Ryan Hayes is a busy man these days. Fresh off the Feb. 11 release of Sugar House, the album he co-wrote and performed with American Idol alum and fellow Voice contestant Jon Peter Lewis, Hayes is back to doing what he loves most: writing songs.
Sugar House is the first album for Midas Whale, the name Hayes and Lewis gave their duo. East Idaho Live sat down with Hayes and got a glimpse into the mind of this prolific songwriter.
In the midst of a 50-song, self-imposed songwriting challenge on Facebook, Hayes is as deep into his craft as any songwriter can be. “I’m a prolific songwriter, I do lots of songwriting all the time but as far as shareworthy stuff I don’t really have much. I usually don’t share anything until it’s completely ready to go and big. This whole project is to help me to feel free to share music without making a big deal out of it.”
In addition to his contributions to the Midas Whale album, Hayes also co-wrote with local musician and songwriter Garrett Sherwood for the popular rock opera, Deep Love. Although he contends that he “doesn’t work well with others,” he certainly has a knack for working with some great musicians and songwriters. About the Midas Whale album he says, “There’s a certain way that I collaborate, it’s ‘you go in your corner and I’ll go in mine and we’ll meet in the middle and sort through everything and see what we like’. All of the songs were either Jon’s or mine, none of them were co-authored."
When asked about his specific method of songwriting, Hayes reveals “I’ve always believed the quality of the song isn’t in how well it’s recorded or how good you are at singing it. The quality of the song really comes down to the melody of the tune. It’s more of a melodic thing that connects with people and it really doesn’t take a lot to make that happen.”
For fans hoping to get a sneak peak at some future album cuts from his “50 song challenge”, Hayes says he doesn’t think any of the songs will end up on a Midas Whale release. “I have so many projects in the closet that I’m working on. Something I would like to do with these songs is making a songbook. I don’t know if all of the songs will be songbook or CD quality but if, by the time I hit 50 (songs) and if I have a lot of support, I might consider doing an acoustic album.”
As with most songwriters, writing is his passion. But as many find out, the business side of songwriting is ever present and can sometimes get in the way of the fun.
“I’ve lived that dream during the past year. Music has paid the bills, which is very rare. But there are many business aspects of music that I simply do not enjoy. I’ve never made a dime off of music until this year. Working on music in the past has always been thing of passion. I feel like it was more rewarding then. I’d like to think that I’d be happy just doing music all the time but it’s hard to say if that truly would be fulfilling if I were always involved in the business side of it. I’m not a man of business.”
For other local songwriters hoping to follow in his footsteps, Hayes offers these words of advice. “Just write as much music as you can and be willing to look at what you’ve written objectively to be able to determine without bias if what you’ve written will stand through the ages. If someday all digital devices and CDs were gone, would your melody be able to relay person to person? If you can create lyrics and melody that is timeless then I think it could definitely pass down through the ages.”
Hayes would love for that songwriting passion to begin at an early age “Young kids have such a greater potential than adults for creating, and they should create as much as they can while they’re young. Don’t get stuck on one song, just put everything they have out there. I would have been mortified if I had written down or recorded all my stuff when I was young and then come back as an adult and listened to it. A lot of that stuff was just garbage. But it’s what made me who I am.”
Keep up with Ryan’s 50 song challenge on Facebook and be sure to check out the Midas Whale release “Sugar House” on iTunes.
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