Hayden James Is More Than ‘Just A Lover’

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Hayden James Is More Than ‘Just A Lover’

Words by Chris Thompson

Hayden James is no stranger when it comes to pulling on them lush house heart-strings. It’s been an unstoppable ride for the Sydney-sider since the success of his 2013 smash hit Permission To Love.

He’s Melted clubs and festival floors worldwide with follow-up releases Something About You and recent burner Just A Lover along with a slew of remixes.

2016 has been a whopping year for the Future Classic signee – and with the miles, he’s accrued through touring you’d aptly crown him king of the Qantas Lounge.

Mid-flight through his mammoth tour – we caught up with the hopeless romantic to talk Future Classic fam, signature sounds, and his love song dedications.

Chris: When did you get started as a musical producer, and what twists and turns has your sound gone through to arrive at your current point?

Hayden: Good question. I started writing music not too long ago. The first track I released, Permission To Love in 2013 was kind of my first venture into producing for myself at least. I’d been in a few other groups, like DJ groups, and I’d played some guitar and some synths and stuff in other disco bands that weren’t really my vibes. Yeah, I started producing for myself about 4 and a half years ago. Before that, I’d just been DJing out of uni, and that’s kind of how I got the bug to start figuring out how to play and to write music.

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C: Awesome, what made you want to move from DJing to producing your own tracks?

H: I guess I wanted people to sing songs that I’d made instead of other stuff. I was getting sick of just DJing, it was just like jukebox DJing in clubs, and people weren’t coming to see me, they were coming just because they know that hip hop is played in the clubs. Started to get demoralizing after a few years, and I just wanted something more.

C: When you released ‘Permission To Love’, did you feel like you were onto something massive?

H: I liked the track, I mean I really liked it. When I first showed my managers at the time, they didn’t really like it that much, they were like, “What is this?” I remember showing it to my label, Future Classic, and they really enjoyed it. I remember, we put it on SoundCloud at like 10 am the morning it was released, and at like 12:30 pm I remember Louie somehow getting a copy of it and playing it on Triple J that day. I was like, “Holy shit.” That was really good for me. From then I knew, I was like, “Okay, I think this is good.”

C: Yes, it’s great. Heaps of people said that the most incredible part of ‘Something About You’ was the vocal hook. What was it like working with George Maple?

H: She’s such a super talented singer I had to get her on that track, her and I sang all the verses, so it’s like a blend of both of us pitched down low. I wrote the whole song in like two or three hours, but it took a few weeks to produce up and be where I wanted it to be structurally, but George was awesome to work with.

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C: You’re on tour at the moment, what’s the global reception been like for Just A Lover and how do you find translating love to the audience?

H: Oh, nice. I just came back this morning from my first Asian tour, so it’s just like 6 shows in 8 days, which is pretty hectic. It was crazy; it was an amazing, amazing time and my first time there. That was really good. Then next week is the beginning of the Australian leg. I haven’t toured in Australia since the ‘Something About You’ tour and that was about 18 months ago. I remember in Melbourne playing the Shebeen, like this tiny little room. I think I played three nights there, and it was just awesome fun.

C: What piece of kit in your studio and your live setup could you not live without and why?

H: I’m going to have to say it’s my Prophet 08, it’s a Dave Smith synthesizer. I pretty much use it in every song that I’ve ever made. It’s just got a beautiful sound, and I just know it really well, so I’m pretty comfortable with it. I don’t bring that on the road, though. On the road I love my, I bring this little mono keyboard. It’s a Korg MS-20 Mini. There’re lots of wires poking out of it, and it looks very vintage as well, so there’re lots of knobs to twist and lots of fun to have with it. I play a lot of bass notes and stuff on that, and a lot of effects and things. That’s that.

C: Your tracks tend to sort of flex in and out of love and romance, are you a hopeless romantic, or does that resemble a point in time with yourself?

H: I am. Permission To Love was actually about me asking my now wife’s permission from her folks to marry their daughter, so it all started from there. I couldn’t show her when I wrote it because she’d be like, “What’s this mean?” I’m like, “I can’t tell you yet.” I guess my songs are really, really simple, not only in production but in the message also. For me the truer that is, that just comes across I think.

C: Being part of the Future Classic epic artist Bill, do you and the crew get to chill out and hang out, or collaborate, or bounce ideas off each other?

H: Yeah definitely. Everything’s kind of all over the place overseas. I’m in Sydney and Flume lives maybe 100 meters from me, but we’ve never hung out here because we’re always touring. The last time I saw him was in London at one of his shows; I was playing the following night. Yeah, you kind of see each other all over the world. Even the Rufus boys I saw the other week in Chicago at Lollapalooza. It’s more like the travelling festivals when you actually hang out. That being said we always talk on the net, I speak to the Odesza guys, Touch Sensitive, and Flight Facilities all the time. We send each other ideas, so that’s good, it’s a really good family vibe.

C: What else you got cooking in the studio?

H: There’s going to be another single out this year, and I’m working on a remix as well which is very exciting, it’s a big one for a well known Australian band. A lot is going on for the rest of 2016 along with a potential Album in the works. I’ll keep you posted.

Hayden James Just A Lover Tour Dates AUS

Fri 2 Sep | Perth | Villa Nightclub

Sat 10 Sep | Adelaide | Fat Controller

Thur 15 Sep | Sydney | Metro Theatre

Tickets available HERE

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