Mark Seymour wrote his first song in the summer of 1980 about a space invader machine. He was broke at the time, living in a Carlton share house with no power and no running water.

Shortly after the pop band he was in, ‘The Jetsonnes’, morphed into something slightly more apocalyptic, changed its name to ‘Hunters and Collectors’.. and Seymour went on to compose the dancefloor hell-scape single ‘Talking to a Stranger’ which secured several international record deals.

Three years later, with the departure of Greg Perano on industrial percussion, the demonic groove was lost. Hunters and Collectors morphed again and Seymour wrote the pop ballad ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’..
To say that Seymour’s trajectory has been ‘inconsistent’ would be an understatement! And yet 45 years later, he’ll tell you that the process hasn’t changed that much. The only thing that has is the subject matter. There’s always been an acoustic guitar, a recording device, mumbled words and some vague description of where he was or who he was with, the rooms he’s lived in, roads travelled, either surrounded by musicians or alone in the back shed.

Many songs have disappeared while others have endured beyond the circumstances that spawned them. For Seymour song writing has been as much about emotional survival as anything else ..

Despite mixed fortune, Seymour’s songs have become pivotal in the musical story of the nation but Seymour is as mystified by their relative success as anyone.. “some just seem to have hit the mark more than others..”

‘Talking to A Stranger,’ ‘The Slab’, ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’, ‘The Holy Grail’, ‘Ballad of the One Eyed Man’ ‘Westgate’, ‘The Whole World is Dreaming,’ ‘The Dogs of Williamstown,’ ‘The Boxer,’ ‘Cherry Red’ ‘Waiting on the Kid,’…

He has spent 18 years in front of Hunters and Collectors whose stylistic direction often changed abruptly from one album to the next and a subsequent 27 years as a ‘solo’ artist, acoustically and with four piece rock band ‘The Undertow’ performing pretty much everywhere.. from the Olympic Games to wine bars in central Queensland.

When asked how performance has changed him he says “It’s all the same’.. songs are about making a connection through story.. with real people.. standing directly in front of you in a room.. it doesn’t matter where it is.. I just get behind the songs.. They’re all that matters really.”

Even now the fundamentals haven’t shifted. In 2024 Seymour released ‘The Boxer’, his 19th collection of original songs.. He has recently collaborated with singers Vika and Linda Bull, contributing to their forthcoming album.
He is also appearing on the Red Hot Summer Tour later this year and is currently preparing for a new album.. slated for release in 2026/27.