With Hoad enjoying the life of ‘no fixed address’, splitting his time between Australia, America, Fiji and pretty much the rest of the world, there are simple logistics to consider when touring. “You know what, most of the time I figure stuff it and I pay the fees to take all of my instruments with me,” Hoad says. “The excess luggage people just love me when they see me coming. When I’m in Fiji or the Caribbean I have a few tricks there to save on space and when in America and Australia where I have my roots, I have all of my instruments there.”
When a musician is jumping between cigar-box guitar and didgeridoo (among many other things) it is easy to assume that there must be an instrument that they return to repeatedly to write their songs but with Hoad creation and execution are both approached with an open mind. “I completely alternate; there is no consistency to my songwriting,” he says. “I don’t intentionally pick an instrument and write on that. I’ll be drawn to an instrument based on a riff or a melody or even words that are spoken to me by someone whichever instrument that is changes constantly.”
Our identities are shaped by so many factors – what we do, where we’re from, where we live now and so much more – and despite not necessarily being a nationalistic individual; our place of birth is an innate part of who we are. Hoad really is a citizen of the world and in asking him where he identifies with as being is home, finding out who issued his passport seems like a good start. “I’m an Australian citizen,” he says. “I was born in Fiji and lived there until I was about five-years-old and both my parents are Australian. I have a lot of ties in Fiji and spend a lot of time over there these days and when I’m there I’m completely claimed as a Fijian; it’s a very special feeling. The Fijian people are quite different to the Australian people in a lot of ways. The last four or five years that I have been touring there a lot, all of my Fijian friends and extended family are like, ‘You’re Fijian bro, don’t you ever forget it’.
“I feel such strong ties even to America now even though I don’t have any historical, like birth, associations. I feel that the more you go to the same places you make these special friends and connections and the place becomes like a family. Thankfully this has all been through music for me. When I’m in America I feel like I’m at home. When I’m in Australia I feel like I’m at home and the same when I’m in Fiji. It’s a big part of me and my inspiration for music and my identity is that sort of home is where the heart is concept.”
BY KRISSI WEISS
