#187 Jay Seeney
Jay Seeney is 2022 Golden Guitar winner music video producer of the year and an incredible singer songwriter in his own right. We dive deeper into the value of music videos to releasing a song and the do's and don'ts on music video production.
In just three short years, Seeney has filmed with the best in the Australian country music business; Lee Kernaghan, The Wolfe Brothers (Ep 100), Travis Collins, Jasmine Rae, Luke O'Shea, Lyn Bowtell (Ep 53), Ashleigh Dallas, Andrew Swift (Ep 30), Troy Kemp, Drew McAlister, Benn Gunn, Matt Cornell (Ep 110) and Mike Carr are just A FEW names that demand the best the industry has to offer.
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Transcript
Rae Leigh: Jay Seeney the jay Seeney Band, Jay Seeney. Is that just your Facebook name or do you use that, like the Spotify name? Everyone should look up when they're looking for music?
Jay Seeney: I think there's two, I believe, cause originally back in the day we had the JC any band, but it's, people have kind of gone and done their, their own things. So yeah, it just kind of makes more sense to have a Jay Seeney
Rae Leigh: yeah. Just keep it simple. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, I like to start by getting you in your own words as the artist. Tell us a little bit about.
Jay Seeney: So I grew up in a little place called Appen, which is about 40, 45 minutes outside of Sydney, basically where the country starts. So growing up I lived on a farm which has 52 acres and through having a lot of time on the farm by myself. I listened to a lot of music, I listen to a lot of rock music.
A lot of country music, a lot of heavy metal music and basically anything that had a guitar, in it. and I grew up playing a lot of guitar and listening to a lot of those kinds of songs and over time eventually fell into country music. So I brought a lot of the elements from rock music and heavy metal into.
country. And yeah, started, started the band and I've been lucky enough to play a lot of great festivals over the years and have a lot of fun doing
Rae Leigh: it. Oh, it sounds like a really big story in a very short period of time. so let's break it down. Alright. Outskirts of Sydney, really? What type of farm was it?
Jay Seeney: Yeah. So we have beef cattle on the farm and Oh, yeah, I guess,
Yeah, we didn't use them so much for, for me, but we actually used them as like showcases. So we take them to like Sydney Royal, Easter show and, and things like that and, kind of present them as, as you know, as best they, they could be presented. And yeah.
Rae Leigh: that that was a thing. So you just like, you just show off he's my cow, his big fat cow. I'll take really good care of my cow,
Jay Seeney: That's pretty much.
Rae Leigh: that a joke?
Jay Seeney: It is a job for some people yellow go around and I think
they have cash prizes andit's
Rae Leigh: Like, Jay Seeney: yeah. Yeah. And it can be re it can be really good,
For, for people that breed cattle as a full-time job to get all of these accolades, because as a lot high prices around cows that have like great genetics and a well, well looked after and things like that.So, yeah.
Rae Leigh: no idea that that. existed. So yeah, there you
Jay Seeney: it's a thing.
Rae Leigh: Okay. So when you weren't showing off your cows, you were learning music and it was like, I I'm, I also fell into country only like five, six years ago.
So I, I understand the whole concept of, oh my gosh, I didn't grow up on this, but it's amazing.
What was sort of your biggest influences in, what did you want when you were younger and listening to music?
Jay Seeney: for sure. So, growing up, you know, I just told everyone I was going to be a rock star. that's what I was going to do.
Rae Leigh: Never really thought, geez, he's arrogant
Jay Seeney: I said, that's what I'm going to do. Yeah. So, growing up, it was, it was a lot of rock music, like green day.
Metallica, that kind of thing. I loved it and I just loved practicing guitar. But then,
When I turned about 1819, I started getting Session gigs for country musicians. And it was an interest at an industry that I really enjoyed being in because everyone had a very similar thesis on life, I guess, to, to what I had growing up.
You know, everyone was really cool. Everyone was really chill you know, I just want to have a, have a good time. And I guess that's one of the things that really attracted me to, to country music and helped me to stay there because in rock and roll, you have some great people, but you also get the other end of the spectrum as well.
Whereas country music really doesn't exist too much.
Rae Leigh: yet. Some genres, some people can use it as an outlet for their aggression and violence and anger, and we all need to have an outlet.
Jay Seeney: Yes.
Rae Leigh: I find that as well, like people in country music, they
tend to be emotionally a bit more intelligent, a bit
more chill, very loving and just kind which
should be everywhere.
But. And it probably is. There are
kind people in order to, seems to
be a lot of them in country music. That's
nice.
Jay Seeney: Yeah. I
think it's certainly a feature and it kind of goes,
goes with the music, I guess.
And you know, the things we sing about, you know, it's real people and real stories, and I think that's that's at the core of what country
music is.
Rae Leigh: Yeah. I had no idea what I was doing when I wrote, like, literally if you'd ask. Seven or eight years ago. And you said what music you're into? I would have said I love all music except country.
So I think like this is just, God's having a funny joke going, like,
because that literally was me. I was like, I really thought that country music was for losers and old people.
And I just, what my parents
listened to, you know, it was really Triny and and strange. and,
it wasn't until
I randomly ended up
at a country music somewhere to retreat
where. I found out what it is and it's like, wow, you know,
this is so my home.
Jay Seeney: Yeah, it's great. I think the media doesn't really help too much with that because every time, you know, you get a news crew that's like say a mainstream, one goes up to Tamworth.
First thing they show is the Chuck man or something like that. That's really stereotypical stereotypically country. Whereas I think the the church of country music is like, broader than that. And there's some really incredible artists. that are Absolutely. World-class at what they do. And yeah, I'd love for more of that to get shown to the mainstream population.
Rae Leigh: one type of
country music that kind of got it for you? Like an artist
that went, ah, no, I can dig
Jay Seeney: Yeah, it certainly was. So coming from a rock background, that was kind of the thing I was more attracted to, but I remember hearing a big enrich song. For the first time it was save a horse ride, a cowboy, and that just blew my mind. I was like, this is country. Like I can get into this.
Rae Leigh: it's one of those ones that is just fun to party to, and
yeah,
it's interesting that a lot of people might be like, I don't
like country, but then you play them some really big
popular songs like that one. They're like, no, I love that. It's like, well, that's country.
Jay Seeney: exactly all that Keith urban, the amount of pay fluff that God
and country, and then say, Oh, Keith, and He's great.
Rae Leigh: Yeah. It's interesting. Isn't it? Because. Even my son, like he's nine and he'll be like that's country. That's rock and roll. That's I'm like,
I actually don't know who's out there going, what is what genre anyway.
Okay. So tell me about you. So you said that
music. Was really like you, weren't going to go and be a
cowboy.
You were going to be a
rockstar. And that was, that was it. Was there anything
else that you ever wanted to do or you were like, you knew this was it
and that was, you know, he carried a guitar in high school and stuff.
Jay Seeney: pretty much, yeah.
For, well, from when I Was three years old, apparently asked my mom
for
saxophone. So it's, it's always been in the genes
and,
Rae Leigh: Did you play
saxophone?
Jay Seeney: I do. Yeah. Yep. Still
play it.
Rae Leigh: Oh, I want to see that.
Jay Seeney: Yeah, not too many people in country music. No yet, but I think,
I'll just rip
that out
Rae Leigh: cat's out of the bag
exclusive.
Jay Seeney: it here first?
Yeah. So it's, it's always been the
thing,
everything I've done in my life has kind of been centered around music.
Cause it's just it's the best. No. What else would you want
to do?
Rae Leigh: What about songwriting? When
did you sort of start that
Jay Seeney: Yeah. So songwriting sorta came about. sort of, I guess as a necessity. Cause as as we started the band and we want to get out and play play shows and do do the music
thing if you want to kinda do it, you've got to got to write original songs.
So it started in in high school. and You know, we, we wrote some songs. that we thought were just the
best and you know, like going back and listening to them now you're like,
oh man, Far out, we had a long
way to go.
So
that, that was great. And then over time obviously being in the country, music
industry started riding with a lot
more artists and, and learnt a lot from different artists over the. years wrote A lot of tracks, with drew McAllister and ended up getting the first number one that I'd, I'd written on On the music network shot with withdrew Mecosta for a track that we wrote called black sky, which he released his first single, which was
very exciting.
Yeah.
Rae Leigh: So the songwriting side of
things,
would you say, like when you're writing a song, do
you like to collaborate more? Are you more of a musician,
melody person? The lyrics are harder or?
Jay Seeney: For Sure. Yeah. So, so for me, it's very much about the music. I think music is the driving factor of pretty much all songs. Lyrics certainly important. But if we look at examples like psych Gangnam style from saw, no one knows what they're saying, but if it's a bulk.
Rae Leigh: Incredible. And I reckon
I'm a big believer that to have a great song, you've got to have a good melody
and great lyrics as well. Like they kind of,
you put those together and then it's amazing. But
then yeah, I've heard some songs. I was
like, I love the melody, but the lyrics
don't do it for me or vice versa.
Like I love the lyrics.
Gosh, the melody could just needs more
something.
Jay Seeney: Yeah. Yeah. The music makes you move, but the lyrics are the ones that make
you
cry.
Rae Leigh: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So what, what is it like? Cause music, like, did your family support you when your music? Cause that's, it's like, it's a hard
career choice. Like even at school, if I remember actually talking to my careers counselor, I'm like, I'd like to do music. They're
like, oh yeah, no,
but you need a job.
So,
it's not a career path. Apparently it
w
Jay Seeney: apparently,
Rae Leigh: apparent. Apparently music's not a career path.
What was that like for you going through.
Know that I'm going to do this as a
Jay Seeney: Yeah.
well, I, I had the most incredible parents who supported me
in
everything I did. And I think that is
very, very foundational. Without that
support, I think a lot of people would give up a lot
easier and just go and do something else, but you know, they
A hundred percent and everything I wanted to do. So I've a lot to thank my folks for. And, you know, they they'd help out a little bit where they can, but they also didn't make it easy.
You know, they, they said, if you want to do this, you know, you're going to have to work You're going to have to get it done. So it was, I think a really it's a delicate balance to get that ride, but I think, yeah, they, they got it right
there.
Rae Leigh: yeah, That's, that's good. Cause
I've seen some people who have the support of their parents and it's amazing.
And like I see these kids,
teenagers performing it like zone and I'm like,
I couldn't even sing in public at that
way. So having
parents as supportive,
What about when you actually were
out there and you'd finished school and your friends were all, you know, going to
uni and getting jobs and stuff.
Did you study music?
Jay Seeney: I Did Yeah, I did a bachelor of
music in new south Wales.
uni which was really great. You know, we'd, we'd do the the uni thing during the week and then every way come, we'd be out playing festivals, and we come back to uni like
this we'd had a few too many bees or whatnot. but Yeah. You know, it was it was very busy, busy time in, in my life, but
we got through it and yeah.
good
times.
Rae Leigh: What would you say
is like going to any, would you recommend
it? What did you get out of going to uni and studying.
Jay Seeney: To be honest I think. The thing that you and he's probably good for is
just
the connections with the other musicians. I think a lot of the study, you can actually do yourself if you put in the time and
the effort like, like take, for instance, like I'm, I'm now in videography or all my skills.
that I've learned how I've learned basically off the internet and that Seeing a significantly higher return than any university degree, that I've done, whether it be a, either a bachelor music or, or whether it be an education degree because also I have a graduate diploma in education. So I, I
Rae Leigh: your teacher,
Jay Seeney: yeah, yeah. Did that for a while,
Rae Leigh: Okay.
Jay Seeney: but yeah, I think the most important thing is you have the drive and the willingness to learn education doesn't always need to be something that's
formal.
Rae Leigh: No, I completely agree. I have a degree in biomedical science. I've never used it, but I think what having a degree taught me was how to research and how to learn and how to have that
self-discipline to learn because you go from high school where it's like, everything's
structured that you have to be there.
You're very
disciplined.
And then you go to
uni and it's
like, no, one's keeping you accountable. You don't rock up to lectures. no, one's
going to chase you. You know, you have to do it
Jay Seeney: And
I think that's brilliant because it separates the people out that really
want to
give it
a profit crack and take the onus on themselves to learn. And the people that are just cruising along.
Rae Leigh: Exactly. Yeah. no, I had,
I think there was like 200 plus students that
started my degree and only 30 of us graduated.
Jay Seeney: Yeah. Sounds about right. We, we probably lost about half too.
Rae Leigh: Yeah. Cause it, it takes self-discipline and that's something that
you. I don't know if you can really learn
that. Like you just, you got to decide that's what you want
and get off your button, do it.
Jay Seeney: A hundred percent agree.
Rae Leigh: All right. So when, when you are creating music, did you, do you have
like,
I, I
actually really hate this, but branding of like, what's your
sound?
Do you
have a message or something?
Thing behind the projects that you do that you
always want to put out into the world that you think about?
Jay Seeney: Yeah, definitely. Well, in terms of branding I think it all comes back
down
to,
to the
stall and music, like, the way I'll describe our music is is Metallica with banjo basically.
Rae Leigh: That's kind of cool
Jay Seeney: Yeah, Oh, I have run
last Metallica. I feel, I like what we do to
Rae Leigh: When people hear your music and see what you do, even, even if like, cause you did music videos as well. And that's something that you've used, not just for your own
music projects, but to help other people.
Is there something that
like you're always trying to consider
or
questions, you always ask yourself to make sure that you're on
track with what you want to achieve in your end goal.
Like
to make sure it's professional or
Jay Seeney: Yeah, I think that's absolutely critical. People really need to
understand how important it is to make sure you're presenting a really solid image
around around, your music not only from an industry perspective, but also from like the, the fans of country music how things are presented makes a massive difference as to how the release will go.
I think it's probably one of the most important things after the actual song itself. You know, you need great songs, you know, of course the word's got to get out there. Your marketing has got to be really strong and people have got to want to be listened to it and be intrigued to listen to it because in this world with Spotify and YouTube, there's so many things that are trying to grab people's attention.
So it's very important that you stand out amongst. the
pack.
Rae Leigh: I, I couldn't agree more. And for me, it came through experience like I've released,
I don't know, seven or eight singles before I did my first music video.
Jay Seeney: Yup.
Rae Leigh: and it
had like lyric videos of like stock image, video type stuff to check up on YouTube for the song, but not a proper music video that was showing people, me as an artist and who I really was.
And now like huge. I had no idea that it was going to be
such a big difference. Have you seen any
stats on
like the difference of having a music video
does for people and.
Like, I mean, why, why is it so
massive?
Yeah,
Jay Seeney: it's
absolutely huge. And a lot of it stems back from, from the world that we live in. It's a very
visual world. If we look at a lot of social media platforms,
like your Instagrams and your tic talks and your Facebooks their algorithms Prioritize video calls.
Because it's more engaging. It gives people, it keeps people on the platform for much longer. And that's why they prioritize that kind of content because obviously they want people to spend time on the platform. So video is the perfect way to give these platforms what they want. And consequently, they're going to reward you for that
Rae Leigh: Yeah, no, that's really interesting because I was talking to someone else the other day and they were like, they had done it like a demo song when they were younger. Sounds that to be a producer and they put it to, to some sort of like visual, but like one of those automated, automatic, just color visual things,
And then I showed it to their friend or on a TV screen because I wanted feedback on the song. And interestingly enough, the person only commented on the visuals and it was like, he would say he was a bit bummed about it. But at the same time,
that was that turning point of the visual is more important. And it doesn't mean that like this. I can still do something, but it may not be like cognitive or,
Jay Seeney: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. A lot of the
the bigger acts that are doing incredibly well. Are the ones that are prioritizing
video content content, And they're putting out more short form content, you know, like when, when you do a music video, it's great to have that.
And it's Very important to have that what they'll do is they'll take snippets of that video that they can use more consistently. So it's not just like you use it once and it's done, you're using that video more consistently across time, which which gives the algorithms while they want.
Rae Leigh: Really. Okay. So got algorithms is not my friend.
I don't, I don't understand much of that at all, but when it comes to recording videos, Is there like a S a strategy that you, you help your artists that you work with, or when you're doing your own videos,
how do you work out? Like what different, cause I'm, I'm visually impaired. I think like fashion lighting, all of that stuff
I can write lyrics and I can give you a
decent melody. I don't know any of that visual stuff is not
me. So when I
come to like, think about art, what are we going to do
for a music video? What
questions do you ask yourself? How do you.
Jay Seeney: Yeah. Well, the most important
thing is
that it's a one very engaging, so people continue to watch it. And two it's it's promoting you as an artist and those two things have to marry up You know, I think the first one's probably the most important it's gotta be engaging because, you know, by proxy people understand that it's yours. But the second one, I think it's really important to have the artist in it too, because it creates that that brand awareness and, you know, people see it on YouTube or they see it on TV and it kind of gives the artists like a lot more stature because people like, oh, they're on, they're on YouTube or they're on.
TV. But yeah, the, the most important thing I find is to be serving the song when I'm shooting, shooting videos. So I make sure the cuts match the song and, you know, they're quite quick, so it keeps that engagement. But yeah, it's all these different things. And, it's one of those things that you, you don't have to spend a heap of money to get it right, but you do have to spend some money.
Even, even iPhones. These days are very, very good tools. As long as you have good audio and good lighting, it'll take you a very long
way.
Rae Leigh: Yeah. Cool. I have heard that, like even just doing something budget is better than having nothing. I took someone's advice the other day and they'd like an, just an iPhone recording of a song before I released it.
Because I said that it's good to have like a.
like, an acoustic version of something like pre-release or whatever. And then someone's you edit it on to talk for the first time? And like, I I've only been on ticked off for a little while. I have like a thousand followers, but the person who edited it has like 60,000 followers.
And that's really cool. It was like, I mean, I know it's not even a good video.
I just did it because someone said you should do it. And I was like, oh, I'm really glad I did that now. But it's, it's hard to know.
Especially when you're visually retarded, like me, it's hard to like put stuff out there when
you know, you haven't got the skills that you do.
What is it? If it's one
simple
thing that you think someone could
do to help move forward and
get themselves out there and get comfortable even being
in
front of a camera, like, is
there any advice you can
give them?
Jay Seeney: Yep. So the first thing is just to start, you know, like when I first started putting out videos, I'm sure they were pretty garbage but but over time, you know, I learned more and more and got better and better.
And then those videos, I ended up getting, getting better. So most important thing is to start, it's going to suck at the beginning of this, the way it is. And the second thing is get a good handle on lighting. So just by one lot that you can use, whether it be battery powered or you plug it in and then just point it towards you.
And that's a very good starting place. And then just test some things. out, See what the lighting looks like. If you have it more on a 45 degree angle have a look at what it looks like on the side, have a look at what it looks like behind you try all these different things, and then you'll find out what's going to match your brand.
But it's, it's very much like what we were talking about before with education, you know, you just need to learn new things and the more you learn, the better.
Rae Leigh: there's some great YouTube videos out there. I've read like that, teach you about all this other stuff as well. And obviously natural talent does help. Obviously there's the ability to reach out. You don't have to do it on your own either. Like people like yourself are out there. And how did, how did, that happen? Was that a natural thing for you getting out there to help other people do it?
Jay Seeney: Yeah, absolutely. So it started with me wanting to kind of make my own music videos, which, which we started doing. And then eventually I got it to a point where it was good enough to help other artists. I knew that there were a lot of people. Out there that we're having issues with a lot of the costings of videos. They can be very expensive if you're going to the, the top end of town. Here in Australia you know, it's, it can be expensive, but in America it's even worse. So I knew that there was a spot in the market to be able to help people and create really high quality music videos that weren't going to completely destroy their budget because it's not only videos you've got to spend on the recording. You've got to spend on the marketing, you got to spend on the promotion.
Like it's, it's a lot of spends, so Yeah, So, if I could find a way to make that a lot cheaper for artists to do and still have a product that competes with the big artists, you know, that's really what I was aiming for.
Rae Leigh: And do you find that you're working with a lot more independent artists?
Jay Seeney: I'm working with everyone. And to be honest,
Rae Leigh: because you're the only one. Good enough. Now you've pressed everyone else out in the market? No, but it is, it's interesting because. As an independent artist, it is a huge cost music videos are more than the cost of getting a song produced if, depending on who you're working with, obviously, but it is, it's like, you could to get this whole project plan.
And it's interesting. Cause people will often fans or people will ask me like, oh, so how much does it cost to record a song? It's like, well, the song might only be. A fraction of what it actually costs, not just to record it, but release it. Like you said, it's like, it's not just, and it's not just me, even though it says independent in quotation marks was like, I still need a manager and I still need a band band members and other people to play all the other instruments that I don't know how to play.
I'm not multi talented like that. You know, and th there's is a payout people and there's your photographers and there's your designers, and then there's your videographers. And then the list goes on. And so by the time you finish a project, so many names and so many people in so many skills have to go in
to that, that, just one song, you know, this is like, how much does it cost to do so it's like, it's not just, you know, the recording of the song, but it has so much. What do you think? Like when you.
Jay Seeney: done.
Rae Leigh: How much do you think that we should be budgeting towards putting into music videos and that sort of stuff?
Jay Seeney: Yeah so I guess it, it depends on what you want. like, I think you can find a really good middle ground. like, I don't think you have to spend like 20 grand on a music video or
Rae Leigh: we'd Like to, I heard someone spend half a million dollars on a music video the other day, but they won a Grammy. So I'm like, well,
Jay Seeney: Yeah. I mean, it's it, it scales with With your return. Like, it's gotta make sense. You know, if you're just starting out, you know, I think you can get a really good quality music video for a few thousand dollars. But I've seen music videos in, in the last Waco saw, I think black pink w was, was the artist. Like I was looking at this video and what they've done, and I'm like, man, this would cost like at least $300,000 to make and for an independent artist to do that, like it's just insane.
Rae Leigh: That's my
Jay Seeney: I'm always
Rae Leigh: That's not going to happen. But I mean, we'd love to get there at some point. I mean, I love film and if I could start producing my own like mini short films that were also music videos, like that would be my ideal goal. But again, I know that like that's, yeah,
Jay Seeney: For sure. yeah, It's just got to scale with your return. So as you start getting bigger as an artist and you're
doing ticketed shows and you're getting more people start to come to those shows, then it makes sense to spend more money because that's going to attract more fans, but it's, it's just like any other business you have to just scale with time.
You can't just go in and go flat out, but the product has to be really good. Thankfully, there's a lot of options to do that. are really cheaply. And it's also worth asking, are some people in the industry that you really respect that are doing really well and say, what do you think of this? You know, is, is this product out of standard?
That's gonna pass the ball
Rae Leigh: Yeah. And go to someone who gives you will give you honest feedback.
Jay Seeney: for sure. Yeah. Yeah. There's, there's, There's a lot of folks that will just tell you what, what you do want to hear which is not what you want.
Rae Leigh: Do you have a consulting service where you offer that service to people?
Jay Seeney: It's
not something that I I've done much, off, but I'm happy to just.
bounce, Bounce off artists and let them know what I think,
From like a visual perspective or, you know, with the expertise in songwriting, because I think it's really important to be able to learn and having some like specific things that, that you hear is yeah. Pretty important.
Rae Leigh: Yeah. That's brilliant.
I think we've covered music videos, and I really appreciate, cause we have not had, I haven't had that 185 podcasts and I have not had the conversation around music
videos, but I do know how
important
they are.
So thank you for having
that conversation with me.
Tell me, what do you think the best advice is that
you ever been given this industry?
Jay Seeney: the best advice is to put the word.
Rae Leigh: in
Jay Seeney: And to just be a great person,
it's going to open doors.
Rae Leigh: Just be good. Be
good. Know,
Jay Seeney: just just be the
best ever
Rae Leigh: just Be
good.
If you're not good, tough cookies,
Jay Seeney: not
Rae Leigh: get better
Jay Seeney: get better boat.
But now what I
mean is like I'm
actually in
country.
Rae Leigh: music.
Jay Seeney: Like, I think
relationships in this business, everything, and
people want to work with people that are
just great people to be around. just That a con and genuine and just want to see everyone succeed. You know, If you're one of those types of people, that's going to open a lot more doors than just being good.
Rae Leigh: Yeah. Yeah. It takes more than just talent.
Jay Seeney: Certainly does Yeah.
Rae Leigh: at the door
Jay Seeney: A hundred percent. Yeah. You'll find the best the best people that I know personally in country music, as some of the nicest
people in the industry. and they're
just so good
at what they do
as well.
Rae Leigh: have this
theory when I
meet someone that's not nice.
I was like, Come on. We'll take care of it
It probably won't last very long. If you want to treat people that way,
it's
Jay Seeney: It does. Yeah. You see, see
karma take care of
Rae Leigh: don't just keep moving. just keep
moving. Okay. And
songwriting, you've done a fair bit of co-writing. What's your number one piece of advice for co-writing.
Jay Seeney: Just be open to as many different.
ideas as possible, right? with a lot of different people
from different styles. and
you'll find what really works for you. And you find that maybe some of the most unlikely collaborations will result in some of the most amazing songs.
I'd have to say probably we with drew, drew McAllister for me we've got a song that we did, which I'll hopefully release at some point. I just have to finish the music video. Ironically,
Rae Leigh: you like the builder who doesn't finish his own kitchen.
Jay Seeney: Yeah, the literally that is literally me, you know, it's, it's got such a great concept, but it's pretty complicated. And I'm with
a theme that's Been very difficult with the last couple of years to get access to what we need to we haven't been able to do it. But won't be too long. Hopefully I'd say either. Yeah, we drew Macassar carceral Luco, Shea, and we we wrote this song called natural disaster, which I haven't done anything with yet,
but who knows?
What's around the corner.
Rae Leigh: cool. And Luca Shay and Ashley Dallas. And you got
the music video award
on the weekend at the Tamworth country music festival
2022 golden guitar.
How'd that come about? Tell us about that project
Jay Seeney: Yeah, for sure. So. so Luke wrote this, this track called the long way around and had Ashley Dallas sing on it with him.
And I think at the time it was just the perfect song to be released. It was, it was a time when the world was going through a lot and there was a lot of real negative energy, and people very upset, understandably about everything that was happening. It was very difficult time, but this particular song was just like this little sunshine that was just poking through the cloud, or that brought so many people so much.
joy. And it all kind of stemmed from the song. And Luke kind of had a little bit of an idea of what he wanted to do with the music video. And he said, Is this possible? can, we do it. So we worked on this idea together to, to bring it to life. And if anyone's seen the music video for long way, around we shot in about 50 different locations from sunrise to sunset.
And we got Luke and Ashley to do the. dance In every single spot ,
You know, they're doing a dance throughout the whole clip. And we had to make sure that the distance between the camera and and them was exactly the same every time. I just make Sure. All my settings were the same on the camera. So it would look the same. And then in post-production we had to sync up their performance.
So it would transition as seamlessly as possible from. one location to the
Rae Leigh: That sounds really cool.
Jay Seeney: Yeah, It was it was a very technical shoot but we had the best day ever. you know, working with Luke, Luke O'Shea and Ashley Dallas is the dream because there's so much positive energy
Rae Leigh: lovely
people. yeah,
Jay Seeney: and that's what we want to come through with the music video.
So we were lucky enough to pick that up, which was great.
Rae Leigh: Amazing. Well, I'll put a link to the music video, so everyone listening can go check it out and they can see what you're talking about because we've talked about visuals and how important they are.
okay.
Remember my question?
Jay Seeney: Ah,
Rae Leigh: okay. Oh no. About two more.
And I was like,
I'm just tired. Cause I've also just been in the festival.
If you could
go back in time and talk to yourself as a teenager, when
you're like, I'm going to be a rock star.
There's no, one's going to stop me.
And you could give yourself one little
piece of advice. What would you say.
Jay Seeney: First of all by Bitcoin
Rae Leigh: touching, you probably
wouldn't do music. Do you have that on that money?
Jay Seeney: Yeah. So that'd be the first thing, but second thing I'd say, you know, just keep putting the work in. There's going to be times where
things seem really hard
and really challenging, and it might feel like you're not getting anywhere, but if
you keep working, keep making the right connections and keep honing your craft things will.
happen.
Rae Leigh: I love that. I think I saw
someone
quoted some guru guy, but he said most of us
overestimate
what we can do in one year and underestimate
what we
can do in
10
Jay Seeney: Yeah, bill
gates,
Rae Leigh: is that bill gates,
Jay Seeney: bill gates, quote.
Rae Leigh: someone famous said that.
I love that. And it's kind of
like what you just said. It's just like, just keep going. It is hard
sometimes to think that far ahead in advance.
Jay Seeney: It really is like, it's it's actually mind blowing and even five years, you know, if I went back five years and talked to myself And said. yeah, by the time you're 30, you'll have this, you'll have this, you'll be doing this. My brain would have literally exploded.
Rae Leigh: Yeah. Sometimes it's good not to know that. Just taking it small, small steps at a time.
And I think someone else told me recently what Lindsey Waddington was saying that a career is, is made up of a whole bunch of little wins, little things that just keep adding and adding, adding. And then over time you look at it all and it becomes your career and it's everything counts. You know, nothing is. Nothing's unimportant. No little. decision is, is just that little. It all adds together. that's cool. If you could collaborate with anyone in the world, dead or alive,
Jay Seeney: Oh, that's
Rae Leigh: who would it be? An why
Jay Seeney: well,
I think on the music side, I would love to shoot a music video with Eric Church. I think it'd be really funny cause we could do a cameo because we look pretty much the same.
So I think that would be really,
Rae Leigh: be like a stunt double
Jay Seeney: pretty much. and just like musically. He's fantastic. But yeah, I I've worked with nearly everyone in Australia at this point, which has been amazing and such a blessing. I'd love to work with Troy Cassa daily.
I think that that'd be really. fun. But yeah, I think beyond Australia, you know, we'd be looking to America and maybe doing something with a say, Keith urban, or you know, Jason older and one of those those artists over there, it'd be phenomenal.
Rae Leigh: Cool. And do you have any sort of goals to try and get some more work overseas?
Jay Seeney: For sure. So before the pandemic happened, we were looking at starting a base over in Nashville and spending like three months over there to do some filming. So we'd have the, the business here in Sydney and, and. also In Nashville, So I nail the world's opening back up this potential to, to revisit that idea and hopefully get that off the ground.
Rae Leigh: Awesome. I was meant to go back there in 2020. Like I went in 2019 and I'm like, Robin, come back next year. Now I haven't been back yet, but I want to get back as soon as possible. But I think there's a few people that will like that. It's like,
Jay Seeney: Yeah. I personally know quite a few that were like, they just couldn't go. But you know, we're, I think we're past the worst of it and onwards and upwards
Rae Leigh: yeah, I think we're just where we're meant to be, where we're meant to be. So what's next your touring, the moment during some shows, you're going to do some music. What's what can we expect to see from you now that you're a golden guitar winner?
Jay Seeney: Well, I'd say pretty much the same, you know, if something's, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Right.
So, yeah, we're going to be continuing to, to go around the country and shooting with a lot of great artists and that it brings so much passion to their, to their music and, you know, it makes it really easy for us to do our job and create something.
But yeah, Music, video shows all kinds of things. So, yeah. it will be around.
Rae Leigh: how can people follow what you're doing and get in contact? I'll put all your links to your socials and your website in the description of the podcast.
Jay Seeney: Fantastic. so. Yeah, if you just type in J Sini, J a Y S
E N E Y. I just put that into to Google or Facebook or Instagram, and I'll hopefully I'll come up.
Rae Leigh: So people can get in contact you with that way. Is there anything else that you'd like to say before we.
Jay Seeney: Yeah, Just be a good person. be great to people You know, that time on this world is, is so short in the scheme of things, you know, just that'd be kind.
Rae Leigh: I think that's a great quote to end on. Thank you very much.
