To the Sea is the first solo album for Harry Lyon. Produced by
Lyttelton’s music auteur Delaney Davidson the album showcases
Harry’s array of styles and influences with classic Kiwi rock, New Orleans
vaudeville, Latin, Pasifika, country and a Christmas ballad for good measure.
Lyrically subjects range from love songs, a life well lived and Harry’s usual
wry political and social observations.
Harry was co-founder, guitar player and songwriter with NZ Hall of Fame band
Hello Sailor. His songwriting credits include, Lying in the Sand and Watch Your
Back from Sailor’s award- winning first album, Dr I Like Your Medicine,
1981 Single of the Year for Coup D’Etat, and Muscles, that featured on Midge
Marsden's Burning Rain album and was a 1991 APRA Silver Scroll finalist.
Harry also played with The Pink Flamingos, Hammond Gamble and The Legionnaires
for whom he wrote the Top 20 single You Bring Out the Worst in Me.
Delaney Davidson:
Harry asked me to produce his album and started to send demos. It was incredible
to hear his flood of stockpiled songs written through the decades.
Drinks for lost friends at the Rising Sun Hotel, door-knocking evangelists spook
the locals with tales of glowing holy children, a sacred ghostly mother, Uncle
Sam as a lothario trying to seduce a virginal Godzone with nuclear ships,
underdog flats with men eking out a living while the woman next door has a
secret party to avoid her ex, life as something you have to work hard at, money,
The Friday Flash, beer, oil, urban renewal, the sun and the moon, the sea,
bringing summer Kiwi kisses to a snowy Dublin Christmas, and
children’s portraits forming the altar that waits at the end of a jungle
coast road filled with life and love.
The more I worked with these songs the more I saw them as a document of
someone who has lived through an amazing time. I hope you enjoy them as much as
I do. – Delaney Davidson – Berne Switzerland August 2018
For his To the Sea tour, Harry has assembled a band of music heavyweights, most
with a strong connection to the Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand (MAINZ)
where he worked until mid-2017. He said he’s “Really honoured these guys
all said yes straight up and the feeling at rehearsals is great.”
Tony Waine, Bass | Stephen Small, Keys | Josh Sorenson, Drums | Jimmy Taylor,
Guitar
Harry’s set for the tour will feature some Sailor favourites, songs from
Harry’s back catalogue, and of course some from his much-anticipated solo
album “To The Sea”.
“To the Sea” will be released October 5th CD/LP/Digital. (Norm Records/
Southbound Distribution)
