!?

ME: Well it's on the internet...

DH: Nooo, I’m not Tasmanian, that’s wrong. Well. I’ve been there.

ME: I guess that’s good enough for them to claim you?

DH: Yeah...well, I don’t live anywhere. I haven’t lived anywhere for over a year now. I’ve just been drifting. Freewheelin’ as they call it.

ME: Is there are a place that feels like a home though?

DH: Yeah that’s the problem. I just don’t know. I’m going through an existential crisis, through all these years of touring I just don’t know where my home is.

ME: Which is a good place to write music from I guess. 

DH: Yeah, you call it perititatic, perititic, peritatic? [On checking this after our interview, the only information found pertained to pumps and Geology; that's Darren Hanlon for you.] Anyway, it’s this shambolic lifestyle. Sometimes it kinda feels like you’ve got ten different homes throughout the world, but sometimes it feels like you’ve got none. Cos I’ve got my parent's place in Gympie, and good friends in Lismore where I’ve just flown from today, and friends in Portland…but who knows.

ME: Many  of the songs you’ve written on this album are especially deep and emotional, much more so than what you've delivered in the past. Were you playing storyteller on this record or is it as personal as it comes across?

DH: There’s a healthy mixture of both – or unhealthy, depending on what you might say. Everything I write comes from some real place, but often I’ll disguise them, which is probably the case on a lot of these songs. They come from very real emotions and things that have happened, but they’re dressed up. Some of them are almost documentaries of how close they are to how they actually happened; like the ‘House’ song, that actually did happen, where I did knock on the door and ask for mail. 

ME: It’s a cool song that one, because of how specific it is, yet I think most people can kind of relate to those kinds of feelings...What’s it like having songs that are personal like that and having people connect with it so closely? Is it strange to have people connecting with your thoughts and memories?

DH: No, it’s really nice. That’s the one bit about the whole job that I get something out of. Just people coming up to me after a gig or in the street and saying that the song means something to them because of whatever. It’s weird when it’s about a game of squash [‘(There’s Just Not Enough Songs About) Squash’]…you know, how many people that song resonated with. But the house one, yeah, it’s really specific. So I worry that no one will relate to it. I worry that that’s the song that people will push skip on the album…but it’s nice that it’s struck a chord. You know, I assume that my fans or anyone who comes to see my show will have similar aesthetic sensibilities to what I have, and therefore would hate renovation, but like songs about renovation rage.

ME: You've really broken out the metaphors on this record, I don't think I've heard anyone drop them so regularly since Billy Bragg...

DH: Oh wow, that’s lovely…and ironic, because as soon as this tour finishes I go back on tour with him again, to do nine shows in the states. So maybe we can have a metaphor swordfight.

ME: Some of these lines and puns that you come with, have a lot of these been there waiting for the right song, or do they come together as one?

DH: Well…I’m trying to write less like that now. Actually, the pun I’m trying to steer clear of altogether, because I think puns have a shelf life, but some of the clever lines or whatever, I’m trying to let them happen more organically now rather than ‘I’m a smart alec and I’ve sat down with my diary in a café and written this’ type of thing. So I’m trying to come up with them a bit more organically now without forcing them. I think that when lines are clever they can sound really forced and they don’t hold up to repeat listens.

ME: Is there pressure to attempt to be consistently witty and clever then? How do you deal with that writing an album?

DH: Well, there seems to be two camps in the audience for the last few albums. Some people really love the funny upbeat songs, and some people like the real emotional…not downbeat…but the ones with more emotional punch. I think I try to steer towards that a bit more now. It’s not like the other songs aren’t honest, they’re just sides of one person’s personality. You know, talking about squash or whatever. I play it. I didn’t write it for the sake of being whimsical. Yeah, maybe I’m just going through a stage where the emotional songs are taking precedence at the moment, but I don’t feel pressured. The only pressure I’m under is from myself. I’m not under a label here in Australia so I don’t have anyone to answer to. As long as the people still come along…that’s the thing, my whole career is run by the fans. Once they stop, I stop.

ME: You’ve never really had a huge publicity machine or anything, it’s just been word-of-mouth and radio...

DH: Yeah, and I’ve never wanted that, I don’t feel comfortable with it. I’ve been offered things like that and it’s just not right. That’s why America is weird at the moment, I’ve just signed with a fairly major label there. For example, last week, they needed B-Sides and I didn’t have any [laughs.] I pretty much used everything I had for this album. They said they ‘want two songs before the end of the week’…and because I’m under contract now I had to write some songs and record them straight away. It’s like a high school assignment.

Darren Hanlon’s latest album ‘I Will Love You At All’ is out on Friday 16th of July via Flippin’ Yeah Industries.