Hailed the 'best Queensland band of all time' by ABC Radio Brisbane, alt.country group Halfway return with a new single, 'The Old House', lifted from their forthcoming album 'Rain Lover'.
A send-off written by John Busby for his father, (John Busby Snr) an ex-jockey, who passed away from throat cancer in 2016, the accompanying video for 'The Old House' features a collection of nostalgic photos tracing both Busby Snr's life and Halfway's career.
With a rumbling, progressive alternative rock riff throughout, 'The Old House' spins a catchy tale that's a quirky earworm that fits the mould of great Australian songwriters like Paul Kelly and Augie March's Glenn Richards.
Today, scenestr is proud to premiere 'The Old House' video.
John Busby explains the inspiration behind 'The Old House'. "A couple of years ago on a trip home to Rockhampton, I drove past my grandparents old house which had become run down and left to ruin.
"It looked like was about to fall down and it was really disappointing to see it that way.
"It was just a very average fibrolite home on the north side of Rockhampton but when my grandparents lived there it was well maintained and looked after. I played a lot of backyard cricket there as a kid. It was where my family spent Christmas day and we used to spend the holidays with my cousins.
"It was a place of safety and fun and over the years it has been in my dreams a lot. I tried to work out what was real in my memory and what had just changed with time.
"The song is about memory and time and how a home can be made just by a coat of paint. Once the people were gone and the paint was gone, the house wasn’t special anymore. It was just a dump on the north side of town.
"Strangely, I went back to Rockhampton shortly after I had written the song and drove past again, to find the house had been completely extended and renovated. It is a mansion now. Someone else must have loved the house as well."
'Rain Lover' will be released 10 August, 2018.
Halfway Tour Dates
Sat 11 Aug - The Triffid (Brisbane)Fri 17 Aug - The Sly Flox (Sydney)
