Australia’s Ben Hazlewood Talks New Music and Mental Health

Ben Hazlewood is a rare artist with a voice dynamic enough to captivate almost completely on its own. Raised on artists like Jim Morrison, David Bowie, Stevie Nicks, and Janis Joplin, his music channels outrageous vocal strength and an emotive soul, matched only by his magnetic stage presence and glam-rock inspired fashion.

Earlier this summer, Hazlewood released his debut album, Bloodline, which is the culmination of years of hard work. On September 18, he will drop an upbeat, buoyant remix of the album’s lead single “Lay Me Down” called “Lay Me Down (NERVO Remix).”

Outside of music, Hazlewood is a staunch supporter and advocate for the LGBTQ community with an emphasis on mental health, especially now during the COVID-19 crisis when so many have lost access to resources and safe space. He is also looking to make his mark by helping raise awareness for various issues that impact the world and hopes to work with Amnesty International in the near future.

OUT FRONT caught up with Hazlewood to talk more about the new remix, what it was like releasing an album during COVID times, and why mental health is an important cause to him.Hi, Ben! Thank you for taking some time to chat with me. How have you been coping during these unprecedented times?
Not well [laughs]. No, I have been pretty lucky that the places that I have been living at haven’t really been hit super hard, so the lockdowns have been pretty minimal. I have been writing a bunch, and I’ve been able to be in the studio still, so that’s been awesome. Creating has kind of been the only thing that’s kept me sane.

You are getting ready to drop a new remix of your powerful single, “Lay Me Down.” Why did you want to recreate this song?
The song was the lead single from the album, and I think that it kind of encompasses everything that the album was in one song. So, that was kind of why it was the lead single. When we released it, there was a really great reaction to it, the video and everything. I was playing it to my friend Liv, who is one half of Nervo, and she really loved the track, melody, and lyrics, and she said that she wanted to do a remix to it. So, it wasn’t like I went out to try and find a remix. Liv and I have been friends for years, and we have never done anything together before, so she wanted to give it a go and it came back and sounded amazing. It happened pretty organically.

“Lay Me Down” comes from your debut album Bloodline, which was released a couple months ago. How has the album been received by audiences?
It’s been really weird because usually we would have a promo tour. We were going to play shows in Australia, the U.S., Europe, and the U.K. We had a whole bunch of plans, but that all fell apart, but we had already released “Lay Me Down” before everything hit. Since we already released the lead single, we were like, ‘Oh, should we not release the whole album?’ I just said no, we have to release the album now.

Thank God for, like, social media, Instagram, and everything else that lets us be connected with fans. The album was received very well and I think a lot of people were really grateful that I still went ahead and released it because I think everyone was kind of wanting something to hold onto. It was a really great response and everyone was super supportive. It was very different to what we had planned, like I never would have imagined it would be this different, but it was still really good. I am glad we went ahead and did it.

Can you tell us a bit more about Bloodline’s concept and inspiration?
Bloodline is all about everything I have been through and everything that has happened to me to get to where I am at this point. It’s kind of like looking back on my life and kind of realizing that music has kept me going through some of the best and worst times of my life. Saying that the music is a part of me and the music is something that I will continue doing whether there’s zero people listening to it or 100,000 people listening to it. It keeps me going and keeps me alive.You have said music allows you to confirm your truth. It sounds like music is very cathartic for you.
Yes, it’s something that I can’t really stop doing. It’s just going to happen, so I am not going to try and force it to stop. I think music is something that I can really sit down with and express an emotion that maybe I can’t articulate just with words or to other people. It has been a huge support system.

What do you hope people take away from your music?
I think the one thing about this album was that they were all kind of my stories, and hearing people come back and say how they have taken the songs or how they have interpreted the lyrics into their lives; it’s something that I would never have thought about. Like “The Way You Do, which is the last track on the album, someone came back to me and said this song to them is about acceptance of myself, self-love, and loving myself. That is not what I wrote about, but it makes me so happy to hear that someone else has taken it and completely changed the way the song was supposed to be written. These are my songs, but I want them to be a part of everyone’s life. So, I hope people can interpret them their own way and put them into their lives in a way that helps them.

Related Article: Australia’s Mo’Ju Drops New Song ‘Put It On Hold’

Have you always had a passion for singing and songwriting?
Yes. It is something that I have grown up with. My father was a singer-songwriter, and we use to write and sing together all the time. Then, I started writing music professionally when I was, like, 14 and working with a producer in Wellington, so it has always been a huge part of my life.

Beyond music, you are a staunch supporter of the LGBTQ community with an emphasis on mental health. Why is that so important to you?
I lost my brother to suicide when I was 14, and that was really difficult because there were no warning signs or anything like that. It just kind of came out of nowhere. We weren’t educated as a family as to what mental illness or depression was, so it really blindsided us and it was very difficult. So, that was kind of the scariest part, that it kind of crept up on us and came out of nowhere. I also suffer from depression and anxiety myself, so my hope is that I can kind of use my platform to talk about mental health and try to make as many people as possible aware of it so it doesn’t come as a shock. I also hope it makes people realize that maybe they’re not the only ones that are going through this and there are ways to cope with it. That there are ways to get through and live a happy life.What more would you like to accomplish with your platform as a LGBTQ artist?
I think just awareness, but also that LGBTQ people have a lot higher risk of developing a mental illness. They feel like they are people who are not allowed to exist in this world because they are gay, bisexual, trans, whatever, so I think that trying to set up a space where everyone feels safe, comfortable, and has the support where they can reach out and talk to people, it would be amazing to accomplish that, so that is kind of the goal.

What’s next? Do you have any other upcoming projects we should be on the lookout for?
I do. I have been in the studio, and we have done a few different versions of some of the tracks which will be released soon. It’s kind of the extended version of the album. Then there is a lot more content coming out, so I am doing a lot of writing and recording.

To stay up to date, follow Hazlewood on social media, or visit benhazlewood.com.

Photos Courtesy of Jake Weisz and Max Fairclough