Interview: Hail talks about writing music & her top tips on a career in the industry
- hotpinkmusicuk
- Aug 9, 2020
- 4 min read
This week, I got a chance to speak to Hayley, who works under the alias of Hail about her new single 'A Stain In Time' as well as her musical career so far. Hayley is a twenty-six-year-old gothic rock musician from Southhampton, whose music is inspired by bands such as Evanescence, Paramore and Pretty Reckless. She contacted us here at Hot Pink Music and myself and Kay loved her new track, wanting to ask her more about it while learning more about her as an artist.
Hayley started her singing career in school choirs, not taking it seriously until she was about eleven when she saw her grandad's choir perform with a girls choir which she later joined. She explained that she started out by taking singing lessons with them and that the lessons quickly turned into three classes a week accompanied by musical theatre, music theory and competitions. In her teen years though, she discovered the emo scene. Hayley explained "I knew that was the kind of thing I wanted to sing. I still dabble in lot's of genres for work, but rock and emo music is definitely what I want to pursue." As a well-performed artist, Hayley told us that her favourite thing about live music is the rush she feels when people are singing or dancing along with her, as she loves when music makes people happy.
As I previously mentioned, Hail recently released a track called 'A Stain In Time" which me and Kay are huge fans of! We asked Hayley about her songwriting and how the song came about. She told us that she only started writing her own music two years ago, before that performing with covers. She told us "I wanted to write my own songs, but I wasn't sure where to start! Then, I entered the Open Mic UK competition and afterwards, I was offered an opportunity to work with a producer." Hayley continued, explaining that the competition not only helped her songwriting but taught her about promotion and the professional music process. She also told us that she studied creative writing as part of her university degree and that she's found the process of writing music very different to what she's previously written and at times has found it very challenging. In terms of writing her new track, Hayley explained that she was inspired by evanescence's earlier work and that the music came before the lyrics in her creative process as the music created images and words which formed the setting of the song. She further expanded that she'd never intended to write about the dark themes the song explores, but it ended up tieing into the other themes of her previous releases, which she describes as "a happy accident!"
We moved onto the topic of women in the industry, discussing specifically what things discourage women from a career. Hayley told us her opinion on this, saying "We're all told that working in the music industry is a really difficult thing to shoot for as there's so much competition. There's also no sure-fire way to get into the industry or even a guide. I think that's enough to put anyone off!" She also explained that she wonders whether female artists are put off as famous female musicians are so sexualised by the industry. Hayley expanded, talking about how the industry puts such a focus on body image, meaning that wonderfully, talented girls are quitting before they even begin, worried about the industries beauty standards. Talking about how to encourage women HAIL told us that she thinks there needs to be more resources and materials out there to educate/encourage people to pursue musical jobs, whatever gender. She highlighted, however, that for women, the industry needs to show a bigger variety of females, rather than the perfect looking pop artists, as although this is fine to aspire towards, it doesn't represent all women.
With all of her knowledge and experience, I wanted to know Hayley's top tips for our readers who may want to start a musical career. She advised that aspiring musicians should continually focus on their music career in some shape or form, as even though she knew she wanted to sing, for years she was very half-hearted about going to open mics or putting herself out there. Hayley said that she felt like she'd wasted time but really was just learning the hard way. Another piece of advice Hayley gave was taking jobs in entertainment where possible. She explained "my day job is at a UK based holiday park and it's been a great way of building my confidence! There are lots of like-minded people, tonnes of opportunities to sing and you get to learn how to be confident both on the microphone and PR-ing with people, which is what the industry is about."
Next up for Hail is an EP, which she hopes will be finished by the end of the year. Myself and Kay can't wait to hear what Hayley will release next! As always you can find all the links you need to listen to Hayley's music as well as keep up to date with what she's up to on social media.
Ruby x
Links to Hail:
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