The Official Website For Auriol Hays
Only at Afrika Burn did I hear a conversation start with, ‘What are you on?’ If only that was answered honestly. Forget the drugs taken out of curiosity or boredom. What about the rage that sits at the bottom of your feet? The unfulfilled dreams stuck behind your eyeslashes or the sexual frustration pasted on […]
I always jot down small bits of nonsense. At some point they become parts of songs. Or I will turn them into small stories. Yes, the ramblings of a mad mind…or of those I call friends! * Best advice given to me by a friend: Don’t ground yourself in your past. Or pick yourself apart […]
Social media. I hate it most days. Yet, I have no choice but to gain some ‘attention’ as a musician who works alone. It is exhausting to be honest. It weren’t for friends I would be a hermit, observing the world and writing about it, but I do not have that luxury. Yet, what’s the […]
I love being a songwriter and a performer. Years ago I crystallize my thinking by saying that writing music brings clarity and catharsis. While performing the music allows for absolute release. Look, I have way too many thoughts and feelings rumbling in my brain. In order to make sense of my world I need to […]
Sometimes you gotta banish the beast or ride it. Other times tell the angel on your shoulder to shut the fuck up. These are the kinda thoughts that trouble my mind as I think of maintaining my balance. It’s the beast within, who has free reign when I write music, but cage when I am […]
Here are the lyrics for the song. Look, I laughed when I got to the chorus. No man, I thought…Auriol – stop your madness. But it just fit, those last words. I wrote this after my father, the revolutionary, kept on complaining that I need to write music about what’s happening in our country. This […]
The most inappropriate thoughts float into my mind. Dude, just die and get it over and done with I think when I look at my father sometimes. The drama of the final act of your play, stretched out over the last year is becoming tiring. Just take your last breathe and leave us in peace. […]
Solitude. I would lose my mind without it. Without silences I can wrap around myself, a safe place to retreat to. In order to write music, process, imagine and hide. Often times I wished I was wired differently. With all these self help articles you can’t avoid on social media (thanks Jay Shetty) and everyone […]
There are so many ways of saying goodbye. This thought struck me as I walked outside contemplating whether to light my first cigarette or not. Traditionally, my goodbyes involve furious scribbles in my notebook after crying, reading and eating chocolates in bed. Whiskey? Eh, that’s a luxury and is enjoyed best after I have resolved […]
You guessed it. The energy of the Ben Harper performance is still running wild under my skin. Yet as the energy slowly winds down a few epiphanies found their way to me. A few years ago every belief about who I was and where I would be, the life I thought I wanted, was shattered…and […]