Gemma Hayes - Musicians@Google-Dublin

>> Hey, guys. I just like to welcome all of you, first of all,
at the start of the At Google series in 2010.
This is the very first Musicians at Google we've had.
So if you'd like to go to go /Google Dublin.
Put in your ideas.
We can start contacting people. Hopefully we'll get people in.
Before we start, I just want to give a special thanks to
both the admin and facilities team for helping us out.
I don't think this place would run without them.
And then, the last thing is, if you'd like to check underneath your seats,
some of you might have been lucky to find one of [laughter]
[audience rustling sounds]
So you can get them signed and stuff after the gig.
So, without further ado, I'd like to introduce, first of all,
our very own Kevin Redmond, who's going to give a quick Q and A.
And Miss Gemma Hayes.
[Applause and cheering]
>> Okay. Can everyone hear me all right?
We're just going to do a really short Q and A,
because we're running a little overtime.
I just want to introduce Gemma for anyone who doesn't know.
Gemma is one of Ireland's most popular
and critically-acclaimed singer/songwriters.
She's -- since releasing her debut album, "Night On My Side," in 2002,
which was nominated for the American Music Prize.
She's also released "The Hollow of Morning" and "Rose, I love you."
Both take equal critical acclaim.
Gemma: Shucks.
>> Her -- We just embarrass you for ten minutes.
Her songs have been used in smash hit shows such as Grey's Anatomy and ER,
as well as numerous feature films.
She's won countless awards.
And it's without doubt one of Ireland's most captivating live performances.
We're also extremely lucky
that we have the equally wonderful Ann Scott over here in the corner who --
for anyone who doesn't know -- Ann's debut album I think was voted
one of the best Irish albums of all time by HotPress.
So give a round of applause for Ann Scott.
[Applause]
>> So, a good place to start would be where you start.
You grew up in Canterbury, in the west of Ireland, with a very big family.
Gemma: Yeah, yeah.
>> How -- that surely must have had some influence on
you even getting into music or the kind of music you immerse yourself in.
Gemma: Absolutely.
I just have to say one thing really, really quickly --
that was such a Gay Byrne moment where you had your CDs under the chair.
[Laughter]
Gemma: It was really impressive.
[chuckling]
But yeah, no, I had lots of sisters and brothers.
And my father was in a band called "the Hill Billies."
And I was really embarrassed by him for years,
because he used to play the keyboards.
But what he used to do is, he used to just program all the beats in.
And this was like way back, you know, in the '70s.
>> Like bass entertainers?
Gemma: [laughing]
So he'd go to a pub, and he'd just sit there and drink pints and press play.
[laughter]
And he used to say he was a musician.
So, I realize now that there's like an art to that, sort of.
>> Then you came up to Dublin to go to college.
On your trip up, did you have any inclination that you'd go into music, or?
Was that on your horizons or ambitions?
Gemma: Um, I mean, I loved -- I absolutely loved music
and I had sort of no idea.
I mean, you know, when you live in a small town.
I had no idea how crazy sort of city life would be and whatever.
But when I went up to Dublin, I moved into like a place in UCD.
And my flatmate had a guitar, and she showed me a few chords.
So, I ended up just missing loads of lectures
and staying in and writing songs and then just realized that
there's nothing else that kind of meant anything to me, you know.
>> So if we started off in that kind of 'open mic' sort of session
you know with guys like Pike Casey and those kind of guys.
But one of the things I often think about your albums is that there's a real juxtaposition
between kind of that singer/songwriter kind of-- hate that term -- but like,
you know, that acoustic guitar kind of style and then this My Bloody Valentiny --
almost violence -- kind of thing.
Is that a conscious thing?
Is that like, sort of something that you think about music.
This is the kind of esthetic that you want to create, or is it like a subconscious way
that you almost try to remove yourself from the singer/songwriter pack?
Gemma: I mean, I definitely wouldn't sort of change my music
just to kind of stay away from a certain kind of scene.
Like, I love acoustic music. I love it.
But sometimes, it just bores the hell out of me. It really does.
I mean, I can enjoy acoustic music,
but then, I just start to get tired of hearing myself.
And I just love when things are bigger than me.
You know, and like the first time I heard "Loveless" by My Bloody Valentine,
I loved the fact that -- even like Ziggurats as well.
I have no idea what they're singing about.
But I understand completely -- they don't -- exactly.
But it just makes sense.
And it's so much more than just the kind of rigid structure of verse/chorus,
verse/chorus, you know.
>> How does the creative process work for you?
I mean like, someone like Nick Cave sits down and does office hours.
He goes into his office at nine.
He works till six on his own.
Do you like sit down and work at a song?
Or do you just kind of --
are you just sitting on the couch at home pottering away and just?
Gemma: Do you know -- I haven't figured out like the formula that works every time.
So, I mean, I love when a song comes out through inspiration,
but it's rare, you know.
You kind of have to be in an active mode of working,
and then, that inspiration comes out.
You can't be inactive and hoping that inspiration hits you.
Your mind has to be thinking lyrics and thinking all these things -- melodies.
And then, you'll find a really special song.
But I mean, nine times out of ten, you just kind of have to work.
And did somebody said to me --
I don't know -- you probably heard of this guy around Devon called BP Fallon.
Wonderful guy.
And he came over to me only recently.
And he said -- he goes, "You'd want to be very careful about what you sing about."
And I was like, "Well, why?"
And he was like, "Because every time you get up on stage and you really go for it
and you really sing about something,
you're actually kind of willing it to happen if it hasn't happened already."
So I was thinking like,
"Oh, man. I've sung about like a guy drinking weedkiller.
I've sung about so many things that actually haven't happened."
So I'm trying to now turn that around and sing about really positive things.
>> All right. Fair enough.
Gemma: Don't know how I got to talking about that.
>> We get it. Who knows who's going to go there.
We're in an internet company, so I have to ask you.
I mean, you've got like a Twitter and you've got a MySpace page blog.
Your Facebook page.
Is that like -- do you look at it kind of as a way of promotion now?
Or is it like more to keep in touch with your fan base?
Or is it just a combination of both?
I mean, is it something you take an active kind of role in?
Or would it be more your marketing side of things?
Gemma: I'm getting to grips with it more and more.
I mean, I have to be sort of dragged by the hair
to Twitter and Facebook and all those things.
Because I'm just not very computer savvy.
Please God, I'll make this work today --
but, so you know a friend sort of started it up for me,
and then, would constantly kind of, "C'mon Gemmy, you have to do this.
It's not like the old days.
You don't go around in a van and try to reach people person by person.
This is the new way."
So, I'm getting there.
But, I have to say, it's very weird sort of writing stuff to people
that you've never met.
And for it to be natural and normal, you know?
Because it's not normal. [laughter]
So I haven't found that sort of --
because I look at other people's Twitter pages, and I'm like,
"Oh, they're so witty and they're so--"
But yeah.
>> Just -- last question.
This isn't the first time someone from Google's interviewed you.
You did an interview with two Googlers who have an excellent website
called "onemoretune.ie,"
which is really good.
You mentioned you were doing a piano album or plan to do a piano album.
Is that still in the offing or?
Gemma: Oh, no.
>> No?
Gemma: Well, it was. And then, well, see -- I don't have a piano.
[laughter]
So I was sort of using somebody else's piano.
>> There's one under your chair by the way. It's your prize.
Gemma: Oh, God. Wouldn't that be great?
But when I was in L.A. -- I lived in L.A. for the past few years,
and I had a piano over there.
And then, I moved back over here a few months ago, and I don't have a piano.
So, I had to kind of put that on hold. But it's definitely sort of in the pipeline.
>> Yeah, cool. Okay. I recommend we get cracking.
Could I just ask everyone, by the way, turn off the mobile phones
before we get cracking.
And I leave it to Gemma Hayes and Ann Scott.
Gemma: Thank you. Thank you.
[Applause]
Gemma: It's just me now.
For some reason, like I'm sure you've never done this.
I've never done this before either.
And I was expecting to be singing to kind of David Brent. [laughter]
Like people in an office with very bright lights.
So this is so much better.
So you know, a legend died just a few weeks ago, Liam Clancy.
And I had the pleasure of singing on his album.
And he used to really like this old, Scottish ballad that I used to sing.
So I'm going to sing this song for him.
And it's called "Ae Fond Kiss."
♪ Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
♪ Ae farewell, alas for ever!
♪ Deep in hearts-wrung tears I'll pledge thee.
♪ Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee!
♪ Who should say that fortune fears him?
♪ While the star of hope, she nears him.
♪ Me nae cheerful twinkle lights me.
♪ Now dark despair around benights me.
♪ Had we never loved sae kindly,
♪ Had we never loved sae blindly.
♪ Never met or never parted.
♪ We have ne'er been brokenhearted.
♪ So fare thee well my first and fairest!
♪ Fare thee well, my best and dearest!
♪ Thine be every joy and treasure.
♪ Peace, enjoyment, love, and pleasure.
♪ Ae fond kiss, and then we sever.
♪ A farewell, alas, forever.
♪ Deep in heart-wrung tears I pledge thee,
♪ Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee!
Gemma: There you go.
[Applause]
Gemma: [guitar strumming]
So I don't know if any of you sort of know my stuff,
but this is a new song for me too.
And it's called, "Waiting for You."
♪ [Guitar strumming syncopated beat]
♪ Cheer up, my friend.
♪ You can't see the sun, but it's coming around the bend,
♪ or so they say.
♪ Hard times seem so long.
♪ You hate it now, but you miss it when it's gone,
♪ and those wicked games we play.
♪ See, I'm almost flying.
♪ [Guitar playing]
♪ I'm almost there.
♪I'm just waiting for you.
♪ [Guitao playing]
♪ I'm just waiting for you to leave my mind.
♪ I'm just waiting for you.
♪ [Guitar playing]
♪ Then I'll be flyin'.
♪ Well, to pick you up, to put you straight,
♪ to feed you gold. Man, you take the bait, and now --
♪ now you don't know your name.
♪ [Guitar playing]
♪ Well, my voice is tired from trying too late to say what the hell I mean.
♪ [Guitar playing]
♪ See, I'm getting closer now.
♪ [Guitar playing]
♪ Closer than I've ever been.
♪ I'm just waiting for you.
♪ [Guitar playing]
♪ I'm just waiting for you to leave my mind.
♪ I'm just waiting for you.
♪ Ooh, Ooh, Ooh. Ooh-ooh.
♪ I'm just waiting for you to leave my mind.
♪ [Guitar playing]
♪ You're like the sun on a winter's morning.
♪ You should warm my face,
♪ but somehow you don't.
♪ Despite myself,
♪ I still adore you.
♪ Despite myself,
♪ I'm still waiting.
♪ [Guitar playing]
♪ I'm still waiting for you.
♪ I'm just waiting for you.
♪ [Guitar playing]
♪ I'm just waiting for you to leave my mind.
♪ Waiting for you.
♪ Ooh, Ooh, Ooh. Ooh-ooh.
♪ I'm just waiting for you to leave my mind.
♪ Then, I'll be fine.
♪ Then I'll be fine.
♪ Yeah.
[Applause]
Gemma: Thank you very much.
[Applause]
So this one is with the same chords.
It starts on the same note.
I wrote them -- I write my songs in batches. [chuckling]
On the way here, we were talking about my friend, Andrew.
He said that people in Google were called Googlers.
Is that right?
So then, we just came up with all these different words for like,
you know, the real sort of like players in Google are called Ooglers.
And then, the real swatty people are called Doo-Googlers. [laughter]
And it got a bit out of hand. [chuckling]
Don't know why I'm telling you this. [laughter]
Here's a really, really happy song.
And it's called, "Shock to the System."
♪ [Guitar strumming ]
♪ Ooh.
[ harmonizing second voice] ♪ Ooh-ooh.
♪ Ooh-Ooh.
♪ It's like getting close to the sun.
♪ I want to tell you things -- I just can't get air in my lungs
♪ long enough to explain.
♪ See, I was born awake.
♪ Little by little, I simply fell asleep -- then you came.
♪ It all changed.
♪ You were right.
♪ I was half alive.
♪ You were shock to my system, tearing up my quiet life.
♪ I felt safe walking straight lines.
♪ You were shock to my system,
♪ lighting up a fire so bright.
♪ [Guitar playing]
♪ Now, it's hard to watch your back move away from me just like that.
♪ In an instant all is gone -- all is wrong.
♪ I'm calling it red, but my feelings agree.
♪ A constant remainder that nothing stays the same.
♪ But nothing ever really changes.
♪ You were right.
♪ I was half alive.
♪ You were shock to my system, tearing up my quiet life.
♪ [Guitar playing]
♪ I felt safe walking straight lines.
♪ You were shock to my system,
♪ lighting up a fire so bright.
♪ [Guitar playing]
♪ Oh, there's no turning back for me.
♪ Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh.
♪ I met you in a corner of the day.
♪ You said I was beautiful.
♪ But only when I'm lost.
♪ And you were right.
♪ I was half alive.
♪ You were shock to my system, tearing up my quiet life.
♪ I thought I was doing good.
♪ You were shock to my system,
♪ lighting up a fire so bright.
♪ [Guitar playing]
♪ Well, there's no turning back for me.
♪ No.
♪ There's no turning back for me.
♪ Ooh. Ooh. Ooh.
[Applause]
♪ [tuning guitar strings]
Gemma: Thanks very much.
♪ [tuning guitar strings]
I called Ann yesterday.
I was in rehearsals, and I was freaking out.
Because I don't know, it's always nice to play with somebody on stage.
So I asked her if she would come in.
So Ann got this together yesterday.
Ann: I set it up.
Gemma: This song is called, "Back of My Hand."
♪ [upbeat strumming]
♪ Will I be seeing you tomorrow?
♪ Will I be seeing you again?
♪ God knows we've said so little I'd go so far as to call you a friend.
♪ But there's something in your ways
♪ That keeps me vying for a connection
♪ And I know you feel the same
♪ It's become a two-way addiction
♪ Come on and give me your heart
♪ Write it on the back of my hand
♪ And say it's forever
♪ [strumming music interlude]
♪ Well, we never really said goodbye
♪ We kinda left it in the air
♪ And as the train pulled off I knew you loved her more
♪ Oh no no no no
♪ I'm not afraid to lose
♪ Oh no no no no
♪ Just give me some time and I'll walk to a different groove
♪ Go in and give me your heart
♪ Write it on the back of the hand
♪ And say it's forever
♪ Go on and give me your heart
♪ Write it on the back of the hand
♪ And say it's forever
♪ [strumming music interlude]
♪ That's alright, that's okay,
♪ my thoughts to you are leaving
♪ That's alright, that's okay,
♪ my thoughts to you are leaving
♪ Anyway,
♪ are fading anyway
♪ [strumming music interlude]
♪ Come on and give me your heart
♪ Write it on the back of my hand
♪ And say it's forever
♪ [strumming music interlude]
♪ Come on and give me your heart
♪ Come on and give me your heart
♪ Come on and give me your heart
♪ [Applause]
Gemma: Cheers be yours.
So this song is called "Oliver."
And when I was about seven,
there was a guy in school that I beat up, basically.
And I was in class, and he came over.
And he gave me a kiss.
And you're seven like, so men, boys were just kind of yucky.
And so, I was really pissed off, because the class started clapping.
And I was really humiliated.
So I waited for him after school. [laughter]
And I remember it was raining.
And I hid behind the school gate.
And when he came out, I was just full of rage.
And I grabbed him and I threw him on the ground.
And I kicked him really hard for a very long time.
And I got his school bag.
And I think this is the worst thing actually.
I got his school bag.
And I emptied out all his school books into a puddle.
And I wasn't really thinking about the consequences of that or the fact
that his mother had to go out and buy those books or whatever.
And he started crying.
And I thought, "That'll teach you."
And then, a few days later in school,
he got up in the middle of the class, and he came over,
and he handed me a marathon bar --
Snickers --
and a Michael Jackson tape.
And I just couldn't understand how his brain worked.
[laughter] [fingering guitar]
So, but this song actually isn't about that.
[laughter]
I'm not sure what this song is about.
I think this is about karma, because then, years later,
not the same thing happened to me,
but something like it.
And it's called "Oliver."
♪ [guitar fingering a delicate, sweet line]
Oliver You kicked a hole through my heart
And left me with the whistling sound
As the wind blows through
With duck tape
And an old bin bag I covered it up
And put back on my sweater
So I look the same
But I'm a little different now
I might look the same
♪ I might look the same
But I'm a little different now
♪ [guitar fingering a delicate, sweet line]
♪ Oliver You ripped the smile off my face
♪ And fed it to the winter birds
♪ What a wicked boy
♪ Oliver You are my blackness
♪ Oliver You are my lightness
♪ My devastator
♪ I might look the same
♪ I might look the same
♪ But I'm a little different now
♪ I might look the same
♪ I might look the same
♪ But I'm a little different now
♪ I'm a little different now
♪ [guitar interlude and xylophone]
Gemma: Thank you.
[Applause]
So you can say that's the end of the set,
because this could go horribly wrong.
And this is a song that you might know. It's not mine.
It's song from Kate Bush.
And if you know it, you can sing along if you like.
♪ [straight repetitive beat]
I still dream of Orgonon.
I wake up cryin'.
You're making rain,
And you're just in reach,
When you and sleep escape me.
You're like my yo-yo
That glowed in the dark.
What made it special
Made it dangerous,
So I bury it
And forget.
♪ [straight repetitive beat]
But every time it rains,
You're here in my head,
Just like the sun coming out--
Ooh, I just know that something good is gonna happen.
I don't know when,
But just saying it could even make it happen.
On top of the world,
Looking over the years,
I can see them coming.
You looked too small
In their big, black car,
To be a threat to the men in power.
I hid my yo-yo in the garden.
I can't hide you
From the government.
Oh, God, Daddy-- I won't forget.
♪ [straight repetitive beat]
'Cause every time it rains,
You're here in my head,
I Just like the sun coming out--
Ooh, I just know that something good is going to happen.
And I don't know when,
But just saying it could even make it happen.
Because every time it rains,
♪ [straight repetitive beat]
Because every time it rains,
you're here in my head.
You're like the sun coming out.
You're like the sun coming out.
You're like the sun coming out.
You're like the sun coming out.
Gemma: Thank you.
[Applause]
Gemma: So this is it. This is the last song.
And thank you so much for listening and looking really interested.
[laughter]
[strumming guitar]
Gemma: Okay, so here is another back and track song.
I'm sorry, but you're my guinea pigs for this, because I've never done this before.
And so, I might stop this if it doesn't work out.
But, thank you.
And good-bye.
♪ [fast rhythmic strumming]
♪ My dirty joy, my laden back
♪My will to live is under attack
♪ I have the days when it comes easy
♪ My blue eyed boy got show and tell
♪ I need your laugh to make me well
♪ No light is coming through my window
♪ Gotta meet you face to face
♪ Convince you that i'm not so strange
♪ Just happy sad I'm broken down
♪ But I'm upbeat when you come around
♪ I'm happy sad it and it comes easy to me
♪ I'm never one or the other
♪ You have knocked me off my track
♪ One lap to go and now I'm last
♪ You know i used to be so eager
♪ Get up, get up, get out of bed
♪ The brightest day that ever led
♪ You know you make me want to try harder
♪ Gotta meet you face to face
♪ Convince you that I'm not so strange
♪ Just happy sad I'm broken down
♪ But I'm upbeat when come around
♪ I'm happy sad it and it comes easy to me
♪ I'm never one or the other
♪ My friends are few, but that's o.k
♪ 'Cuz when you're around it all leave me my sadder boy
♪ [fast rhythmic strumming]
♪ I'm happy sad I'm broken down
♪ But I'm upbeat when you come around
♪ I'm happy sad
♪ And it comes easy to me I'm never one or the other
♪ [fast rhythmic strumming]
♪ The roads don't love you,
♪ Still don't pretend to
♪ The roads don't love you
♪ The roads don't love you
♪ Still don't pretend to
♪ The roads don't love you
♪ [fast rhythmic strumming]
♪ I still don't.
♪ I still don't.
♪ I still don't.
♪ [fast rhythmic strumming]
[Applause]
>> Thank you very much.
I won't say "good night." Good day.
[Applause]
>> Just before everybody goes,
I just want to say -- Gemma is actually touring Ireland at the moment.
She's playing The Odessa in Dublin on Jan 28th.
I don't know if there are still tickets though, but I'm going to plug it anyway.
And Mill Theatre in Dundrum on January 30th, and her Oliver repeat
is currently available to download exclusively from iTunes.
So can you just give her one more round of applause.
[Applause and cheering]
So, thank you very much, everybody, for coming.
Thanks to the guys, Mark and Sam made us recording, photographing
and facilities and everyone.
And just stay tuned and you can check out the at Google site.
There will be updates of everyone who's playing.
And thank you all very much for coming.
[Applause]