Jeff Hayman - Stories in Music

About

Hi, I'm Jeff and I'm an Australian songsmith who immigrated to The Netherlands in 2008. I've been working in theatres as a stage technician and performing my original music on local radio, festivals, living rooms, bar and anywhere that might fit my style. I am married to an awesome Dutch woman and we have two boys together. While I'm not a professional musician I do take my craft seriously.

In highschool I started writing poetry as a way to overcome my crippling social anxiety. After I left school and got a job I saw how much harder being social was. A couple of good guys I knew played guitar and helped me learn and soon I was turning my poems into songs. From there I chose to use my new skills to tackle my fear of being in large groups. After showing my songs at local jam nights I knew it was something I needed to keep doing. From there, the rest is history.

Over the years I would become inspired by my friends, family, life events and other artists. People like Chris Whitley and Chris Cornell and bands like Crowded House and Pearl Jam have really influenced my style and direction. Among my original songs I also have a few covers up my sleeve when I play a show.

If I was going to try to describe my music as anything it would be raw, vulnerable and a little bit brutal. When I perform I try to pour every ounce of my soul into it. Even if you can't connect to my lyrics, I hope you'll be able to connect to the emotion I'm feeling when I perform. I have a few songs recorded that you can find on Spotify and BandCamp (see the links below) but I find my music truly comes to life when I'm connecting directly to an audience. It doesn't matter if there's two people or two thousand people, I make sure that I squeeze the last bit of energy out and not hold back.

If you come to one of my shows make sure you come over and have a chat. Music has helped me break through that social anxiety barrier so let's take advantage of it and talk about life. See you soon!