Jason Owen on His X Factor Success & His Journey in Country Music | Nick Egan Times

Jason Owen joins Nick Egan Times for a conversation about his rise to fame on The X Factor Australia, his success as one of Australia’s leading country music artists, and the journey that has made him a favourite with fans across the country.

After finishing as runner-up on The X Factor Australia in 2012, Jason quickly established himself as a major force in Australian country music. His debut album Life Is A Highway reached No. 1 on the ARIA Country Albums Chart and helped launch a career that has included chart-topping releases, national tours, and a growing reputation as one of the genre’s most exciting performers.

In this episode, Jason discusses his experience on The X Factor, the transition from reality television to a successful recording career, the challenges and rewards of life in the music industry, and the inspiration behind his hit music. He also shares insights into his songwriting process, performing live, connecting with audiences, and the story behind his popular single Sing Australia.

The conversation explores Australian country music, songwriting, touring, artist development, life after reality television, and the determination required to build a lasting career in a competitive industry.

An engaging discussion with one of Australia’s most successful country music stars and a performer who continues to inspire audiences through his music and passion for storytelling.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Hi guys, thanks for tuning in this episode of New Geek and Times. On this episode, we have a sensational guest. We have Jason Owen. Jason is an Australian singer and songwriter. Jason bursted onto the Australian music scene back in 2012 as a runner-up on the X-Factor. Jason is one of Australia's most popular young country music stars today. Jason's debut album, Life is a Highway, reached number one on the Aria country chart and number five on the Australian National Aria chart. Jason now has his new amazing single out, Sing Australia, which has now been the top five on the music charts for months now. Welcome, Jason, and thanks for coming on the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 0:52

Mate, thank you for having me. Really appreciate it. It's great to be here and great to be talking to people again after COVID. But hey, we feel like we've all been in lockdown and all stuff happening, but it's good we're back.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Welcome, mate.

SPEAKER_03 1:02

And how has the pandemic affected you uh personally and professionally? Oh mate, look, it's it's been hard. It's definitely been hard. And I think it's been hard for all of us. Um, because you know, being obviously locked down, I'm in a unit, so you know, just looking at walls 24-7 on a on the fifth level of an apartment building's never been easy. But look, there's a lot worse off. There's a lot more worse off. But um, my career mate suffered more than anything, I think, just because haven't been able to get out on the road for quite some time. Being a musician, we tour and play shows and get in the recording studio and make music and haven't been able to do that now for you know a good, you know, I suppose two years there through those two lockdowns really killed us. But now we're slowly starting to get things happening again. But because there's so much on the road, and there's so many shows happening, Nick, um, we can't get gigs. Like it we're struggling to get into venues, you know. So it's definitely had a big effect, but we're we're climbing on the up on the on the up upward slope now, so it's good, buddy. That's good, mate. That's great insights that you sharing too.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

All right, let's jump straight into it. Tell me, take us back. You grew up in Albert, uh, I believe back when you went on the X Factor, there was a town of 12 people. Um, tell me about what life, yeah, what life was like growing up there, and yeah, like your life story.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

Yeah, mate. Look, I loved it. Um, so I grew up in Albert, it's about 130 kilometers west of Dubbo. So, you know, I always say Dubbo when people ask me where I'm from because everyone sort of knows Dubot, you know. So um grew up out there, loved it, mate, little village. I was born in Naramine, which is about 80 kilometres east of Albert, and uh went back out there as three or four days old and grew up there pretty much my whole life. We moved to Naramine when I was about 16, and um I started school in Naramine, I didn't like it, so I ended up travelling 300 kilometres a day to go to school, um, but loved it and I wouldn't change a thing, mate. It was great. And growing up at Albert is a town of 12 people, there's less there now. Unfortunately, a few of the older ones have passed away over the last 10 years, and but that's life, unfortunately. And um, the pub's still going strong there, don't you worry. Always find somewhere to go in for a cold beer at uh the service station is doing well, and uh so my family owned the pub and the fuel servo out there. My granddad's 94 this year, and he still lives in Albert. And uh I made I wouldn't change my upbringing, it was fantastic. As I said, it's only a small village. Um, all my friends grew up on the farms around the town. I was the only child in the actual village itself. So all my friends grew up around Albert, and every Friday, Saturday, Sunday, our parents would congregate over at the at the golf club after golf or down at the pub, and we'd all play in the park. And like thinking back on it now, it was quite a um sheltered lifestyle. Like, you know, we didn't have 10-pin bowling down the street or McDonald's to get a happy meal out or anything like that. So it was it was a little bit sheltered, but you know what, it was the best way to grow up because there was so much freedom, Nick. So much freedom. Like we were driving cars in the paddocks at you know, 10 years old, we're learning to drive and just a different world in in that way, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 4:03

Yeah, that's incredible. And how did the music, like how did you how'd the singing begin?

SPEAKER_03 4:10

Great question. So my family made a very musically um orientated, talented, however you want to put it. They just love music. Um, my dad's side more so than my mum's side. And uh they used to come out to Albert all the time and you know, they'd come out and see pop and dad and all my aunties and uncles and that that lived out there at the time. And and uh they'd come out, and the first thing they'd throw in is their guitar, you know, when they were coming out from Sydney, they'd throw in their guitars, mate, and get out there and light up a fire out the back of the pub or something like that, and out come the guitars, and you'd find yourself sitting there to two or three o'clock in the morning singing John Denver, Kat Stevens, James Taylor, the Beatles, the Eagles, you name it, everything. And um always love singing, always love singing. And growing up in such a rural and remote place, everything on the jukebox was, you know, Brooks and Dunn, Casey Chambers, Adam Harvey, Becky Cole, Aligan, Slim Dusty, all the classic old country artists, you know. Um, and great, you know, I grew up with such great music and I'm very blessed with that because the music back then was classic music as we all know it, you know, um, whether you like, you know, the Eagles or the Beatles, even, you know, Fleetwood Mac, people like that, just iconic musicians. And I just grew up around great music and loved to sing, always loved to sing. John Denver's been a massive part of my life um ever since I was a little fella running around out there. And my and my granddad actually had a CD stuck in his youth, and it was a John best hits of greatest hits of John Denver. And he couldn't get it out of the CD player, it was actually physically stuck in there. I think he hit a hole out in the paddock and it got caught up in the player, and it was 10 songs on repeat, you know, Country Roads, take my home, Country Roads, thank God I'm a country boy, Grandma's Feather Bed, any song, all those classic John Denver songs. And um Pop used to say to me, mate, if you can sing John Denver, you can sing anything. And I used to say, Oh yeah, like I'm ever gonna be singing John Denver. And here I am at 28 years old, um, touring the music of John Denver and having my own career as well. And it's just incredible, Nick. It's I wouldn't change it for the world out there, mate. It was great.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

Yeah, mate, you've done amazing. So tell me from those steps, and you know, obviously all the advice and getting into John Denver and seeing that, going into X Bacter, what was that like? You were very young at that time as well. You were like you had a lot of courage to do get on the national stage of Australia and do that. Like I was looking at your YouTube video of the first the first one you got on there, mate. Like you had so much courage and you were so brave, man. I have a lot of respect for you.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

Oh, good on you, mate. I really appreciate that. And and a lot of people ask me that specific question because I grew up in such a small place. They say, How did you go for starters going to Sydney? Because I'd been to Sydney like four times every. And mate, I auditioned years ago for Australia's Got Talent. So I'm telling you that like the full story here about how it all came for me. So years ago when I was about 11, I auditioned for Australia's Got Talent, and I sang any song. You know, you fill up my senses like a night in the forest, or John Denver Classic, and many of the older people know that song. And they laughed at me. And it was in Dubow. So I went to Dubbo and I auditioned with any song, and these judges were sort of laughing at me, thinking, what's this 11-year-old kid doing singing John Denver? You know, and um I never got through. And then I remember people saying to me, Don't worry about it, take it with a grain of salt, you know, just move on. You can sing, just keep believing in yourself. You love your music, and that's all that matters. Don't let anything stop you. And it did stop me. I stopped singing. I got embarrassed about it. Um, I walked away from it just because I was embarrassed that I didn't get through, and people made fun of me for singing John Denver. And uh so I went back to school, and then when I was about 13 or 14, my music teacher came up to me and she was amazing. And she used to say to me, You can sing. I want you to come back into the school band. And I said, No, I'm not going back into the school band. Because all the songs I loved to sing were older songs because I grew up with them, you know, Elton John and all these type of stuff. And um, mate, I joined the school band again. I started to get some courage back. Um, family would come out. I started doing some shows with them down at the pub at Albert. And then I left school when I was 17 and started working for my dad at the Field Service Station at Albert. And my auntie came up to me one day and she said, Jace, X Factor auditions are coming to Dubbo. You know, you're starting to get back into your music. Can you come and audition with me? And I said, No, I'm not going to audition for you. And she said, please. And I said, Shella, I'll go and and support you. I'll be there for you, but I'm not going to audition. I said, I'm just so embarrassed about it all. I'm not auditioning. Anyway, she said, please, just okay, whatever, just come with me. And when I got there, she'd put my bloody name in, she'd registered me, and they called me out before her. And I said, I'm not going in there. And they said, Come on, just come. All you've got to do is just sing to one person, just one bloke in the room. And I went in and sing any song. So the same song that I sang when I was 11. I was 18 at this point when I went to audition in Dubbo. And uh he put me through to the next round. And then I sang to this fellow called John O, his name was, and and this young producer girl, I think her name was Sophie. And I didn't know at the time, but John O happened to be the EP of the show, executive producer. So he was the you know, the boss, the range behind the whole thing. And uh I sang for him and he said, mate, you're 18, you just turned 18. I said, Yeah, I did. I turned 18 two weeks ago and I haven't ever had a beer. He said, Oh, what's wrong with you? I said, I don't know, I just I wasn't thirsty enough or something, you know. And and I think from that moment on, the producer sort of, you know, connected with this guy that was 18 singing John Denver. It was so weird, you know? So uh the next thing I got a call to go to Sydney, auditioned in front of the 5,000 people at the entertainment center, got through, which is the one you just seen. And um, then from there made up in New York City, uh, met Usher, scene for Usher. And and as you can imagine, for me growing up in Albert, can you imagine what this was like? Um, for me, like it to me, I think back on it now, and it just feels like a cloud just went straight past my eyes, you know, because it was just so quick, sharp, snappy. And it wasn't at the time, don't get me wrong, but when I think back on it now, it's just like, are you serious? Where where did that time go? And did I actually do that? Um, and then of course, becoming, you know, good friends with Mel B, one of the Spice Girls, because I work with her on um on X Factor, and the first three weeks we're on there, the other two boys got kicked out. So before I knew it, I was just one on one with Mel. And um, it's crazy, mate. It was just an incredible experience. And I'm so glad and grateful, and I say this all the time for my auntie Michelle that pushed me to audition for that show and pretty much you know, mocked my way into it by by you know entering me in the competition without even knowing I was going to be. I just went to support her. And, you know, look at look at me now, it's just incredible. And um, you know, to obviously have a career 10 years off the back of one of these reality shows for me is just unbelievable because it's hard. You know, after about four or five years, Nick, you come off these shows and you find that the TV aspect of it all's gone. People don't take you seriously because you're off one of these big reality shows. And then you've got to get through that, you know, say four to eight years after the show, and then all of a sudden you start becoming this guy that's paid his dues in the industry and he's released five albums and he's doing this, this, and this. And but it's been a long road, mate. Don't get me wrong. It's it hasn't been handed to me on a silver platter, that's for sure, Nick. But what an experience.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

Yeah, I totally get that, mate. And you've done incredible, you're very endearing, and I can imagine it would have been a bed of roses, obviously, going through everything, you know, and the whole process to where you are now. So yeah, I completely understand that. What what what mentors and what's the best advice you've received in your career today?

SPEAKER_03 11:47

Smile and wave. That's what that's what I remember that one of my first producers used to say to me, mate, you're in an industry that's full of uh all types of people. And he said, You're gonna be pushed into the dirt more so than praised. And he said, The biggest advice I can give you is to smile and wave because you don't want to be that person that reacts to that dirt. And he is so true. Until this day, actually, I was talking to him a few months ago because we just walked into our little baby girl not long ago, and and he sent me a message. He said, Mate, did I read that you've had a baby? And I said, Yeah, you did. And um, I said, Smile and wave, Brian. I said, That stuck with me forever. And he said, Yeah, and you had a long way to go. Keep smiling and waving. So that's probably the biggest advice. And I think like that's just obviously a bit of a bit of a smart advice that he said, because it's the industry's full of you know all types of people and criticism's a massive thing. And um, but I reckon the biggest advice of all, if you love music, if you're passionate about music, it doesn't matter whether you're how much success you have, do it. You know, it's it's an industry that's not easy to be successful in. And you know, one minute you'd have a number ones, and the next minute you're not charting. And it doesn't matter who you are, you know. Um there's many, many artists in Australia that I know that have had number one radio singles, number one hits that are on TV, and all of a sudden they've released five songs and no one knows about them. And it's it's just cutthroat. It's just it's really, really hard. And I think there's a lot of luck in it, Nick, too. Um, of course, if you've got a talent, some type of talent, then there's obviously that involved as well as a bit of luck. But I tell you, it's it's a hard road. And I just what I say to people all the time is it doesn't matter whether you're playing a gig at your local pub or you're playing on the Opera House stairs on Australia Day. It doesn't matter, you know. At the end of the day, you do it because you love it, and and that's what I do. And if I have a bit of success along the way, which I have, I'm it's a bonus.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Amazing. That's amazing, man. Tell me about your little one that you recently had, your daughter, Lila.

SPEAKER_03 13:49

Lila, yeah, little Lila, mate. She's um, it's funny people say Lila because that's such an old name and it's not as common anymore. Um so what I said to Becky, my wife, the other day, or got the other day, probably you know, four or five months before the little one was born, and we discussed names. And I said, I think for our first baby, um, I'd love to have a name within her name that, you know, resembles a special family member to one of our sides of our family, whether it's mine, whether it's yours, whether it's whoever's. And and Lila was a name that I actually heard on a TV show about 12 months ago. And I do like that name, Lila. It's it's it's like a pretty name for a little girl, you know. Lila, I don't know what it's been like when she's when she's 70 or 80, but you know, as a little girl, Lila's a nice name. And um, I think by the time she's 70 or 80, Lila's probably going to be one of the most common names again as well. So it seems to be coming back a lot. But Rose was Becky's auntie. So Lila Rose is a middle name, right? And uh Rose was an auntie of Beck's that passed away when she was only 14 or 13 from a heart, heart defect. She had a hole in the heart, apparently. And uh um, it's always had a really special meaning to Becky's mum's side, so Becky's auntie it was, um, really special meaning to the family. And I just said, Well, what about Lila Rose? I said, I like the name Lila, doesn't mean anything to my family, but I like the name. And she said, I really like that name too, because it's a little bit different. You like it's a name you have heard, but it's a name you don't hear all the time. And Rose had a special meaning to Becky's, Becky's family, so I think it's it's just yeah, it's just flowed, mate. It's a beautiful name, and she's such a beautiful girl, like she's she's perfect. They're at at the moment. Becky's a childcare worker, so thank God for that, by the way. I would I wouldn't, I wouldn't know, I wouldn't have coped real well, mate. I'm struggling. But um, you know, she knows what she's doing, and it's just great, you know. It's an experience for all first-time dads, that's for sure. Um, I don't know. Have you got you got any kids, Nick?

SPEAKER_02 15:46

No, I don't. So that's gonna come hopefully in the future.

SPEAKER_03 15:49

Yeah, absolutely, mate, 100%. And and honestly, you never you witness anything like it, mate. It's it's amazing. Um, many, many uh family members of mine, like my cousin Ashie plays guitar for me on tour, and he said to me, mate, you've never seen witnessed anything than when you witnessed your the birth of your first child. And he's right. And we we had one of those births that were quite um full on, you know. We uh I was in bed and I woke up about 11 o'clock at night and Becky was out here in the in the lounge room area, and you know, and you sort of wake up and it's like your partner's not there, or you know, someone's supposed to be in the room that's not there, and it's like, what's going on? You're sort of standing there looking around, wondering what's happening. And I yelled out to her and she said, I've got these pains. And I said, Oh God, you know, so I started petty, and I said, I didn't, I said a lot more than that, as you can imagine. And um, she goes, You know what? She said, I just rang the hospital and they said it it's pre-labour pains. And I said, You seem to be in some pain because she was really crippling up with the pain. And I said, uh, I think I'm gonna take in. She said, No, if if they take if what you take me in there now, they'll send me home. I said, Yeah, but I don't like how much pain you're in back. It's it seems too much pain. So I took her in there, mate, and she had the had Lila two and a half hours later. And they told her to send her home. Just as well, they didn't do that. I was panicking enough as it was because she was having pains, let alone having the baby. But uh great, mate. And we got in there and it was very, very quick. And I remember it was about a quarter past three in the morning, quarter past four in the morning, and when Lila was born, because by the time we got to the hospital, it was about one o'clock. And and I remember um sitting there after she was born, just going, What is it? Is this real? Is this happening? Because it was so quick, Nick. Like it was and it be in that time of the morning, it was like, you know, you're sitting there going, What's going on? Did that actually happen? Yeah, so amazing. And she's she's such a beautiful little girl, and she's uh what's she eight weeks now, eight weeks old? And uh this week she's eight weeks old, and um starting to smile. She's starting, you know, you walk into a room, she sees you, she knows who you are, and it's just amazing to watch that that progress. It really is.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

That's incredible. That is incredible. Tell me about your song Sing Australia. Talk to me about that and the process behind that.

SPEAKER_03 18:00

Mate, it's it's such a great song. So um Sing Australia was inspired by a John Denver song. So John Denver actually wrote a song, and I what I did was I reached out to the John Denver estate about three years ago, and I said, Look, I love the song Sing Australia. I said, but I want to rewrite it because I'm an Australian, because he he was an American singing about Australia. And originally they said no. So I said, okay, that's fine. So I just pushed the song aside and sort of went, Oh, that's a shame, it's such a good song. And then about three years went past and I changed a record company and I said to Will at the at Czech Label Services, I said, Will, I said, Do you reckon you can reach back out and just see if or not they'd reconsider this song? Because I really like it and I think it's powerful around the January 26th day, and I think it's just sensational. I just think it's such a great anthemic song. Anyway, they approved it. So next thing I'm sitting there going, what's going on in this world? But one minute something's working, and the next minute it's not, and then all of a sudden it all happens at once. And um, we released the song, mate, and it's honestly been in the Australian Country Radio charts now for well, it was released on the 21st of January. So it's been, it's it's still at number seven on the charts now. So how many weeks that is, I don't know. But it's been in the charts for a long time, and it's great because it's actually like I don't take any writers' credits or anything, so it's really a cover, um, which a lot of people are doing now, don't get me wrong. This I've heard like What's Love Got to Do with It by Um Tina Turner. Yes. Uh the other day. And it was done by, I think, a previous The Voice Contestant, and um amazing. It's just great to see these old songs and dreams by Fleetwood Mac. We all know that's just been revived. Um, so it's great. It's great to see these older songs done. But this song of John's wasn't a big hit. It was nothing like Take Me Home Country Roads or you know, Rocky Mountain High or anything like that. It wasn't a big song. So it was sort of a song that slipped under everyone's radar, and then when I released it, everyone sort of thought it was my song, but it wasn't. So now I make sure I tell everyone that it was originally done by John. But um, I did rewrite some of the words and that in it to make it more fitting for Australia. So and it's done well, mate. I'm very grateful.

SPEAKER_02 20:08

Yeah, it's incredible. And we're gonna play it at the end of this podcast so everyone can listen to it. Hey, thank you. Well, all right. Tell me about um you had a bit of anxiety, I believe, during the um COVID period. Obviously, you mentioned financially there might have been some strength. Now talk to me about that and how if anybody else is struggling or can relate, you overcame that dealing with it.

SPEAKER_03 20:33

Yeah, mate. Look, I've um I've struggled a lot with mental health pretty much since I went on X Factor. And that's because the massive life change. And I would I never ever say a bad word about the show because it changed my life for the better. I I have my my living, I have my uh my dream job out of it. And back then in 2012, the ratings were so much bigger too. Like we all, you know, we're all online now, like prime example, you know, here and um YouTube and Facebook and all that type of stuff. It's all online. So um it's all changed so much. And I think everyone used to watch those shows. It was one of those shows that, you know, at least 80% of the population was C, you know. So it was huge, it changed my life completely. I couldn't go anywhere without being noticed. And and still today, 10 years down the track, you know, people go, oh, that's a guy off X Factor, you know. And I don't know what it is, but it was sort of that that uh, you know, I country fella thing that I, or whatever it was, probably the eyebrows or brow, whatever you want to call them. And uh that just stands out to people, you know, and people remember me. And I do a lot on television still now, but it's it's just changed my life in a big way, and I struggle with it. Getting back to your question now, and um I didn't get I wasn't used to it, mate. I grew up in a village, 10, 12 people in the town, to all of a sudden everywhere I went, people knowing me, and it just changed my life in a massive way, and it can. I didn't cope with it all that well because there was a lot of criticism. Um a lot of bullying, there was a lot of hate. You know, you get a photo with someone's girlfriend and they'd want to take you up the front and fight you and it's just like they asked me for the photo, mate. I didn't go up and grab her on the bum and ask her for one. You know, like that's just the reality of it. But I've dealt with that for the last ten years. And growing up in such a small and remote area in the central western New South Wales, I coppered a lot because myself and Nalsey are really the only two blokes in my area that have ever done anything like that. And I remember growing up watching Shannon, you know, all that many years ago that he was on idle. And now I know, like both of us have sort of left the area, and um I find we get a lot more respect now. Well, I get a lot more respect. I can't talk on behalf of Shannon, but I get a I get a lot more respect out there because I left the area, and when I go back, people are like, you know, he's from out here. But we also coped a lot of criticism. Well, I cop a lot of criticism from being out there and um just being making a name for yourself. I think it's a lot of the jealousy and a lot of the criticism, and people just I think they just think that you go around and hit on people's lives, and it's just such a small-minded thing. I don't know what it is to be exact, Nick, but I think a lot of it comes down to jealousy. Um and it really has affected my life. Mate, I gained a lot of weight um probably about three or four years after the show. And that was mental health, eating emotions. Um, you know, I've seen counselors, I've seen so many different people are just about how to deal with things and and um, you know, to get myself through what was such a dark time in my life. And unfortunately doing what I do, you're in the public eye. So to walk away from it now is throwing my career away, but it's also letting these people that are getting me down win. So why would I leave something that I want to do? And I've considered it, don't you worry, that's how bad I've been. Um I've considered it. Uh but I d I couldn't do it. I'm a lot better now than what I was. But my weight was a big thing too, Nick. And I don't know whether or not you've seen on my social media or anything recently that I've actually just become partnered up with Jenny Craig. So I'm actually a a new um ambassador for Jenny and uh and the team there, and I've I've lost uh 13 kilos in total with Jenny Craig, and I lost five of my own beforehand. So I'm sitting around 17, 18 kilos down now, and I feel great. It's changed my mental health, um, it's changed my feeling about myself. Because you know, I I used to hide away and everything. And and that's even going back to um coming off the show, being known, you know, having a personality, getting criticized for it. I wasn't used to it, and it just threw me into this mental space where I used to not go out. I used to stay at home, you know. My friends would come around home and say, let's go to Pub for a beer, you know, let's go to the nightclub in Dabo. And I didn't want to do it because I was constantly getting this crap thrown at me, which wasn't necessary, and it made me feel so bad about myself that I'd I'd consider walking away from my own career that I love. Um, mental health, I'm very passionate about. I'm also I've got a children's charity, so doing it for rules and kids, and I go out and give the children this inspirational speech about how I went to a small school. I finished in a class of five kids and I went to this small school, and my passion was to be a musician. And one of the hardest industries in the world to break in is the entertainment, whether you want to be an actor, whether you want to be a TV personality, a musician, whatever. Um, and there is a lot of luck involved in that. And I always tell the kids that because unless you obviously have a little bit of luck and profile, you can't make the money. So I try not to tell them, you know, to believe in yourself, but if you want to become a doctor, if you want to become a school teacher, a nurse, a what bet whatever, you can do it. It doesn't matter where we come from. So I go out and visit all these really rural and remote outback schools and places, and mental health has had a massive impact on my life, and I like to share that with the kids because unfortunately we live in a world now where there's just so much negativity happening. These kids are being brought up um, you know, through COVID lockdowns. There's just there's just a lot going on, you know, at the moment of what they used to be even when I was growing up, you know. Um, unless I was just sheltered from it growing up out of Albert, but um mate, it's it's just so important. Mental health is such an important topic that I believe you can never shine enough light on. And I've struggled with it a lot. And I just hope that by talking about it, if I can put it out there in the in the media and and to yourself and for your listeners, um don't be afraid to speak. Go out, speak to someone. Um, if you've got anything on your mind that's getting you down, there's people there for us. You know, and I think a lot of us feel embarrassed, and I know I used to, and I know I do still at times feel embarrassed about speaking to people, um, you know, unloading things that you feel embarrassed about talking about to them because you feel like an idiot, you feel like you're uh, you know, different to everyone else because you're you're not happy in life because of this stupid little reason, but it's the fact that you're you're mentally just not coping with something, and it could be just that one little thing that you talk about that this specific person can say to you to make you feel a thousand percent better, and it's proven to me, and that's the biggest piece of advice that I can give anyone, it's just so important to speak, it really is.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Yeah, no, I appreciate you sharing that, and you know, I I completely get with what you say and relate to it because I think as we're all human beings, we all got our own problems, we're all gonna have challenges, and you're exactly right. It just takes one person to say something nice, it'll just be their shoulder, uh a need to listen to someone, and you know, like it can really help people say, Yeah, thank you for sharing that because uh I really think people will appreciate that, you know, we're all human beings and who are we to judge, right?

SPEAKER_03 27:42

Like at the end of the day. Exactly, mate, 100%. And and as I said to you earlier too, like just just a minute ago about my charity, like the the charity was founded by myself and Becky, my wife, and that's because uh growing up out in the bush, um, my family owning two businesses. So my dad owned the fuel service station in the town in in Albert, and also the pub. So farming families over the years through drought and hard times in rural Australia, we got to see bills couldn't be paid. Um to hear the stories at the pub and you grow up listening to these stories made. And obviously, excuse me, when my career launched in 2012, being from the bush, I started up with something that I've always been passionate about helping the bush, right? So I'll start with that. And I've been on many telethons, radio thons, donated many profits of concerts and things like that to support other rural charities, but to have my own charity that goes out and supports children because I know for a fact, and I know of many families and of many people that are unable to give their kids a Christmas that they deserve because the money is just so tight, and especially the last 10, 15 years made through one of the worst droughts in history. It's been horrific, and it's gonna take 20 years for farmers to get back on their feet for all the machinery that had to sell off to survive, all the livestock they've had to sell off to survive. So with the mental health aspect as well, I go out to these schools because so many kids have lost their dads to suicide in the past 10 years. Um, so I go out and talk to these kids about how you know life can throw curveballs at us all. Um obviously they're aware that dad wasn't coping with the drought, but they're aware that all this type of stuff was just building up on dad. And unfortunately, some of their parents have taken their lives. So I think it's also very important, not only to what we do for Christmas, to support these kids and give them a Christmas that they deserve, because their parents can't help it that it's a drought, mate. They can't help anything like that. So we go out and I also include the mental health aspect as well, because unfortunately, we don't know what's around the corner. These kids in 10 years' time could be on the land going through the same route. So it's always good to hopefully having this guy from television go into their school to share an important message with them about how I've struggled with mental health, just helps them go with what they're going through. Because mate, if you if you lost your mum or dad when you were 10 or 11 years old, for example, to suicide, that's going to affect you for the rest of your life. So I also include the mental health chat to the kids. And I know like I can sit there, I can talk underwater with a mouth full of marbles, as you know, now. But um just to sit there and talk to the kids about it and let them know. I'm just hoping that they can change their outlook on on life, mental health, and also for their future.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

That's amazing. And you know, we I I could believe we could talk for hours like listening to you. You got you got a little wisdom and uh you're very well um very level-headed. Thank you, appreciate it. And what are your passions and hobbies aside from the music? What do you like to do on the side? Downtime, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 30:58

Never. Never. So mate, I've believe it or not, I actually my dad won a silver medal in the world championships at Clay Target shooting in 97, 1997. I was only three. And uh I remember him coming home with his silver medal and um you know saying, Oh, I want to win one of them one day, dad, you know, blah blah blah. As you do when you're a kid, you want to be just like dad. And um when I in 2006, I was 12, so at 12 years of age, you're allowed to get a junior Australian Clay Target Association license under a guidance of an a parent and adult. So my dad was shooting clay target, so I started out with play target shooting in 2006, mate, and did a lot of it. It's it's a sport that not many people hear a lot about. Um, we're very good friends with Michael Diamond, the the Olympic shooter, gold medalist. Um and very good friends with Mick, and he obviously met dad in '97 at the World Championships. And so I love my Clay Target shooting. And believe it or not, mate, I've won nearly 30 national championships at Clay Target shooting, but I did a lot of shooting, a hell of a lot of shooting. Um every weekend, travelled into Queensland, Victoria, all over the place doing my clay target shooting, lived and breathed it. Haven't done it for a long time because time weekends are obviously when I'm doing shows. And golf. I love my golf. Hopeless, but love it. Sorry, yeah. You have to take the shooting one day. Where do you live in Sydney, do you?

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Yeah, I live in Fairland, Northern Beaches.

SPEAKER_03 32:30

Great. Yeah, I've got a lot of family there. I'm on the northern beaches and Coleroy and Arabine. Yeah. Um yeah, great. I come down there a lot. There's actually a young club not too far from there, Terry Hills. So that's um do a lot of done a lot of shooting out there over the years. So for sure, we'll do it. We'll line it up, we'll take you out past a few closer targets, mate.

SPEAKER_02 32:49

Um, Jason, thank you for coming on my podcast, sharing everything I made. I do appreciate it. Your trajectory and your careers too is incredible. Yeah, thank you, mate. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 32:59

Appreciate it. Thanks so much for having me on. And um, I just hope that you know, me sharing a little bit of my story and obviously talking about mental health inspires some of the listeners because you just never know what someone's going through out there, mate. And I know I'm pretty sure I can speak on behalf of many of the listeners that we've all lost someone in our lives, whether they're family or friends that have uh, you know, potentially harmed themselves from mental health or know of someone that has. And it's just such an important topic that I love to share. And it's always what I like to end with. Just remember it's not we to speak. So good on you, Nick.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

Good on you, mate. You're a legend. And to the listeners, we're gonna play the new song now. Thank you.