All posts by Luke

About Luke

Luke Hurley guitarist and singer songwriter from New Zealand.

Standing on a Bridge and remembering

Hello again – its been a long time.

So much has happened in recent years. The most sobering thing-quite literally- was my brother Chris’ passing. It happened Sept 20 2023 about 9:30pm on Bridge St in Nelson.

It was his habit to take a cab home but for some reason he indicated that he would take a stroll and he waved his driver friend on and walked the relatively short distance from the Rattle and Hum to his home … Thats the last time the driver saw Chris.

He walked to within 80 metres of home and was either struck down or tripped. The fatal wound to the back of his head was ‘as bad as it gets’ according to Dr Will his ICU doctor…. an inspection of the terrain where he fell didn’t explain how he could have sustained such an injury…..The coroners report had no clues either.

The night it happened i was woken by two cops very late in the evening alerting me that Chris was seriously injured. They were let in by my flatmate and just walked into my bedroom. The curious thing about it was i had gone to bed early (which i calculated later was about the time Chris fell) and experienced a profound intense sleep such as I have never experienced before. Wham! Gone. Just like my bro except my “NDE*” was the ‘phantom’ of two cops. * NDE stands for Near Death Experience

It really felt like what i imagine as an NDE. I took their advice and got to Nelson on first flight in the morning. I stayed in Nelson for weeks in a state of shock mixed with the acceptance of the inevitable.

Stayed at a hotel called Postboy at the invitation of Chris friend Craig the owner. Got to meet his companions and share memories of my brother with delightful characters. They were very kind to me and I expressed surprise at how helpful and kind they all were. I was told. On expressing this thought”its not so much that… “It’s because you are Chris Hurleys brother”. They loved him to bits.

I think we all did but we were also aware of the toll alcohol played on his life and how it caused him to live many lives

There was a constant restless urge in him to support the habit in ways that would help him forget his dependence on the good graces of others who unwittingly enabled his life in that terror of an alco-bubble. He was always on the move from bar to bar and when abroad country to country and hotel to hotel. From a lunch of champagne and oysters in a top Parisian Cafe to a greasy pie in a local pub.

And everywhere he went he was watched over by the loving graces of friends old and new.

He was generous charming and greatly admired on the highway but to be honest he was a handful at home between bouts of the highlife.  I have been reflecting on my recalls of Chris ever since the bad news and of course ever since he got profoundly addicted to alcohol back in the early 1960s.

It’s haunted me lifelong and just as that sleep the cops woke me up from seemed like a precognition into my brothers fatal knockout so the music I wrote some years before capture the mood around this tragedy long before it happened. Walking to the bridge which is a portal to another order of being.

Its unlike anything I ever wrote but as yet its unreleased.
Why is this songs and a few albums as yet not released?

Well in the case of The Bridge it comes down to the fact it needs tweaking and when anything needs tweaking theres always a cost involved. Also there is the daunting prospect of no marketing therefore no sales therefore no honey and that brings me to a place like my brothers.

I too have an addiction. It’s as fierce as alcohol. Its called art. “life is short art is long” and we are in a hard place now since the digital preference of the people is largely towards shortform content and not epic songs and albums.

The Bridge is an epic song. Lets hope when we lovingly place it on here: bandcamp.com/lukehurley u will click. Here are the lyrics.

Standing on the bridge
Between two lives
The one that we think we lose
The one we survive

There’s continuity
It is taken as read
Beyond belief
You’ve heard it said

Beyond belief
On the bridge

And the way that we live
Distracted most (of) the time

If only we would do
The things that we need to do
Not distracted by want
Standing on the bridge

Back to Flinders
I see the flame
Money is shit
Burning in the name
All of these games we play
On the bridge

On the bridge

Came out of imagination
So called reality
Came out of imagination
As we live on the bridge

Everything you know
Do you know it for sure?
How about for today?
You’d imagine
You know nothing
You know nothing
You won’t be that far from the truth

And we live
Crossing a bridge
This tiny little moment in eternity
Where we came from
Holds no fear
And yet we’re going back
To the same place that we came from
So do look back

Know no fear
On that bridge

Standing on a bridge

I would really appreciate your feedback. Write to me here. Happyislesnz@gmail.com
Without feedback all we have is short-form madness. Lets choose instead to revert back to long-form reflective authentic comms

Ps i have much more to tell regarding my brother and Baccus and steps we are taking to help people get a sane perspective on drugs in general.

I think we need to become adults over the issue of chemical fantasy. Its entirely out of control and we need to do something and we have done something… Of which more later.

“Bandcamp Friday returns Friday, March 7th! On Bandcamp Friday, we waive our revenue share, so every purchase goes straight to the artists.  Support your favourite artist”

https://lukehurley.bandcamp.com/

Also this week the Live album is released on Spotify .

BTW – you can also order that live album as a CD if you prefer a CD version.

Also working on an all instrumental album which needs to be mastered. Mastering costs are around $1700. The idea will be to release some unmastered tracks first as a preview to see what support there is.

Photo shows me and Mr Moon - John Davy sometime in the 80's

Everything is already Ok album

Hope you enjoy this new one. (some notes on each of the tracks.)

07 walk in the light has a chorus about how .. everything is already OK…

This being the phrase a father used to encourage his daughter with in her times of trouble and woe and this phrase continues to be an enduring source of comfort and meaning not only for her but for us also yes? It’s gonna go viral!

She would stop by when I was busking and sit beside me writing her diary. A ruby in the dust who passed on a diamond.

03. Almost Anything was written in Avenal St Invercargill (the New York of the ice wall) after a house concert back in about 1985…. It was organised brilliantly by brother Paul who is just the greatest promoter.

Of late he has taken to saving the world on fb batting for the the greening of the whole earth…… So much better when he organised gatherings of blissful conviviality. One friend calling by is worth more than a million thumbs up on fb.

It was a great setting and as always the support was generous and hearty. The love of many was not distracted.  There’s nothing to compare with a convivial house concert.  It’s a rare event on account of people being ever busier these days and subjected to intense pressure and many distractions.. isolating us and making the day to day pressured and confusing.

It’s not acceptable.

Luke and Mr Moon, John Davy in 80's.

Almost Anything means a lot to me as it captures the atmosphere of that wonderful night. I wrote all night and was greeted by dawn and a gem of a song.

The words… The music… Everything about it was simply a gift from the most high.

Probably my most reassuring message. God bless the spirit it was given to me in my prayer is that it brings a ray of sunshine into the hearts of those who need some gentle reminder that life is steeped with love and hope and kindness.

Photo shows me and Mr Moon – John Davey sometime in the 80’s about the time I wrote “Almost Anything”. John lives in Christchurch now. His company is called Boots on the Ground.

01. This song (River) found it’s first expression at a gig I did for TedX 2012 in the Aotea Cnr Auckland. Thanks Jason and Vaughn for getting that gig for me. It was literally 15 minutes of fame followed by a hasty return to the dirty old city streets.

Two other songs from this slot are still awaiting release. River is about seeing an actual river as a metaphor for the unbroken circle of life itself. From cloud out of sky to river to sea up through sky again and back to the river.

I was writing it’s first incarnation right on stage in front of more than two thousand very attentive people. Check it out

02. Facebook. O my. What can you say? It’s invasive, heartless and profoundly distracting. A perfect example of encirclement by mainstream of a once free internet given to us by kind loving people – who warned us not to use it for commercial gain. They even stipulated writing everything lowercase.

I am believing for a change for the better.
Imagine if Zucks teamed up with Electric Jesus?

06. . I had visions of Steve Jobs looking for the perfect components to make his marvel. Gorilla glass was promised. Unbreakable screens. Yeah right.
It’s one heck of an amazing dehumaniser and yet handy as……..
Convenience in heartlessness at a price we can’t afford.
Still
I want one. Ha ha

Happy Isles! There is even a soap named after this song of mine. (the raw by Jess)
Love the way we live in islands trying to abide y continental Metropolitan vibes

The above says what I mean here. It was the last thing I did on my south island tour. Here we are in Motueka talking about being an island pretending to be a continental metro polygon. Ha ha

05. This one’s about unconditional love on after pay. Ha ha

Enough said for now. Please support https://lukehurley.bandcamp.com/ where you can hear my sounds for free but a donation would be even better

God bless. Please let me know if you have a convivial event you need me for…..
My number is 021 0259 2919

Email. Happyislesnz@gmail.com. I need to play.
Be good.
God bless

Before the War

Listening party for Before the War

We hope you can tune in our listening party on bandcamp on Monday night NZ time.
Its 8pm NZ / 6PM Australia. Can try to do other times for US / EU listeners if there is some interest.

We play the album through and talk about songs etc.
This is an online event on bandcamp. It would be great if you can tune in for a listen.

Your invite here Please RSVP if you can.

Before the War is a new album 15th album is a series. All 15 are free to listen to on bandcamp and here too.

PS Update: Thanks everyone who logged in to say hello at the listening party. Thanks also to those who have bought a copy of the album already. The first 6 people to buy copies were in Canada, the US, NZ, Italy, Sweden and Germany.

(Eds note: Not everyone downloads the album so not everyone shows up on the supporters list. It is possible to leave the album on bandcamp and just stream it from there using that app or you can download and add it to your other music libraries.)

Most of those people tuned in plus a few more for the first listening party. Extra credits to “rumoursofglory” for getting up at 4am and the person or people in Italy – thanks again. It was great hearing from you all and planning the next one soon .

If you missed the listening party there is a plan to do more for this album and possibly some of the others too. Which other albums should be featured next? – let me know please. Listen to the whole album below.

Shayne Carter Dead People book

Dunedin music month

Writing to you from Taste Nature in Dunedin. Good place to discover great food and good company and ideal for blog writing.

Tomorrow playing at the inch bar it’s like a real Irish pub…. genuine conviviality personified which is rare in these days of nothing but www. The Inch Bar is near the Botanic Gardens in North Dunedin.

I still reckon an old fashioned newsletter like this is relevant in a sea of mainstream alternatives like instagram…

Been reading this book by Shayne Carter. ‘Dead People I Have Known.’ The front cover photo on the book comes from the She Speeds video in 1987 (John Collie.) ISBN 9781776562213. The book came out in 2019.

Powerful writing “We’ve all been young and stupid”.

He writes real good. You gotta check it out.

If you are in or near Dunedin or have friends there do come to the gig at Inch Bar tomorrow night. Phone me on 021 025 9219 if you have space for a house concert or an event you would like to do.

May is music month in NZ but really every month is music month and book month.

 

 

The Scene - Arrowtown preview

South Island Tour continues

Suffice it to say the Arrowtown gig went very well and we are planning another one so if you would like a ticket to it let me know. Here is what Leanne Malcolm wrote on March 29, 2024. Stop, Luke and listen (link below) and the first couple of paragraphs here

Singer-songwriter Luke Hurley’s feeling optimistic, which surprises him.

The Auckland-based muso’s preparing for a weekend gig at Arrowtown’s The Fork and Tap and says getting older’s had a positive influence on his music and state of mind.

The 66-year-old’s slipped under the commercial radar his entire musical life — he seems unfazed by once being labelled ‘‘one of New Zealand’s great unknown musicians’’.

He first became known as a busker and still enjoys street performing, but likens it to taking a ‘‘cold plunge’’.

‘‘Often times I feel shy or embarrassed about it, but if a musician wants to cheer themselves up, they should take the cold plunge and busk and find there’s kindness not cruelty in an audience.

‘‘It never fails to amaze me how much I misread people.

‘‘You see a distasteful expression, but you never know what’s going on in that person’s life.’’

He quotes Shakespeare to make his point: ‘‘There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.’’

Anyways in the prelude to that gig a very prominent journalist in Queenstown walked into Bean Around The World Cafe Queenstown where the two Craig’s and me were having a pensive dish of coffee. Journalist had only two things to say.

“Three musicians” he says.
Then he looks at me with a twinkle in his eye and says
“One has been”.
And he was right but Indian Craig pointed out that my career never has been better as this article written by another prominent journalist can attest to…

Read the full Scene review over here.

One thing you could do for us. Would really appreciate support for my recordings spanning back  more than 40 years. If you can spare the time go to my site www.lukehurley.co.nz and have a listen for free to 14 albums.

Any you like and decide to buy so much the better…. It’s not like Spotify as the artist gets most of the koha. It’s an app called band camp. It’s good news for musicians as it’s the kindest music seller online.

As we are looking for work between theses gigs GOLDEN Bear (Nelson) 12 April from 6pm.

The Gantry Port Chalmers 29 April  Got the name wrong. Actualkly called The Galley is at 36 George St in Port Chalmers and used to be called Santosha. Call me for ticket 021 0259 2919

Ruby Bay Store (Nelson) 25th May

Anything on a date in the gaps between these gigs and we will be there with tubular bells on. Just call me and book 021 0259 2919  do it.

We like little gigs…… Anything under 300000

Since we signed out of Taylor Swifts tour we have plenty of dates to fill but hurry.
It has been great talking to you. Don’t hesitate to contact us 021 0259 2919 if you need some great is was and has been inimitable music. OK?

Chris Benjies makes these stunning chess sets (see below). If you want one gis a call. I believe in his work. He’s an expert writer and woodist.