“You realise there is some cross over with a big brand name like Men at Work, but not as much as you think.

“I think (my solo albums) have been successful because they get better all the time and the people that have them dearly love them. But none of them have been hit records or anything. They haven’t done anywhere near the commercial success that Men at Work did.”

Despite the slow start Hays can now boast 11 solo albums and a fiercely loyal international fan base.

Some of that success has come through numerous television appearances where a new generation of listeners has been introduced to his music, including several cameos on the hit TV series Scrubs.

“You realise that television is staggeringly powerful,” he said.

“Zach Braff used to come and see me play before he was in Scrubs and he had some of my CD’s. When he got the gig in Scrubs he brought Bill Lawrence, who created the show, down to see me play live.

“Lawrence loved the show and asked me ‘why don’t I hear these songs on the radio?’ I said that’s a good question, I have no answer for that.’ He said ‘I’m going to use a bunch of your songs in my television show and see if it makes a difference.”

Since 2002 Hays appeared during several cameos in the show and a number of his songs were also performed including Down Under, Overkill and Waiting for my Real Life to Begin.

“It created this huge awareness of my music after that,” Hays said.

“It’s one of those things that you don’t think will have that kind of effect when you do it. You wander in for two or three hours and have a cup of teas then stand in one spot and play the tune and then you go home. Then nine years later someone comes up and say ‘oh, I saw you in Scrubs last night.” It’s the gift that keeps on giving.”

For his latest tour of Australia Hays will play songs from his most recent album, Gathering Mercury.

The album is deeply affected by the 2009 death of his father. The loss also caused the 58-year-old to consider his own mortality.

“This particular album was a bit different for me because my old man died in 2009 and that was my first major tragic event in my life,” he said.

“It didn’t matter what I was trying to write about or what I was doing, that was really the emotional context of the whole thing – the fact that I had lost someone that I was very close to. Even if a song wasn’t about that directly it - mortality was still there behind it.

“I’m nearly 60 and you think about the hour glass, you can see it. Whereas when you are in your 20s it’s not really in your frontal lobe, it’s not something you think about on a daily basis. But as you get older you think there is lot of things that I want to do. Time becomes a bit more precious.”

When he comes to Canberra next weekend Hay’s show will include works from throughout his two decades as a solo artists as well as all the Men at Work classics.

As well as music Hays tries to keep the audience entertained with stories of his own experiences.

“When I started to do the solo thing it was so weird me being up on stage and sometimes there were only 40 or 50 people in the audience,” he said.

“It was only been a couple of years after the band broke up, so I felt like people wanted an explanation, they wanted me to say ‘hey, the only reason there’s only a few of us here is because of this.’ But I had no idea really. So I just started to tell people what had been happening to me.

“I found I started to get a few laughs and of course there is nothing more encouraging than that. It became part of the show. Now I’ve made my bed and I have to lie in it. Now when I do the show people expect it, I have to blather between the songs and entertain the folks. But it’s alright it works quite well.”

Colin Hay

At the Canberra Southern Cross Club, Woden

Friday, February 10 at 8.30pm

Bookings: 6283 7288.