Interview with Volume Media

Bully Hay chats about his debut album ‘Black Dogs and Songbirds’

“Bushfire Moon” is inspired by real events following the Dunalley bushfires. Can you share more about how those experiences shaped the song’s narrative?

I can remember standing out on the verandah of my mother in law’s house in Lewisham in the summer of 2013. And we could see the beginnings of this very large bushfire taking off on the hill. It wasn’t coming towards us, but moving south and sadly continued on to burn about 29,000 hectares of the tasman peninsula. It cut the peninsula off and people could only get there by boat. Just about anyone that had a boat were heading back and forth down there ferrying supplies and people and the community rallied around and helped as best they could.

I had this fictional character in my head when I wrote the song. A volunteer firefighter, battling the blaze. At a certain point he realises the fire is raging out of control. Nature in all of its fury is unbeatable. So he down’s tools and has to get out of there. All he can think of is finding the love of his life before it’s too late. So he’s taking the back roads, the old roads, any way that he can to find her.

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