ARTIST FEATURE: HAUSKEY

21 OCT 2020

Andy Hopkins aka Hauskey hit the ground running this year with his debut single Slow. Hauskey spoke to us about his opinion on loaded fries, advice for up and coming artists, musical journey and songwriting in lockdown. 

Roundhouse: Hey Hauskey, thanks for joining us! What have your highlights of 2020 been so far?

Hauskey: It’s strange to even consider that 2020 had highlights, but there have been a couple standouts. Like A Version, signing a US deal, finishing an EP, converting my catalogue of songs into a live set, but
honestly, the brightest highlight was getting a rescue dog during lockdown. She was so neglected when
we got her, and today she’s the happiest pupper!


Roundhouse: Here are some quick fire round questions just so our readers can get to know you better:
1. Perth or Sydney?
Hauskey: Perth for the beach and rent prices, Sydney for everything else (sorry Perth)

2. If you could tour with any Australian artist, who would it be?
Hauskey: Probably Tame Impala. To watch Kev and the band perform every night would be a dream.

3. Loaded Fries, yeah nah or nah yeah?
Hauskey: Nah yeah! As long as it’s not meaty. I be one of those annoying vegos.

Roundhouse: Massive congratulations on the success of ‘Slow’, it has over a million streams on Spotify. You have recently been featured as one of Triple J’s Feature Artists of the week in 2020 and given the opportunity of performing your own cover of ‘Mr. Brightside’ by the Killers for Triple J ‘Like A Version’. What made you choose to put your own spin on ‘Mr. Brightside’?

Hauskey: My favourite LAV’s are the polarising ones. Where the artist takes a song completely outside their genre, and bends and twists it into their own. It’s called ‘Like A Version’, not ‘Exactly The Original’, after all. I had recorded 5 or 6 other options, including a Wombats and a Maggie Rogers tune, but Mr. Brightside just felt fun to play.


Roundhouse: Congratulations on the release of ‘Somewhere’. You collaborate with Claudia Brand, who directed the music video for ‘Somewhere’. Could you give us insight into the creative direction behind the video?

Hauskey: I’m not generally a huge fan of music videos, unless there’s a narrative, or it compliments the sonics of the song, so ‘Somewhere’ was a shoe-in as it’s already so lyrically direct. It came together a`er a few Zoom chats with Claudia. We both had this vision of an almost Wes Anderson-esque character, trying
to find his way around a strange planet. We wanted it to feel odd and playful, but set in a dry and
desolate place. It was a challenging shoot, but I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

Roundhouse: You made your artist debut this year and you are already killing it! However, we want to know how long you have been writing and producing music for?

Hauskey: It’s a blur. When I was about 14 or 15, my two brothers and I shared two bedrooms between us, but we decided to move all 3 of us into one of the rooms, and turn the other into a studio. We used the
garage as a control room, and the bedroom as the live room. That’s where we recorded my first EP,
which I hope stays in storage forever. But yeah, I started playing piano at age 3, wrote my first lyrics
when I was 10, started busking at 12, and haven’t really done much else since.

Roundhouse: What advice would you give to other upcoming artists that are looking to debut
themselves in the industry?

Hauskey: On the technical side; be your own boss. Learn how to write, play, produce, mix, design websites. The more you can do, the more you can guide whatever your vision is, and these days it’s easier and cheaper to learn than ever. Don’t slide into dm’s expecting favours, do the work! Literally no one will
be as passionate about your project as you are. On the creative side; live your life. You can’t write in a vacuum; go out and love, break your heart, think deeply. The best songs are stories, and if you don’t have stories to tell, what on earth are you going to write about?


Roundhouse: You wrote ‘Somewhere’ during a 3 week lockdown period in Sydney, did you write any other songs during that time? If so, are we going to be able to hear them sometime soon?

Hauskey: There was a period where I couldn’t write a thing. I think we were all going through collective shock, and I was completely unproductive. Was about a week or so in that I could start again, and I wrote
some of my favourite tracks during that period. Some of them will be out very soon :)

Roundhouse: Thanks for stopping by at the Roundy, we wish you all the best with everything coming up for you.

Hauskey: Thanks for having me!