Calum Hood
Calum Hood is an Australian pop artist and musician, best known for being the founding bassist of the Australian pop band 5 Seconds of Summer. Since joining the band in 1998, he has developed an extensive repertoire of songs that are extremely popular with the audience. In fact, his songs have consistently ranked within the top fifty of the most listened to albums in the United Kingdom and Australia. He has also won a number of awards, including Breakthrough Music Awards and Australian Music Awards.
The band began when Benmont achieved sudden success after playing several shows at the Sydney Opera House as a member of No Limit. His musical interests spanned many genres, but ultimately led him to focus primarily on bass. Though not particularly experienced as a bass player, he found the experience to be extremely enlightening. After leaving No Limit, Calum formed his own band called Hoodia, which still remains active today. In addition to bass guitar and vocals, the band utilizes other musical instruments like keyboards, guitar, and horns.
Calum plays bass well, but is best known for his amazing voice. His energetic high pitched tones have helped to develop a whole new audience for himself. Some of his best songs include “Body” from Body Electric, and “Hooked on Something” from Out of Control. Other highlights of his career include hits like “Hooked on Something”, “Slip Slips” from The Offspring, and “Tear It Up” from Megadeth.
Though Calum is primarily known as a bass player, he does have his moments when he goes to bat in the outfield. In 1992, he played left field for the Scottish pop group Pentangle. Though he didn’t play right field, it can be assumed that he had some exposure playing for the band. Two years later, he went back to playing left field in a different Scottish pop band called Back to the Future. While no one can confirm whether Calum was watching the game or simply hanging out with the other players, it’s a safe assumption that he did watch, because he wore a dark brown leather shirt that corresponded with the Scottish football team. Whether this is true or not, it’s a nice little bit of insight into what the Calum Hood wears beneath his heavy-duty work clothes.
In early September of 1988, at the opening night of Sydney Opera House’s new residency, the opening night bash for the theater company, a young man named Calum Hood approached the stage in a black leather suit, bow tie, and pressed khaki pants. Though it’s unlikely that anyone behind the wheel noticed that he was wearing a syringe on his arm, Calum’s presence was definitely noted. He started off by performing a short piece that featured him singing and playing his harmonica. Though the audience wasn’t blown away by his singing voice, they were impressed by the unusual looking white glove that he was trying to play with. It wasn’t long before he put the harmonica inside and disappeared into the night, but the mystery man who’d been spotted by the opera house chef was back in the spotlight the next day, playing the lead role in the musical Cats.
Though it hasn’t quite been confirmed that showman or artist supplied the original version of “Cats”, the most common version of the story that has circulated states that it was originated by a male singer that Calum Hood was responsible for writing. Although nobody is sure who wrote Cats, it is thought that the inspiration actually came from a number of artists that represented Australia during the late nineteen eighties and early nineties. With so many talented artists that performed in and around Sydney at that time, there’s a good chance that a lot of their recordings leaked to the public at some point. As such, any links to this original version of events will probably be sourced from Internet blogs and fan sites. Though it hasn’t been officially confirmed that Calum Hood actually composed the song, he did get picked as a star in the musical Cats, which is what has given him extra exposure in the music industry over the past few years.
