Biography
Jeffrey Hayes was born in 1969 and grew up in the Watchung Mountains of New Jersey. Ten kids, Jeffrey the youngest. Dad´s filling station doesn´t feed the family. When the gas bill has not been paid you put a camping-stove on top of the gas-stove and cook dinner anyway. When Jeffrey is six, his mother dies. He realizes that singing feels good, preferably alone in the woods, sad songs for the squirrels. Country and Hillbilly, his parents‘ favourite, the older siblings‘ Rock´n´Roll, the songs from sunday school – everything blends and it blends well.
Jeffrey finds a guitar. There is no way back now. One day he finds himself in New York City. He plays street-corners. He discovers the Ramones. A new blend, folk with the 'fuck-it'-attitude of punk rock, it´s weird, it´s perfect. Jeffrey moves to Los Angeles. Gigs in coffee houses, homemade cassettes, odd jobs to survive. He sings and dreams. Drugs help him dream and nearly kill him. He opts against it. In 1998 he visits a friend in Germany and stays. Music for Munich street-corners. Then the first CD, "tree", produced in his bedroom. Critical acclaim. A tour supporting Ani Difranco. Mainstream and riches? Not really. Jeffrey writes new songs, he plays with his band, then solo again, he has family now, a wife and two dogs, and from time to time, in the small hours, Gram Parson´s ghost drops by and recently also Dee Dee Ramone. "We don´t need no wings now baby/ To set our dreams on high …"
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