Gemma Hayes @ The Lobby, Cork, July 8th, 2001
If Gemma Hayes ever makes it into one of those pop encyclopedia things, she will
probably get a mention in the 'Female Acoustic Singer Songwriters' section along
with Tracy Chapman and Suzanne Vega. But Ms. Hayes is not just the next name
in a long list; she has her own style and the songs she played in The Lobby had
enough surprises to already make me look forward to more.
It was busy, hot and smoky in The Lobby. Opening act Keith Moss threatened to
strip off and kept the crowd entertained with his witty songs and chat. After he
forgot his own lyrics he encouraged the crowd to ask for their money back (but
with the proviso that they demand the Lobby-manageress books him again!)
Shortly after he had finished, I detected a cloud of sweet perfume between the
smell of sweat and cigarettes. I turned around and it was Gemma Hayes making
her way to the stage. She had brought a drummer, a bass player and a guy whose
task it was to permanently tune her guitars. "I still can't tune myself,"
she explained.
It is clear that Hayes is influenced by Joni Mitchell - her open guitar tunings give it
away as does the fact that she opens her heart in her lyrics and can sing 'I can't
find love' without sounding pathetic. But just when I thought I had figured her out
there, all of a sudden, was some distorted guitar as hard as a brick wall. Everyone
was wondering where the guitar player that had just joined was, but the distortion
came from Gemma's acoustic, with the help of some pedal. It was a trick she
repeated twice.
Hayes is justifiably proud of her new EP, a taster of her upcoming album. "I'm
gonna be saying this all night, but this song can also be found on my album,"
she kept saying. The things that inspire her to write songs vary from her love
life to a documentary on Discovery Channel about a bird that pretends to be
dead (in 'The Lucky One'). She sang sensitive ballads, but also catchy
up-tempo songs, such as 'The Back of my Hand' and 'Can't Stop the Wheel
from Turning'.
What was a great gig ended with the Stones' classic 'You Can't Always Get
What You Want'. The night that preceded was such that I could forgive her
for changing the words and leaving out not just the intro, but two verses
and the song's end.
With Gemma it's not a haze. See for yourself.
Stan van Haasterener
www.cluas.com/music/gigs/gemmahayes-cork.htm
Gemma Hayes @ Whelan's, Dublin, July 12th, 2001
The last time I saw Gemma Hayes before tonight's gig was with about 30 other
people in Doyles pub on a Tuesday night in the depths of winter as part of the
Ruby Sessions. Tonight saw her play to a packed Whelan's. As a certain Mr. Gray
discovered, word of mouth can be a marvellous thing. So how did she fare?
The short answer to that is fantastically well. She took everything in her stride,
and at her own pace, including an extremely inefficient and unfunny heckler.
It helps to have one of the best bands in the business playing with her.
Brothers Dave (the Frames) and Karl (ex Mary-Janes, various bands now)
Odlum playing guitar and bass respectively and Paul from Bell X1 (possibly
the most talented drummer around) providing backing vocals as well as
taking drumming responsibilities. The backing vocals are a treat, with his
and Gemma's voices perfectly suited to each other.
Before tonight, most people would have been accustomed to seeing Gemma
playing support to various people around Dublin with only her guitar for company.
However having a band with her tonight meant the songs took on a different
complexion, with Gemma unafraid to let loose, and put her guitar through a
fuzz pedal. This meant we saw a Gemma who rocked, as well as the one you
can listen to when you come in at 4:35am after a night out.
Her songs stood up to scrutiny, encompassing the Irish nation's favourite
themes of love (I Can't Find Love), nature (The Lucky One) and religion (My God).
Some people might claim that explorations of such themes are unoriginal and
past their sell-by date, but I believe that as long as the writing is sound,
who cares what the themes are? And believe me, the writing was VERY sound.
The highlights of the night for me were Dave's slide guitar on Evening Sun
(a song that you could easily see becoming a summer anthem) and my
favourite song of Gemma's, Stop The Wheel, which finished up the night.
Rather endearingly she wanted to stop with that, because she felt that
as they had run out of rehearsed material, if they continued on, the gig
would have ended on a farcical, downbeat note!
Tonight encompassed everything that's great about Gemma, her wry lyrics
(an approximation of one song's being "He was getting married on the
Wednesday, and he was buried on the Monday, his girlfriend is due in
three weeks, she's my cousin, my mothers gone off the rails, she's praying
that the child will have straight teeth"), and beautifully picked guitar,
which built up to a magnificent rock-out with the mantra "My sweet
prayers they ain't doing nothing…", a mantra which at this rate will
have to be altered to reflect the growth rate she is having.
My only hope is that Source (her label) do not start marketing her as
an extremely pretty woman who can sing and write songs, because in
reality she's an amazing songwriter who just happens to be pretty.
Ciaran Wrenn
www.cluas.com/music/gigs/gemmahayes-dublin.htm |
