Stu Watts chats with Hugh Lake, who is a 28-year-old songwriter, producer and DJ who has already made a mark on the Australian music scene with an diverse mix of creative projects to his name. Lake’s unorthodox journey to success follows his start as HFNR, notorious club DJ in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia; he is known for his eclectic RnB and Afrobeat influenced sets appearing alongside Sophiegrophy, Lil Spacely, Genesis Owusu, Manu Crooks, Kwame and 360. He soon moved into production, first in his bedroom and then in makeshift studio “The Cabin” built in the backyard of close collaborator and friend Kwasi, with whom he signed to urban label WVS/Onelove in early 2017 as “Kwasi x HFNR”. The HFNR era saw a slew of new wave hip hop projects that were pivotal in shaping the Australian sound. In 2020 he dropped the HFNR moniker, broadening his scope as a genre-bending songwriter and producer that infuses Hip Hop, RnB, Electronic and Pop like no one else. He would show off his tastemaking, writing and production skills on R&B artist Ceeko’s debut EP ‘Where Do We Begin’, and in that same year he co-wrote and produced Platinum hit “Bigger” with Stan Walker and close collaborator and fellow producer HAMLEY. They would collaborate again to mix and produce a re-imagining of the Split Enz classic “Poor Boy'' to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their seminal album “True Colours”. He then cemented his genre-hopping presence after a move to Sydney, collaborating with Phi11a, BOY SODA, Nardean and Zia Jade. He continues to expand his repertoire as Executive Producer on Lara Andallo’s debut EP ‘Diamonds and Deja Vu’, as well as Music Direction and Tour Management for her support of the Blxst Australian Tour and the Diamonds and Deja Vu Tour.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Intro 00:02:10 About Hugh Lake, the early years 00:06:17 DJing and making mashups 00:07:10 Education 00:09:13 The Soundcloud era, how social media has changed 00:11:34 The early sessions 00:14:57 The learning curve, getting a co-sign from One Love 00:17:29 The problem with feedback, honest communication in the studio 00:21:09 How sessions look now compared to back then 00:24:07 Relationship building 00:27:41 How to get in the creative zone 00:32:40 Donate to the podcast! 00:33:04 Working with Lara Andallo 00:38:26 Saying "yes" to opportunities 00:40:56 Approaches when things go wrong 00:44:12 Why disagreements are important 00:46:39 Approach to sonics 00:50:35 Taking a break to gain perspective 00:51:37 The positives of collaborating 00:54:40 Working with different artists 01:02:08 What's coming up in the near future 01:04:35 Hugh's best bits of advice 01:07:52 Conclusion/Outro

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