Today we’d like to introduce you to Aubrey Hays.
Hi Aubrey, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Ever since I can remember, I’ve been performing. I grew up in a community theater program based out of a children’s museum in Gulfport, MS. My mom has directed musicals, plays, and theater for youth since before I was born. For years, I was convinced I wanted to be an actor. I got my BA at Vassar College in Drama. I realized that professional acting was really for me, at least not at the time I graduated, and so my senior year I began to focus on songwriting.
It felt like a truer expression of…well, me. In acting, you were always inhabiting someone else’s truth. With songwriting, there’s literally no one else that can tell that story the way you can. I used songwriting since the age of seven as a coping mechanism. I think it’s really important to give kids healthy tools to cope with what they’re going through.
I don’t know what drove me to perform for the first time, but rumour has it that I stood up at the age of three while we were riding in a horse drawn sleigh through the snow on a family reunion trip. I was apparently moved by all the beauty and stood up to sing Somewhere Over The Rainbow. Honestly that tracks, because I’m pretty schmaltzy. I cry every day about something. Beautiful things, sad things, happy things, cute things. It really doesn’t matter, I’m just veryyyyy emotional.
In addition to all the acting, my family had a country/bluegrass band. We competed every year at the Colgate Country Showdown. One year we opened for Blake Shelton at the Crawfish Festival (before his rise to fame of course). I also played weddings and special events since the age of 8, which I still do today. Currently, I’m learning how to DJ and will be working that into what I already do with music.
But anywayyyyy….when I graduated college, I had a job at an Austin start-up set up. I moved down within three days of graduating, started this new job and new life. I quickly realized I wasn’t cut out for the traditional office job kind of life. I quit, traveled the country for a month, and then came back and started playing open mics. My first gig was at Kick Butt Coffee and since then, I’ve just been building up an audience and my rep.
It’s kind of wild to think about having been here for almost seven years. It’s the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere other than my hometown. Austin is home for now. Although that wanderlust keeps calling, don’t get me wrong. Haha.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Oh wow. I don’t think that any artist’s journey has been smooth. Haha.
I know this may not be the place to mention this, but making art is expensive. And most artists are choosing to sacrifice some part of their quality of life most times to make it all happen. It’s insanely difficult to have a healthy work/life balance as an artist without outside funding (especially in a city with rising living costs). My recommendation if you’re booking someone is to have a flexible budget and expectation for what that artist can provide at that cost.
Basically, there’s an ever-present dichotomy in my head where I’m debating spending/raising 10K for an album or saving up to buy a house. So I think it’s worth mentioning that if you can support artists by donating, buying merch, or what have you that you should do it.
I’m actually in one of my most bumpy periods to date. Post pandemic, I had a few gigs I did. I went out there and did the thing, and it didn’t feel right. I was anxious about performing, about getting COVID (which I eventually did), and about the fact that I’d been performing my entire life without questioning if it was what I really wanted to do. The existential dread got realllll.
I’ve been in a rest period for publicly performing my original music, and I’ve realized that it’s super important. I think in order to sustain a healthy lifestyle as an artist, that you almost need seasons of work. It’s impossible to keep all the balls in the air all of the time. So I’m trying to be a bit more methodical in my approach now while keeping my nervous system in check.
I’m getting excited about performing and music again. Experimenting with new sound worlds and show formats. It’s gonna be so cool to come back next year with something unique and exciting.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Oh gosh. I definitely identify as a performing artist. I specialize in music and I think I’m known for my voice. Songwriting is my real and true passion….but I’m also a very passionate person in general.
This past year I directed, performed, produced, body-painted, choreographed, and edited my very first music video for my song “Statue.” The whole process was so much fun, stressful but fun. I like to push myself with new creative formats and this was definitely that. It’s definitely the thing I’m most proud of to date.
I guess I’m also known for my involvement with voting/voter’s rights. I have been a registered Volunteer Deputy Registrar for the last three years. I register voters at my shows and all that jazz. With so many new folks moving into Austin, my hope is to register more voters in the area…tell your friends. I might even become a notary so people can see a show, register to vote, and get stuff notarized. Haha.
I’ve talked a lot about my feelings and passions and crying, and I think what sets me apart from others is my vulnerability. I’m deeply emotional and I think that comes through in my music. My influences range from classic country to heavy metal, so my music is really for everybody. I write songs about stuff I care about, which is true for most artists.
I also think that my training in theater, specifically my specialization in Shakespeare, influences my lyrics. If you want to become a better writer, sit down and analyze some Shakespeare. I could literally sit for an entire hour analyzing one page of his work. It’s insanity and so incredibly beautiful.
My creative work continues to evolve with my interests and necessity. Being a modern indie artist requires SO many different kinds of skillsets. I’ve learned how to edit photos, videos, produce music, write social media copy, style myself, coordinate schedules, and lead a band. There’s probably more in there, but this career path is no joke. We are all doing it all by ourselves until we can afford not to.
I’m always picking up random opportunities that challenge me as well. Most recently, I was commissioned to write music for a children’s play on climate change through the perspective of a sea turtle named Banner who travels the ocean with his ocean buddies. My favorite part of that was digging into a soundscape for a plastic forest that they have to escape. Lots of ARP synths and plastic wrap are processed through crazy distortion filters.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Personality-wise, I was pretty nerdy. I’ve always been a huge nerd. I was not really outgoing, high-strung, and just a general overall musical theater kid.
I was in choir, dance, theater, and pretty much every extra-curricular I could get into. I ran 13 miles a weekend for fun…I’m not sure why. It almost seemed like I had a ton of energy to burn and nowhere to put it.
I didn’t have a ton of friends, was definitely unpopular…probably because I was too busy with all the extra things that I did. I learned how to have fun in college I think. Eventually, my mom told me “Aubrey go to a party and get a B, it’s ok.” I was shocked. Haha.
I derived a lot of self-worth from accomplishments. I won acting awards, received an award from volunteer excellence from the Governor of Mississippi, and was a semi-finalist in a national Shakespeare competition. While I’m still driven to succeed, I’m not deriving all my self-worth from that anymore…thank goodness.
Leaving home was an important step for me, I moved from Gulfport, MS to upstate New York to go to Vassar College. I didn’t know a soul. I’d never even been to a sleepaway camp so I was experiencing some serious homesickness. But once it subsided, I started to kind of grow into myself. Something I’m still doing today.
I think my interests then are very similar to what they are now. Music, art, dance, etc. Taking time to slow down to appreciate the things that would have sparked joy to me as a child is a huge part of me taking the time off to recalibrate. I think we need to be kinder to those inner children that were dealing with so much.
Contact Info:
- Email: aubreyhaysband@gmail.com
- Website: www.aubreyhays.band
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aubreyhaysofficial
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AubreyHaysBand
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/aubreyn0tdrake
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/aubreyhays
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7EkVefqb9jBxjCtjZFSS7x?si=gyrGonPoQTegkLp-yeRKfQ
Image Credits:
Show photos by Bethony Harnden of Capture House Photography BTS Statue Music Video by Kate Griffin Yard photos by Aubrey Hays + Taylor Turner assisting
