In Session: Haley Moley

ALBANY – Dropping their first full-length record today, electronic-rock band Haley Moley has released quite an amazing collection of tunes with Everybody Wins! Danceable, with solid bass guitar foundations – incredibly uplifting instrumentation to match the polar-opposite sardonic lyrics – there’s a ton of material on here that can very easily make its way onto people’s playlists.

Knowing they have a show tomorrow at The Hollow, I had a chance to sit down with Jennifer Coleman. What follows is our conversation, in which we discuss the record, influences, and more!

For more information on their release show at The Hollow, please click here.

Lucas Garrett: Thanks for sitting down tonight! You just released an album today! I got a chance to hear it and I’m very impressed!

Jennifer Coleman: Well, thank you very much! We’re very proud of it.

LG: There’s a lot going on in it. The name is pretty funny. How did you get the name, Everybody Wins?

JC: I believe that name came about after a lot of discussion between all of us; there was a lot of back and forth on what the title would be. I originally wanted to call it “Hazy Fiction,” which is a lyric from “Somebody’s Fool,” but I was outvoted! Haha. I think Everybody Wins is a cheeky title and suits the vibe of the album.

LG: That’s another thing I wanted to talk about. The whole album, for the most part, is very uplifting instrumentally…

JC: Yes.

LG: But if you listen to it and pay attention to what’s going on, the words don’t match what you’re hearing.

JC: I love that observation because it kind of speaks to some of our influences – or, mine in particular. I think the songwriting of The Smiths and The Cure… they’re things we were influenced by in general. Probably mainly Paul and me, but the others to an extent. They do that exactly as you’re describing: the lyrics are very dark, and the music is incredibly boisterous and uplifting. That’s what happens with the chemistry of what we’re doing when you combine all of our vibes.

LG: It was really entertaining to hear.

JC: Great! I’m so glad.

LG: I heard a lot of stuff on it, from the late-1970s New York CBGBs, to the early-1990s type of post-rock stuff.

JC: We all come from dance music to some extent – electronic music. But we all have different interests in terms of rock. Pat and Mike really like the Grateful Dead. I don’t. So, we’re kind of divided by that. The fact we have those really separate kinds of interests in terms of what we want to bring to it makes for a difficult-to-categorize band.

LG: Whatever Pat is doing on the bass for this album… everything else that was on the song was able to sit right on top of that bass!

JC: He’s fantastic for sure.

LG: It made for a great bedrock of music. I told you earlier, when I heard some of the record, I was like, “Now they’re sounding like Blondie! What’s going on here?”

JC: I’m from the eighties and seventies in terms of age and influences so I’m not surprised that’s coming through a bit.

LG: This is your first full-length album, correct?

JC: It is. We put out two EPs and singles over the years, but this album has been brewing for a long time. We’ve made a couple of different attempts to record it over the years, and this final product was mainly recorded a few months ago all over again. We’d scrapped an original recording from a couple years ago.

LG: What made you say, “Now is the time to make this record?”

JC: Most of the album was recorded in March, and then we re-recorded some in November. We’d been meaning to do an album for so long and we finally had cultured all the material we’d been working on all these years to the point where it felt ready and we felt really solid about these tunes.

LG: One of the things that I’m sure you know as an original artist is that it can be hard to get people that don’t necessarily know your music yet to lock onto it.

JC: That’s true and it’s not true. There’s so many ways to find new music now that I think people are more open to it. I’m always looking to hear new stuff. It makes it harder to be heard, I think is what you’re saying, to come above all the material out there. I think there’s an appetite for it, so if you can get a little foothold, you might be able to reach people that really feel it and respond to it. And, that’s great.

LG: These songs you’re putting out, they’re great. They hit you right in the middle; they have that great underlying rhythm. I feel like that makes it easy for people to be like, “Alright, I might not know this, but I really like it.”

JC: Awesome. I’m glad to hear that. We’re so close to this material that it’s very difficult to anticipate how people will respond to it in general. it’s great to get feedback like this. Thank you.

LG: I hear you have a show tomorrow at The Hollow?

JC: We do, and we’re super excited about it. It’s a great lineup. It’s going to be our last show for a good long while.

LG: Why’s that?

JC: Pat and Andrea are having a baby in April. We’ll see. Maybe they’ll want to get out once in a while and make some music. But we’re allowing for the idea that it’ll be a hiatus of some length.

LG: The Hollow’s an amazing venue.

JC: We’re psyched.

LG: What else do you have going on? Any plans or aspirations on the horizon?

JC: We’re debuting a song we just wrote. We all have a lot of creative energy that I don’t expect is going to spot. We’ll probably keep working whenever we can get together at all. We’re going to definitely keep working on things. Paul and I are still doing Architrave. That keeps us going; working musically.

LG: Now, really quick. Where did the name Haley Moley come from?

JC: I’ve been a DJ for 25 or more years. My DJ name is Jennifer Haley; that’s my middle name, Haley. Paul has an electronic project called Mount Mole. When we started making electronic music together in 2015, I thought it’d be funny to riff on the phrase “holy moley” by putting our names together Jennifer “Haley” and Mount “Mole”y. Which, in retrospect, was a really dumb name, but here we are!

LG: I like it! I don’t think it’s dumb at all.

JC: I wish we’d picked something different but it is what it is.

LG: C’est la vie.

JC: You got it!

LG: Is there anything else you want to talk about?

JC: I hope people will come out to the show! We’re huge fans of Roost.World who’ll be playing with us. They’re from Burlington. It’s incredible live dance music, reminiscent of LCD Soundsystem. They’re incredible.

Natural Classics will also be playing. The lead singer, Britny, is the wife of our drummer, and Josh, the drummer of Natural Classics used to be our drummer. It’ll be a real family affair and we’re just super excited. Also, the Honey Collective DJs will be playing between bands. That’s me, Andrea from Haley Moley, and Britny from Natural Classics!

LG: Well, I hope you have a wonderful show!

JC: Thanks so much for listening and interviewing us!

LG: I’ll be in touch soon. Have a good night.

JC: You too, thanks, Lucas!