“I want music to be a beautiful escape from the stresses of life that everyone is faced with. Like all entertainment and art, music should take you out of your normal head space and let your imagination have free will to wander wherever it may.”

Hussy Hicks: The Music of Experiences

Known for their killer live shows, Hussy Hicks captivate audiences with their infectious energy, tight harmonies, and musical versatility, creating an unforgettable performance that leaves fans wanting more every time. Straddling the line between Folk, Blues, Country, Rock and Roots, the band have earned themselves a mighty reputation, growing, from festival openers to festival favourites, seeing the group now appear at the biggest blues, roots, folk and country festivals in Australia, the USA and across Europe while selling out their own tours across the three continents. Leesa Gentz’s soaring vocals and Julz Parker’s insane guitar work are at the heart of their electrifying sound backed up by the tasty, rock solid rhythms of Ali Foster (drums) and Tracy Stephens (bass).                                 (Photo: Leesa Gentz & Julz Parker of Hussy Hicks)

Since their formation in 2006, Hussy Hicks have built a loyal fanbase, with their latest studio album, Swimming in Uncertainty, reaching #1 on the ARIA Jazz & Blues Chart and topping the AIR Independent Album Chart. Their 2025 live album went straight to number one on the ARIA AUS Country Chart and was also ARIA Australian top 10 and #1 on the AIR Charts. Leesa Gentz and Julz Parker talk about the band, the blues, and the Australian blues scene.

Interview by Michael Limnios

How has the music influenced your views of the world? What moment changed your music life the most?

Leesa: I fell in love with music from a very early age when my parents would take me to watch live concerts. I knew that I wanted to be a musician from around 10 years of age and have always followed that passion, luckily with a lot of support from my family. I would say that meeting Julz Parker was a big turning point in my musical journey - I had grown up in a very industry based world, having signed a record contract with ABC Records at 17 years old and having management and A&R really shape the direction of my career and the music that I was making, but Julz took a totally different approach to her career and was very capable of managing everything independently and focussed on having as many great musical experiences as possible. This was a real eye opener for me and when we started playing music together it really was (and continues to be) for the absolute love and joy of it.

Julz: Music has been a vehicle to allow me to experience the world through my own eyes and the stories of the people I've met. I guess the moment that changed my music life most was the moment I realised that I wanted to be sitting at the table playing music with my dad and his friends rather than playing with my toys.

How did the idea of band come about? How do you describe band’s sound, music philosophy and songbook?

Leesa: Hussy Hicks became a band through our friendship and mutual admiration of one another's talents. We simply loved playing music together and both of us are passionate about travel and gaining new experiences so the combination just worked in a really natural way. We basically started touring together and never wanted to stop. Our approach is very straightforward - we want to play as many shows to as many people as possible in as many places as we can. The music we write is shaped by our experiences of the world, by the people we meet along the way and we generally try to share our observations, inspirations and ideas about the world through our songwriting.

What is the story behind band’s name: Hussy Hicks? What keeps a musician passionate over the years in rock, blues, folk music?

Julz: We stay passionate by always just trying to honour the sounds and styles that take our interest in each moment. We have both spent our whole lives in love with music and that means lots of times to fall in love with different sounds and styles, in fact Hussy Hicks name was born out of an idea that we would jam a bunch of songs in a bluegrass style - that never happened, but it was the only name we had when we did our first tour in the USA in 2006 - now we've gone too far to change it.

“Music has been a vehicle to allow me to experience the world through my own eyes and the stories of the people I've met. I guess the moment that changed my music life most was the moment I realised that I wanted to be sitting at the table playing music with my dad and his friends rather than playing with my toys.” (Photo: Leesa Gentz & Julz Parker of Hussy Hicks)

Why do you think that the Blues music continues to generate such a devoted following in Australia?

Leesa: There really is a strong Blues and Roots scene right across Australia and it's driven by communities of passionate music lovers and musicians who run Blues music clubs, concert series, host monthly jams and put on festivals. There is a real sense of community overall and we've been very fortunate to be embraced as a bit of a staple in the domestic scene. Blues music has a legacy that I feel almost everyone can relate to and the format is really suited to improvisation and personal creativity within the structure of something that we're all very familiar with. This makes it a fun and interesting style of music for interaction - for both the players and the audience.

Julz: I think firstly it's a great format for live gigs, the audience gets a familiar overall template but gets to go on an adventure with the improvisational twists and turns of each performance. There is a huge blues influence on all Australian popular music, pub rock etc so I think we can all connect to the genre.

Are there any specific memories or highlights of your career that you would like to tell us about?!

Leesa: There are countless highlights, but one that immediately comes to mind is from a very early tour we did in Germany, probably 2008 or 2009 when we played the Berlin Carnival of Cultures, which was unlike any festival I'd ever been to at that time. We somehow got totally lost in a massive sea of people when we were trying to load our gear to the stage and ended up walking several kilometres with all of our equipment before we found where we were supposed to be, plus it was raining so we were a little disheveled when we arrived, but we made it in time for the set! And this is one of the earliest memories of playing a big festival stage with loads of people.. we started the set and the rain went away, the sun came out and the crowd grew in huge numbers. I remember being so blown away by the reaction we received and wanting to savour every second of that opportunity to play in front of so many people, all of whom seemed to be loving our music! We sold all of the CD's we had right there with us so Julz sprinted back to where our gear was stored to grab the rest of the stock we'd bought for the whole tour - most of which we also sold on her return. It felt like a real triumph and it will always be a special memory for me.

Julz: Well I guess now that it's all finished I have to talk about the 9 times  we got to play Bluesfest Byron Bay - we were so lucky to have one of the world's greatest Blues festivals right in our home area. We won the busking competition back in 2010 and it was an absolute honour and a pleasure every time we got to play it. Over the years we got to see so many world class acts right up close, Mavis Staples, Bonnie Rait, Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Tedeschi Trucks band and so many more. Easter will never be the same round here now it's gone.

“Blues music has a legacy that I feel almost everyone can relate to and the format is really suited to improvisation and personal creativity within the structure of something that we're all very familiar with. This makes it a fun and interesting style of music for interaction - for both the players and the audience.” (Photo: Leesa Gentz & Julz Parker of Hussy Hicks)

What do you miss most nowadays from the music of the past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?

Leesa: As far as music is concerned, I believe that there is always a magnificent future to be created, we just have to not get stuck in our ways and keep the door open to new ideas, possibilities and ways of doing things. Everything has changed a lot in the 20 years that we've been a band - a substantial amount of our early tour profits came from CD sales, and I'm still a huge fan of supporting live music by buying physical copies of albums on CD and vinyl - but that has gone from being the normal way to listen to music to now being something a bit niche for collectors. So as a rule, people have gotten used to not paying for music, and I see how that has rippled through the whole industry to where now people are even reluctant to pay for live concerts, because there is this overall consensus that music should be free and available everywhere, all the time, at the touch of a button. But the flip side of that is the Superfans, who will support the bands they love however they can, so there has been this real movement in the industry to keep coming up with great content to satisfy not only our own creative needs, but also the wants of a fanbase that are ready and able to support the arts... so long as you can build up a dedicated fanbase. We're so lucky to have amazing fans and we take a very grass roots approach to building our community, so for us it's never been about trying to have a hit song or a viral internet moment - as great as that would be if it happened organically - it's about making the kind of music that inspires us and trying to find interesting ways to bring that music to our existing audience, while always trying to reach more people who will like what we do. I truly hope to be able to keep making music with my friends until a very old age.

Julz: I just love the sounds of bands kinda living on the edge so I guess the modern trend of everyone playing to tracks leaves me a bit cold. I just hope that the next generation of kids realises how great a live music experience can be. When it's too polished I kinda feel you may as well stay home and listen to the album.

What is the impact of music on the socio-cultural implications? How do you want the music to affect people?

Leesa: I want music to be a beautiful escape from the stresses of life that everyone is faced with. Like all entertainment and art, music should take you out of your normal head space and let your imagination have free will to wander wherever it may. Everyone has their own unique perspective and I love that we can celebrate that through music and the arts, as opposed to all of the negative discourse that we see on social media and in the political sphere. I feel so lucky that I get to 'play' and not 'work' for a living and my aim is always to share as much joy with my audience as possible, because we all need joy in our lives.

Julz: I think people gathering together is so important, especially these days where so many ideas are fleshed out online. Music is a great connector and community builder. If I move to a new town I can go and find gigs and be told who else to go see, what events are happening, and what albums I should be checking out. Before you know it you are part of a community. The wider the community the more we realise that most humans just want the same things.

“I just love the sounds of bands kinda living on the edge so I guess the modern trend of everyone playing to tracks leaves me a bit cold. I just hope that the next generation of kids realises how great a live music experience can be. When it's too polished I kinda feel you may as well stay home and listen to the album.” (Photo: Leesa Gentz & Julz Parker of Hussy Hicks)

What does to be a female artist in a Man’s World as James Brown says? What is the status of women in music?

Leesa: Women have always had and will continue to have an important role in the music scene. Sure, we sometimes have to deal with people who think we mustn't know anything because we're just a bunch of girls, but generally - after so many years in the music industry, people treat me as a human and not a 'girl singer' and I am very comfortable with my place in the music world. However, I do hope that the industry becomes a little easier to navigate for young women who want to create a life for themselves in the creative arts, because the truth is that we all had to be pretty tough back when I was starting out, and I value all of the lessons that I had to learn back then because they are things that have served me well throughout my career... but we actively do whatever we can to support the women we meet who have less industry experience than us, and I feel that a lot of the men who we work with also believe that gender equality in the industry is something that is beneficial to all of us.

Julz: I just find it funny that 'female' almost ends up being a category or a genre. We've had festivals literally say 'we've already got a girl band' - when no one seemed to care or notice that the other 8 bands on the lineup were all boys. The other thing I find is how often you'll be clashing on time slots with other female bands. It's like some programmers have decided that there is a good time for the girl bands to play - no matter the intensity of the show or profile of the band. Generally we can't complain though - we've had an amazing time traversing the ins and outs of this man's world.

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned from your experience in the music paths?

Leesa: I have learnt that it is absolutely okay for me to be my authentic self and that what I have to offer as an artist is valid and there WILL be an audience out there who digs it. After years of trying to work out what I 'should be' according to everyone else's opinion of me, I now know that what I have to offer the world is uniquely mine and no matter how much I try to be something else, it will only ever be a genuine offering if I stay true to myself. This is a lesson that took until well into my 40s to learn, and I wish I understood it earlier. Not to say that I haven't taken inspiration from so many wonderful artists and learned so much from watching incredible live shows, but what happens when I'm on stage, and in the studio, is something that has value and that no one else can do in the same way that I do. To see this as a strength and not a weakness is the real lesson because it has enabled me to grow as a musician with a real sense of self which I think is really what creates enduring relationships with the music lovers who choose to follow us on our musical journey.

What are you doing to keep your (band’s) music relevant today, to develop it and present it to the new generation?

Julz: We just keep making the best music we can and taking in all the influences we are exposed to through a life of live music. We are always jamming with different musicians around the world, young and old. I don't know the secret to relevance but I do always hope that when people spend some time with our music, recorded or live, they get a bit of a glimpse into our passion and truth and it helps them feel something.

Hussy Hicks - Home

((Photo: Leesa Gentz & Julz Parker of Hussy Hicks)