Mat McHugh: "Appreciative" To Be Performing Again After Spinal Injuries

Mat McHugh's last solo tour was cut short after the singer-songwriter-producer discovered he had a ruptured disc in his neck and a chipped bone in his back, which required immediate surgery. "You go out on the road and you decide, you know, 'I'm gonna give this album [away] for free and hopefully this tour will make enough to cover my rent until I figure out what to do next,' and then, three shows in, it's happened," McHugh recalls. "It was just, like, 'Oh, man.' It was just a dark time for a little bit there. So coming out of that, like, the darker it goes, when you actually come out into the light it just seems so much nicer and brighter so, yeah! It's definitely been a big emotional — and kinda spiritual and everything — journey for the last six months, that's for sure. But in that regard, the [current] tour can't go wrong; even if two people come every night [laughs]."

His injury followed "just a full-on year" for McHugh. "I had about 12 months where I was just — I don't wanna say stressed, 'cause that sounds like a bit of a wanker-y thing to say about playing music, but it was two albums in a year that I made by myself in a dusty, old, freezing garage, like, two winters in a row."

"It was two albums in a year that I made by myself in a dusty, old, freezing garage, like, two winters in a row."

Now that he's back out on the road, McHugh observes, "To me, it's almost like my first tour I've ever done, you know? Because I thought a few months ago that I was never gonna actually do a tour again... I'm just so appreciative that I actually even get the chance [to perform]."

Describing driving long distances as "a necessary evil" of touring, McHugh jokes, "If I clocked up all the hours I've actually spent in the car — and all the miles driving — I'd been very afraid, I reckon." McHugh puts this driving time to good use, however. "In my normal life, having a five-year-old and a bunch of other shit to do, you know, you've gotta find that time. So driving is kind of nice in that way; you can daydream." He's never been one to "sit down and think, 'I'm going to write a song'," and McHugh admits, "I generally have the idea and almost can hear a song finished before I even pick up an instrument. And then I have to kind of learn how to play it, basically."

McHugh believes that artists who have "super-long, super-creative, super-fulfilling lives... just kind of keep going and develop a monumental body of work and an important, kind of, cultural contribution". "Where I'm at, it's like, I feel like the tip of the iceberg compared to what's possible," McHugh contemplates. "I think everyone, as artists, kind of comes in and out of commercial parts of their careers where it's kind of like they're just doing their thing and the light comes in and shines on them for a minute, and then the light shines on somewhere else... And that's where the value is; as opposed to just, like, trying to run around in circles so the spotlight lands on you. Because then you're not creating anything, you're just trying to be popular."