GROWING up Dave Wells had a close mate, a fellow musician, who he'd knock about with around the streets of Maitland, attend music festivals with and even collaborate on songs.
But that friend had his personal struggles as a secretly gay man in a highly masculine community.
Years later Wells was so moved by his now overseas-based friend's story that he penned his emotional new single Hey Mate.
"When you have such a weight on your shoulders, it took a lot of courage for him to come out like that," Wells says.
"That's the personal inspiration, but the personal message is if someone has a weight on their shoulders you've gotta reach out to a friend. It's a challenge between you knowing something isn't quite right and whether you're brave enough to say, 'Are you OK'?"
Hey Mate is the first single from Wells' forthcoming eight-track record that he recorded last July over four days with Powderfinger and Pearl Jam engineer Nick DiDia in Byron Bay.
"The best part was I got to step away from self-producing or going too far with a song," Wells says of working with DiDia. "I felt at home there, he had some great ideas and I felt like I was working with another songwriter."
Dave Wells launches Hey Mate at El Chapos in Maitland on February 19.
