Steph Hayes is back to perform a CD-release show for her latest effort, “Made to Change. ” This new collection of songs represents a departure for the local out singer-songwriter and bandleader, who wrote and recorded most of the diverse collection of songs while on a creative break from the band she’s most known for in the area, Steph Hayes and The Good Problems, as well as the rigors of touring the country both solo and as part of a band.
Hayes talked to PGN about the creative process that formed her new album and what the near future holds for one of the harder-working Philly musicians.
PGN: Your new CD has been in the works a long time, right? SH: It’s been about two years since I started making it. I had absolutely no intention of releasing a record. I had started playing gigs with Mike Pfeiffer, who has a band in Doylestown called Mike Pfeiffer and the Associates. He and I had struck up such a good musical kinship that we started recording together on a very casual basis. He had a home studio. I think both of us were in a phase where we were unhappy with the direction we were going in. We just needed to take a step back, rethink things and kind of have music on a different basis where it wasn’t something that was so business. It’s just for fun. Nobody was looking over our shoulders. We just wanted to act like kids in the basement and just goof around and be creative. We didn’t do it with any other members of any bands. It was just the two of us. So we had no schedules, intentions or plans. It was strictly a creative endeavor at first.
PGN: Is this new album a departure stylistically from what you would be doing with The Good Problems? SH: The Good Problems, we were busy. We were gigging a lot. This was two years ago. I had been touring a lot myself. I had reached a point where I was burnt out from touring and wanted to do something a little different. I had reached a point of frustration from what I was doing and I wanted to free myself up. I knew that I wanted to continue doing music but I had just worked myself into a corner. I just needed a change of atmosphere musically. I kind of just went to Mike’s house to goof around. I was going up there a couple times a month. I’d usually go in with an unfinished idea and we would just come up with sounds and wacky ideas and throw it down. The two of us would play all the instruments, which we don’t normally do. We’re both guitar players who sing. So we really stretched and pushed ourselves to do other instruments and do all the tracking ourselves.
PGN: As a professional musician, did you have any trepidation about taking a break from performing on the road? SH: I did. I was very wrapped up in touring. I thought it was very important to stay on the road. My experience being out there was that the opportunities come to those who work for it and they’re out there. It’s just a matter of putting in the effort. It’s kind of a self-supporting thing. Other musicians will help each other with booking. There’s this great interactive community that exists out there on the road who are doing this, but it does take a lot of work and you need to put yourself out there and you need to keep going back to the same towns and venues. You start at nothing and you build it. So to make the decision to come off the road was difficult because I felt as if I was taking a step backward. But my experience with a lot of music is that you have to go where you’re happy. For me, I have a hard time sacrificing my creative state of mind. I think that’s a step backward. I was unhappy touring for a while and I needed a change of pace. I need to protect my muse more than anything.
PGN: “Made to Change” is basically two stylistically different EPs. Is there a lyrical theme connecting the two sides? SH: I think the lyrics are definitely tied together. That’s probably the one thing that is static throughout it. The lyrics are philosophical about a number of themes I’ve been interested in lately. One of the themes which is really important to the record is difference between science and nature. Throughout the years of humanity, there’s always been this separation of thought between religion and spirituality versus science. I’m very interested in that topic. When I was on tour, I devoured all the Dan Brown novels and a lot of those deal with that issue. This is something I’ve been interested in for years and years but then I got reinvigorated in that topic.
PGN: Are you going to favor one EP over the other for your CD-release show? SH: I’m going to do a mixture. I’ve put together a little impromptu band to put together the “Wired” side, the rock side. So Mike Pfeiffer’s band is going to be my band to perform that side of the record at the CD release. The show will be in two parts. The Good Problems will do the “Vines” parts and we’ll also play songs from our previous records.
PGN: In your experience, what venues in Philadelphia have been the most supportive of you and your music? SH: The Tin Angel for me, since the Stargazer Lily days, has always been good to the local musicians. I’m pretty invested in the Grape Room these days. It’s owned by Scooter, who used to be the drummer for Stargazer Lily. So it feels like family for me to be a part of the Grape Room. I spend a lot of time there. It feels like my hometown place. I’m excited to be doing my CD-release show there.
PGN: After your CD-release show, what’s next for you? SH: Being that the CD took so long to record, I’ve built up some extra songs. I would like to go back in with The Good Problems and do some recording over the winter. I don’t know to what end. It could be another EP or an Internet-only release. Then I’d love to get back on the road. I think it’ll be the spring that I’ll be headed back onto the road.
PGN: Are you going to go more rock or acoustic on your next batch of recordings? SH: I think I’m always going to bounce back and forth between those two things. In a positive way, I have this battle between two sides of music. I love to have an electric guitar in my hand. I love to make a lot of noise and rock. Then the flip side of me is I love the acoustic, quiet, thoughtful, pensive, emotional songs as well. I’m really inspired by those two things. I love Simon and Garfunkel as much as I love Guns N’ Roses. Both of those things are important and balance me out. For me, I’m kind of saying I have this balance between male and female, quiet and loud, electric and acoustic, the negative and the positive. I’m trying to express all those things that exist as a paradox for me and for everybody. There’s a lot of other musical avenues that I’d like to pursue as well. There’s a lot of kinds of music that I haven’t really gotten deeply into yet. If I could be in a recording studio six months out of the year, I’d be a happier human being.
Steph Hayes performs at 9 p.m. Oct. 16 at The Grape Room, 105 Grape St. For more information, call (215) 930-0321 or visit www.stephhayes.com.
Larry Nichols can be reached at [email protected].