MUSICAL EVOLUTION
BUNKERED DOWN IN HIS MELBOURNE HOME, FORMER CAIRNS SINGER-SONGWRITER RHYS TOLHURST HAS POURED HIS HEART AND SOUL INTO FINETUNING HIS PRODUCTION SKILLS AND HIS SMOOTH, NEW SOUND, WRITES LAUREN PRATT
RHYS
Tolhurst has left the jazz behind and is musically heading in a whole new direction.
Based in Melbourne for the past four years, the 26-year-old singer/ songwriter is now surrounded by coronavirus hotspots.
With his regular gigs in Melbourne drying up as a result of the virus, Rhys turned to his true passion – producing music.
Retreating to his Melbourne townhouse, he has set a goal to produce one song a month until the end of the year.
The most recent release from his endeavour is the stunning I
Won’t Give Up, evidence the crooner has gone and in his place is a modern, smooth-as-silk performer.
“Because of my scatterbrain personality, every night I would start a new song and not finish it,” he says.
“I think the reason I did that was because I was still trying to find the sound that I wanted to represent me.
“I am definitely not a jazz man anymore. I guess you could consider me a modern day singersongwriter.
“The plan is one song a month until the end of the year and then reassess.
“People are asking if I am going to do an EP or an album.
“At the moment I am going to keep them as singles because I think we are in a singles game.
“It’s hard as an artist, we live in a world of instant gratification and you have to hook them in the first five or 10 seconds.
“There is no strategy that works 100 per cent but there are models and guidelines, and from what I’ve observed you release singles until you can gain enough traction.”
In 2012, Cairns got behind its golden son, a then 17-year-old who reached the finals of
Australia’s Got Talent, thanks to a vocal talent reminiscent of Michael Buble.
He admits he had it good in Cairns, regularly performing live and working at Star 102.7 as Zoolander Rhys, along with delivering the 7NEWS what’s on section.
The call of music was too great, and so he made the Melbourne shift, “swallowing his pride”, starting from scratch as a hotel concierge.
“It was a super tough decision to move away from everything I know in Cairns but the time came when I decided to take a leap of faith and trust myself, and give it a crack in some kind of way.
“Music is full time now and has been for two years that I’ve been lucky enough to say that.
“The biggest reason I wanted to move down was to meet other people who were doing the recording thing. Ever since I was 18 I was interested in getting into the production side of things and moving to Melbourne has allowed me to do that, and I am super proud I can write and produce my songs in my garage studio.”
Rewind back to his teenage years and Rhys will tell you he wasn’t musically inclined.
He discovered his incredible ability to emulate singers at about age 15 during music class. His grades shot up and so did his fascination with Rat Pack singers such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.
“I became an emulator and copied. I was too young and too green to know what I wanted from music,” he says.
“It led me to Australia’s Got
Talent when I was 17, when I was still in the emulation zone, just copying the greats.
“I had an overwhelming fan base in Cairns who believed what I was doing in that style. But then it’s taken a few turns in different ways. I still find it unbelievable because I never grew up in school as a music virtuoso.
“I wanted to be an NBL player, I wanted to play for the Taipans.”
In ensuing years Rhys has been productive, appearing in the 100strong judging panel on the Seven Network’s All Together Now and launching boutique entertainment agency Killer Entertainment for Cairns performers.
This is on top of an exhaustive line-up of Melbourne gigs that include the Crown Casino, weddings, corporate and private parties.
Unable to leave Melbourne, Rhys is craving his friends and family back home.
“The biggest thing on the priority list is to come up to Cairns and visit family and friends because it’s been way too long.
“I’ve always pictured myself owning a property in Cairns. I am not sure how many months of the year I would spend there but that’s a dream to be around family and friends. You can take the boy out of Cairns but you can’t take Cairns out of the boy.”