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July 23, 2024 10 mins

Jon Toogood popped in for a chat about his debut solo album, the inspirations for it and the upcoming tour of New Zealand and Australia! 

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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Radio Hodkeys Off the Record Podcast with Jason Hoyt,
Mike Minogue and Kesy.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Very excited, very excited about our next skis. He's a legend,
an icon, a rockstar. I'm talking about the one and
only John too Good. How are you a.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Mad bast I'm pretty bloody good.

Speaker 4 (00:21):
Bro Excited, John.

Speaker 5 (00:23):
I am excited. Actually yeah yeah, doing new stuff is
always exciting to me.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, because you're releasing your debut solo album and I'm
curious about this is the more anxiety for you because
it's a solo album.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
You know.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
It's like if you're playing sport and a team, right
and you have a great victory, you're sharing it as
a team. If you're playing sport and you have an
absolute shitter and you get humiliated, you sharing that humiliation.

Speaker 4 (00:50):
To what I'm saying is you have all the pressure
on you.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Because it's solo. Now occurred to him, pressure about that, John, No.

Speaker 5 (01:01):
I don't It's good. I don't care. I literally wrote
this music for me, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. And
it was like, well, this is definitely not shehad stuff.
This is this is real personal stuff. So I just
needed to grab my guitar. And sort my shit out
basically by writing a whole bunch of songs.

Speaker 6 (01:21):
Can are we talking acoustic?

Speaker 5 (01:23):
It started that way yet, Like when I first wrote it,
it was designed to just be able to be playing
on a guitar and sing and which makes you right
differently anyway, because you can't go, oh, that doesn't quite work,
but I'll just cover up with a guitar.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
But he yeah, it's like literally it's got to work.

Speaker 5 (01:39):
From start to finish. And then I played it to
my mate Scott Horsecroft, who's his producer in Australia. He
produced Empire of the Sun. He co wrote Straight Lines
by Silver Tea, you know. So he's a real good
pop guy and he's the same age to me fifty two,
got say two kids, same age as well, and he

(02:00):
just got the lyrics and went come over with my studio.
He had a few mates come and play on it, piano, violin, drums.

Speaker 6 (02:09):
It just sounds awesome, just came together because the started
that you said you started by writing it. Did you
write it so that you could just perform at solo
where you went absolutely? And is that quite a common
way to write music or.

Speaker 4 (02:19):
Is that nah?

Speaker 5 (02:20):
I mean but I did start when I was seven
years old. I started on acoustic guitar. That's where I started,
and it's it.

Speaker 4 (02:27):
Was just one of those things.

Speaker 5 (02:27):
I've been playing the solo shows, going this is cool,
this is fun, like it's real.

Speaker 4 (02:32):
I just do it to entertain people.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, quite a bit of so.

Speaker 5 (02:37):
Yeah, man, but I'm playing. I'm playing sort of like
covers from my childhood. I'm playing Bowie, I'm playing you know, exponents,
and then I'm playing she Hu. But even that feels
like playing covers a little bit, even though I wrote it,
and I just wanted to have my own stuff to play.
And so I just took that three year period of

(02:57):
everything stopping for COVID and also I had a lot
of personal.

Speaker 4 (03:02):
Carnage lost, my mum lost, my brother in.

Speaker 5 (03:04):
Law got a COVID complication that turned my tonight is
up to twelve. So there was lots to work through
and music is my way of working through shit.

Speaker 7 (03:14):
You know, if you will, losing a parent as obviously
one of the biggest events that can happen to you
as life. It feels like a real handover. And when
you when you have something like that that occurs in
your life, are you straight away inspired to music or
is it a gradual thing or do you get writer's block?

Speaker 5 (03:30):
No, no, straight away. I just grabbed my guitar because
I was feeling bad. Yeah, So that's whenever I've ever
gone felt confused, lost, sad, I'd always grab my guitar. Yeah,
That's what I've done since I was a kid. And yeah,
and it helps me make sense of the world.

Speaker 7 (03:44):
You know.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
It was really unusual circumstances.

Speaker 5 (03:48):
I was in lockdown in Melbourne. Mum was dying in Wellington.
I hate to say goodbye on the phone, so it
was like it was yeah, it was. It was pretty intense.
So it was all a bit surreal, you know, when
when I was with my dad when he passed, and
if you see it in front of your eyes, it
makes it a bit easier to deal with, you know,
like because well it's still hard, but it's like your
body accepts it.

Speaker 4 (04:08):
Because you've seen it. This was weird, you know, like it.

Speaker 6 (04:11):
Was like a disconnected it almost well, I was my
sister was holding her phone up yeah, and it was like, well.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
That was so much the case, wasn't it. During the
sort of height of COVID, there so many people wanting
to be with the people they loved who were passing,
and yeah, that's just a horror show.

Speaker 4 (04:27):
It is intense, you know.

Speaker 5 (04:29):
And it was like, but that's and so grammar guitar, Yeah,
grammar guitar, try and make sense of what just happened.
And yeah, out of it came a bunch of songs
which I reckon. Some of the best are written well awesome.

Speaker 6 (04:43):
The tune we're going into now, John Too good by
the way, if you've just joined us in the studio
right now, is Gravity. So what was sort of inspirations
behind this?

Speaker 5 (04:51):
So Gravity is sort of towards the end of the
writing process when I'm actually getting my shit together and
going right, Okay, cool, that's happened. Now what I want
my life to look like going forward from here?

Speaker 4 (05:01):
All right?

Speaker 5 (05:01):
Every day is real precious. I don't want to waste
my time doing anything that's half fast. I want to be,
you know, fully there.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
So Gravity is sort of an uplifting song.

Speaker 6 (05:12):
Unfortunately our show is pretty half fast, so we're off
on the wrong foot.

Speaker 7 (05:18):
Ye listen.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Radio hod Keys off the Record.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
Podcast Cheer.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
And you one there from John Too, Got grab grab
any what to tune John, cheers, bro, thanks such a
it must be such a buzz, you know, hearing be
released finally.

Speaker 4 (05:39):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (05:40):
Yeah, well, me and me and Scott the producer have
been sort of like passing emails going I reckon this.

Speaker 4 (05:46):
Is pretty good.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, so it can't wait.

Speaker 5 (05:49):
But there's something about the way radio radio station can presses,
grab a good mix and just crank it.

Speaker 4 (05:55):
Yeah it sounds good.

Speaker 7 (05:57):
You've got a messive tour coming up all across New
Zealand and Australia. I was over there from ninety nine
to two thousand and three, sort of mid two thousand
and three, and you guys were absolutely joy enormous over there.
They really claimed you as you know, she had claimed
you as their sons as well.

Speaker 4 (06:17):
Yeah, well yeah, they sort of did.

Speaker 5 (06:19):
They started calling us the head.

Speaker 7 (06:23):
They're doing a lot of that. They were doing that
to a lot of bands bands around about the same time.
But also see you going over to the UK. What's
the vibe over there?

Speaker 5 (06:31):
Oh that's awesome, man, Like we've been there quite a
few times. There's lots of expats over there. Yeah, we
didn't tend to play to rugby rugby loving Yeah, because
they all hang out with each other over there, you know,
Australian's kiwis in South Africa.

Speaker 7 (06:47):
Yeah, so you have you done any solo shows over.

Speaker 3 (06:52):
The NAHN, So this will be this will be new
for me.

Speaker 5 (06:54):
But but that's where I mean, my parents were both
London and so that's where all my family are. Oh yeah,
I've been over there plenty of times. So yeah, it'll
be like going home in a little weird way.

Speaker 6 (07:06):
Yeah, beauty, nice, nice, And what's the Obviously you're pretty
you're pretty excited about the release of this and going
on the tour today. By the way, the dates have
just been announced all over the country. I'm sure we'll
check something up at Hurdak Do Coo as well. So
get amongst it. When you do have that feeling of like,
I think this is pretty good, you know, you're just fizzing.

Speaker 5 (07:26):
I am phizzing and and I've even been trying these
songs out live and it's been working real good. Like
it's I love the solo thing because I get to
actually talk to people, whereas and shehad, which is great.

Speaker 4 (07:38):
Don't get me wrong, I'm a bit more like a.

Speaker 5 (07:40):
Master of ceremonies going sure, now jump you know whereas
this is like I get to be a human. This
is about this here it is and bang and yeah
know it's been great like and because it's all designed
for the guitar and voice, I'm just going to jump.

Speaker 4 (07:54):
In a car and just go everywhere.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
And I think I'm playing like seventeen shows around New Zealand.

Speaker 4 (07:59):
Man.

Speaker 2 (07:59):
And I imagine too, John. One of the bonuses too
of doing it solo, so much less admin.

Speaker 5 (08:05):
There is and yeah, and all I have to do
is make sure I change the strings before the.

Speaker 6 (08:09):
Yeah, you're taking the wife and kids in the car,
I will, good man.

Speaker 5 (08:13):
Yeah, yeah, for the for the for the first two weekends.
I think we're going to do that when we go
down south. Maybe not, but yeah, they're coming to the
UK with me because that.

Speaker 7 (08:22):
Yeah, they've got to meet so hard sell to the
wife that you're just ducking off to the UK for
for a month totally.

Speaker 6 (08:30):
Isn't that just an amazing contrast between for example, the
first tour she hard would have gone on and then now, yeah,
now how.

Speaker 7 (08:37):
Does it compet your faith?

Speaker 4 (08:38):
No more to it?

Speaker 7 (08:39):
You did over in Europe for them.

Speaker 4 (08:41):
Yeah that's a bit different.

Speaker 5 (08:42):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, like, yeah, I wasn't sleeping much on
that tour.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
Yeah, that was just like, yeah, that's different kids keeping
you up.

Speaker 5 (08:52):
Yeah yeah, well actually yeah I don't sleep now actually
with kids.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yeah yeah, but it's a different type of time.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
I'm going to be honest with John, Mike and I.
We have a bit of a shit show when it
comes to sleeping. It's like, as you get older, you
have an infinite you know, there's only a certain amount
of time you can sleep every day. Bro, you know,
like six hours and and the body wakes up keasy
here he can go sixteen, seventeen, eighteen hours.

Speaker 4 (09:16):
It gets out of be.

Speaker 5 (09:17):
I used to do that, Like we used to go
on tour and then I come home and then I'd
be asleeplight.

Speaker 4 (09:22):
Yeah, sixteen hours and just go I feel great up.

Speaker 5 (09:25):
Yeah yeah, now it's like five five six hours. My
body just let's go, let's get moving.

Speaker 4 (09:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (09:30):
You guys actually wake me up from a nap to
do this interview.

Speaker 4 (09:33):
Yeah stuff.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
But hey, John, well, congratulations on the release of the album.

Speaker 4 (09:38):
Man can't wait to hear it.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
It's going to be awesome, and good luck with the tour.
I'm sure it's going to go off and I think
we will on our hodaku website. Yeah, we'll chuck all
the names and dates and all that sort of stuff.

Speaker 6 (09:48):
Where would you like to send people if they want
to get all the information on the tour and the
new album.

Speaker 5 (09:52):
Just John two dot com. That's jo when too good? Yeah,
so no agent, way too good?

Speaker 6 (09:58):
Yeah, just John and no ag bloody go johnsogood dot com.

Speaker 7 (10:01):
Get stuck in Beautiful.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
Radio hod Aches Off the Record podcast? Why not subscribe
so they download automatically and don't forget to rate us
five stars?

Speaker 4 (10:12):
Thanks mate.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Find out more about this podcast and the people who
make it at hodache dot co dot nz.

Speaker 4 (10:17):
It
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