Highlife

Highlife are a Queensland Music Award winning world music act based on the Sunshine Coast. After captivating the crowds at Woodford Folk Festival, Caloundra Music Festival and Island Vibe Festival and touring the east and west coasts of Australia the band has gained a reputation as a powerful force in the live music scene. Their sets are well known for being relentlessly high energy and commanding the attention of the audience with a unique sound that is a concoction of African rhythms, psychedelic funk and improvisational fusion, described as ‘afro/psych’.

The band is built around Hayden Hack, a talented singer/songwriter who was raised in South Africa and the UK by professional musician parents. Hayden, who settled in Maleny after immigrating to Australia 12 years ago, grew up around touring artists and has himself recently returned from a solo tour in his homeland of South Africa. Completing the HighLife rhythm section is Nathaniel Combs, a percussion teacher who has just returned from studying in West Africa, well known jazz drummer Max Sportelli, Brad Wenham on 6 string bass and Paddy Kiernan on electric guitar.

Recently Highlife was joined on tour by virtuoso West African musician Bassidi Koné, a master of the djembe and the traditional Malian instrument the Balafon. While touring together, the band invited Bassidi to collaborate on some of their tracks. ‘Working with Bassidi in the studio was a master class in musicianship’ says guitarist Paddy Kiernan, ‘his incredible rhythmic and melodic sensibility just added a whole new depth to our songs, we were very lucky to have the opportunity to work with him.’ The first single to be released, ‘Sing My Soul’ featuring Bassidi Koné on Balafon, was recorded by the band at Sunny Coast Music in Caloundra and mixed at Yama Nui studio by Paulie B, an Aria winning producer well known for his work with George, The Beautiful Girls and Bobby Alu among many others. Sing My Soul debuted on all online streaming platforms on Friday 7th December 2018.