SCARY MANSION - "Make
Me Cry" - Out October 26th, 2009
Leah Hayes is the mastermind behind the
Brooklyn-based rock group Scary Mansion. After playing for
several years as an Antifolk singer/songerwriter, Hayes picked
up bassist Bradley Banks, and former-Fugue-member Ben
Shapiro. She then found herself fronting a wild rock band.
"I still write the songs and sing, but I like having boys
making crazy noise behind me." Hayes has always had a unique
sound, accompanying her voice with the "thunderstick", a three-stringed
acoustic instrument similar to a banjo or dulcimer. When Hayes
plays the thunderstick clean, it evokes Appalachian front porches.
But when plugged in, the thunderstick screams through a distortion
pedal for a punky, 90's grunge sound.
Though Scary Mansion is surely the world's
only thunderstick/bass/drums rock trio, the band is most notable
for its rare mix of sentimental melody and rocky noise, often
likened to Weezer and The Pixies. Hayes's lyrics embody the
alienated cleverness of Morrissey or Stephen Merritt. On "Scum
Inside", she laments, "When I think of all the scum inside,
I just die." On the chorus of "1%", she recites over and
over, "You 1% like yourself." And all the while the music
goes from clean to distorted, from comforting to explosive.
Leah Hayes has collaborated with many other
great musicians. She sang a duet with TV On the Radio on "Snakes
and Martyrs" from their acclaimed "Return to Cookie Mountain"
album and toured with TV On the Radio's Kyp Malone. One of Hayes's
first musical projects was noise-rock duo Satan's Fingers with
David Ivar of Herman Dune fame. "Every Joke Is Half the Truth",
Hayes's debut album, came out in 2008 on Zum Records (in the
US), and Talitres Records in Europe.
As a writer/illustrator, Leah Hayes is most
notable for her acclaimed book of short stories, Funeral of
the Heart (Fantagraphics), illustrated entirely on scratchboard.
Hayes's short stories manage to be both horrifying and tear
jerking. Her previous book, Holy Moly (Fantagraphics), was a
collection of Hayes' doodles from college, all in ballpoint
on composition notebook paper. Hayes also recently designed
and illustrated the package for the limited edition vinyl release
of Ryan Adams's "Cardinology". Her artwork has also appeared
in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Newsweek, and on the
cover of McSweeney's Quarterly.
Scary Mansion's newest record, "MAKE ME
CRY", comes out on Talitres Records in Europe on October
2009.
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Tal-051 - SCARY MANSION - "Make
Me Cry" (digipack)
1. No Law – 2. Over The Week End – 3.
Yer Grief – 4. Fatal Flaw – 5. One Percent – 6. Mighty
– 7. Scum Inside – 8. On My Mind – 9. Look Through Your
Eyes (bonus track)
13 euros (shipping costs are included)
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SCARY MANSION - "Every
Joke Is Half The Truth" - Out, February 23, 2009.
To say that Leah Hayes is poised for greatness
would be underselling how much she’s already accomplished in
her 26 years. Massachusetts-bred Hayes attended art school in
New York before moving to France where she played in a band
called Satan’s Fingers, collaborating with David Ivar from underground
pop legends Herman Dune. Growing up playing piano and guitar,
Hayes also took up the Thunderstick, an Appalachian instrument
similar in tone to the banjo. Her collection of ballpoint pen
notebook illustrations Holy Moly was published by Fantagraphics
in 2004 and her first graphic novel, Funeral of the Heart, was
published in April, 2008.
Hayes’ artwork has appeared in the New York
Times, Punk Planet, and most recently on the cover of McSweeney’s
#24. Based in Williamsburg, Hayes has toured as a solo act alongside
Kyp Malone and sings on the TV On the Radio’s “Snakes and Martyrs”
from the band’s Return to Cookie Mountain album.
Hayes currently performs with her group, Scary
Mansion, featuring Ben Shapiro (The Fugue) on drums and Bradley
Banks (with whom Hayes plays in Francophile band La Laque) on
bass. Their debut CD, Every Joke Is Half the Truth, is out now
from Zum Records. Working with producer Kyle Fischer (Rainer
Maria) over an extended six-month period and opening up the
sound of the Thunderstick, the resulting tracks alternate between
sparse intimate tones and near claustrophobic layers of feedback,
all with an attention to the needs of the songs. Hayes’ lyrical
approach mines themes of alienation and romantic snafus, embodied
in characters litigious, predatory, and straw-filled."
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SCARY MANSION
- "Every Joke Is Half The Truth" (digipack)
1. Captan - 2. Go To Hell - 3. Sorry
We Took All Yr Money - 4. Scum Inside - 5. Sharkish Sea
- 6. New Hampshire - 7. Intro - 8. Shame - 9. Yer Mom
- 10. Unwise - 11 Oh My (titre bonus)
>>
Order this CD
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