His Then and Now Tour is rolling through regional Australia delivering a soulful vocal-driven retrospective drawn from across his entire catalogue.

Sebastian has been working on new material leading up to the tour and some of that work will be included on the playlist.

“It was quite fun going through my old albums picking out the sings I really enjoyed performing,” Sebastian told The Border Mail.

“It’s a bit retrospective but also, I’ve been writing for a few months now and there’s stuff there that I feel are some of the best songs I’ve written ever, I think.

“I feel like I’m back to basics, singing soulful ballads and the tour’s going to be the same.

“I’ve got a simplified version of the band because I wanted to focus on the vocals … it’s more organic but less of all the looping stuff I’ve done in the past.”

Sebastian, a “sheltered church kid singing church music”, was catapulted to stardom when he won the first season of Australian Idol in 2003.

At the time he was reluctant to enter the competition, eventually pushed into it by his mates, and despite the accolades Sebastian admits the early days of his career was sometimes tough going.

He dismisses the suggestion it was on an easy path to success.

“I’d be the first to admit that was a very fast way to get into the industry but it wasn’t an easy course,” he says.

“Idol wasn’t easy, even in X-Factor they’ve got mentors, I was a mentor on X-Factor, to help them, guide them and give them advice.

“On Idol we chose our own songs, we were thrust into the public eye. It was the first one.

“I remember my very first ARIAS, there was some people I really looked up to in the industry that came up to me and said some horrible words, just the fact that I’d gone through the TV thing … legends of the industry coming up to me at awards nights, telling me I’m not worthy of being here, telling me I’m a hack.” 

His record clearly proves early detractors were wrong.

Sebastian has released nine top 10 albums, including two number ones.

He’s had 21 top 20 singles, with 12 reaching the top 10.

No other Australian male artist has matched his six number one singles and two number one albums in chart history.