He’s the Jimi Hendrix of the Hammond Organ, a player who can pump, pamper and occasionally pound the most unbelievable sounds from a keyboard: sounds that are intense, ferocious and sometimes transcendent.

Lachy Doley’s keyboard has powered acts as diverse as Bernard Fanning, Jimmy Barnes, Powderfinger, The Beautiful Girls, Jimmy Little, and The Widowbirds. Now he has a second album with his own band – the Lachy Doley Group.

“Singer Organ Soul” is a tasty slice of what the band sounds like live – pumping with energy and good times, and featuring both Lachy’s 1957 Hammond C3 organ and his custom-modified Hohner Whammy Clavinet – the only such machine in the country.

Lachy Doley's group has played over 100 shows and festivals around Australia since the release of his first solo album in 2011; many more if you count his excursions as one half of The Hands – the dueling keyboards band he established with his brother Clayton. With the release of “Singer Organ Soul”, he will embark on a thirteen date national tour, including the Queenscliff Festival.

Earlier in 2013, Lachy was headhunted by Deep Purple’s Glenn Hughes to record a new version of “Highway Star” – a project designed as a tribute to Deep Purple’s legendary organ player Jon Lord who died last year. Alongside Lachy, the recording featured Glenn Hughes, Steve Vai and Red Hot Chilli Peppers drummer, Chad Smith. More recently he proved the hit of this year’s “Blues on Broadbeach Festival” in Queensland.

Lachy’s musical life began in Adelaide when his mother hooked up with a pot smoking blues musician named Barry who would often jam with the young Doley boys amid the chaos of their slightly dysfunctional household. With guidance from Barry and inspiration from piano players like Jerry Lee Lewis and Otis Spann, Lachy and Clayton started playing live while still schoolboys.

Their early gigs, booked by Barry, would often have an element of surprise. When Lachy was just 13, he memorably played Adelaide’s Old Exchange Hotel – his keyboard stylings accompanying a troupe of strippers during the lunchtime show.

After leaving school, Lachy packed his Hammond Organ and Leslie Speaker in the back of a poo-yellow Mitsubishi Sigma station wagon and headed for Sydney, quickly scoring a role with Sydney’s legendary blues band The Mighty Reapers. An international tour with the band Karma County soon followed.

Lachy was still a teenager as he toured Europe, Canada and the United States.

He remembers the first gig in Rome, playing a festival of Australian films in which they screened the Aussie classic 'Two Hands'. Says Lachy: “It's quite surreal hearing Brian Brown say 'Terror-dac-tile!' in the thickest Aussie accent through a huge PA right on the river in the middle of Rome.”

Next up, at age 20, he then joined Jimmy Barnes' band. "I was shit-scared on my first show with Jimmy Barnes,” says Lachy, “and some technical malfunctions didn't help my cause. After fussing about for ten seconds or so to find the right sound for the intro of 'Working Class Man', I hear this high-pitched, angry, screaming voice say 'Just play the fucking song'. I soon settled into the madness and was lucky enough to tour Europe again the following year, this time with Jim."

Back in Sydney after that tour, Lachy and Clayton joined forces to create The Hands. It was a musical celebration of good-natured sibling rivalry – the two brothers working to outdo each other on a series of joyous tracks that still seem like bottled sunshine. Two albums captured the sound: “Live and Breathe” (2003) and “Everything Is Wonderful” (2008). The latter included the single “More and More and More” which became iTunes’ Single of the Week and received widespread radio support.

In between their work as The Hands, both brothers continued to provide their musical muscle to some of the country’s most successful bands. In Lachy’s case, the relationship with Powderfinger proved particularly enduring – beginning with keyboard work on the 2003 album Vulture Street and then, from 2007, to him joining the band onstage for numerous tours.

On “Singer Organ Soul” he is joined on bass guitar by Jan Bangma (Lisa Mitchell, The Hands, Boy And Bear) and drummer Adam Church (Utopian Babies, Oblivia, Shannon Noll).

Recorded at Jimmy Barnes's Studio/House, the album captures the feeling of a live performance, with few overdubs. It’s a contrast to the more produced sound of Lachy’s first solo album 'Typically Individual Conforming Anti-Social'.

The new album also features “Six Feet Under” - a duet with Simon Meli, the Widowbirds frontman and long-time Doley collaborator. Meli, whose mesmerizing performances have made him a longtime favourite on the Australian independent music scene, gained a whole new audience via his star turn as the ‘white dude dancing” on the most recent series of The Voice.

So gather around the nearest speaker, press play and experience what a keyboard can do when offered the Lachy Doley treatment.