Men At Work leader and chief songwriter Colin Hay explained that the Grammy Award-winning original group was not destined to make old bones. Hay, who'll be out on the road this summer as part of a triple bill headed up by Rick Springfield and also featuring John Waite, will be billed as he periodically does under the Men At Work moniker.
While chatting with Ultimate Classic Rock, Colin Hay shed light on how by the time of only the third Men At Work album, the group was already falling apart fast, recalling, “The initial band and the people who were in it wasn't really destined to stand the test of time. But the music has, which I'm very grateful for. The music keeps resonating over the decades. I play the songs with the current band that I have at the moment, and everyone responds to it in the same way that they always have. Y'know, you can't really tell if your music has any kind of timeless quality to it unless a certain amount of time goes by. I love playing those songs. I always love playing them and I still do.”
Hay, who performs both as a solo act and as part or Ringo Starr's All Starr Band, added: “I've made a lot of records since then, but I'm happy to go out on this tour and just play Men at Work material, because it's incredible to play and I love playing the songs. The audiences seem to love it as well.”
Back in 1985 while promoting Men At Work's third and final album, Two Hearts, Colin Hay explained to MTV how the band was pared down to a duo on three years after Grammy success: “It's like a marriage, you've been married to five people at once, y'know? There's bound to be a couple divorces along the way, y'know? So, we parted company last year and the three of us, Greg (Ham), and Ron (Strykert), and myself wanted to keep going — and so, that's what we did and we made Two Hearts. And then the prospect of touring and getting mobilized again — I don't think Ron was very keen on that, so he bailed out and went to Greece. So, it's just me and Greg Ham left, for all intents and purposes.”
Colin Hay performs tonight (April 12th) in New York City at City Winery.