Ex Hunna’s Singer in Town
Cairn’s online entertainment magazine “Barfly” talks about Mark Seymour, pre gig.
Author: Barfly magazine.
Date: Late April 2002.
Original URL: http://www.barfly.com.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&id=2840
Hunters & Collectors, one of the great bands of Oz rock, retired in 1998 after a career spanning 20 years, nine albums, and numerous EPs and compilations. But the career of Mark Seymour, the ‘Hunnas’ passionate vocalist (and muscleman), continues on as punters at the Cairns Courthouse Hotel this Sunday will find out first hand.
After the stunning achievements of the Hunnas, Mark Seymour is now winning accolades as a solo performer. His second solo album (and his first since the band’s break-up), One Eyed Man, netted the 2001 ARIA Award for Best Adult Contemporary album.
Celebrated though the Hunnas were as Australia’s ultimate alternative pub rock outfit, for many listeners the songs that most appealed were the ones that broke away from that mould.
Though tracks like Throw Your Arms Around Me and You’re Still Hanging Around were Hunters & Collectors songs, primarily they were Mark Seymour songs. The attraction of these was in their observation of basic human emotions and a melodic strength that often eluded songs engulfed more fully by the group ethos.
Ironically, given his brother’s history, One Eyed Man and the subsequent live set recorded at Sydney’s Basement club brought to mind Crowded House. It featured the same emphasis on melody and subtle guitar work.
One Eyed Man presented Seymour as a skilled writer of catchy pop songs complete with hooks, middle eights and harmonies. Replacing the shouted, declarative style that brought him fame with Hunters & Collectors, a neo-Beatles sound.
Sure, punters at the Courthouse on Sunday can expect to hear a revised rendition of the Hunnas’ 1982 anthem Talking To A Stranger, but they can also expect to hear a more mellow version of the man who led one of Oz rock’s all-time great bands.
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