Luke Legs

Singer/guitarist/songwriter Luke Legs tells stories that you will love hearing over and over again. This isn’t because his themes of urban alienation, unrequited love and growing up in the country are anything new or edgy, it’s that listening to him is like being woken up by a sunrise after falling asleep in your backyard next to the person you love. His natural tone and the enveloping expression in his songs didn’t come to him as soon as he picked up a guitar; he had to work damn hard to get there.

"Three years ago I was on tour along the surf coast right the way to Adelaide with another Melbourne-based acoustic based singer songwriter. At the time I thought I was pretty good but this guy, Jordie Lane, blew me off the stage every night."

Hindson’s situation is common in the live circuit and can often mean as much as water to a duck for a lesser musician, however, for Hindson playing with Lane forced him to make a quick and tough decision. "Before I went on tour with Jordie this guy had asked me to record an album and I’d agreed to do it, but after the tour I was like ‘Nup, I’m not good enough’, so I went and practiced everyday for years until I thought I was good enough to go into the studio."

This epiphany for Hindson occurred in 2008. He explains the mechanics of his quest to be a better songwriter involved a self-imposed exile. "While I was in London for a year (’09 to ’10), all I did was, I had a bedroom with post-it notes with every song that I’d ever written around the bedroom, and I was playing for four or five hours everyday just so I could write better songs."

And like any good tale of ninja-like discipline in order to conquer perceived shortcomings, when Hindson returned to Melbourne with these heightened songwriting skills the offer to record an album occurred again. "When I came back from London the producer, Dav [Pidtoto], who had asked me to do this album years ago was basically still waiting to record with me so when I said ‘Hey dude, I’m ready to do this album’: we made it happen."

The album Hindson has recorded and is launching this Friday at The Workers Club is called Why, Oh Why? (My Caroline) is a rollicking alt-country album that combines the texture and Irish heart of The Pogues with depth and heart-melting lyricism of Gillian Welsh and Ryan Adams. Hindson elaborates further on why he’s so proud of Why, Oh Why? (My Caroline). "I think good music can take time, I mean it can be done really quickly, but I firmly believe that to have a good collection of songs that encompass a wide range of both instrumental textures and lyrical depths takes time," he states.

Hindson quickly qualifies that songwriting must be respected; it’s not just about how well or how often you play. "I don’t care about instruments or whatever; I want to write songs that make people stop and really think," He pauses nervously before confidently concluding, "And… now I do."

Hindson recounts a moment at a recent show at The East Brunswick Club where he received affirmation of his vivid and lyrical songwriting ability. "The song Why Oh, Why? [My Caroline] has a story from the first word to the end. I played it the other night and this guy who had never heard my music before came up after the show and said, ‘That first song you played almost brought me to tears, is that written about Geelong?’ He was spot on, because that song was written after the tour with Jordie when I was living in Geelong and it’s about being young, creative, broke and having no outlet for those frustrations."

As Hindson explains the environment that this song was written in, his voice flares and sparks. He concludes, "The weirdest part is that in no part of the song do I mention Geelong."

LUKE LEGS & THE MIDNIGHT SPECIALS launch Why Oh, Why? [My Caroline] at The Workers Club this Friday February 25 with support from Queensland’s Rattlehand (it’s sold out) and on Sunday March 6 at 3pm Luke Legs will be playing an in-store at Record Paradise, 100 Chapel St, East St Kilda.