“I have found the mainstream music industry to be extremely controlling with what it promotes as popular music. As a result, it strangles the creative life out of it which ultimately reduces it’s diversity.” – @thorazoo

Listen to the Interview:
Episode #295 : A.V.A Live Radio Behind The Music with Jacqueline Jax: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2016/02/04/episode-295-ava-live-radio-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax

GETTING TO KNOW NIGEL HARRINGTON THORAZOO
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live Radio

Music Business…
I have found the mainstream music industry to be extremely controlling with what it promotes as popular music. As a result, it strangles the creative life out of it which ultimately reduces it’s diversity. I studied audio engineering to have control over the production of my music, but am not afraid to engage with all levels of the music industry to encourage diversity. Rather, I am like a chameleon that can adapt to my surroundings without losing my integrity and people respond to that.

Social media…
gives me the opportunity to promote my music independently and allows me to live anywhere in the world, instead of being in a city slogging my guts out trying to make it in the music industry. I have been successful in the inner Melbourne music scene for over 15 years and I do love living in the wilderness using social media to connect globally with my music. I have been successful reaching a global audience through the internet, yet the mainstream music industry in Australia hasn’t caught up with my work like I hoped it would. I understand now how INXS felt. That hasn’t stopped me from having this interview with you, though..

Singles vs an album…
Releasing singles is a very effective way to release current recorded music for my fanbase as a prelude to an upcoming album. An album is a compilation of work that has taken place over a longer period of time. Singles can be also used as a guage for what to release on an upcoming album.

3 Ways that I challenge myself and how each one moves me forward towards my goal.

1) Keeping positive..exercise that is enjoyable..diving, surfing

2) Engage in new activities that you wouldn’t feel comfortable doing this expands your life experience

3) Don’t be afraid to work hard doing menial, tough labor to pay the bills.

When I was 9 years old…
I woke up and noticed my parents watching a documentary about “The Doors”. They didn’t know I was watching in the hallway. I saw the power of one man and the spoken word and rock music. My parents forbade me to learn guitar or drums or anything to do with rock music. So, I joined a brass band for 6 years and learned trumpet while teaching myself to sing in my bedroom, listening to Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin. When I moved to Melbourne, I got the lead role in the annual high school musical that year which was Jesus Christ Superstar because I was inspired by Ian Gillan, original singer from Deep Purple that was the original jesus in the first production. After that, I moved out of home to St.Kilda, Melbourne, became a punk and taught myself bass, guitar, mandolin and piano, formed punk bands and studied sound engineering and have dedicated my life to music from that day.

Arrival is…
a song about war and the trouble in the Middle East. I started writing my music in an eastern scale and the music soon flowed from the feeling that came over me when I was then singing in eastern scale. It seemed to resonate with me. The rest just came out from the feeling and the images in my head.

Truth, honesty, diversity…
This album is an outpouring from my soul to the world. I don’t write to a specific genre, rather I like all forms of music so each genre is a base palette for me to begin my work. Each song is an expression of a different emotion, so an album is like a roller-coaster ride through chaos and out again. I will use the internet to market the album worldwide and with a little help from my friends that I have met since I first released my music, so through i-tunes via Reverbnation or Pause and Play or Record Union.

There is way too much emphasis on being current and trendy…
I just stick to my guns and grin and dare to be myself and I think my music is unique as a result of that. I am still a punk at heart. I respect and follow all others that dare to express themselves without fear of prejudice or ridicule of being out of the box.

I’m an Aussie(Australian)….
I live in the beautiful rainforest of Thora Valley in the hinterland of New South Wales Mid North Coast, west of 3 Coffs Harbour. My closest home town here is a beautiful town called Bellingen, a town of alternative lifestylers and bohemians. The music scene in Bellingen is a healthy mix of original music across a variety of genres, from jazz to house music with an annual Bellingen Jazz Festival to outdoor rave parties in the Thora and Kalang Valleys, unlike Coffs Harbour that demands only cover bands, so I play both.

Outside of music , I love to surf and scuba dive.

I would love to have 5 minutes alone with…
David Bowie(RIP) as he was extremely clever at marketing his creative style with a range of musicians over the years. But, as he has recently died, I definitely must say Matt Johnson from english band, The The. As he was truer to expressing his soul than David Bowie ever could. Moreover, David Bowie was a good little puppet, whereas Matt Johnson was able to express hidden truth and it’s effect on him. He is a fantastic lyricist and artist with lyrics like trying so hard to please myself, I was turning into somebody else or All the bankers getting sweaty beneath their white collars as the pound in their pocket turns into a dollar. Lyrics are everything to me and even more cleverly is the minimal use of lyrics to evoke the imagination of the listeners to draw their own conclusions.

I am most afraid of…
The world becoming becoming a One-Hive Mind Mentality

My definition of success..
being able to maintain your integrity in the music industry whilst engaging globally. I guess apart from recording Thorazoo’s first album titled Awakening, my work as a sound engineer for Greg Ham(Men at Work) for 2 years recording album for Colin Hay as well as engineering Greg’s music. Greg died years ago and he met me through my work as recording engineer with Dreamtime Records. He was a beautiful soul that recorded musicians that could not afford to record. He used his personal wealth from Men At Work’s success to record the underdog. I love him for that.

My over all goal for my life & career is..
Be healthy and able to continue to write music and tour the world.

My day job is a laborer in a sawmill. It keeps me strong.

Social:
Reverbnation: https://www.reverbnation.com/thorazoo/song/20351804-arrival
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/page/229689274070?sk=app_2405167945
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thorazoo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nigelharrington/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDnrlRumIoh4bPvmMtVp5Gg