Visit Darren's own website at www.darrenhanlon.com
His Myspace page is www.myspace.com/darrenhanlon

Video Clip
You can view the video clip for "Happiness Is A Chemical" at YouTube
You can view the video clip for "Unmade Bed" at YouTube

Album Tracks - Real Audio
*Elbows from 'Fingertips And Mountaintop'
*Happiness Is A Chemical from 'Fingertips And Mountaintop'
*I Wish I Was Beautiful For You from 'Little Chills'
*A To Z from 'Little Chills'
*Hiccups from 'Hiccups'
*The Last Night Of Not Knowing You from 'Hello Stranger'
*Falling Aeroplanes from 'Early Days'
*Fun Park Fugitives from 'Banter'
*Video Party Sleepover from 'Video' 7" Vinyl

Interviews - Real Audio
*Triple J National Radio Interview Jan 2001
*Triple J National Radio Interview April 2002
*ABC Radio Cairns - Interview May 2002

Darren Album 'Fingertips And Mountaintops' Recording Notes
"'Fingertips and Mountaintops' was recorded in the oldest operational silent theatre in the world. It is a hidden gem nestled amongst the hills of the Noosa hinterland in a tiny hamlet called Pomona. Each week the Majestic Theatre's operator Ron West perches on the stool of his pipe organ to play soundtrack to films by Rudolf Valentino, Buster Keaton and many others. I have vivid memories of watching movies there as a child as our family farm is nearby. After revisiting the place recently amazed it hadn't altered at all I became obsessed with the idea of recording in there and using all the old instruments and 18th century grand piano. So in March this year Bree and I recruited some friends to go up there and make it reality.

We were so happy to have Cory Gray come out here from Portland to play piano and our long time buddy Mark Monnone to play bass. We all checked into the local pub after getting a stern lecture about getting drunk, trashing the place and having 'room parties'. I thought this was pretty funny considering his usual clientele are Hells Angels, while our little posse look like we couldn't knock the skin of a rice pudding.

A stroll across the railway tracks and you come to the theatre. It really seems frozen in time and there are rumours of ghosts. We set up shop and for the next few weeks in is our home. Ron has graciously given us the keys and entrusted us with the whole place. We only have to stop for the odd film on certain days. It was always a great diversion so sit amongst the bus loads of pensioners and laugh at Laurel and Hardy for an hour.

We set up our gear on the stage with Bree behind the screen so we didn't have to move her drum kit for the films. What we weren't prepared for was the Queensland weather. From the stage where we stood recording all day there was no insulation and above us the only thing that separated us from the unrelenting sunshine was single sheets of corrugated iron. Mark forgot to bring shorts so played every bass line you hear on the album in his underpants. Apart from that the only thing we had to work around were constant shuffling of pigeons on the roof and screeching of train wheels just outside the door."

'Fingertips and Mountaintops' Tracklisting
1. Hold On 2. The People Who Wave At Trains 3. Happiness Is A Chemical 4. Elbows 5. Manilla NSW 6. Romance Is Deafening 7. The Ostracism Of Vinny Lalor 8. Fire Engine 9. Fingertips And Mountaintops 10. Couch Surfing 11. Don't Bogart My Heart 12. Old Dream

Live At The Moore Theater, Seattle, WA - Bonus Disc Tracklisting
1. That's How I Know 2. Cast Of Thousands 3. A To Z 4. Punks Not Dead 5. Falling Aeroplanes 6. Cheat The Future 7. I Wish That I Was Beautiful For You 8. Winter Takes Fall 9. The Last Night Of Not Knowing You

'Fingertips and Mountaintops' Songs Notes By Darren

Hold On
A simple song about missing your loved one. I guess the other thing is that the title has two meanings... Hold on as in keep it together, or hold on and wait for me.

The People Who Wave At Trains
I really wanted to have the voice of an old woman on this song. The kind of voice I remember from primary school church service when the nuns would sing with fragile vibrato from vocal chords, warn from the strain of a lifetime of hymns. I went in search but had no luck until I remembered that Lenka (from Decoder Ring) has one of those voices from another era even though she's still in her 20s. The vocals on this were one of the last things recorded for the album back in Sydney and I had such a bittersweet feeling of sadness and relief to be almost finished... but pure joy to be surrounded by good friends all singing together. Myself, Bree, Lenka, Lee Hillam (Sea Life Park) and David Trump. Lee had Bebe, her new baby along who sat quietly perched on her back through the whole thing until Lenka’s solo came up where he decided to have a go himself. If you listen closely with headphones you can just make out Bebe’s first vocal take.

Happiness Is A Chemical
The only song on the album recorded from the Portland sessions. It was a real buzz to play with Jesse Sandoval (the Shins) who said it was a good experiment for him to record a song in an hour or so as his band usually spend a lot more time fine tuning theirs. He said it was also a revelation to try the best organic chips that my catering budget allowed as he'd never had them before (Lundberg Santa Fe BBQ). And for me, just being in Portland to hang out and record with Adam Selzer had the Dopamine and Serotonin levels at a peak. Love those chemicals!

Elbows
No explanation needed really. A wrap party for a film, a lot of free drinks, a blurry and lonely songwriter, a beautiful famous actress. Whichever combination produced the lightning bolt that hit me, this song wrote itself. (But she was actually wearing jeans. I just needed to say 'that dress' to loosely rhyme with 'actress')

Manilla NSW
Australian country towns are dying, not even considering the climate change issues. For the past 50 years or so local industry has been pushed out to the cities and their once strong economies are in decline. Most towns had their own cordial and soft drink factories, dairies, a working train stations, drive-in theatres, banks just to name a few things. There weren't as many reasons for the kids to leave home to find work. But hey, this isn't just a political song. It's a postcard tribute to a place I spent barely 4 days in, lying in a caravan waking up to corellas carousing by the river and walking round the streets all day with a constant smile on my face. Smiling to be out of a city and to drink beer with weird locals. Smiling for a breath of fresh air.

The recording of this song was the hardest. We tried it first and last. We were even packing up the gear when Anthony our engineer suggested we run in and have another go (the version that made it to the final). I sang it through an old 1950's RCA mic that was lying round the theatre. As I sang I could feel the dust enter my lungs as i took each breath. I think Cory's piano playing achieved the right balance between vaudeville and school assembly national anthem.

Romance Is Deafening
A tale of loss and regret set in the wild west. Everything and everyone is a reminder of his lost love and he feels like turning them all into Swiss cheese. But luckily at the last minute a voice from the clouds (narrated by James Earl Jones), "If you can't find your gun, just break off a branch and pretend that it's one...."

The Ostracism Of Vinny Lalor
Vinny Lalor lived in the township of Pomona in the 1940s, and attended a school dance in the very hall we recorded this album in. Shy and unassuming but always deep thinking she sat on a chair against the wall watching the townsfolk swirl around the dance floor or huddle on the edges in their little coteries. She didn't understand them nor them her. She might as well have come from Pluto (even though she read that the planets surface gets down to -235C so therefore would be unable to spawn any life form). After the dance a local half-witted pimpled lad walked her home and awkwardly delivered her first kiss. At school on Monday out of embarrassment he refused to even speak to her and the other class mates ridiculed her. As harmless as it may sound the situation spiraled out of control and inexorably led to tragedy. I can't think about this album with out thinking about Vinny Lalor.

Fire Engine
I've always been a huge Dear Nora fan after playing a gig with them in Portland back in 2000. To me Katy’s voice is timeless, wistful, haunting and somehow nostalgically American (when she sings it evokes the soundtrack to 'Hair'). When she agreed to sing for this album I set out to create a song that was simple yet melodically interesting to get her range. It was so much fun to write for another voice and from the point of view of a female. When the recording came back I listened to it over and over amazed that it even existed.

Now the subject of the song itself is still a mystery as I didn't plan it. It came out of the 7 months I spent in Oxford last year. Oxford in the autumn is so unbelievably beautiful down by the river that you constantly feel you're underdressed for the occasion. The afternoon light hangs low for hours and filters through the mist and everything feels trapped in a painting; strolling lovers, ducks avoiding the college rowing elevens, punting tourists and the 800 year old university spires poking above the tree line. After dark you can go to an old ale house to hang back in the corner and listen to the students philosophizing and flirting with each other. You can see a girl being subjected to both, cornered by a dashing young wordsworth in a vest. She doesn't know whether to punch him or kiss him.

Fingertips And Mountaintops
Someone said that songwriters have one song and keep writing it over and over. I'm not sure if that's true (and lucky for people who hate squash...the game and the song) but this is an example of a common theme of mine. I seem to get inspiration by visualizing myself as a crusader for friends in trouble. I see myself as a cross between the Dalai Lama and the Phantom. It always nice idea to write for a audience of just one. Hopefully it'll cheer them up and still be a good song others will like.

Couch Surfing
Since I became a full time musician it's been somewhat of a necessity to not have a house for certain periods of time. So therefore to survive you must rely on the kindness of friends. this song was written during a time I was house sitting in melbourne and was having nightmares about leaving it and heading back out into the unknown. As I can see it this song came about for three reasons;
1. As a thank you to those friends who over the years had graciously allowed me to outstay my welcome
2. An addiction to reading Ben Lee’s blog where I stumbled upon a section where he'd decided to become a citizen of the world and not have a house
3. I thought it would be funny to have a surf-guitar song about couch surfing.

Don’t Bogart My Heart
I first heard the term to 'Bogart' something while watching 90's teen smash “Reality Bites” and then on a song from the Easy Rider soundtrack 'Don't Bogart that Joint'. Here's a definition from answerbag.com:

"Ah, how soon we forget the intricacies of '60s drug culture. The selfish connotation comes from hogging a marijuana cigarette. Someone who kept the joint in their mouth, hanging from their lip like Bogey, would be bogarting the joint. Instead of bogarting, one should pass it on to another. The term can be used for hoarding items other than pot."

When I realised Bogart rhymed with Heart I couldn't help myself.

Old Dream
Quiet love
Love that whispers not screams
Love that doesn't need to tell the world
Love that doesn't even need the word 'Love'
Love that watches the other while they sleep
Love that lives in short stories not novels
Love that still wonders even though they saw the other that morning and will see them again in the afternoon
Quiet love

Elbow Notes from Darren
“A couple of weeks ago we had some friends stay at our house for a few days at the end of their tour. Adam Selzer (who recorded 'Happiness is a Chemical' in Portland) and his girlfriend Rachel Blumberg and Mike Coykendall were over here in Australia playing as M.Ward’s backing band. On the last night of their visit I quickly wrote a song (Notes On Leaving) which we recorded on my back porch as a memento of our few days. Adam engineered with my old 4-track while Mike played shaker. Rachel persisted with her beautiful banjo part while the rest of us tried to keep the mosquitoes away from her.

The next day they left for the airport and I finished up the lyrics thinking how much fun we'd had but also how saying goodbye really sucks. Of course knowing this would be the last song ever on Candle Records I wanted the lyrics to convey some of the feeling of the label coming to and end. The day before walking back from the park we discussed the history of famous whistling songs (Winds of Change, Kingswood Country theme etc) and Mike commented that he couldn't whistle while he smiled...it's impossible!

Also included on this disc is the music video for 'Elbows'. Set in the quaint Queensland township of Pomona where the album was recorded, it features a live reading of the song for a local talent quest to a less than enthusiastic audience. I really wanted to have a visual document of the time spent up there and the people involved; Bree van Reyk, Cory Gray and I playing the song in the very place it was recorded, as well as some of our friends and family who were around. As it's very close to where I was born and where our families farm lies my parents reluctantly agreed to make cameos. Mum sits in the audience filming with a super 8 camera and Dad arrives late for the performance on his horse. The rest of the scanty crowd is made up of old school friends, Bree’s Uncles family from nearby Cooroy and local kids who happened to be riding past on their BMX bikes and were roped in too. But the main star is the theatre itself, captured on film in all its old world glory before the renovations that are taking place right now will change it forever.”

A Message From Darren About His Christmas 7" Vinyl
"There comes a point in an Australian child's mind when the whole idea of Christmas is confused. All the storybooks we’re read and carols we’re sung on the yuletide subject, and the movies that fill our screens in December are so vastly different than our own sweltering reality.

We still try as hard as we can to fit the stereotype; stuffing our faces with the table full of hot food our shrunken summer stomachs struggle to digest, sweating Santa’s, laden with cumbersome red costumes and itchy white beards tolerate squirming children demanding their gift wishes while parents listen closely and take notes. Reindeer shapes in electric light constellations decorate houses and have no snow to reflect off.

Just the same, it’s Christmas as I’ve always known it.

‘The Loaf’, is a Christmas murder ballad steeped in Gabriel Garcia Marquez-esque magic realism, exposes the celebration as a superficial display of greed seen through the eyes of a jilted lover.

Come and ‘Spend Christmas Day with Me’ and I’ll show you…"

Darren Writes About Covering 'The Perfect Day'
"I’d met Jenny Cruse through a mutual friend in Brighton in 2000. One night at a local watering hole dubiously titled ‘The Pull and Pump’ while drinking Dr Pepper cocktails, her boyfriend Simon persuaded her to ask me a question that had been playing on her mind. She timidly explained that she’d once been involved in a band in the 80’s called Fischer-Z. She’d been told that their song ‘the Perfect Day’ had been a hit in Australia, and me being the only Australian she’d met was the only one to confirm the rumour. “I know that one” I beamed and commenced to break into the first verse of the song by ‘Little Heros’ of the same name… ‘One perfect day, we’ll go out walking…’ She looked crestfallen, and demurred that it wasn’t the one. I turned red and plopped another shot of Amareto into my half beer and Coke. Towards the end of the night we all convinced her to sing the actual song and I realised I did truly remember it. I even recalled the video clip, which had 2 girls running between houses with a suitcase (I later found out that one of them was Jenny herself). The whole experience made me realise what a great song it was. I learnt the chorus and lyrics and the next shows I played in Brighton. Jenny got up to sing it with me and afterwards we ended up at their flat and Simon recorded it on a cassette 8-track. I’d long forgotten about the tape until I was moving house recently and playing it brought back that whole experience of my visits to Brighton and my friends there. I thought it might be worth sharing with others."

Darren’s ‘Little Chills’ Recording Notes – Tucson, Arizona
"So when I woke up it was 10 degrees hotter and we were surrounded by desert. The friends I’d stayed with in Los Angeles said their most vivid memory of Tucson, Arizona is driving towards it and seeing a bus pulled off to the side of the road on fire. This heat is hard on vehicles. I got to ponder this, and the reasons for me coming here to record an album, after the greyhound I was travelling on broke down under the midday sun just outside a town called ‘Quatersize’. Why am I here? Wouldn’t this have been easier in Sydney? Should I stand with all the other male passengers peering under the tail of the bus to offer my opinion of what went wrong?

I’d heard Calexico records and liked the sound. I’d heard Giant Sand records and loved the sound. Other things had appealed too; Norfolk and Western, Neko Case, Evan Dando.

I got into town 4 hours later than expected (1:30am) so I chose a hotel off a sign on the wall of the greyhound station. It sounded simple and unpretentious enough: Tucson Inn. It turned out to be in the middle of nowhere and the humongous old Vegas style neon sign worked well enough to say ”T CS N IN” When I got there a tall thin Chinese man wearing cowboy boots, Levis, Stetson and belt buckle to stop a cannon ball greeted me. He was boiling noodles on a camping cooker in the office and he left them to show me to my room. In the morning the mans wife told me that once upon a time it was the best hotel around before they changed the highway that ran past, and I was actually staying in the “John Waylon suite”.

“John Waylon?”

After further probing I confirmed that indeed I was staying in John Wayne’s room of choice when making the westerns in Tucson in the 50’s. The room hadn’t changed since then.

The moment I stepped into Wavelab and met Craig Schumacher, the engineer and owner any anxiety I may have had melted away. He was happy that we were the first Australians to work there and I told him right away that Fosters is ‘Australian for Hoax’. The place resembled a music shop rather than a recording studio. It had a good feeling. About 20 vintage guitars decorated the walls and keyboards and organs were stacked on each other 3 and 4 high. Amps, drums, drum machines, vibraphones, megaphones…. If the studio didn’t have a particular instrument that you were looking for you could borrow one from the cavernous Chicago Store (as featured in Martin Scorsese's Alice doesn’t live here any more’) so daunting you would leave a trail of breed crumbs to find your way out again if it wasn’t for the large green parrot that lives in the rafters and whispers “hi there” from the darkness when you’re up there looking through boxes of old guitar valves.

A few days later Bree Van Reyk arrived on another Steel Horse (as named by Bon Jovi) fresh from her journey from Sydney and the next morning we began our work. So over the following weeks we ate Burritos and Tamales, developed flip-flop tans, held daily Ms Pac-man tournaments and tried to learn the scientific names of various cactus species. I’d moved over from the Dukes favourite nest to the historic ‘Hotel Congress’ where apparently Dillenger had been captured after a fire in 1934. Being a lazy bastard he asked the firemen that rescued him to go back and carry out the bags that contained all his weapons. They soon realised it was very heavy for hand luggage and…

We even found time to visit historic Tombstone where the only shooting that goes on these days is from the cameras of tourist armies that keep the village economy afloat. We skipped the watering holes of famous legends Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp and settled for a bar previously owned by a lesser-known and unfortunately nicknamed personality of the Wild West, “Big-nosed Kate”. While scouring the nostalgic-photoed walls for an incriminating profile shot of Kate we were accosted by a bored and drunk toothless local who made us dress up in period costume so we could take our own souvenir snaps. These included Bree wearing a feather boa lying on an upright piano, me standing with a shotgun, me in jail, me being hung with a noose, me dead in a coffin and because I answered ‘yes’ when he asked if I liked a joke, me wearing a kitchen apron with a giant hand-sown penis attached to the front. With our film supplies exhausted we got the hell out of there and then went on to…

....Oh yeah, the recording. Well, it seemed to go completely smooth, no studio tantrums to speak of. It was great to work with Bree as always, as I can trust her with all things melodic as well as the drumming. Most of what you hear on the recording happened on, if not the first take, one soon after. ‘Wrong Turn and ‘Record Store’ bookend the album, both songs about special havens you find in a city that help define your place and identity. The recording of ‘Record Store’ most reflects the environment of Wavelab studios. A simple folk tale regaling a tiny hole-in-the-wall store where days can be wasted is whispered over a windswept desert plain. The setting of ‘Unmade Bed’ is an overcrowded obnoxious party, “trapped inside a conversation”. ‘Brooklyn Bridge’ is a about the difficulties of a transcontinental relationship. There are so many songs written about New York, but this one is through the eyes of an Australian living there by circumstance. It was great to play with the few guests we had. Nick Luca, who is known for his work with Calexico, Giant Sand and Nick Luca Trio played some piano and hung around and made us laugh with his Australian impressions that were all executed with a Simpsons-esque cockney accent. Doug McCombs from Tortoise and Brokeback commented he’d never played so many chord changes in the space of 3 minutes. And even Craig made a mark with his signature bass-harmonica puffing. It was inspiring to work with him and his engineering skills are second only to his knowledge of secret fish taco cafes and political conspiracy. He was very happy with the George W. Bush doll we bought him for his birthday that when activated exclaimed, “We must ask ourselves, is our children being educated?” So when it was all over we were very sad to leave. I’d also like to make special mention of Anthony The who engineered ‘A To Z’ and ‘I Wish That I Was Beautiful For You’ at Velvet Studios in Sydney before we left and managed to fit in the last minute sessions although the studio being booked almost solid by the 'Popstars'."

Darren’s Hiccups Recording Notes
‘On a recent tour of the US, drummer Bree Van Reyk and myself took a detour from our path on the greyhound bus to visit the fairytale town of pop music, Athens, Georgia. We completed three songs in three days in a fibro house by the railway tracks just on the outskirts of town by engineer Chris Bishop. Mr. Bishop couldn’t work out how to fix a hot water system but could sure get some lovely sounds. All the cold showers and microwaved cups of tea strangely added to the overall effect and organic feel of the finished product.

The upbeat circus-pop of “And the days were just packed” recalls adolescent years spent trapped in small towns.

The vaudevillian ballad ‘Eli Wallach’ centres around my obsession with an 87-year-old actor of yesteryear and his most famous role as ‘the ugly’ in the spaghetti western classic ‘the Good, the Bad and the Ugly’. It features the piano playing of local Athenian and former keyboard player of those elephant 6 heroes ‘the Olivia Tremor Control’, Peter Erchick. After a year of stalking the man, I also managed to interview my hero while on the American tour and a transcript of which appears in the liner notes of the CD.

‘Lights’ finishes off the recording with the end of a relationship suffocated with a pillow of 1940’s Hammond organ, bells and drum machine. It may leave you melancholic but hopefully also optimistic that there’s better days ahead.’

'Hello Stranger' Album Recording Notes By Darren
'It all began when my flatmate at the time was playing a CD he’d bought that day in our lounge room while I was steaming a yam. The sound and atmosphere of the recording caught my ear so I remarked something like, ”that sounds knarley dude, what is it?” He explained the band was called ‘Sun’ and the guy singing (Chris Townend) recorded it himself and ran his own studio right here in Sydney called ‘Bigjesusburger.’

So I called him the next day and within a month I was recording there myself. Chris is a very enthusiastic chap with lots of interesting ideas and theories on sound recording and lots of other topics relating to general life. The studio itself took up a whole floor of a building in Surry Hills. Chris actually lives there and shares it with his son Gabe and his pet dog Bear. Gabe is 11 and kind of looks like Harry Potter sans glasses and thinks kids should be allowed to stay up to whatever time their age is, and is therefore upset his bedtime is 9pm. He also told me the other day that grilled tomato on toast will be the food served in heaven and Asian food generally will be the only thing available in hell. Bear, on the other hand loves the leftovers from Prasits Thai takeaway on Bourke St and never failed to clean up our plates. Apart from Pad Pumpkin Bear loves to bark out the window at the mounted police passing by. Even approximating a clip-clopping horse hoof noise with your mouth makes him go crazy.


So being one of the homeless artists on Candle Records it was lucky for me that Chris let me join his family and sleep in a large warehouse type room in the south wing of the building.

It was so big and echoey in fact that if you sneezed in your sleep you’d wake yourself up 1 minute later. I’m still not sure which room Chris slept in but every morning he’d appear in the doorway and say, “Come on mate, lets go get some Muesli.”

So enough about food. The studio itself was fantastic with heaps of cool and weird instruments especially the amazing pump organ. The desk is a valve one from the 70’s called a ‘quad 8’ and was apparently used for recording heaps of soundtracks of Australian films such as ‘Mad Max’ and ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’. Many great musicians played on the record. For a start there was 3 different drummers; Bree Van Reyk from ‘The Rebel Astronauts’ played a couple (and also Vibraphone), Oren Ambarchi, ‘Sun’ drummer and experimental musician, did some one take wonders on a few and of course El Mopas’ Richard ‘Bon’ King makes a special appearance. El Mopa also donated Geoff Towner for most of the bass playing while Sun lent out Claire Cooper and her angelic classical harp skills and Nick Summers on pedal steel. Samatha Fonti who you may know as ‘Vicious Hairy Marys’ violinist played strings on 2 tracks while young child prodigy Jeremy Challender played piano on one. Special mention must be given to J.Walker who braved the Wollongong night train to play piano on the Kickstand song’, as it seems his name has been somehow edited from the final draft of the albums art work. Sorry mate.

The Candle budget did not include a return ticket for Frida Eklund, one of two vocalists in Swedish sleepy-pop band ‘Alma’, so during my Scandinavian tour last December she recorded the vocals for ‘Cast Of Thousands’ in her friends closet in Stockholm while a little tipsy on whiskey. She drinks it so that one day she may have a voice like Janis Joplin. Sea Life Park's Lee Hillam sang the other backing vocal bits.

So all in all I had heaps of fun recording this album, especially putting down some songs that have been around for some time now. More soon. Hope you kids enjoy!'

'Hello Stranger' Album Release Information
Hello Stranger. Darren Hanlon’s highly anticipated debut album is a splendid collection of musical alchemy. The eclectic ten songs produced by Chris Townend (producer of Portishead/ member of Sun) highlight the unique Darren’s songwriting and singing talent. After the promise of his successful ‘Early Days’ EP the new album continues his pop exploration with its varied arrangement and instrumentation. The album is a snapshot of the Hanlon world - charming, naïve and just a little bit different.

Darren’s songwriting continues to shine with his unique twist on everyday life. Glorious pop moments fill the album in Hiccups (how to cure them) and Punks Not Dead (an ode to a flatmate). The humble bike stand gets its moment in the song, in the aptly titled Kickstand Song. Frida Eckland from Sweden takes the lead vocals duties on Cast Of Thousands, taking delight in someone else’s pain.

Amongst the many highlights on the album, the trilogy of ‘Don’t Cheat The Future’, ‘Security Leak’ & ‘That’s How I Know’ show Darren’s skewed take on the world and his ever impressive songwriting. And like he showed with ‘Falling Aeroplanes’, Darren does the heartfelt without the saccharine on ‘He Misses You Too, You Know’ and the wonderful closer ‘Last Night Of Not Knowing You’.

Hello Stranger is a journal of stories that Darren has gathered in recent years travelling. In the last two years he has toured the USA, UK, Sweden and Japan. Darren’s live shows are simply amazing. Already he’s played with the likes of Billy Bragg, Magnetic Fields, Evan Dando and Augie March. His ‘Early Days’ Australian Tour sold out in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. The ‘Early Days’ EP reached No.17 on the ARIA Alternative Charts and still remains at No. 3 on the AIR Charts after 52 weeks. After an extensive Australian Album Tour, Darren again will be touring overseas for the rest of the year.

'Early Days' EP Release Information
After 6 years of being one of the most sought after musicians in the Australian indie music scene, Darren Hanlon has stepped out on his own by releasing his 7 track ‘Early Days’ EP. The recording epitomizes Darren’s writing and performing – entertaining and catchy with a huge dose of innocence and appeal.

‘Early Days’ covers territories such as buying the wrong video player (Beta Losers), sneaking into movie cinemas (Don’t Want To Pay) and falling in love with a hairdresser (She Cuts Hair), all of which highlight why Darren is a breath of fresh air in these often-cynical times. Over the past 2 years he’s impressed most that have seen his solo live shows, which are punctured with interesting stories that he’s picked up along the way.

Before the release of 'Early Days' Darren played and toured for The Simpletons for 4 years. Recently he played guitar for Mick Thomas (Weddings, Parties, Anything), touring and recording as the 4th member of The Lucksmiths and playing keyboards with their label mates, The Dearhunters. In late 2000 Darren toured the US, UK, Sweden and Japan promoting and performing songs off 'Early Days'.