HAYZE OFFICIAL BLOG

DISCOVERING NEW MUSIC

2010-02-06T10:56:00.000-08:00

For the last couple of days I've been searching the web to see if we are on all the sites that folk use to discover new music. After all if no one knows we are there how will people discover our blustering melodic rock 'n' roll?

It has been quite a interesting process and I've discovered a few new tracks and bands myself which is always good. I thought I'd blog about some a couple of the sites and hopefully you too can discover some gems (and a couple more Hayze tracks ;-)).

So the first site I came across was Choosik.com which allows artists to upload their music and sell it while allowing fans to buy it and rate it. Fans can rate the song on a number of different categories such as vocals, instrumentation and production quality. The great thing about this site is that it's made up of independent bands, you won't find U2 or Oasis flogging their tuneage here! The great thing about this site for an 'indie' band is that you can actual feedback from fans and interact directly with them....a great way to build and to get to know your fanbase. iTunes is great but for bands like us it is very hard to connect to the people buying our music....we thrive on capturing user data and Choosik.com really helps (or at least it will now we've got our songs on there).

I next stumbled across mufin.com (short for music finder) this site works on the similair principles to lastfm and pandora. By searching for bands are songs you like it will find other songs that match the 'essence' of that song and recommend tracks to you based on this analysis. After uploading Hayze tunes I did some discovering of my own. I started off by typing in 'The Stone Roses' and selecting their belting track 'She Bangs the Drums'...after selecting to preview similair tracks I discovered a track by Bad Religion that I didn't know called Broken - a top little tune. Mufin gave me the option to buy the track, add it to a playlist and view the video of the track from Youtube (embedded in their own funky player!). On top of this they also have an array of apps including their own iTunes style player....well worth checking out!

Finally I went to a site called Hype Machine, this works slightly different to the other two sites I mentioned. It trawls music blogs and identifies those that are primarily sharing tracks and generating hype (i.e. lots of posts related to the artist or tune). It then provides a list of those tracks being discussed in popularity order and allows the user to listen to them. I discovered a top notch remix of The Troggs - Wild Thing...The Exo Tai-Tai Remix to be precise!

So there is my little intro to some of the sites I've discovered today....I'd encourage anyone craving to discover some new music to check them out. I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

Here is a video for one of the bands I discovered on mufin...Built to spill...this track is called The Plan. They've been around quite a while but I only discovered them today....the beauty of the web!

PLANS MADE....

2010-01-26T23:53:00.000-08:00

We had our first band meeting of the New Year down in sunny London Town last weekend so I thought it worth to give you a heads up on what you can expect from us over the coming months....

Gigs:
In short there will be lots of gigs coming up, we are going to try and spread our wings and fly to some places we haven't gigged before. Rather than do a full weeks tour this year we are going to do a few days away at a time - cram in a couple of gigs and return to our lair. It will mean we get to play more places and make new friends!

Recording:
We've been writing a lot of new stuff recently and really want to get back in the studio. It's probably going to be May time before we actually commit to some studio dates but are in the middle of recording new demos which we will share with you good good people.

Look out for a new song at our Summerhouse gig on 22nd February...it's called 'Say what I see' and those lucky enough to have heard it say it's a mix of the Stones, Kasabian and Oasis - that isn't too bad is it!!

Speaking of new songs....if you want to have a special acoustic demo of 'lie when I'm lost' then download it from here - Lie When I'm Lost - all yours!

Free Exclusive Music::
When you come to Hayze gigs in the future we'll be thrusting CD wallets in your hands. You'll look at us as if we are slightly mental as there won't be any CD's in these wallets...Don't worry, it is your 'free ticket' to download a bunch of exclusive tracks, including remixes and demos, on-line. The CD wallets will contain all the info you need to log on and unlock a chest of sonic goodness!

If you can't wait for a gig then click here while our backs are turned and you'll get them all now - FREE EXLCUSIVE TUNES

So that's it for now folks...

One thing I am going to do at the end of each Blog is recommend a band I'm currently listening to. If you have any recommendations for us then let us know and it may find it's way onto our blog. My first choice is Brooklyn based rockers White Rabbits and their amazing track 'Percussion Gun'....I love the drums on this, you'll be groovin' I gaurantee it!

DIY PART 1 - HAYZE SPREAD THE WORD CAMPAIGN

2010-01-04T06:32:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

It’s Captain Liza here, the bands manager…Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year! As most of you are aware at HAYZE HQ we've been setting up a DIY Label, Oh Mercy! Records.

We're now calling out to all you lovely folk to be involved, we've put together A FREE SAMPLE DOWNLOAD ALBUM consisting of 7 Tracks - a good mixture of old, 2 New Exclusive Demo's and 2 Fab remixes done by the guys pal BEEBA.

You can download the free tracks from the music glue link at the top of the ‘about’ section on the bands myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/hayzeuk

Once downloaded you can burn onto a CD and we can email you through the artwork which you can get by email me at lizabuddy@hotmail.co.uk

What we'd love & need you guys to do is SPREAD THE WORD by simply sharing the artwork with your friends and getting them to download the FREE music too via the sites above OR email me your postal address and we'll post out CD wallets already made up containing artwork for you to pass onto your mates, work colleagues and anyone else you know!

The website is going under some changes so keep checking in as there will be some interesting stuff coming up in 2010...that you're all welcome to be involved in to help the guys move onwards & upwards!

For those that have TWITTER accounts come follow @hayzeuk as updates will be coming via there for 2010....if you're not on Twitter you can sign up http://www.twitter.com

GRAB your FREE TRACKS & lets start the campaign :)

Cheers

Liza

2009 - A YEAR IN REVIEW

2009-12-22T04:32:00.000-08:00

Well as 2009 draws to a close it's time to look back on the year and reminisce about all thats gone on at Hayze HQ over the last 12 months!

When you're in a band it's hard to 'see the wood for the trees' sometimes. Ok, so there has been no multi-million pound record deal offers but we've achieved a great deal and as I sit here in front of a roaring fire glugging on a mulled wine it's good to be able to chalk off a couple of 'firsts' for the band.

I guess the most notable change of 2009 was becoming a three piece. It's always tough losing a band member especially one who is also a good friend but in this life of rock 'n' roll you have to brush yourself down and get on with things. Powers decided it was the right time to call it day and hang up the telecaster after several years of admirable service. He left on good terms and has taken up the mantle of 'Number one Hayze fan' and even had time to return for a cameo performance in our music video....what a true professional!

One of the 'firsts' for our new trio was working with a Producer, in the past we'd always produced ourselves without really knowing it so to have another set of eyes and ears on the scene was a new experience for us and one that brought great benefit. Returning to Leeders Farm for three days with Nick Brine was also a great big tick in the box for us - what a studio and what top chap!

Armed with three new recordings we officially setup Oh Mercy! Records and launched our EP via AWAL distribution - http://www.awal.com/ - who have also been responsible for distribution for Thom Yorke, Editors and Arctic Monkeys!. Another 'first' was getting our music streamed on We7 and having us grouped next to Muse and Pearl Jam
in the new rock releases section of their website - please do check out http://www.we7.com/ - it's a glorious site and you're only a click away from listening to a dazzling array of music for free!

In June we toured the UK for a week and had some great gigs in Leicester, Leeds, Keighley, London and a pretty special debut in Glasgow which was followed by a visit to a Jazz Club were we spotted Bill Murray playing saxophone. Once the hangovers had cleared we realised it wasn't Bill Murray....shame!

We'd always wanted to make a music video and we got the opportunity to work with local film maker and friend Steve Henning and produced a great little promo for our lead track Can't Take it Away. We had no budget but the 'ace in the hole' was Jim's imagination....without that we wouldn't have had the Hayze puppets and the now infamous purple knickers! If you don't know what I'm talking about then check out our music video here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4lK5uHJxxA (it's currently on 920 views!)

During all this we managed to land a new rehearsal space at McGintys. It truly is the greatest pub in the world and run by the greatest double act since Eric and Ernie. Veronica and Dave - we salute you and all the musical mayhem that you organise, may it continue long into the future!

More recenetly we launched our own brand of chutney, yes chutney! Every band has t-shirts and badges but not many can say they have their own range of food products....maybe Joe McEldery would have gone to number one if he had his one brand of Spicy red onion marmalade - something for Mr Cowell to think about for the next series of the X-factor!

If you want to get your hands on the Hayze chutney then fear not - we are preparing and on-line shop thingy so you can do just that in 2010!

Finally, but probably the biggest change in Hayze, was getting a manager. I've learnt that the music industry is a wierd beast, there are no set rules, no formula to follow, things just happen. One day you can be a rudderless ship, the next you can have a captain at the helm helping to steer you in the right direction. Our captain is Liza Buddy of Chaos & Bedlam Management. She has brought order to our lives and uses phrases like 'social marketing' and 'product'...this is all good and allows Jim, Paul and I to concentrate on the music and throwing TV's out of
windows (or whatever rock cliche we are supposed to book our time against). It's true to say that without her we would be taking a big leap into 2010 with our eyes shut and hoping to land in a nice place. Now we are making plans (as someone once said) and approaching things with a confident stride rather than a timid shuffle!

So that's about it, our 2009 year in review. The first ever Hayze gig was in April 2001 at the Owl and Pussycat in Felixstowe, we played about 6 of our own songs (none of which survive to this day) and a load of covers. It's fair to say we've come a long way since then, shedding some members along the way, it's been a fun ride and it's going to be interesting to see where it goes in 2010!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Pete Hayze

THE MAKING OF OUR MUSIC VIDEO

2009-12-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

Hi all and welcome to our new blog, we will be posting our musings and exciting Hayze info on here for all you good good people to read.

Back in September we launched our new EP, Can't Take it away, with a great gig at McGintys in Ipswich. We also used that gig to showcase our new music video. If you haven't seen it yet then what have you been doing? You can check it out below:

So far its had 898 views which we are really chuffed about. We've also had a number of people asking about how we made it and where the idea came from so I thought my first post on here would be about the video....

Firstly, you can watch some of our other videos at our very own Hayze Youtube channel which can be accessed from here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/HayzeUK#p/u

and some other videos here to do with the making of our music video for Can't Take it Away here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/makebacktime

Here is a taster of one....

The idea for to use puppets in the video came from our very own drumming superstar, Jim Newstead. Being an independent band meant we didn't have a whole lot of cash to put into a video so we thought we'd rely on our imagination and try and make a video that didn't take itself too seriously while still providing entertainment!

Once we had decided on the puppet idea we approached our friend and local film making nut Steve Henning and ask if he'd film it. He was really up for the idea and we began re-learning all our childhood arts and craft skills in order to make the puppets and build the stage....Everything you see in the video was made by our fair hands (apart from the finger drumkit obviously!).

We then asked our fans to provide photos of themselves for the crowd shots and 'hey presto' we had all our props - including a cameo form ex-Hayze guitar hero Powers.

It was filmed in one evening round my house - no need to book time at Pinewood for us...a dinning room table and some table lamps was enough to set the mood.

So that's about it really....we hope you enjoy the video and pass it around your friends. No doubt we'll be making another one soon so stay tuned!

Cheers
Pete Hayze

PRESS INFO GUYS !!!

2009-12-02T17:26:00.000-08:00

ME MAG

LOVE MUSIC 24

TUESDAY BREAKFAST RADIO BLOG

BBC INTRODUCING RADIO SUFFOLK FEATURED BAND:

EVENING STAR NEWSPAPER

Hey Folks, can we ask you for your help? Yes? Cool! We really need your help and it would mean a lot :) when you go to read the pages can you bookmark them and even add to your own sites like facebook, anywhere to help get us out there and spread the HAYZE LOVE about! Thanks so much we love ya!!!!!

EP RELEASE "CAN'T TAKE IT AWAY"

2009-12-02T06:33:00.000-08:00

Bedlam PR: bedlampr@yahoo.co.uk
Management and Booking: lizabuddy@hotmail.co.uk
Phone: +44(0) 7540376642
26th September 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HAYZE RELEASES DEBUT EP “CAN'T TAKE IT AWAY”

The talented 3 piece band from Ipswich comprising Pete Thompson (vocals/guitar), Paul Backhouse (Bass) and Jim Newstead (Drums) are set to release their exciting and energetic debut EP, a move which will thrill their fast growing fan base.

HAYZE are preparing to release their debut EP on 26th September and in support of that will be doing a live show at PJ McGintys, Ipswich on the same day. Ipswich fans are thrilled to have their local boys launch the EP in their home town. Hayze recently claimed their place on the stage at IPSWICH MUSIC DAY FESTIVAL to a crowd of 2000 people winning over the hearts of the festival goers. Also recently back from a UK tour they gained fans in Glasgow, Newcastle, Leicester, Leeds and ended the tour at “The Fly” in London. The tour was a great success and HAYZE are looking forward to playing live shows in support of the EP soon (check website for details).

The EP “Can't Take it Away” consists of 3 new original songs from HAYZE and the re-release of their track “Contours” each providing a combination of their high-energy guitar playing and powerful rhythmic drumming, rawness of vocals (think Stone Roses) and heartfelt lyrics. Its true Classic Indie rock.

“Contours” has already been picked up by Tom Robinson on BBC 6Music.
BBC 6Music, BBC Radio Suffolk, BBC Radio Essex for airplay shines out the promise of an exciting debut EP.
The EP was recorded at Leeders Farm Studio, Norfolk. Engineered by Nick Brine and produced by Collin Legget, between them they have worked with artists such as Oasis, Artic Monkeys, Stone Roses, Primal Scream and many more...

The EP will be released as download on all major sites worldwide, fans are encouraged to visit their website for news on limited CD release at the live show at PJ McGintys on Saturday 26th September 2009 and to checkout further live shows. Become a HAYZE friend and join their mailing list for all updates at :

http://www.hayze.co.uk/