SLIVER THE GREYHOUND is the creative workings of California born artist
Jeremy Hays. His works are conceived from an eclectic musical
background and desire to express his ideas with people on both a
cerebral and visceral level. Growing up in a small rural community in
southern California, but very close to urban Los Angeles, Jeremy was
exposed to many forms of music; country/western, folk, rock, heavy
metal, rap, hip hop and top 40. His neighborhood growing up consisted
of a large Mexican-American population providing him with the
opportunity to experience mariachi and tejano style music as well.
During the summers as a child he would visit his grandparents in
northern California. He and his grandmother would spend countless
hours listening to vinyl records of jazz, swing, big band, crooning and
orchestrated movie show tunes.
His early years of music consisted of playing trumpet in the high school
marching and jazz bands, playing piano at home for fun, and strumming
bass and electric guitar in local garage bands. Never really having the
desire to be the focal point of any of these musical groups, he mainly
played a supporting role and learned how to create various musical
phrasings and harmonies to add texture and color to the performances.
He would begin to write songs out of high school for fun, but never felt
inspired by them.
“Most of my early song writing was awful,” states Jeremy. “There was never a very clear vision or genuine quality to those first meanderings. It wasn’t until I really started to feel
the pressure of manhood; becoming a father at a young age, serving in the military, and coming to terms with the emotional turbulence of life and relationships, that I truly began to feel a sense of what I was about. Something was shifting inside me. Good or bad, I didn’t know, but life had it’s grip around my throat and the only seeming breath of fresh air I could get came from the rare occasion that I could pick up my guitar and play. I felt like I finally had lived long enough to have something to sing about that people could relate to.”
He began to sketch out complete songs with thematic meaning and
scope and little by little developed a catalog of various song ideas that
helped him cope with the pressures of life and provided some clarity to
his feelings about some of the events that were going on around him. As
he gained confidence in his song writing ability he began playing these
songs for people.
Committed to creating clever and thought invested sonic imagery to
promote his storytelling, he is on a mission to explore all facets of music.
Actively reading and studying various music and acoustic related topics
and exposing himself to multiple musical genres and forms of
expression, he has discovered the world in which he selects to inhabit.
“I can feel myself growing as an artist. Music is a total human phenomenon. It is a three-dimensional art form of mind and body taking place over time, stirring thoughts and imagery and compelling body to movement. It is the creation of something from nothing. It is the act of discovery that is addicting. It is the pursuit of significance through music that motivates me. It is the expression of deep and profound thought and emotion through cleverly arranged sounds and words,” says Jeremy, “that completely consumes and excites me.”
MUD SLINGER is the first released project of Sliver the Greyhound music. The album has its creative roots in old cowboy movies, southern rock, blues and folk music. The creative muse comes from the instruments used in creating americana style music; dobro slide guitar, harmonica, banjo, mandolin, etc. There are two guest drummers that
play on the album, Jake Kilmer (Smile Empty Soul) and George L Green (Glen Campbell / Southern Nights). Jake had worked on songs with Jeremy previously and lent his services to two songs on this project (Sick and Tempered). George Green, an experienced country/western drummer, helped craft the remaining songs that required a drum kit.
“I was excited that George was willing to be involved. I wanted help from someone that could play solid and deliver that style of drumming. I was even more thrilled when he brought in the snare he had used to play on Glen Campbell’s Southern Nights album. I love music history and hearing the behind the scenes stories of the music scene. Jake (Kilmer) is one of the coolest people you will ever meet. I felt that the song Sick needed a hard edge and I thought Jake would be perfect. He brings a fun and intense energy to his playing that really helps bring character to the songs.”
The album was mixed/engineered by Jerry Danielsen at Busy Signal Studios and mastered by Mike Wells from Mike Wells Mastering. Both professionals are based out of the Los Angeles area. All of the remaining musical instruments are played by Jeremy Hays, with the exception of some additional keyboard work from Jerry Danielsen.
“It was really exciting to put this project together. It was good to experience how much work goes into something like this. There were a lot of hours spent learning new instruments, writing parts, analyzing parts, rewriting parts, guessing, second-guessing, fund-raising, spending funds and taking a lot of aspirin for the headaches, but in the end I
am very proud of the accomplishment and all the work everyone contributed and look forward to the next one.“
