Hayes & The Heathens Had One Goal in Mind While Recording Their Debut Album: “Let’s Have Fun”

Today (October 4), Hayes & The Heathens—the musical marriage of Hayes Carll and the Band of Heathens—released their self-titled debut album. The eight-track collection features seven songs written by Carll and members of the Heathens and a cover of “I’m Gonna Be (5000 Miles)” by the Proclaimers. More than anything, though, it’s a fun listen.

Referring to Hayes & The Heathens as a musical marriage is fitting. As with any marriage, the group represents a compromise. Each side of the union brought their unique sound and sensibilities. However, the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. In a recent interview with People, the group revealed that they went into this project with one goal in mind: to have fun making music.

[RELATED: Hayes Carll and The Band of Heathens Announce Their Debut Collaborative Album ‘Hayes & The Heathens’]

Hayes & The Heathens on Their Debut Album

According to The Band of Heathens’ Ed Jurdi, working with Hayes Carll was “totally smooth sailing.” Those metaphorical calm waters came from the fact that they went into the project with a shared vision. “The only real direction for the whole project was ‘Let’s have fun,’” Jurdi explained. “This was like a break from our real day jobs where we could play hooky from school and see what we could get away with,” he added.

Carll released his debut album Flowers and Liquor more than 20 years ago and has been writing and recording ever since. However, this project marks his first time as a member of a group. “I just have a big ol’ grin on my face playing with these guys,” he told the publication. “I’ve played music for a long time but I’ve never been a member of a band before and it’s pretty liberating. It’s collaborative and I feel like my job is easier. There are parts of the show where I get to be a guy with a guitar having fun,” he added.

While the group would be happy if Hayes & The Heathens turned into something bigger, that’s not their current goal. “We appreciated this as a chance to create and collaborate and not worry too much about anything else,” the group said. “We have our separate careers that we put plenty of work into so we weren’t looking to add stress or strain to our lives. Our main goal from the beginning has just been to have fun playing music and in that way, it’s been a huge success,” they added.

Featured Image by Casen Hutton