Australia’s Largest Christian News Site

In an exclusive interview, Jared Haschek reveals how Australian Christian music can raise its game and compete with global pop acts like Taylor Swift.

In partnership with Australian Christian Records, Daily Declaration is piloting a monthly Christian music column featuring artist stories, new releases and local Christian music news. If you have something to contribute then send through to: news@ozchristianrecords.com.au.

Before we get into this month’s story, check out these new releases:

• Estee — To Our Forever (SA) #Pop
• Victor Claye — Pass Me The Mic (SA) #Rap
• Ben Fielding & Chris Tomlin — The First Hymn (NSW) #CCM
• Bella Taylor Smith — ThankYou 1000X (NSW) #Worship 
• PlanetShakers — Easter EP (VIC) #Worship

You can find more local Christian releases at the Australian Christian Pop Spotify Playlists.

Upcoming Events

• CalledOut Music, May 8-11 (QLD, NSW, VIC, WA) with Harold Chaala and other local Australian artists
• Danny Gokey & Svrcina: The Sound of Heaven Australia Tour, July 16-25 (QLD, NSW, VIC & ACT)

The Secret to Creating World-Class Christian Music in Australia

AUSTRALIAN CHRISTIAN MUSIC NEWS | APRIL 2025

Covering hard topics like music standards, touring, festivals, radio and making money as a musician, Australian Christian Records is proud to share an interview with award-winning producer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist, Jared Haschek.

As a founding member, keyboardist and songwriter of the much-loved, pop-rock band Compliments of Gus that played its first gig way back in 1997, there are not too many people with the lived experience and depth of knowledge of Australia’s Christian music landscape as Jared Haschek.

When he’s not on a job in Nashville, London or somewhere across Australia, you can find him holed up in a South Melbourne recording studio producing, arranging, songwriting and scoring for artists and films around the world.

Also known as the ‘music guy’, some of his well-known Christian clients have included Jeremy Camp, We Are Messengers, Hillsong United and Australia’s much-loved Sons of Korah (who are still going strong by the way), as well as secular artists ranging from the evergreen Daryl Braithwaite all the way to G-Flip!

Here in Adelaide for some masterclasses at Tabor Institute of Music arranged by HeartSong Festival, this was an opportunity for Australian Christian Records to ask Jared some questions contrasting his work with some of the world’s top secular and Christian artists and that of Australia’s local Christian scene.

Q: You have had a long music career since starting Compliments of Gus at university on the behest of a local youth group; notably playing at Easterfest and various other tours and festivals around Australia. What has been your motivation over this time?

Since I was young I have always been drawn to CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) with favourite artists like Amy Grant, DC Talk, Newsboys, Jars of Clay and others inspiring me to pursue the dream myself. I have always wanted to do it.

I mean some of it is just having fun gigging with your mates, but obviously we are about making Christian music and so there has been an ultimate goal in all of this as well.

In the end, I just really love great songs and that’s at the heart of what I do every day. I believe that you can dress up the song however you want, but in the end the song’s gotta just be super good.

Jared Haschek performing on keys for Compliments of Gus (background) with lead singer Justin Gall (foreground).

Q: I’ve heard you are sometimes one of the first to hear today’s biggest pop songs as they are released. Can you share your secret and how today’s pop music may contrast with today’s Christian equivalent?

One of my clients is a sheet music company and each Friday my inbox will be filled with a release or two where I am tasked to transcribe the music so that musicians around the world can learn to play the songs.

I’ve been fortunate to do this for some of the world’s leading pop artists like Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and others and it means I am critically and intentionally listening to today’s best pop music every week as it is released.

There is a massive variety of genres I work on, from lo-fi to electronic to country, but by deconstructing the songs and rewriting for sheet music, I feel I naturally have a good handle on what makes today’s best pop songs.

Unfortunately, I feel the large majority of Australian Christian musicians aren’t hitting these targets; or indeed not even getting close. 

It’s one of the things that frustrates me about the Australian Christian music scene. There’s so much music out there, but I will only listen to a song more than once if the song is killer and the production is smoking.

“Unfortunately the large majority of Australian Christian musicians aren’t hitting these targets, or indeed not even getting close.”

Q: How do you think we can change this?

One thing is song selection. Even during my active days in Compliments of Gus, there was an occasion we were playing some new songs to an industry person and we were asked directly, “Would that song be in your top ten?” When we said it wouldn’t be, the answer was, “You should just get rid of it then.”

My example also proves the importance of a second (or third) set of fresh ears. In today’s age where you can easily produce music yourself, you lose a second opinion. More often than not, there aren’t the labels and A&R who are filtering out quality and/or improving songs so they reach a higher standard. Instead, artists produce themselves, mix themselves, master themselves and more often than not, once released the song just sounds “okay”.

As I mentioned before, everything goes back to the quality of your songs. You are not going to minister to anybody if they’re not listening to you. If you have something to say, then you should have words that are clever and compelling. Ultimately, your output needs to be genuinely terrific if we want people to choose to listen to our songs over Lauren Daigle and Taylor Swift. Being world-class is just the price of entry, both to get on radio, and into people’s personal playlists. 

It’s also important to set your demographic. For instance, Australian Christian radio have a set demographic of what they are after. I’ve worked with local artists like John Newsome and Kate Westwood and by defining and understanding what their music goals are, we have been able to produce accordingly and achieve some airplay success.

Compliments of Gus Band lineup is (L-R) Rebecca Haschek, Nathan Plumridge, Justin Gall, Matthew Young, & Jared Haschek.

Q: What about festivals, touring and recording?

Obviously there were some earlier festivals running that did a great job for their time like Easterfest, but no longer exist. Today though, I don’t believe that just starting a new festival and bringing in artists will fix it. Any new festival would have to be started organically from the grassroots for it to be successful.

In regards to touring, I think that maybe some of the hustle has disappeared that we need to pass on to the younger generation. Back in my band days, we would play a tour from Melbourne to Brisbane and back, playing little shows in towns along the way every night. Or over a weekend we might go to Sydney and play at a Friday night youth group, a Saturday night youth group and Sunday morning church, Sunday night church and then come back home, i.e., 4 gigs over a weekend.

We would do a mix of ticketed events that we ran ourselves, and church-run events where we would be paid a set fee. Our aim was to try and earn around $1,000 a month, which would let us record an album every couple of years.

Early on we were playing a lot, but as we got older we fell into a rhythm of doing about 20 shows a year for the last decade of the band’s life. The intense touring of the early years gave us a solid foundation that set us up for the second half of our life of a band where we could make good music without burning ourselves out.

Q: The last Compliments of Gus release was in 2013, so the last question has to be whether the band is going to get back together again? 

You heard the rumour here first — stadium tour incoming! Ha ha. Well, we all remain very good friends and have an active group chat going, so who knows.

Follow Jared Haschek:

• Instagram: @musicguy76
• Website: www.jaredhaschek.com

___

Images courtesy of Jared Haschek, Compliments of Gus and Wikimedia Commons.