MNZ Interview: Damiasharko

Damiasharko is a solo artist that showcases the gentler side of Haylee Hailwood, guitarist and vocalist of Te Whanganui-a-Tara’s finest grungegaze act, Cruelly. Haylee is a busy character in the burgeoning Wellington music scene, somehow managing to find time to record not one but two albums this year.

First of all, how’s Ozzy? (Ozzy is Haylee’s sphynx cat who was diagnosed with cancer and had a tumour removed from his back)

He’s good. He’s better and happy.

Damiasharko predates Cruelly, right?

Yeah.

Run could have almost been a Cruelly song.

Kind of. I remember when that came out, it was just a couple months after I had released my second EP Spiralz. It was around that time that Cruelly was playing our very first shows. So, with Run, that was fully produced by me, the drums, everything. But for the music video, I had Sam (Carpenter, guitarist in Cruelly) and Amber (Rose, bass) in it. Milan (Raxworthy, drummer) wasn’t around yet. I wanted to have that as a concept, having a live band, but I didn’t have a band for Damiasharko, so I was just like, “Can you guys just be in the music video?” Cruelly was already a thing by then. So, yeah, we formed, I think it was April 2022, and I think Run came out early 2023.

You’ve got a Damiasharko album coming out?

Yes. It’s been something that I’ve wanted to do since I started my solo career. I was in my last year of study, and we were doing our major projects. I wanted to at least start the process of making this album. That started early 2024. I wanted to make something that felt like a world. I wanted to get into the world building and create a concept for the album. Also, I’m really passionate about marketing, so that was a whole other subsection of the album that made it take a long time to get everything together. In terms of the music, it has all been very inspired by local music. Bands like Office Dog, Eveline Breaker, School Fair, Awning. I wanted to lean into more indie rock, as opposed to Cruelly which is very aggressive, very loud. This is more emotional and vulnerable. The stuff that I feel naturally drawn to when I’m just picking up the guitar and writing on my own. I really want Cruelly to be its own thing. I don’t want to dilute it. Maybe that’s just me being a perfectionist.

What’s the release process?

In total, there are six Damiasharko singles. So, it’s going to be a long progression. As for music videos, got one done, gotta get one more done. I’m planning to do four in total.

So – King Krule.

Ah, yes… (laughs)

That’s a tricky song to have covered (King Krule’s famous 2013 hit Out Getting Ribs).

What’s so funny about that is I spent so long trying to figure it out. And the take that I posted online was one of at least fifteen different takes, and I was just honestly killing myself over it. I had this massive breakdown afterwards, like, “Oh my God, I can’t figure it out, I can’t do it”. I was like, “Okay, whatever, I’m just going to post the best one”. And I even thought that it was really bad, but I posted it and it just blew up.

Let’s talk influences. What were the big artists that really inspired you growing up?

Nirvana, obviously. God, I feel like that’s so obvious. Elliot Smith. Nick Drake. Babes in Toyland. … Look, I wouldn’t say, like, “I’m a shoegaze artist everybody”. Like, the genre has way more focus on the guitar rather than the vocal. I like my vocals to be heard. I can have quite a resonant voice and unless the song calls for a really soft vocal… even then, I like to be heard.

It makes sense to sell records using categories and subgenres.

With Cruelly and the first EP, which was very much produced as a ‘grungegaze’ EP. I would say it’s broader than that, but we packaged it that way. You gotta play that game of marketing. And I think there’s going to be people out there that want to make specific music and stick to those confines. But personally, I’m not into that, I’m influenced by so many different things. Damiasharko is folk, but it’s also indie rock. I want it to be honest and real. That’s why I just say it’s alternative indie – it’s a very forgiving sort of category.

What’s next?

So, I haven’t announced this yet, but the double single is coming out on the 23rd of June, and there’s going to be a pre-party for that, where I’ll be doing a live performance and showing the music video before it comes out. Then after that, there’s going to be more and more releases from that project and then eventually the album with the band.

As for Cruelly, we’ve got the album we’ve just recorded. And that was done at Roundhead Studios in Auckland. That is gonna be a really big step up for us in terms of having this debut album that really encapsulates our sound.

And that has Golden Girl on the album, right? (Recently released on Strawberryberry Jam Promotions NZ Music Month videos)

Yeah. I love that song. That song’s very inspired by feminine rage sort of thing. Shlee Nicholls from Dale Kerrigan, she is one of my biggest inspirations. She’s so good, just very honest, you know, very authentic.

Talking of honesty, I was wondering about your politics and songwriting. Do you think that any of your music is politically inspired? Or more about the ‘self’?

I think for the most part, it is about the ‘self’ – but the way that I write my lyrics is very subconscious. I want people to feel empowered with that vulnerability, especially women. I want them to hear that spectrum of emotion and connect to it in a way that they feel empowered. I write from the inner self, my experiences of being affected by the world around me, and I write that so that other people can hopefully relate and connect with that.