The Quiet Life: Musician Tim Hall delves into age, fatherhood and creativity
Musician (The Whitlams, The Strange, Chakradiva), sculptor and Sunshine Coast Hinterland local Tim Hall walks us through navigating life as a creative.
Tim Hall in three words. Go.
“Oh, that’s a hard one. Probably “Being-An-Adult.”
What’s changed from life in the fast lane?
“I always wanted to be a hands-on father. I’ve never thought of myself as a ‘traditional-male-role type person, so I’ve always been around. And the fact that my life’s been in the arts and music, I’ve always had a lot of time during the day anyway.”
Throughout your life, you’ve been able to pursue your musical career — how awesome! Tell me, what do you think sets people back from pursuing their creativity?
“People often look at the arts, or look at being in the arts, or an author, or whatever it is, and they go, “oh, that’d be wonderful,” but in actual fact, it’s not always achievable. You can find yourself on the fringe of traditional society, where artists are constantly being asked to do things for free, for exposure. You’d never ask the plumber over to fix your things and ask them to do it for free because they’re your mate. Growing up, my mum was both a painter and an opera singer, and a lot of the time she was criticised by my dad for putting too much work into her so-called “hobbies.” To some people, I guess, it always just seems like an unachievable dream.”
Do you think, with your mum being a creative, that influenced you to pursue music and other forms of art?
Yeah. Well, I actually studied industrial design at university, which is basically the design of things for mass production — anything from your computer, to your camera, or to shoes, sunglasses, cars, basically anything that humans interact with. I used to do a lot of graphics for the bands that I was in and doing posters and flyers and all that sort of stuff. So I’ve always had a thumb in that pie.”
I’ve been told you’re quite the sculptor! Tell me more.
“A sculptor, yes. I’ve been doing it for about ten years now. I work in steel, mainly recycled steel, and most of it’s quite abstract. I don’t tend to make literal things or figurative things. It was never something that I tried to make money out of and I tried not to take it to that next level because I don’t want it to become a job. I want it to be something that I can do to enjoy, which means there’s no urgency to do it. I haven’t done a lot of it lately. The arts has all taken a bit of a backseat just because I’m busy with the property.”
Growing up and living in Sydney for most of your life, do you miss it much?
“For me, after the craziness of music and all that stuff, I kind of prefer it the more laid back pace up here. But I do miss being able to go out and have sushi or see a band or go to a shop, to sort of fashiony shops and furniture and all that.”
What plans do you think Tim Hall from 20 or 30 years ago had for the future?
“Probably touring or making music, but, yeah, I think until I had kids, I didn’t really have visions of the future, and I wasn’t one to make plans for the future, past whatever album I was working on or tour I was on. And then when I had kids, I kind of started to have more of a vision of the future. Once you’ve had kids, everything changes.”
How has the music world changed for you in that time?
“A few years before we came up here, I started working on back-end production of televised events like the ARIAs. I’m now able to see the other side of it. I can remember as a young, arrogant lead singer turning up to gigs, turning up at 5:30pm and having a tanty about the crew not being ready for sound check, but then years later, I’m on the other side of it and we’re still trying to get stuff ready so the band can sound check, and we’ve been there since 7:00am. I think over the years I’ve definitely gained a lot more humility than I used to have. I don’t like talking about myself as much as I used to. I’ve definitely grown up in that time. I wear glasses now, and I’ve got grey hair.
What’s your best piece of advice?
“My best piece of advice is never take anybody’s advice. Everybody’s got advice, and everyone’s so different. You’ll find that if you ever have kids, everybody wants to give you parenting advice. “If your kid won’t do this, do this to fix it” — Yeah, well that may work for you, but it sure as hell doesn’t work for me.”
What are your Top Five Desert Island Albums?
