KEY POINTS:
Yes I'm one of them," laughs singer-songwriter Luke Thompson. "And I'm hoping to keep it that way. The only 'real' job I ever had was I worked in Burger King for six months when I was about 15."
At 24, the singer-songwriter from Tauranga may never have had
a "proper job" but he has already put in many years at his craft and now - with the release of his debut album, Here on the Ground - feels he can talk confidently about his future as a full-time musician.
"An album was something I'd wanted to make since I was about 10, so Here on the Ground is like my life's work so far," he says.
With songs punctuated by sensitive or socially penetrating lyrics, Here on the Ground reflects Thompson's journey from being the kid who would organise his own shows for parents and neighbours in the backyard, through high school bands ("I was just one of those kids at school who hung out in the music room and didn't venture out") and on to winning a music study scholarship after playing at a Smokefreerockquest.
Then there were years of singing in bars around Hamilton in an acoustic duo while studying music, the recording of his first single with producer Nic Manders (best known for his work with Brooke Fraser), and now the launch of his impressive debut album.
For someone still so young, Thompson has a musical confidence that has made radio programmers sit up and take notice and - as he says - he has taken the harder route to get here.
"I started writing my own songs at about 14, trying to see what I could come up with. But I got serious about it at the Smokefreerockquest stage.
"A few songwriting classes at Wintec in Hamilton [where he spent three years studying all aspects of music and the industry] helped.
"But what helped most would be the music I was listening to. I started getting into James Taylor, John Mayer, David Gray ... They gave me the idea that you could do this alone.
"Most teenage kids try to start bands and make music. But it's a lot harder to do it by yourself because there is no one to bounce ideas off.
"But hearing some of those artists really gave me the idea to do it myself. And the bands I was in weren't always working out because I'd struggle to find anyone who would want to practise more than once a week. They would have all these things they'd put before the music - but I wanted to go full throttle every day to make it work.
"I was maybe 19 or 20 when I heard the music that I really based my music on. That was more the folky thing, the first one I got into was Don McLean then James Taylor and Bob Dylan. Some of it was maybe 40 years old.
"The first song that got me, probably when I was in the seventh form, was Vincent by Don McLean. I don't know what it was about it. Just how effective he was being with only his voice and guitar and some ideas. That attracted me to the singer-songwriter solo thing, where you would just come up with an idea and you would do the whole thing - a concert, a show or a recording - with just your fingers and your voice."
Thompson got his first guitar at age 8, but it wasn't his own. His older sister was getting lessons but didn't enjoy them and so her guitar was lying around the house. He gravitated to it, learned the two chords his father knew, and took it from there.
While he played in a few high school bands it was as a solo artist that he saw himself, but that wouldn't come for some years.
After picking up a year-long scholarship when he was spotted at the rockquest performance, he went to Wintec in Hamilton and with guitarist Regan McKinnon (who appears on Here on the Ground), they performed as an acoustic duo playing covers in bars and clubs.
The money he earned allowed him to stay three years at Wintec, during which he recorded a song, Morning Light, as a class assignment.
To do so he called Nic Manders and was surprised and delighted when the producer helped him out.
Thompson sent the song to NZ on Air and that in turn lead to a $5000 grant to record another single, Perfect Drive. Both received radio play and Perfect Drive went top 20 on the national charts.
With those songs under his belt for the album, he and Manders, with a small band, began work on Here on the Ground in the middle of last year.
"I was a lot more confident out in the bars than I was in a recording studio," says Thompson.
With string arrangements by Murray McNabb on a couple of songs, and with Murray Grindlay playing harmonica, the album took shape over a few months.
In the course of the 12 original songs, Thompson touches the heart in songs of gentle sensitivity, pricks the conscience with tart lyrics and offers up intimately personal insights (the hypnotic Satellites, the ballad Seventeen Again).
"It is quite diverse, and I like that - like Don McLean albums. They are so obviously him and his guitar, but you don't really find two of the same song anywhere.
"When I had good success with one song I thought I could write another like it, but it never works out that way. You can't copycat an idea. And I love words."
Songs like Look the Other Way ("You can look the other way ... but can never say you didn't know") and the title track also reveal a social conscience - perhaps driven by his upbringing?
"My parents became Christians when I was 3 or 4, so I grew up in the church - but I'm not sure if the conscience to see the world for what it is comes from that. I think it might be quite separate and not have much relation to being involved in a church - which I'm not currently. I write about things I feel and to get people to think, because all the best music I listen to seems to be like that."
And even though he is just seeing the release of his debut album - a lifetime in the making - Thompson is already looking ahead. "Those songs that have a bit more of a conscience are the most recent I have written, and that might be where I'm going to go in the future."
LOWDOWN
Who: Luke Thompson, playing 40 Hour Live - the official event of the 40 Hour Famine, from 6pm today, ASB Showgrounds, Greenlane with Nathan King, Fast Crew, Spacifix, Rapture Ruckus, Arms Reach, Lt Funk, The Funky Monkeys, Streetwise Scarlet , Radiator, Late 80s Mercedes, The Band of Strangers featuring The Black Seeds & Elemeno P.
Album: Here On The Ground out now
Info: www.lukethompsonmusic.com
