Justin McCoy
Musician, entertainer, composer, arranger, producer and recording engineer
Greetings and welcome to my page.
I am a career musician who has gainfully and professionally been involved in many aspects of the music industry since the 70s; live performance, composing, producing and engineering, TV scoring and post production.
In the mid 70s I toured Australia with jazz-rock band 8 Day Clock, releasing an album "Clockwork" and single "Down to the Nightclub" produced by Gus McNeil (Cellar Music) through RCA. These are, of course, highly sought-after collectors' items... The band performed at venues such as the Bondi Lifesaver in Sydney, Beethovens and Pinnochios in Perth, Christabel's nightclub in Brisbane and the Horden Pavillion in Sydney opening for Blood Sweat and Tears.
I also gigged on P & O cruises and in Perisher Valley with
The Clik.
Late 70s I moved to London, got involved with the New Wave scene in Cheap Perfume led by the dynamic singer/songwriter
Gaynor Woolford. Cheap Perfume supported Dire Straits at their early gigs at the Rock Garden, played many famous London gigs. eg. Marquee Club, Dingwalls at Camden Lock, Ronnie Scotts etc, and had recordings produced by the legendary
Pete Brown.
Returning to Sydney in 1981, formed Hat Trick with my sister Mary and her schoolfriend Bernadette, now my wife, on violins.
Hat Trick is an Orchestral rock band that blends two electric fiddles with rock rhythm section and original arrangements of classical hits to produce classical music the likes of which had not been heard in Sydney pubs before. This resulted in the building up of a large fan base and full time gigging throughout the 80s and early 90s..
We have recently uploaded some historical Hat Trick video clips to YouTube.
In the early 90s after touring NSW schools presenting our music through Musica Viva, Hat Trick stopped performing so various members could have families. I continued performing duo gigs with Michael, and many solo gigs, approx 1,000,000.
Over the next couple of years I was fortunate to tour NSW with Folk from Oz and
Paragon Cafe through Musica Viva, and be the musical director and sidekick to Dianna Hammond in the
Sunburnt Country show, touring Asia performing trade shows and festivals for DFAT, and to
George Spartels from ABC's Playschool touring Australia performing many children's concerts.
In the late 00s Hat Trick have re-formed for some inner-city gigs and festivals;
Port Fairy Folk Festival in Victoria,
the Harp in Tempe, Bald Faced Stag in Leichhardt and the Cat and Fiddle, our early 80s regular Wednesday night, in Balmain.
These shows have been a lot of fun; our audience bring their kids, and we bring our kids, who perform with us onstage.
This clip is Hotel California, with Hat Trick, from a gig at The Bald Faced Stag in 2007, featuring two of our kids, Minnie and Joey.
This clip the encore, Mustang Sally, from the same gig, Hat Trick feat. the late Tim Shaw, with Paul Burjan on sax, Bridie King on keys, Joey on guitar and Minnie on bvs.
Hat Trick in 2009
These days Bernadette and I perform regularly with Mary and our daughter Stella, as
Highly Strung Rock and Roll Orchestra on P&O Australia cruise liners around Australia and the South Pacific.
TV and recording projects
| | |
| 2018-2020 | |
| 2017 | |
| 2016 | Commissioned by Grainger TV Australia to compose, underscore and post-produce audio for a documentary Ultimate Freedive; The Great Barrier Reef. This beautifully shot film takes the viewer into the heart of the Great Barrier Reef, and features the exceptional Russian free diver, Marina Kazankova. |
| 2015 | Commissioned by Grainger TV Australia to compose, underscore and post-produce music and audio for a four-part TV series entitled My Dubai. |
| 2008 -2020 | Commissioned by Grainger TV Australia to compose, underscore and post-produce music and audio for the ABC TV and 7 network travel show Travel Oz. This runs to four series and 100 + episodes. |
| 2008 | Recorded " Fellowship of the Grill" with BBQ Kings, Pat Drummond, Tony Williams and Chris O'Leary. This is a comedy CD through ABC Records, and was nominated for an ARIA, 2009. |
| 2005 - 2008 | Commissioned by ACP, in collaboration with Bernadette, to produce a bi-monthly CD of original songs and stories for their pre-schoolers' magazine, " Little Friends" |
| 2002 - 2004 | Commissioned by "Croc Hunter" David Ireland to compose underscore and post-produce audio for four episodes of an Australian wildlife series "Wildlife Man" for the Nine Network. |
| 2001 - 2010 | Commissioned by ABC NewsRadio to compose a package of themes, station and programme IDs, and music underscore. |
| 2000 - 2004 | Commissioned by Production Music Services to compose and produce a series of production music CDs for their Beat Box label. |
| 1998 - 2010 | Commissioned by Grainger TV Australia to compose music underscore, and post-produce audio for an ongoing series of hour long documentaries, broadcast on all Australian free-to-air networks, as well as cable networks internationally. To date 100+ programmes.have been completed. |
| 1998 | Winner of Australian Guild of Screen Composers award in the category of Best Music for a Children's TV Series, Petals. |
| 1998 - 2010 | Produced many children's CDs for pre-school experts Jingle Jam. |
| 1997 - 1999 | Commissioned to compose music for two series of ABC TV's children's animation, Petals, comprising a total of 55 episodes. Here is a link to an episode "A Bootful of Petals" on the National Film and Sound Archive. |
| 1994 - 2001 | Produced and/or composed music for approximately 30 CDs for Polygram, EMI, ABC, Festival, including the series Australian Classics for Little Kids with children's artiists Noni Hazelhurst, George Spartels and Christine Hutchinson. Christine's CD Grand Fairies' Ball was nominated for an Aria award. |
Music Samples
Excerpts from "My Dubai" Documentary Series 2015
Excerpts from ABC TV and 7 Network "Travel Oz" Series 2008-2015
Excerpts from Ch 7 TV "The World Around Us" 1998-mid 2000s
Excerpts from ACP Magazines "Little Friends" series 2005-2008, written by Justin and Bernadette McCoy
Excerpts from the Children's CD "All in a Day's Work" 1993
Excerpts from ABC TV "Petals" series 1996-98
Excerpts from "The Children's Suite", originally named "The Minnie Suite."
A quintet for flute, violin, clarinet, cello and double bass, which I wrote for my children in the early to mid 90s.
These recordings are live demos, except for the overture, which is played by MIDI instruments.
Excerpts from CD "Hat Trick, a Retrospective"
Original recordings 1984-88, compiled and remastered 2006
Excerpts from the McCoy Band 2008/9
Some early recordings I made of my mother Joan McCoy
My mother is a concert pianist, and these recordings were made in the mid 80s on a Revox reel-to-reel
She is playing a Yamaha G1 Grand Piano
Excerpts from 8 Day Clock LP "Clockwork" RCA/Cellar Music 1975
Excerpts from Eight Day Clock
Live recording C 1974 Bankstown Civic Centre, Linda George support
Some kind things people have said about me
"It is a rare combination of talents that allows Justin to supervise such a wide range of musical and audio responsibilities. The productions that Justin has supervised have been screened on broadcasters such as Discovery Communications, National Geographic, ABC Australia, Travel Channel USA and Europe, Channels 7, 9 and 10 Australia and 80 other major international broadcasters."
"Justin McCoy is an extremely talented musician who has an incredible passion and love of music.
Justin has arranged and recorded 4 CDs of Children's music for us at his lovely studio and he has always been a pleasure to work with. He is very professional and we highly recommend him as a music arranger and producer."
"Having won the ABC NewsRadio commission, Justin gave his fullest cooperation in refining the material prior to launch to ensure it was optimal for our needs and then in providing updates and modifications over following years as those needs evolved and new ones arose."
Mark Collier Director Radio, Australian Film TV and Radio School.
"Bernadette and Justin were integral to the success of the pre-schoolers' magazine Little Friends. I would highly recommend them to anyone requiring commitment, passion and creativity."
Academic qualifications and professional affiliations - Master of Music Technology with Distinction, University of Newcastle
- Graduate Certificate of Music Technology, University of Newcastle
- Advanced Diploma of Music with Distinction, WSI Nirimba
- Advanced Diploma of Music Industry (Technical Production) with Distinction, WSI Nirimba
- Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment
- Certificate for self-employed people in Child-related Employment
- Associate Composer, Australian Music Centre
- Member SMPTE
- Member AMCOS
- Member AGSC
- Member APRA
- Member AES
These are people or organisations who I work closely with...
Grainger TV, for whom I compose music and post produce audio.
Michael Fix, long time member of Hat Trick, guitar virtuoso, international touring artist and general compatriot
Port Fairy Folk Festival in Victoria, 
the Harp in Tempe, Bald Faced Stag in Leichhardt and the Cat and Fiddle, our early 80s regular Wednesday night, in Balmain. 