Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Welcome to the Production Talk podcast with me, Yarn, of mixartists.com.au. In this podcast series, we celebrate the modern way of producing music. We want to talk about all things related to songwriting, recording at home and music production. So, if you produce your music at home, this is the place to be. Please subscribe and recommend this podcast to all your friends. This is the Production Talk Podcast episode 59. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Welcome back to another episode of the Production Talk podcast. At the beginning of the episode, as always, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the country that we are meeting on today, the Arakwal people of the Bundjalong nation. And I would like to pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: With me today is Mr. Peter Hunt of the band KOOII. Welcome on board. How are you today? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Thanks Jan. I'm good. Thanks. Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Glad to have you on board. So it's quite amazing to have you it's been a while we have met a couple of years ago, I think halfway through COVID. Was that on lockdown break or something for a small gig. That's where we crossed path. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Yeah. You came to the somewhat rescue at that little gig we did up in federal Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And we got rained out. Peter Hunt of KOOII: yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: everything we set up. We had to pack down and then you basically played well without any sound reinforcement. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah, that's right. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: was quite amazing in a tiny little place with lots of people. And Peter Hunt of KOOII: the, the pottery Jan 'Yarn' Muths: yeah, and I remember, and I think my, my boy made a lot of noise in the background. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: He, he was a bit wild. Peter, please tell us about your musical career. How did it all start? How old were you when you realized that you were into music? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Like as a, as a path to take mm-hmm ? Well, I did my first you know, gig actually the, I think it was the, the night of the last exam. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Of my science degree. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Oh, wow. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: How old were you Peter Hunt of KOOII: So three years out of high school. So I guess 20, 20, 21. Yeah. Okay. And it was a pretty kind of random music kind of gig, but I was just really happy to be welcome to just do what I can do and, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: do. And uh, what instruments do you play? Peter Hunt of KOOII: My voice is the key instrument. Peter Hunt of KOOII: The trumpet guitar the piano was the first one that drew, that drew me in. And then there's the guitar, which is, you know, kind of my main songwriting tool at the moment. Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Okay. And with which band did you play your first kick there after finishing your degree? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Oh, man, I can't. I think we, we might have called ourselves Mototo, which came from it was a Herbie Hancock album maybe or something, or that's what her's Swahili name was or something on this Mowan dishy album. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Yeah, man. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Is that band still around Peter Hunt of KOOII: the members are I think well, definitely one. I, I, he did sound for us at, in Brisbane just a week ago. Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Cool. Okay. And how did you progress from there on just, you know, break down your, your music career Peter Hunt of KOOII: Wow. Yeah. It's that's going back. Yeah, like, you know, 20 something years. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Well, so, you know, I had planned to take time off studying. There was some kind of vague idea that I would do medicine maybe, but I knew that I was gonna take a year off at least to explore music to. You know, one intention was to really tend to the emotional creative side. I dunno if I kind of talked about it in those terms at that time, but it felt like, yeah, I really needed to tend to the feeling within me and that sort of my mate who had called me into that first gig, he sort of invited me into this other group that he was in. Peter Hunt of KOOII: At the time he was doing like a, a TAFE music course, and he was jamming a lot with guys from there. And they, he knew that I played trumpet and they wanted Tom around with, with a horn player. So they, they were doing a recording and, and I remember. They were keen to get me along and I wrote some lines for that recording and that was quite a inspiring thing, you know feeling my ability to create melody for people's songs be useful and something that people value. Peter Hunt of KOOII: So yeah, that first recording was, was something exciting. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Okay. And look, I think you are most well known to be, you know, the, the singer of, of the band KOOII. Can you talk us through how this band came together and, you know, the different records that you Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Well, I guess maybe, maybe two or three years on from, from that point, we were just talking about I so connected with a, a group called promiscuous Chrysalis. Peter Hunt of KOOII: They were kind of. Mix of acoustic and electro kind of stuff. They dropped the Chrysalis bit when, just around the time and I joined the group and it just became promiscuous. And Anthony, the, the singer from that group, Anthony Forrest who's now the who, who became the singer. For king Fisher. Peter Hunt of KOOII: We had an idea that we wanted to just explore a stripped back kind of form of music, just guitars and singing harmonies. So that was really the, the beginning. I think our first name for the J was like a river. And so it was still two of us for a while. And we were actually, we were looking for a house to live in at some stage. Peter Hunt of KOOII: We'd given up the search one Saturday morning and went to the markets in the valley in Brisbane. So that's, we're talking Brisbane time. And we were drinking too is new. And we were trying to think of a name for the duo and, and I looked at it and I thought, oh, toy's two of us. It's cliffs Tuy. And. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: that, Peter Hunt of KOOII: That lost its a PO after a couple minutes. And so like any great poet, I went through the alphabet to find words that rhymed with EY, somehow I missed C and got to K and came up with Cooey that's Jan 'Yarn' Muths: that's really cool. I had no idea. That's a great story. Yeah. Look, would you mind to just briefly uh, we have, we have quite a few, you know, international listeners, would you mind to just break down the meaning of, of the word KOOII, which is quite an Aussie thing? Isn't it? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Well, it's, it's a word from the original people. Like to be honest, when I took the name on, I didn't actually kind of think about it. I actually thought it. Like, you know, and I'm kind of like a little embarrassed. Peter Hunt of KOOII: I th I think I might have actually thought it was brought over from, from England maybe, and somehow over the expanse of the country, it, it had this magical stretching or something of, of the, the word cuz it's I spoke to some people from England and they, they thought they had sort of a use of that kind of word, but maybe then it, it somehow made its way back. Peter Hunt of KOOII: I'm not sure what country on this like particular region of this island, where, of where it came from. I think it might have been used in several places, I think maybe years ago when I started looking into it there was some indication that the, the people in Botney bay use it as a kind. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Warning warning word, but a woman from the central region who had a conversation with once, she was like, it's, it's like, cool. You're calling, you're calling them home. You're calling someone home. Yeah. And you at, at times I thought, oh, wow. Is it right that I'm carrying this, this name? You know, I haven't yet met with any friction or questioning my right to, to use the name or our right. Peter Hunt of KOOII: So, but I, you know, sometimes I walk with that knowing that it is an indigenous word originally. But you know, I grew up with it with it being this really enjoyable thing to do. And something that you did when you couldn't see someone, when you were, you are lost in the Bush. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I know the call for as well. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: But it, it's basically a call that people use out in the Bush when they, you know, can't see each other anymore to reconnect. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. And you can. When you wonder, you know, the Australian countryside then you can sometimes hear people calling in the distance. And I use the same call with my kids when we walk, let's say the goon and Gary national park. Yeah. Which is a fantastic place to be. And sometimes when a boy runs too far ahead, he knows when, when I call KOOII he has to respond. it works. It's, it's just a sound that echoes through the forest and the bushland in, in a different way, you know, like no other way work that I, I know, Peter Hunt of KOOII: mm-hmm, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: which is quite amazing. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. It's, it's a definitely a very Aussie thing and I think it's a good thing. If you know, everybody in Australia embraces, you know, the indigenous culture in a way like this and makes that, you know, part of our own, we need to grow together. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Mm-hmm Jan 'Yarn' Muths: and I personally want to see a more indigenous culture embraced, Peter Hunt of KOOII: mm-hmm Jan 'Yarn' Muths: in Australia Peter Hunt of KOOII: Mm-hmm Jan 'Yarn' Muths: my personal opinion. So I think it's, it's a good thing that you've got the name mm-hmm and it draws attention to, to the meaning mm-hmm. So Peter Hunt of KOOII: Thanks. Y Jan 'Yarn' Muths: at least that's my take Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: look to all the listeners, if you have different opinions, let me know the show notes send a comment and I'm happy to discuss this, but, you know, I can say that by, by my perception you're using this term really respectfully. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Uhhuh. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. And it would be interesting to know, like, What nations used the word, like if all of them did or yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. Interesting. So that became the name for the band breakdown, the story of the band you know, maybe from the first release, how you all started the first gigs you played the highlights of your musical career with KOOII. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Okay. Well I guess that was beginning around 2003 that Anthony and Anthony and I got together. Soon after we, we wanted to do, sorry. I look over to the, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: the, Peter Hunt of KOOII: the wall sometimes when I'm thinking my thoughts. Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: okay. Peter Hunt of KOOII: it could be distracting for people. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: No, no, it's Peter Hunt of KOOII: fine. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: All good. Peter Hunt of KOOII: We did a little demo with and we asked Tom to play double bass with us and Tom and Don who became the rhythm section were playing in a group called freaky Lou which was, you know, a band dedicated to reggae. And it was led by Luke who. He's our famous Byron Tempe man. So he used to live in Brisbane as well. Peter Hunt of KOOII: And he, he really introduced those guys to reggae. So people might know people from around the Byron Shire might might know Byron Tempe he's he makes the Tempe stays. Yeah, so we did this, this you know, little EP with the three of us. Yeah, with Tom playing bass. And then soon after that with Dom, the drummer came, joined us and then dusty S player who was also playing freaky Lou, but I think their connection of the connection between Tom, Tom and Darcy was most significant in a group called Kafka, which also. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Significantly the fourth member of which was Locklin Mitchell, who has, has an alias Le who he lives down in Melbourne now. And Locke ended up joining the group as well. I was playing swapping between playing rhythm guitar and trumpet for a while, but I was actually kind of uncertain in that role is kind of, you know, kind of go through phases of like, oh, Am I falling outta time here. Peter Hunt of KOOII: You know, I was kind of, wasn't confident as a, as a Schenker at that time. So we ended up asking our mate from promiscuous, Andrew Stevens and or drew. And he was the, the rock in the group for a long time. Until about 2010, then we got a different living guitarist Conn who was an old mate of the Kafka guys. Peter Hunt of KOOII: So that was a, there was some movement. And then Anthony left after a while and formed king Fisher with drew Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Big shout out to king fish Fisher. I love the band. Mm-hmm Anthony's a fantastic guy. Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Anthony's. Peter Hunt of KOOII: I think he's recently released an album under his name. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: name. Mm. Peter Hunt of KOOII: I haven't heard it yet, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: but Peter Hunt of KOOII: okay. I reckon it'll be awesome. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: cool. And talk us through the, how the first record came to be. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Ah, yeah. So we were doing a gig in Rick's cafe in, in the valley. I dunno, maybe about 2004 and poorly B was there and he really dug it. And I think we spoke that night about the possibility of recording and that kind of set, set the talks rolling. Peter Hunt of KOOII: And we, we recorded the beds in the downstairs of, of a restaurant in west end on high Grove road is called tongue and groove. And that, that basement area was actually a place where we'd have sort of different gigs like Paul and I are actually playing in a jam group called the the groove collective with Locklin as well. Peter Hunt of KOOII: And. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: and Peter Hunt of KOOII: The, the owner of the restaurant gave him the keys to, to open up the place and, and for us to use it during the day. And so we recorded the beds for beats on a string in the basement of tongue groove, and then did a lot of the over dubs in the, the two locations of, of of Paul studio, the Toki lounge. Peter Hunt of KOOII: And I'm not sure when he started calling it the Toki lounge, but. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Party's a bit of a legend and he was part of this podcast in episode of 49. So yeah, Peter Hunt of KOOII: Well that was the first album that he ever engineered and produced. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: was it really? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, wow. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: He's come a long way. You know, he produced so much music, absolute legend. So there was episode 49 if every, anybody wants to go back and have a listen to that conversation, which was fantastic. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. Nice. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Cool. And so did you, you said the bands were they recorded, were recorded the music bands in, in the restaurant. And did you then take it elsewhere for additional recordings? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. For doing some horns and and vocals. Yeah. We took it to poorly studio. Yeah, which was down near the river at the time. And then partway through the, the process they had to shift and it ended up in where the Toka lounge. Ended up, which was on boundary street just next to bent books. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: cool. So, and how long did all of that take? Peter Hunt of KOOII: I think maybe, maybe six months. I don't know. Yeah. Right. Maybe even a bit longer, like there was Jan 'Yarn' Muths: a, Peter Hunt of KOOII: a big break and there was a few things to finish off, so Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. And did you struggle with, you know, getting the signals to, to gel together coming from, from a studio and partially from, from a basement? Was that a problem? Was the sound quality somehow compromise in any way or? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah, I, I don't have a a clear enough memory of that, or maybe I wasn't even. Feeling like I wanted to care about that. just was in the Jan 'Yarn' Muths: letting Paul Peter Hunt of KOOII: take care of that kind of stuff. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Oh, great. Yeah. So you didn't actually have to worry about it. You, you knew you weren't in good hands as he would be with Paul. Of Peter Hunt of KOOII: course. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. He, he kind of, you know, gave me support to think of the ideas and yeah. Arrangement stuff. Yeah. Okay. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: How did you move on from there? Jan 'Yarn' Muths: You know, what happened next? Was there, did you tour after the release of the album? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Mm we, we did some launches. We we've always been pretty much self-managed like I've been the main manager, you know, and. Assisted along the way with pretty much all the members of that core five for those many years he having a turn except for maybe lock he's just was always willing. He's always willing whenever that's there's music to be played. Yeah, so what my point was, yeah, I, we didn't really have a great. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Campaign or plan, you know, I, I think I put so much energy into bringing music together and just getting together like, and we didn't really have a budget so much for marketing and all that. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah, we just did our best to, like, for me is great achievement to get the album out and let it, let it grow in the, the people that hear it. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Let it spread naturally as well as it can. Yeah, I mean, so much has evolved. It took us maybe five years until we, we did the second one. Yeah. And I guess it was kind of the same story for the second one as well. Peter Hunt of KOOII: It wasn't a huge marketing campaign or anything. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Was that done again with Paul? Peter Hunt of KOOII: It was, yeah. Yeah. And. I think we recorded most of that in the Toki lounge where it settled on Bowie street. Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: in. And how long did that take Peter Hunt of KOOII: Hmm. It was maybe, I don't know, six months. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: and that's from starting to record till the finished album. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: I guess, and yeah. Yeah. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And what, what's your preferred method of recording? Do you, when you're in the studio, do you like to just know, record and layers one after another? Or do you like to get your band together, as you said, you know, you recorded the music band, I guess. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yes. Some musicians together in, in the basement. I, is that what you did for the second album as well? Peter Hunt of KOOII: So we would've recorded a lot of the written section altogether and I would, I was guiding with my vocals. So. I don't think any of those guide vocals lasted maybe bits of it were in the final mix, but yeah. The bass and drums and rhythm guitar were, were usually kept. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. And, and locks parts as well. Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And I guess that saves time and it probably helps to develop the groove as well. Yeah. If you have all of 'em together. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Yeah. I. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: mean Peter Hunt of KOOII: These days unless it's something that I really wanna take time to construct and arrange musically, I would, I would love to have the abandonment or detachment to record everything live. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, unless as I say, there's kind of artistry in the arrangement that you. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. Please explain why I I'm curious to, you know, understand, know why you like it better that way. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Because of the, the vitality in it. The honesty the, the simplicity Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Mm-hmm yeah. Capturing fair, fair points. All of them are really good points. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. And I guess, you know, if you figure out that your band works well this way, then you know, why want, why would you want to change the winning system? You know, you just don't want to change it. Yeah. If it really plays to, to the advantage, you know, for everybody gels together and yeah. It likes to play, Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah, totally. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Cool. So, yeah. And there's, there's a certain level of kind of letting go of your ego and like judgment of the, the product or the, the, how you played, you know, which I've, I've battled with, you know, over a long time, like. Kind of always wanting to do it again, you know, think it's not good enough, you know, which is Jan 'Yarn' Muths: a big point. Isn't it? Yeah. So many people struggle with that, you know? And it's, it's like when, when musicians come into the studio and hear their take recorded, it's like it's under the microscope. You know, it's, it's magnified, it's super transparent. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Everything is just really there. There's no more hiding. And I guess, you know, of course that can be Peter Hunt of KOOII: Mm-hmm Jan 'Yarn' Muths: So how, how do you deal with this now? When do you know that the take is, is right and you know, how much imperfections can you live with? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, sometimes the you become less troubled by imperfections over time, you know, come back to it in a month and it's like, oh, that, that sounds pretty good. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Actually I, yeah. Yeah. You know, I think it's, it's probably. A multifaceted thing. Like one is like just developing your skill and knowing where you're at Jan 'Yarn' Muths: in Peter Hunt of KOOII: ability to play. When you come to press record, you know, kind of really being present with what your ability is in that moment. Yeah. So yeah, marrying your skill level with knowing your ability to know where you're at. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. And yeah, some bit of forgiveness and, and also just opening up to it, opening up to the, the joy of creating or letting the note be played. Yeah. And listening as well. Yeah. Like kind of, you know, I notice that I'll get quite tied up with my. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: own Peter Hunt of KOOII: Generation of the music, moan conduction of the music. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Whereas like, if you can enter the space of hearing everyone, feeling everyone in on this conduction at the same time you know, feeling the kind of joint support, like I think that's a a great space for getting out of the mind, like feeling the kind of group. Being, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: I like that. I really like that because it is a team experience in, in some ways. Yeah, no recording takes together. It gels Peter Hunt of KOOII: yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: band together. It's it creates a moment for, you know, for eternity in some ways, you know, builds a connection. Nice. I, I really like that. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Maybe let's just move on. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah, cuz that was a while ago. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: That was a while ago. Yeah. So the last record was that released in 2020. Peter Hunt of KOOII: I released an album under my name in 2020. The last release Cooey was in 2012, which is a while ago. And, you know, we've had more music come through that we haven't gotten around to recording, you know, in that period up to 2019, which was when our last gig was. Yeah. Until recently. Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Okay. So 2019 is when everything scrambled everything got disrupted by a certain virus. And how, how did your band travel through this period? That must have been really challenging. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. I, I didn't I don't think I pushed to try and make things happen so much with KOOII. I think we had an opportunity to play it at Zen Fest, which fell through because of imposed restrictions that came in and foiled the plants. Peter Hunt of KOOII: I, I would write stuff that sounded like it could be Cooey for the Cooey configuration and some of that music we, we played in these recent two gigs. Yeah. Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: so that's the gigs that just happened recently. Yeah. So you said there were two gigs that were basically the first gigs after the COVID break. Is that right? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Yeah. So almost three years. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Great. How does it feel to be back on stage? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Ah, there's, there's a lot of aspects. I mean, it was a, such a joyful fountain at the Brunswick pub on Sunday, you know that kind of group energy of. Of everyone dancing, loving it and feeling the energy, the band. Peter Hunt of KOOII: I, I don't think I was as in a deeper space, as I know I can be with the music. I think I was actually kind of a bit too concerned about my own what I was going on. Like, I, I kind of been focusing. On singing a bit too much, you know, kind of not being totally trusting of my ability. So I noticed that I didn't actually listen to the band as well as I know I can. Peter Hunt of KOOII: And, and which is kind of an interesting kind of flip because you actually, if you you're having kind of any trouble singing, your best thing would be to do would be just to listen really deeply and be really in your body. But instead of the other way, I guess I kind. Wasn't in the full trusting mode of just being in my body and listening really deeply. Peter Hunt of KOOII: But, you know, it was still, it was still really good. Like it was like yeah, I mean, there was so much appreciation for it, which was so, so inspiring. And it was kind of experiment to do these gigs and it's given me a lot of inspiration to open up to doing well, to seeing what can happen with that vessel. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Mm. So who's in, in the band in 2022. Who were you on stage with? Peter Hunt of KOOII: So on drums with was Bobby OU Charles Wall. Yeah. And the bass player was Tom, Tom hili who's being there right from that very first trio demo with Anthony and then Travis Jenkins. Who's an old friend from Brisbane. Who's who's, you know, he, he knew of Cooley's music. Peter Hunt of KOOII: And he'd been listening to her for a long time before we actually met. And we've done. So miscellaneous gig. Where people have wanted KOOII songs or like weddings and stuff. And Travis's been the go-to guy for those gigs. And so he's kind of imbued a lot of the songs already. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And Jan 'Yarn' Muths: knows the music. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. And then the, the guitarist Was Lindon, Lester who's a musical jam of this region. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: He definitely is. Yes. Yeah. How good a bass player is he? And watch him on the drums. Well, Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: great. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Yeah. So we, we have him on guitar and you he's, he's really enjoying that and you know, he's awesome for that role cuz. Peter Hunt of KOOII: He's a family man rock just like con now. Harder rhythm guitarist. Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: nice. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And, and what are the plans for, for the months to come? Have you get more gigs scheduled? Can you spill, spill any beans? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Just thoughts for what gigs can happen, like looking at sunshine coast. Yeah. I've got a little bit of funding money from the, the will and GABA office. Peter Hunt of KOOII: In Brisbane which is manned by John ocher and his team from the greens to do a gig in Mo Grove park, sometimes trying to, trying to work out how that can happen. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. Thinking about a, where to play on sunshine coast, we applied for Woodford Jan 'Yarn' Muths: oh, fingers crossed. That would be great Uhhuh. And have you got any plans to, to release more music? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Just kind of just a, a cloud of intention at the moment. Yeah. You know, there's ideas and how we do it. I'm not sure whether I would, I would write a lot of the music and then show it to everyone. And then also we played a summer of Toms on the weekend, which is a really awesome step to have him bring a song. Peter Hunt of KOOII: The yeah, like it's a, there's a clan nature to it when we play. So it'd be great to have that kind of energy when we record. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah, definitely. Well, keep me posted. If there are gigs coming up or new releases, give me a shout and I'm going to publish that in the production podcast community page, just to, you know, spread, spread it as far and wide as we can. Right. Let's just steer back a little bit. You also released your, your solo album that was in 2020. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. Tell us more about that please. Mm-hmm Peter Hunt of KOOII: some of the songs I began writing, I don't. Like 2012 or, you know, eight years before. And I find often when I write a lot of songs when they first come through, they're like quite intricate guitar patterns and they're like tasks from my creative self or my higher self to develop myself as a musician or a guitarist. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Like it it'll often take me a while to settle with. The part that's that I've come up with and to sing with it as well. Cuz the, the rhythms will, will be kind of interwoven or bouncing off each other. So it'll take me on this kind of meditative journey or it'll it'll last me to answer this kind of meditative journey to, to to integrate the music into myself. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. And often in that process, I'm also writing lyrics or feeling at the lyric. Sometimes it, it takes a while for lyrics to come. Like I'll just be singing melody and I'll just be letting lyrics come in in the moment of, of running through this song. Yeah. But eventually I, I I can settle on, on lyrics, you know, if I don't actually settle on them in the first or second. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Flow with, with an idea. Yeah. Which would kind of be like, I kind of wish for that. Sometimes I wanna just like finish it off in this first sitting, you know? Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Cause Peter Hunt of KOOII: don't, it can like be a long journey then Jan 'Yarn' Muths: journey. Can it be too long, a journey? Have you been in a situation where, you know, song just never really came together? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Oh, there's been plenty of songs that, that don't, that don't kind of make it to a recording something, but they, I I've been through an experience with them just because yeah, like recording is a, is a modern thing. Like it was just the music and the musician and the, and you know, what is accessible in their memory. Peter Hunt of KOOII: That that affects what they play in the moment, you know? Yeah. Yeah. What, what returns, you know, they draw from the catalog of their memory. If they want to go over an old idea but otherwise, you know, create something anew or completely new, shall I say? Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And tell us more about how the album sort of came together, you know, did you play all the instruments or did you recruit studio musicians? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Initially I had, you know, the kind of the ambition to record it with just two mics, just me and guitar, and poorly said, you should get yourself to EVR twenties, the microphones, because they're so versatile. They're Jan 'Yarn' Muths: really good mics. Yes. Peter Hunt of KOOII: right? Yeah. And you know, and I had some goals. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Just doing that. And, but I was not comfortable with my shifting at time, like you know, pulling and pushing and pulling so much, which, you know, other listeners mighta go well, once that's, that's cool. You don't have to worry about so much. But yeah, still I, I did feel like, okay, I'm already. Let's just let it, let the song settle. Peter Hunt of KOOII: So, so, so Jan 'Yarn' Muths: you were performing without a click and then you felt like you were Peter Hunt of KOOII: yeah. Pushing. Yeah. I just had had a few guys, you know, once I first got the, got the mics, you know, excited to have the mics. And actually the first attempt at recording was when I first moved down to the Byron Shire and I was minding her an old mud brick house. Peter Hunt of KOOII: And I set up the mics there. Yeah, and you know how to go. And so eventually I did all the tracks through click track which is, it means they're through click track. They're held in that, that framework. So there is, it's kind of like training wheels, you know you know, and whether or not, you know, maybe I would've. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: been Peter Hunt of KOOII: There would be more life. I don't know if, if they weren't recorded to click track, you know, kind of more honest and you could feel, feel even more soul in it. If it was free of the click track. I don't know. That's the kind of a, an interesting question. Is there more soul or creativity felt when music is created without a click track? Jan 'Yarn' Muths: I'm dying to hear your take on this. Peter Hunt of KOOII: All right. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: you mentioned training wheels, please explain. I'm I'm super curious to, to figure out what you mean by that. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Oh, I guess training wheels of like keeping you steady. Yeah. Yeah. Keeping Jan 'Yarn' Muths: you from falling over, basically. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. So Jan 'Yarn' Muths: so are, are you implying that a grown up should be able to perform without training wheels? Jan 'Yarn' Muths: You know, is that for kids? Is that what you're saying? sorry, gotta push back a little here. Peter Hunt of KOOII: yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Because you know, a lot of professional musicians, grownups uh, do perform on a cl. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Oh, totally. And, and I, I, I still would as well. Yeah. Yeah. I do. I do enjoy not using the clique sometimes. Peter Hunt of KOOII: And I'm enjoying that. I'm kind of getting to an ability where I can keep steady enough time or so it's, and it's kind of two things it's, I'm becoming, I'm becoming less attached and more forgiving of myself, as well as developing the, the ability to, you know, keep steady Jan 'Yarn' Muths: developing. Yeah. Peter Hunt of KOOII: And then that's the question of like, do you really need to keep steady time? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Is, is, is it actually a, a musical thing that you want to do or is it actually better for the music to, to have Evan push and pull? Yeah, so, yeah, it's an interesting question, but I don't know. I wouldn't sort of get on board was saying, oh, look, if you wanna be a grown up musician, then you can't play on a click track. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Like, and there are. There's kind of functional things about the click, you know? Yeah. Like for, for arranging and over dubbing and stuff. It's like, you know, it's a lot simpler. Yeah, often I used a shake track kind of as my click Jan 'Yarn' Muths: instead of a click. Just a shaker. Yeah. Yeah. Shaker. That is a really good thing to do, I reckon. Yeah, because you, you connect differently to a shaker than, than to a click. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Oh, totally. Yeah. It's interesting. Like the click. Like click, click, click, click, but then the shaker just gives the shape of the wave between those two nodes. Yeah. And you know, it's just like, I I've grown in respect for the art of playing shaker because it it's, it just holds the, the shape of the groove so much. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: much. It's so hard to play. Well, you know, everybody can shake a little, but good percussion is can, can play shaker. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Like I, I never could it's yeah. Such a simple emotion. Yeah. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: but it's so not. Yeah. Yeah. It's fascinating. Peter Hunt of KOOII: And the, the groove that I used for with the shaker pattern that I used for a lot of the, all of the six, eight triplet songs on the album which is called vessel it's kind of derived from what I learned of the shaker pattern that the shown people in Zimbabwe use for playing with the IVI. Peter Hunt of KOOII: So they, so the invi is like the, the th piano, the kind of very sophisticated kind of fun piano that they have ceremony with and accompanying them, you, these really loud shakers called Hoho. And there's a particular triplet pattern that they play with that. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: particular. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. And you know, I was so like uncle at it when I initially, but by the end of the time, like I, I went there with my friend yesterday in 2018 and we stayed with his friend and in Burra master for a month. And their family and, you know, I learned some invi as well, but I think my vague intention for going to Africa you know, in Zimbabwe was the country that we went to was to immerse in the rhythm. Peter Hunt of KOOII: And, you know, so I came back learning well, if my adaption of the shaker pattern and I used that with some big egg shakers, like not the hot show. Yeah, because they're so loud. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: So Peter Hunt of KOOII: the milkshakes is like that. I really like that. I got from sun and drum in, in Mullen. Thanks bench and yeah. And just sort of adapted that for the, the six, eight tunes. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Nice. Yeah. You know, and after I did all the parts. All the vocals and the guitar, which I did in my cabin when I was living at paradise one in Bel I then took it to, to Charles and his place and he, he put some percussion on it and then I took it to Tom in Brisbane, and we went to our friend studio in west end, Pete Gardner and recorded the bass. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. And then when I had all those bits, I gave it to poorly and he mixed it, you know, with me on looking for some of it. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: So you basically worked with a very similar team Peter Hunt of KOOII: yeah. On it. Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. It sounds like you you've formed, you know, a team with certain people that's just that you always fall back into where you just know each other really well, your strength and weaknesses where you just yeah. Yeah. Tap into one another skills. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Well, and it's interesting. I poorly, poorly guided me with, with some very significant advice at the start. And then he was at the end. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: end. Yeah. Peter Hunt of KOOII: And along the way, I kind of sent him some of the recordings of that I was doing just to check I was on track and, and it was really important for me to just record these on my own, cuz it meant that I, I didn't feel. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: pressured Peter Hunt of KOOII: To to get, if, if I wasn't happy with the take and part of my intention, like I wasn't meeting that ambition or that goal of doing it purely live without a click track, but I was trying to just get full takes of the guitar. Partly cuz I like the vibe and cuz I don't really like editing so much. Peter Hunt of KOOII: That's the, the time consuming thing. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: dirt. Peter Hunt of KOOII: I just tried to get takes that. I was like, yeah, that's a good take. It's most of it. So there wasn't a whole lot of editing. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Good edit editing, you know, can be really tedious. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And I personally don't, don't like these lengthy editing sessions either. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Mm, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: That's really so destroying to, you know, sit there for days and days just to go through editing. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. And it's not necessarily better at the end of it. yeah, that happened to me more than once that I, you know, Invested a lot of time. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And then I realized that it wasn't better. Peter Hunt of KOOII: mm-hmm Jan 'Yarn' Muths: so I'm fully on board with you just playing full takes, you know, that's that's the way to do it. Mm-hmm yeah. It's so much, so much more enjoyable. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Yeah. And if you've got time to, or the, the freedom to go, ah, it's not ready. That's just a practice run. Just try tomorrow night. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah, exactly. Did you work from home? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. So in my little cabin at, at paradise one in Kuba. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And can you just sort of describe roughly what what your studio setup would look like? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. So for that, I was just using this kind of mid-range pre personas interface. And the, I had the E V R 20 which has a fairly low output, I think you call it. Yeah. So poorly had guided me to get a fed head, which is kind of a Phantom powered kind of Jan 'Yarn' Muths: It's an amplifier, basically. Yes. Yeah. Peter Hunt of KOOII: And so I just used that on the guitar. I had a guitar that, that I really love. It's the mahogany. One, I, I was drawn to it because of its color , but it turns out it's, it's a really beautiful guitar. And something, it really sings like it's steel string, but I, I finger pick. I got it when I was on tour with, with Xavier Rudd. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Just picked it up from the store in North Carolina or so. I didn't really check the best place in the room to set up or anything like, and I wasn't too fussed about bird sounds coming in. You know, I was, I was kind of happy for that as well. Well, I was happy for that. Yeah, I mean, I guess if certain birds, crows would've been kind of hard to handle, but yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. Peter Hunt of KOOII: yeah. There was a couple of different cabins cuz I moved around. In the place. Yeah, it was the last place I think was the the, the house that overlooked the, the, the large veggie garden there. Yeah. Now I was, I was using a laptop that was just like a sinking vessel, like sinking boat that it kind of spring a leak. So I'd have to patch it up and then find a way like USB ports start stopped working. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Oh no. Peter Hunt of KOOII: and there was weird, weird things where I, I had to create another user to use logic and just create stuff. I spilled Tarini on it and Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Oh no. oh, no. and you still made it to the end of it. Yeah. You still finished the record despite all of these odds. Wow. So it's a real homemade record in, in many ways. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Less than ideal circumstances and look, you know, I think it sounds fantastic. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Thanks. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: it's got a lot of vibe. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: It's got a lot of spirit it's, you know, beautifully put together, so it's just lovely music. Yeah. Thank you. Peter Hunt of KOOII: So yeah, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Really good to see that you, you didn't have to, you know, invest into a huge studio, Peter Hunt of KOOII: or then Jan 'Yarn' Muths: take a loan to, to produce a record. You just did it with what you had. Yeah. And you did it so well. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. I I did GoFund me. Get support to do those final steps pay the musicians and bully and yeah, and that was, that was great. Appreciating us. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: fantastic. And where can people find this record? Where would you like to direct people to listen to your music? Peter Hunt of KOOII: If they get it from band camp? I mean, that's probably the biggest financial support, direct support, but you know, it's on all the, all the streaming sites and download sides. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Excellent. And we just searched for KOOII that's K O double I, Peter Hunt of KOOII: yeah. I, so for that album search for Peter Jan 'Yarn' Muths: For Peter Hunt and it's called a Peter Hunt of KOOII: vessel. Yeah. Peter Hunt of KOOII: And then for KOOII same thing, you could go to band camp or, or just Spotify, or, you know, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Excellent. If you are interested in listening to Peter's music, just go to the show notes scroll down to the bottom, hit the link. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: I'm going to put all the band camp links in there, of course, to make it really easy to listen to your music. Are there any social media channels or websites where can people find out more about you? Peter Hunt of KOOII: Well, yeah, I mean, I do have my Facebook Peter Hunt and the kuey one kuey spelled K O double I, yeah. I mean, if people want to connect with me, they could just message me on messenger or something or we could pull my email on the notes too. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Fantastic. Peter, thank you so much for sharing all of that with us. And, you know, I think it's just fascinating to see, you know, the music, how that came out of you recorded in, you know, amazing studios or basements or just a cabin and how at the end of it it's so you that's that's amazing to hear that story. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: So thank you so much for sharing that with us today. Peter Hunt of KOOII: Thanks so much. Ya. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Mr. Peter Hunt on the production talk podcast, please go to the show notes and check out Peter Hunt's solar record. And of course the band kuey amazing music. You definitely wanna check this out and if you want to support Peter and his music, why don't you just buy the record and band camp instead of streaming? Jan 'Yarn' Muths: We have some amazing new guests coming up over the next couple of weeks, we are going to talk about vinyl production and we are going to talk to more phenomenal musicians. Some of which have just returned from a huge stadium tour in Europe. And one of Australia's most successful musicians of all times. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: But I won't spill any more beans right now. We leave this for later, so make sure you stay tuned to the production talk podcast. If you want to reach out to me, you can do so via my website, a mix artist.com. Do you, where of a mixed on services to everybody who needs a little bit of help getting their projects over the line. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And of course, I've got my recording studio on the east coast in Australia. If anybody needs recordings done, let me know. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Bye for now.