The Michigan Review

Hayden Ends Summer Doldrums

by Chris Hayes

I don’t think I have to tell any of you loyal readers that fall is just around the corner and it is time to get your rock & roll groove on. This is extremely important to me because (to be rude and crude as I am expected to be) shows this summer sucked. However, this fall looks rather promising. With Massive Attack and Getaway Cruiser doing shows very soon, the fall looks good.

Adding to this stellar fall line-up is an intimate show at the Seventh House in Pontiac on October first with Juliana Hatfield and Hayden. I will spare the details of Juliana — just go.

I have been a fan of Hayden since I started writing for the Review. Hayden’s first album, Everything I Long For, received much praise from critics’ when it was released a few years ago. Most of the album was recorded in Hayden’s own bedroom on a simple four-track recorder. Hayden’s raspy lyrics accompanied by his acoustic guitar possessed a musical honesty and rawness that was amazingly beautiful, especially in a time of sampling and electronic beats.

In May, Hayden released The Closer I Get, the follow up to his debut. Much more polished and professional than his first album, The Closer I Get offers a new set of perfectly written songs performed very differently than his debut.

The Michigan Review had the privilege of speaking to Hayden about both albums, art, and his honesty in respect to life and more importantly, himself.

Michigan Review: It sounds like you just woke up.

Hayden: No, I’ve been up for seven hours. This is what I sound like.

MR: Where are you at and what are you doing?

We’ve been in Baltimore for three days now. We’re playing tonight.

MR: Are you with Juliana Hatfield already?

No, I’m touring with a band called the Tragically Hip. This run has been two weeks so far. We just got done with a week of shows in New York.

MR: Did you know the Tragically Hip before the tour?

No. We are all from Canada, but the five shows in New York was the first time we played together. I’m doing four more shows with them and then we go to Japan for a week. I start with Juliana the first week in October. I think the Detroit show is my first show with her.

MR: How did you get started in Music? What led up to the release of your first record, Everything I Long For?

I was living with my parents when I was casually recording that record. I was twenty-one or twenty-two. I was writing songs when I would get home from work and I was putting them down on a four-track right after I wrote them. It was usually the same night and I would just leave them like that. After awhile I had enough songs to fill a cassette. I started playing shows and selling my cassettes at the shows. I recorded a little more and went into the studio and recorded four songs, and that is what made up Everything I Long For.

MR: There is an obvious change in the sound from that album to The Closer I Get. Is it because you found resources more readily available, or has your music evolved in a way that the sound on the two albums comes from different song writing?

I think it is a combination of both. The one thing I tried to make sure of is that I used what I had available. I wanted to make an album that I wouldn’t have been able to before. That turned out to be a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. I made a decision to work with three or four different people in different studios as opposed to recording with one person. That was good because it made a lot of different situations occur that added to the record. But that took over a year and there were a few wasted moths. So it kind of evened out in the end.

After playing for five or six years and learning how to record better, as well as learning what I like more, my style has changed also.

MR: Your song-writing has a unique way of making you into a storyteller, in the traditional sense of the word. It is pretty rare to find this approach in modern musicians. What is your approach to your song-writing?

When I think back to the time I was putting those first ideas onto tape, there really wasn’t a decision to tell stories; it just came out that way. I have always been a fan of short stories.

I like to be moved by something I read or I hear, and I know I am not always moved when I listen to songs. Maybe I figured that if I was going to write music, I was going to do it a certain way...I don’t know. I don’t think about stuff like that except when I’m asked about it.

MR: How has your song-writing changed from one album to the next?

I really enjoy adding a few different instruments to songs when I record them. I think some songs don’t stand on their own with just an acoustic guitar and my voice anymore. I have a lot of fun adding textures to songs. As far as lyrics, I went through a period in my life where I was writing songs and not really thinking at all about who was listening to it. At the time, I thought maybe a hundred people would be listening to my music and that changed drastically in between records. I think more thought went into some of the songs on The Closer I Get, and I don’t find that to be necessarily a good thing. It keeps changing every time I do something.

MR: Does the music industry and life in Rock & Roll have a large influence on this change and this concern with your own music?

I guess it has made me focus on different things. It makes me focus on what I am doing at that given time as opposed to thinking about what I have done and what I want in the future. It keeps me thinking about the present.

MR: What do you find most difficult about the music industry?

It is difficult to mix business with art and some people are better at it than others.

MR: What about yourself?

I don’t think I am so good at it. Hopefully, if I am able to stay focused on what I want, it won’t really matter. If I do things for my own reason and not because of outside influence, I won’t be bitter at anyone else because then I forced my own destiny. I definitely will be more comfortable being angry with myself than at others.

MR: What do you find most gratifying about being in music?

The feeling I get when the music comes together — whether it be in the studio or during a show when everything goes right. Those are the moments I tend to remember.

MR: How do you deal with criticism?

I would be fine if someone says I suck in an article. I went from a lot of critics liking my first album to a lot of people not liking my record right now, and that has been a little weird. Yeah, that bothers me, but I don’t feel comfortable complaining about it too much because of all the great things that have happened I my career.

Sure, it is one of the annoyances. I mean, I have people sending my record and my picture out to everyone trying to get them to say nice things about me and how can I expect them all to say nice things, because everyone is different.

MR: If you suddenly lost your ability to play, sing, and write songs, what would you do?

I would do something in art. I got into graphic design just working on the art for my albums. Or maybe I would go to Guatemala and take an oil painting course.

MR: What would you like to be doing a year from now?

Basically just doing something I am really, really happy about and proud of. Whether it be some instrumentals or a new album, or whatever. Whether it is with a band or just an acoustic guitar and my voice. It could be anything. I am not really picky about anything specific as long as I am excited about it. If I’m not, I won’t do anything. The last thing I want to do is be some jerk who puts out an album he isn’t proud of. I fully realize anything can happen in a year. That is why I don’t think that far ahead. There are a lot of outside forces that can happen when you least expect it. After Everything I Long For was released in the States, I was touring and was convinced that was what I wanted to be doing. By that time, I had been playing those songs for close to three years and one day after two months of touring I realized I wasn’t happy doing it anymore. So I just stopped. Two weeks later I was given an opportunity to do a song on a soundtrack that turned out to be one of the best experiences of my career thus far. If I didn’t stop touring, I never would have had that chance. Weird little things seem to happen when you least expect it.

MR: That is all the grilling I’m going to do. I will definitely see you on October 1.

Yeah, come say hello.

MR: Do you usually come out to watch the rest of the show?

Oh yeah. Unless I’m in a terrible mood. Then I’ll stay in the bathroom.

MR: OK, I will hunt you down and say hi...unless you’re in the bathroom — that may be a bit awkward.

(Slight laugh) Cute. MR

This article was published in the 16 September 1998 edition of The Michigan Review (Volume 17, Number 1).
For questions or comments, see the Contact Information page.