Press photos
Not Mine — Press Kit
"A warm storyteller's voice that draws you in."
TJ Howlett is a singer, songwriter and musician from Melbourne, Australia. His songs tell stories about the situations and feelings that make people who they are, creating an atmosphere that transports your imagination to another place and time.
His music is a blend of guitar based genres across a broad spectrum, from stomping blues-rock to ethereal acoustic to dark gothic grooves. These aural soundscapes paint a mood around poignant and soulful lyrics and deliver stories that evoke contemplation and emotion.
TJ was a fixture of Melbourne's early 90s grunge scene, known for his wild talent and soaring lead breaks in outfits including Lost Cause, Blue September, Rehab, Joe Bloggs and Flux and Change.
After a couple of decades in the wilderness, TJ re-emerged into the music scene, slinging his axe for Dark Thorn and Veiled Arch. His work in these bands was a collaboration of high-energy riffs, sweeping chord voicings and his signature Bluespunk lead breaks, delivering a fusion of soul-tearing melodies and full throttle attack.
He also had a number of stories from the wilderness that needed to be sung, more introspective in nature and that he needed to craft personally. The result is the TJ Howlett collection – songs that create place, time and feeling.
Not Mine (4:20) + Drinking Man (2:52)
Not Mine is TJ Howlett's debut single. It's a guitar driven blues rock anthem about growing up with a working family in a mining town, with a pumping rhythm, grungy riffs and a blistering guitar solo counterbalancing the simple vocal melody. The story is easy to follow, and you can dig into the deeper themes underneath it or just stay in the music and follow the story.
Drinking Man is the b-side. It's a stripped back blues lament about a family haunted by addiction, and the different ways they're affected by it. The rhythm is slow and brooding and gives the melody the bare minimum of support, so that every word has emotion and impact.
The title track has been played more than 690 times on Australian community radio.