Halfway have been a band for more than twenty years and across that time they have made six studio albums. Each of which has received a wealth of critical acclaim.
“Halfway are a modern treasure on the Australian musical landscape, always cutting to the heart and soul of their music with each record they produce. On Rain Lover they have topped even their own lofty standards. Chris Familton, The Music | Post To Wire.
From their origins in 2000, Halfway have developed their style and songs into cinematic soundscapes, lush with pedal steel, densely layered guitars and driving rhythms.
In 2003, their debut LP “Farewell to the Fainthearted” was released and received strong reviews. The band toured nationally and the lead single “Patience Back” was picked up by radio station Triple J. Later that year “Farewell to the Fainthearted” was included in The Courier-Mail’s Top 10 albums of 2003.
2006 saw the release of their follow up LP “Remember the River” (Laughing Outlaw Records) Recorded by Wayne Connolly (The Vines, Josh Pyke, You Am I) and produced by Rob Younger (Radio Birdman). Again the LP was well received nationally and generated considerable interest in Europe and the UK where it received airplay on the BBC. “Remember the River” was included in The Courier-Mail’s Top 10 albums of 2006.
International and national supports with The Black Keys, Gomez, You Am I, J Mascis (Dinosaur Jnr), Josh Pyke, Band of Horses, Gary Louris and Mark Olsen (The Jayhawks) and Richard Hawley followed.
In 2008 Halfway songwriting duo, John Busby and Chris Dale won Queensland’s most prestigious songwriting award – The Grant McLennan Fellowship. The selection panel included members of the Go-Betweens, the McLennan family and Arts Queensland. The fellowship allowed John and Chris to travel to London in November 2008 to pursue and advance their songwriting. While in London, they rehearsed, played acoustic shows, wrote and began to put together the initial framework for the third Halfway LP.
In 2009 Robert Forster (The Go-Betweens) was recruited to handle the production duties for the new album. After months of rehearsal under Robert’s instruction, the bands 3rd LP “An Outpost of Promise” was recorded. It was completed in September 2009 with Wayne Connolly again at the controls and generated another series of positive reviews and acclaim.
Following the touring for “Outpost”, Halfway started work on a fourth LP, “Any Old Love” (Plus One Records). Released in 2014 it was produced by Robert Forster and mixed by Phil Graham. “Any Old Love’ is a narrative based album outlining the story of a young couple breaking up in a remote Australian town (Barcaldine) in the mid-1970’s. The album won the Independent Music Award (AIR Awards) for Best Country Album. The lead single “Dulcify” won “Song of the Year” at the Queensland Music Awards (QMA’s) with the band receiving a plaque on the Brisbane Valley Mall and an APRA Award nomination for Best Blues and Roots Single.
In 2015 the band travelled to Nashville to play at The Americana Music Festival and record with renowned producer Mark Nevers (Bonnie Prince Billy, Lambchop, Calexico, George Jones) at Beech House Studio. The result was album number 5, “The Golden Halfway Record” (ABC Music / Plus One Records). The majority of this album was recorded live in six days. It was released in 2016, again to rave reviews. The album won a QMA award for single “Three in and Nothing but the Stars” and an AIR Award nomination for Best Country Album.
In 2017 the band started work on two recording projects. Firstly, a concept album about the life of John Busby’s father called “Rain Lover” (ABC Music Australia). The narrative covers themes which are broadly universal and devastatingly personal at the same time. It is a story of big dreams, conflict and addiction. The songs include real people and characters from the Central Queensland town of Rockhampton in the 1960s-1980s. The album was released in 2018 August and received a 5-star review in The Australian newspaper on the week of release. “The sound of one of Australia’s best rock bands devoting itself to the the search for originality, and finding it” Andrew McMillen, The Australian.
The second of the projects, “Restless Dream” is a collaboration between Australian Indigenous elder Bobby Weatherall and Halfway. Halfway’s role was to provide cinematic landscapes and songs to a story that Bobby narrates, telling the story of his work in the repatriation of indigenous remains from museums and facilities around the world. Both projects were recorded at QUT Skyline Studios in Brisbane by Yanto Browning and mixed by Mark Nevers at Beech House (USA). “Restless Dream” was launched at the 2021 Brisbane Festival and was nominated for an Aria Award in the category of ‘Best World Music Album”
2022 will see the release of the bands eighth album, “On the Ghostline, with Hands of Lightning” which was recorded by Yanto Browning and Produced and mixed by Malcolm Burn (Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Emmylou Harris, Patti Smith & The Neville Brothers) at La Maison Bleu Studio, Kingston, NY.