A milestone day: Four years of passion and perseverance
“He is a really good songwriter, and that is basically where it starts.”
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It’s been about four years in the making, but the big day finally arrived on Wednesday for Southland musician Lachie Hayes.
Hayes released his first full-length album to the world. An album titled Subsatellite.
It’s the result of some obvious musical talents, but also a lot of hard work.
About four years ago, Hayes hired Blair Savory’s recording studio in Invercargill.
Savory has transformed some old horse stables into a recording studio.
That day, Hayes went about recording his songs like he had done previously. There was just him and his guitar.
“He was happy with that, and he just wanted them mixed, and he was keen to release them as they were,” Savory told The Tribune.
It was after Hayes left the studio and Savory listened to the songs again that he became even more impressed.
“I asked him if he would be interested in trying to take the songs further.”
Savory wanted to try to help give the songs the best chance they could to flourish.
They then hired New Zealand music icon Delaney Davidson as a producer.
“To be honest, that was the best decision because our goal was to create a professional sounding album that was authentic and cohesive and Delaney was instrumental in making that happen.”
Davidson took the songs in demo form and put his personal twist on them.
A band was formed alongside Hayes and Davidson with John Dodd on the bass, Matt Ward on drums, and fittingly Hayes’ Dad Steven playing the fiddle and pedal steel.
They spent a week together in the studio in 2022. It involved three days of rehearsals before the songs were recorded in a live setting by local recording engineer Tahne Brown.
In amongst all of this, Savory and good mate Shane Evans set up MASSAV Records. The idea was to play a role in helping put Southland music on the map - and in this case, Lachie Hayes.
Evans has a background in marketing. In 2021, he was named New Zealand Marketer of the Year.
Evans had returned home to Invercargill after working throughout the world and was keen to get involved. He co-founded MASSAV Records alongside Savory.
It’s been a labour of love for the pair, with both Savory and Evans juggling family and work commitments while helping Hayes in his music journey.
Savory said it was the passion for music, as well as the belief that Hayes’ work deserved attention, that had fuelled them to keep going.
“At the moment, we are his record company, management team, booking agent, we are his distributor, and we are his ideas team.
“We’ve invested into it financially, but that’s nothing compared to the time that we put in.”
Savory doesn’t hide from the fact that it is “ridiculously tough” to make money in the music industry.
The process has been a massive learning curve on how the industry works, but Savory added that it has been a lot of fun along the way.
Hayes first caught his attention after Savory had moved back from London to Invercargill, and he was promoting shows in the city at the time after setting up MASSAV Productions.
Jenny Mitchell was another Southland musician who stood out to him.
“His songwriting,” Savory said, regarding what he liked about Hayes.
“He is a really good songwriter, and that is basically where it starts.”
After that week-long stint recording in the Invercargill studio in 2022, Savory and Tahne Brown edited and mixed the songs before another recording session was done at Sublime Studios in Kurow to put the finishing touches on the album.
The songs then went to the UK to get mastered by a well-known mastering engineer who goes by the name “Streaky”.
He has an impressive CV, including working with the likes of Ed Sheeran and Kasabian.
Hayes then released three singles, and Auckland publicist Blackout Music was enlisted to help get Hayes' name in front of a wider audience outside of Southland.
It even led to appearances in Woman’s Day and The Listener, which is not where a lad who grew up on a farm in Tokanui probably imagined he would end up featuring.
The next step was to get the album pressed on vinyl, which was done through Auckland-based company Stebbing.
Then Wednesday came, the day of the official album release. It was a moment for Hayes and others involved to cherish.
“The goal at the start was to have a record, a vinyl, that we are proud of and sounds awesome.
“We’ve got that, I love it,” Savory said.
Subsatellite is now out on the various digital music platforms.
Invercargill-based video production creatives Second Beer has also gone about putting together two music videos for the songs titled This River and Subsatellite from the album.
Community Trust South came on board with a $2000 scholarship grant contributing to help cover some of the costs in making that happen.
With the album now released, the promotional drive now ramps up further.
Hayes is scheduled for a Thursday morning appearance in front of the country’s biggest radio audience, Newstalk ZB Breakfast.
Hayes will also be playing live gigs to promote the album. That quest is to get him performing on bigger stages throughout New Zealand.
“We’ve got him on the bill for the New Zealand Cider Festival in Nelson, and that’s the start.”
The journey to date obviously hasn’t put them off, with plans already in place for a second Lachie Hayes album.
“We’ve come this far; we might as well push on with it. This game is a marathon, not a sprint."
Songs have been written for Hayes’ next album, and they are in a very raw demo form at the moment.
Savory isn’t sure of the timeline for when that second album might be released, but he expects it will be a quicker process the second time around.
“The thing is with this album, we learnt a lot about the process as it was the first time we had done it. It definitely took longer than it should have, but doing it properly was non-negotiable.”
Blair Savory is the brother of Tribune editor Logan Savory. This article has been written and published on its news merit, as any other potential article would be.
Southland music identity Chris Chilton has reviewed Lachie Hayes’ Subsatellite. These are his thoughts:
It’s been a while percolating in the ether, but finally the total immersion Lachie Hayes Subsatellite experience is here.
Massav Records’ first homegrown Southland album release is well worth the wait.
The southern Southland alt-country/indie artist’s full-length album debut spans a rich and wide spectrum of his prodigious songwriting capabilities, all the way from tender balladry to stonking, dirty rhythm ‘n’ blues.
He’s aided and abetted in his artistry by noted Kiwi producer/musician Delaney Davidson, whose off-kilter sonic flourishes provide a visceral palette for Hayes’ musical expression.
The vibe is retro, and there’s a fascinating swirl of pop culture elements at play.
Here is a surreal kaleidoscope world of dimestore cowboy novels, gun-slinging outlaws, lonesome-hearted lovers and mean-spirited sons of bitches who inhabit a dark, edgy soundscape on the dangerous side of town. Maybe riding a skateboard.
The gritty, smoky 60s western vibe is only made grittier and smokier by Delaney Davidson’s spooky, 60s sci-fi treatment, tremolo-drenched guitar stabs and shimmering organ riffs.
Some of these songs no doubt started their lives as 12-bar rhythm ‘n’ blues-infused country songs strummed on Hayes’ educated acoustic guitar. But when they’ve been submerged in Davidson’s full-blown noir treatment they take on other lives, at times menacing, at times heart-breaking, all delivered with the measured, lizard-like inevitability of a gun-slinger stalking a dusty street with a murderous squint smouldering from within the shadow of his Stetson.
Lachie Hayes is an intuitive lyricist, and clearly a romantic at heart. He’s got a natural-born gift for telling a story, and a talent for getting to the essence of it without having to paint the laundry. He sings them like he means them.
In Lonesome Hearted Lovers there’s a world-weary, mournful quality in his voice as he resigns himself to his solitary fate. Dwell on this, if you will: “My heels they will be forever worn, and my voice it will age like tainted wine/And I will bring my strings so I can sing songs about the rangers that I’ve learned along the line, all of whom are by far more romantic/Full of devious acts and gallant antics/And lonesome hearted lovers so charismatically inquiring when you are returning home.”
Wow. That’s some insightful wordsmithing right there.
The mood gets desperately poignant in the great, brooding single This River, but then rises above of the misty surface to rejoice in the chorus, “for all the blues I sing there’s a love song every once and a while”.
He switches to pure vengeful rage on S.O.B., virtually spitting the lyrics out over an almost jaunty two-four backbeat that heightens the tension and malice of the lyrics.
Kudos here to the great rhythm section playing on Subsatellite – Dunedin veteran bass master John Dodd and Invercargill drumming chameleon Matt Ward – who lay down a supportive, always intelligent groove, and to Lachie Hayes’ legendary dad Steven “Hayzer” Hayes, who countrifies the vibe with fiddle and pedal steel.
Hayes calls in a couple of guest cameos from Kayla Mahon, harmonising on Fire In My Heart, and Oscar LaDell, who adds joyous, soulful falsetto whoops and hollers on Easy To fall For You.
All guns are blazing as the album closes with the funky, punchy r’n’b-injected rocker Woman That Tamed the Devil. It’s a glorious, impactful bookend for an engaging set of songs.