Understandably, Haley is weary of taking his pricey vintage hardware out on the road. “I don’t know, it makes me nervous,” he says. “It’s kind of a cautionary measure to use the newer stuff, because you never know. If one of those breaks, you can pretty much get one fairly easy, shipped to wherever you want.” The newer stuff he’s referencing includes the Akai APC20 and MPD32 controllers, a Livid Base, a basic Mopho and a Mopho x4. As he talked about his live setup, the conversation turned to Moogfest, the annual five-day Asheville, North Carolina, festival that Haley played in April. Even though he describes festivals as “hot, dirty, crazy, and stressful,” he was excited to be on the bill. “They draw a huge crowd; that’s the trade- off,” he says.“I like the venue kind of shows. They’re a bit more intimate. You can hang out.” Another trade-off, though, is getting to be a part of an event presented by a company that’s very dear to his heart.“I’m a
big fan of Moog,” he says with enthusiasm. “The first real synthesizer I ever bought was theVoyager Rack Mount Edition.Then I used the Slim Phatty. I’ve always wanted to get to the pedals and stuff, but I haven’t really pulled the trigger on it,” he explains.“I hope they come out with polyphonic stuff some day!” Haley comes from a background in advertising, where he was an art director. In fact, he still applies the principles from that position to his job as a working musician.“I have multiple projects, and I kind of think of them as companies and I’m branding them. I’m the brand manager, so to speak,” he says. “I do my own artwork and all that. Who knows what the sound looks like better than I do? I’m a very visual person.” To him, art and music go hand in hand, each helping to fuel more creativity.“Sometimes, I’ll just open up [Adobe] Illustrator and I’ll just design shapes, whatever. Just some weird stuff. And that will inspire me to write a
song. I’ll design the artwork to the music. It can work both ways.” His knack for connecting visuals with music will definitely come in handy as he explores new territory: film scoring. “I’m trying to dabble in that world. It looks good. Stuff is happening,” he reveals. “We’ll see where it goes.”With the cinematic feel of his songs and the impressive success his career has had so far, it’s pretty likely you’ll soon be seeing his name when the credits roll. For now, the Ghostly International star is wrapping up a tour—he spoke to me from the road in Louisiana—and planning a move to NewYork City. It’s then, he jokes, that the convenience of virtual instruments looks a lot more enticing. “I’m trying to figure out studio space,” he says, in reference to storing his sizable synth collection. “Or do I keep them in my apartment? What the hell do I do, you know?” he says, laughing. Either way, there’s definitely no room left for any cheap department-store keyboards. .
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