We previously featured Hayley Sales as one of our #musicmonday artists, and we recently had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Hayley about her music, her causes, and her plans for the rest of the year.
Hayley will be back in Vancouver on October 7th to perform at the Chan Centre at UBC. We highly recommend going to check this show out. Meanwhile, enjoy the interview!
asapmusicblog.ca: So you grew up on your parents’ blueberry farm in Vancouver Island, and now you’re back home – what’s it like coming back and performing where you grew up?
Hayley Sales: It’s really fun, actually. I actually lived in Washington, DC, and then Portland, Oregon, and then L.A. – so I’ve lived a lot of places, but I’ve been [in Vancouver Island] since I was sixteen, and I love it! I want to perform more around the Island and Vancouver and BC, because there’s something – it’s like your home. It’s really nice to have people come out and support you and [to] realize that they’re your locals, they’re your really direct fan base. I’m loving it – I hope I get to do more and more in the near future.
A: So what’s the support been like from the community?
HS: So far it’s been really amazing! When I’m on the Island, even in my teeny little town, I’ll pack the venue. It’s like, ‘Aww! You guys care!” – even though [they’ve] seen me so many times since I was sixteen, so it’s nice to have people supporting local music.
A: That’s awesome! So a lot of your lyrics incorporate nature, the environment – you have a lot of these positive, good messages that I think a lot of artists need to follow in your footsteps. Is that something that you consciously consider in your songwriting, or does that just come out naturally?
HS: You know, that’s an interesting question because I think it’s conscious – I think about it all the time, it’s a big part of my life. The environment, especially oceanic preservation right now, ‘cause I’m a surfer and I’m really becoming aware of everything from marine life to the actual ocean itself is definitely getting destroyed right now. I think it’s partially that I think about it all the time and that I’m living it, but also conscious, because I do want to spread the message and I really do think it’s extremely important that people our age realize that it’s our job now. Unfortunately it has been handed to us, in a way, so we really need to start being aware of it at least, even if we can’t take too much action – at least being aware of it.
A: Talking about songwriting, you mentioned in a previous interview that songwriting, you don’t feel like it should be “forced”. In the music industry today, it’s all very pre-packaged, and people [tend to be] set-up with songwriters. You’re pretty hands-on with your career, and your songwriting. Do you feel that is an advantage for you?
HS: Definitely. I feel really lucky in a way that I do get that much control over how I am presented to the world. I think most artists or musicians or performing artists – whatever you want to call them, it is very image-based. Fortunately or unfortunately right now, so many of the songs are written for them. Universal [Music] has been amazing, they’ve never even proposed the idea that I co-write a song or have someone help me. But I do remember when I was younger, turning down many deals with big companies because they’re like, “You’re great! Now, here’s our songwriter that you’re going to write a song with.” And I [was] like, “No! That’s my thing!” – I might not be the best songwriter in the world, but at least that’s my voice? So I do, I feel really lucky that first, I’ve been writing songs so long, so I can write songs that I [got] to grow up doing it, and also, that I’m allowed to. So I really have a lot of say over how the music comes across, how I come across. I really don’t want to ever be hidden behind ‘Hayley Sales’ – I really just want people to see me for what I am, and that to be kind of freeing in a way. Because then they’ll maybe realize, ‘Oh, I can be myself and I could succeed like that!’ – instead of having to put on a face, and dress up, and sing a certain style that’s a hit on a radio station.
A: You’ve talked about how you’re into oceanic preservation right now, and all of the issues that the Earth is dealing with. When did those topics become important to you, and why?
HS: I’ve been raised with them – kind of like that social, environmental awareness – I’ve been raised with it, which is amazing, but I’d say even more so in the last couple of years, because it’s becoming so obvious. Even until the last couple of years, you could kind of be like, ‘Pft, it’s not happening!’ – but if you look at all the horrible weather that’s happening, like the crazy weather that’s happening – it’s really becoming pressing. It’s not something we can dismiss anymore. People are dying, the world is really not in a good place. So I’d say more so in the last couple of years. Before that, it was more like I wanted to go volunteer at an orphanage in India, stuff like that, so more people-based? But now I realized, people aren’t going to be around if the environment isn’t, you know, kind of corrected. So now that’s really become my big thing.
A: And you stepped up right before the whole Gulf thing, especially.
HS: Yeah, I was watching one of those funny late night shows and one of them said like, ‘You can tell what our scientists have been paid to do, obviously not fix the problems that could happen, but create the oils’. So, I think it’s really time for people to start spending money and time, and our energy as a country and as individuals in figuring out the solutions – and on preservation, and being self-sustaining, you know?
A: Being a – well I guess you’re not completely Canadian, an adopted Canadian musician.
HS: (laughs) Dual, right? I’m adopted – I’m both!
A: Exactly! So being an adopted Canadian musician, what are your thoughts on the current Canadian music scene?
HS: I think… you know what’s amazing is how many [legitimate] artists come out of Canada. Actually, I’d say Canada and Australia. If you look at what’s popular right now, a lot of people are from these countries, and I think that Canada’s music scene is amazing. I do think it takes a lot longer to get known because we’re getting a lot of American stuff constantly fed to us. So I think it takes a little longer as a Canadian artist to break, but then when you do break, you know you have that many years of experience and you’re that much more ready. I think the most amazing thing about the Canadian music scene is how supportive the government is. In the [United] States you don’t get grants for touring from the government, or to record an album, or to do a music video. So, I’d say Canada is a pretty amazing place to be an artist, in that way.
A: Are there any Canadian artists that you follow?
HS: That I follow? People I’ve toured with actually – I really respect Justin Nozuka, Bedouin Soundclash, and also, obviously the legends, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, and even Sarah McLachlan – they’re all Canadian! It’s amazing when you actually look at whose famous, how many [of them] are Canadian.
A: With the latest album ‘When The Bird Became A Book’, do you have a favourite track off of it, and why?
HS: You know, it changes, pretty much… it changes a lot. I’d say there are [about] three songs that I’m really happy with. One would be the first track, and I actually wrote that song about a week before we started recording, and it’s actually going to be the next single, ‘Just Pretend’. I wrote it about the guy who is now my boyfriend, who is an Australian, who I met on tour – he was in the audience, and I kind of liked him and I wrote him a song, told him he needed to come see me – and it worked! So I’d say I really like how that song turned out. The song ‘Anywhere But Home’, the more mellow song, I just feel that the song is incredibly me. And the last song, ‘First Flight Home’, I think it’s more of a ballad, and more epic, and I really kind of like that. I think it could be cool in a movie, or something. And it turned out totally different than I had expected, I wrote it on guitar, and then I don’t know if you’ve heard of The Cat Empire – they’re an Australian band that’s really cool. The keyboardist actually did a lot of the piano/keyboard on the album, and came up with this amazing organ part, totally changed the song, and I love it!
A: It’s a more dramatic track off of the album.
HS: Yeah! What’s funny is [that] I had a lot of [similar] songs that did not make the album, but they’ll probably make the next one, so it might be more dramatic! I kind of like that it’s leading up to, it kind of opens up the door for the next album to be whatever I want it to be.
A: So you’ve had a busy few years, you wrote your debut album when you were nineteen. What have the last few years been like for you?
HS: It was a lot of – well, it was kind of fun. I had about a year off, which was strange ‘cause I switched management, which was pretty intense. So it was a lot of lawyers and stuff like that, but I got to just go to the West coast to the Islands and surf for awhile, and write songs. And pretty much that happened, and I went touring before that, and then I recorded the album, and now I’ve started touring! And I’ve gone to Australia tons, because of my boyfriend. I’ve been all over the world, and I’m loving it – I love the traveling aspect.
A: That’s awesome. So what’s planned for the rest of the year? You’ve been touring a lot so far.
HS: Yeah, I’d say continuing to tour, and also releasing the album – you know, obviously in the UK and the States and everything. Finding the right label, I don’t just want to go to Universal necessarily, unless they get me, but to find the label that really backs music and just release it. So I guess it will be me following my album all over the world, and hoping to get in a couple surf sessions in between, and maybe do some volunteering and what not. Just be involved, to keep myself active.
A: And the last question, it’s more of a contribution. Every week we do a playlist, and we were wondering what songs you’ve been listening to on your iPod. About five to ten songs…
HS: Oh, ok! So, Angus and Julia Stone, they’re Australian, ‘Mango Tree’ – that song. Temper Trap, ‘Sweet Disposition’? Mumford & Sons, the song… I think it’s ‘Little Lion Man’. Uhh… oh my god, it’s actually kind of hard, isn’t it? The John Butler Trio, ’Better Than’. I’m just naming random songs now… let’s see, who are some other really cool other artists right now? Black Kids, ‘I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You’. How many more do I have to get in? I’m going to think about this later, and go, “Ohh! I forgot that one!”
A: You know what, you can e-mail us the rest of the songs later.
HS: Yeah! At least those five [for now], and I’ll think about the next ones.
.
A huge thank you to Hayley Sales and Universal for the interview.
Want to find out what the rest of Hayley’s playlist is? Check back with us on Thursday for the full playlist, and we’ll have a contest for some autographed Hayley Sales pictures. 🙂
