This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since November 2008. It relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Tagged since June 2010. Its lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. Tagged since June 2010.

DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway (who manage Mick Hucknall and Brett Anderson). The site is an editorially independent music website.

History[link]

DiS started as an email fanzine in 1998 called 'The Last Resort' but was relaunched by founder Sean Adams as Drowned in Sound in 2000. It is currently edited by Sean Adams.

The freelance writing team is currently spread across the globe, with contributors based in four continents - North America, Asia, Europe and Australasia. The site is mostly based on contributions from unpaid writers and has an integrated forum to allow for discussion and comments on interviews, news and reviews. It also includes a user-rated database of artists and bands as well as details for most live music venues (big and small) in the UK. Aside from space for comments, there are separate forums for general discussion, music related discussion and advertisements for people requiring bands or musicians. The site has over 60,000 registered members, and gets around 470,000 unique visitors per month.

In November 2007, DiS teamed up with ad-supported download site RCRDLBL.com to launch an audio and video blog, entitled "Drownload".^[1]

DiS have been involved with Summer Sundae festival since 2008, and in 2010 kick off their 10th Anniversary celebrations with a line-up headlined by The Futureheads and Frightened Rabbit. Previously, they hosted the Friday night billing of the Rising Stage as being presented in partnership with Drowned in Sound.^[2]

Ownership[link]

A percentage of DrownedinSound.com (the web site) and DrownedinSound's record label are owned by Silentway Ltd., the independent management company who look after Simply Red, Stina Nordenstam and Brett Anderson.^[3] Silentway continue to invest in both businesses. The remaining shares in the record label are owned by founder Sean Adams.

In October 2007, it was announced that DiS had formed a partnership with Rupert Murdoch's Sky media company.^[4] This joint venture with BSkyB was named Quietus Group.

On August 18, 2008, it was announced that DiS's partnership with BSkyB had ended by mutual consent,^[5] making the majority of its staff redundant in the process.^[6]

Awards[link]

On March 19, 2006, The Observer Music Monthly ranked DrownedinSound.com 9th on its list of top 25 internet websites. In November 2006 it passed the 150,000 unique readers a week mark and was nominated in the Best Music Website category at the 2007 PLUG Awards and the Best Website category at the 2007 Shockwaves NME Awards.

The site and a handful of its writers received nominations at the 2006 Record of the Day awards, held in London on November 21, 2006. The site won in the category of Best Podcast and finished runner-up in the category of Best Website for the second year running.^[7]

In September 2007, DiS was nominated in two categories at the annual BT Digital Music Awards - best music magazine and best podcast (audio). In November 2007 DiS was named Best Online Music Publication at the annual Record of the Day awards.^[8] In 2010 Drowned in Sound won Best Publication at the Record of the Day awards.

Record label[link]

In 2003 Drowned in Sound started a record label which has released recordings by:

• Adam Gnade
• Bat for Lashes
• Blood Red Shoes
• Brett Anderson
• Emily Haines
• Emmy the Great
• Jeniferever
• Kaiser Chiefs
• The Koreans
• Les Incompétents
• Martha Wainwright
• Metric
• Redjetson
• The Stills
• ThisGirl
• Youthmovies

Podcast[link]

In 2006 the site launched a podcast called Drowned in Sound Radio. The show provides a mixture of very new music with music that hasn't yet reached the mainstream.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Drowned in Sound discography at Discogs

Gemma Hayes
Background information
Born	(1977-08-11) 11 August 1977 (age 34)
Origin	Ballyporeen, Tipperary, Ireland
Genres	Alternative rock, indie rock, folk
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Source Records (2001–2005)[1] Second Motion Records (2008–present) Fullfill Music (2012-present)
Website	http://www.gemmahayes.com

Gemma Claire Hayes (born 11 August 1977, Ballyporeen, Tipperary, Ireland) is an Irish singer-songwriter and member of The Cake Sale.

Early life[link]

One of eight children, Hayes was surrounded by music from an early age, both from any of her seven siblings' bedrooms and being played by her father, a keyboardist in a local band. By the time she left for boarding school in County Limerick, Hayes was already proficient at piano and found that the music used to counter the boredom of living in a small village.^[2] Although she enrolled at University in Dublin, Hayes soon left to concentrate on music, working part-time in a laundrette during the day and playing the city's circuit at night.^[1]

Music career[link]

Hayes signed to the French independent record label, Source Records in 2001, and issued the 4.35am EP and the Work to a Calm EP before releasing her debut album, Night on my Side, in 2002.^[1] In 2002 she won Best Female Singer at the Hot Press Awards. The album was nominated for the 2003 Mercury Prize but lost out to Ms. Dynamite's, A Little Deeper.^[1] After touring Night on my Side Hayes took two years out from the music industry; "All I do know is that I didn't want to listen to music at all. I stopped listening to the radio. It was like I'd overdosed on music".^[3]

In late 2005, Hayes returned with her second album, The Roads Don't Love You, and picked up the Best Irish Female Artist award at the 2006 Meteor Ireland Music Awards, while completing a small tour of Ireland and the United Kingdom. Shortly after this she left Source Records parent company EMI-Virgin as EMI-Virgin was undergoing an overhaul of artists and bands.^[1] During this time Hayes co-wrote the song "Hazy" with Adam Duritz.

On 14 August 2006 Hayes announced, via her MySpace profile,^[4] that she had begun work on her third album in the Black Box Studios in France, to be produced by her former guitarist, David Odlum.^[1] Hayes posted demo versions of a few of the songs on MySpace during recording, including "Out of Our Hands", "Home", and "This Is What You Do".

Gemma Hayes kicking off The Hollow of Morning tour at Cyprus Avenue, Cork City 22 April 2008

Hayes' third album The Hollow of Morning was independently-released on 2 May 2008 in Ireland, and debuted at number 12 in the Irish Albums Chart.^[1] Following this she signed a recording contract with the United States record label, Second Motion where The Hollow of Morning was released in the US on 30 September 2008. Second Motion works with Daniel Lanois, Adam Franklin of Swervedriver, Brian Vander Ark and others.

Whilst on her 2008 UK tour, Hayes announced that she planned to release an acoustic album by the end of 2008, thought the album has never surfaced. During this time during some promotional work and touring Hayes confirmed that she would start recording her fourth album in August 2008.^[5]

In January 2009, it was announced that Hayes had been nominated for Best Irish Female, at the 2009 Meteor Ireland Music Awards, which took place on 17 March 2009 in Dublin. She lost out to Imelda May. On 13 February 2009 she released her new music video for the song "Home" on Myspace; the track was from her 2008 release The Hollow of Morning. On 19 February 2009 she performed at the Oscar Wilde party in Los Angeles, California. The annual event takes place days before the Oscars, and celebrates the best of Irish popular culture.

On 22 February 2009 it was stated on her website that her new EP Oliver will be available for purchase on 9 March 2009.^[6][7] However, it was subsequently announced on Myspace on 9 March that the EP's release had been delayed. A new track called "Ghost" appeared on Myspace the same day.

On 13 March 2009 Oliver was released on iTunes.

On 14 April 2009 it was announced on her Myspace blog ^[8] that Hayes began to write new material for the next album.

On 3 September 2009 Gemma performed at the 2012 stage at the 2009 Århus Festival.^[9] Her set-list featured new songs Waiting for You and Shock to the System.

On 20 October 2009 Gemma confirmed through her Twitter page that she was recording new material in France in the Blackbox studios.^[10]

On 19 November 2009 Gemma began a short European tour with performances in Austria, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom. During these tour dates Gemma played new songs including Tokyo, Waiting for You and Shock to the System. At her gig in Cork on 3 December, Gemma performed a cover of Kate Bush' "Cloudbusting".

On 22 December 2009 Gemma released her cover of "Cloudbusting" for free from her website.^[11]

In March 2010, Gemma featured on Ceol 2010^[12] a special album in the Irish language. Gemma previously appeared on Ceol 2007. On the Ceol 2010 album Gemma's song Rith me go Crich appeared on the album alongside Bell X1, Kila, The Walls.

Gemma Hayes originally stated on Irish music site Muzu TV that her yet to be titled fourth album would be released in September 2010.^{[13][dated info]}. However, in October 2010 on Tom Dunne's radio show on Newstalk 106-108, Gemma Hayes said that her new album will not be released until early 2011.^[14] In an interview with Irish music website State.ie she confirmed that the album would be released in mid-Spring 2011 either late February or March.^[15]

Gemma Hayes has written some original music for the 2010 movie Janie Jones, by writer/director David M. Rosenthal. Abigail Breslin sings and plays her music. The three songs to appear in the film will include Just a Game, Fight for Me and Hurricane.^[16]

Gemma Hayes returned to live performances in autumn 2010. She launched her autumn tour in Cork City, Ireland were she performed some new tracks which included Noise, Hurricane and Beside Me.

On Thursday, 13 February 2011, Gemma Hayes confirmed on RTE Radio 1's Today with Pat Kenny that her fourth studio album would be released sometime in May 2011 and that she would tour Ireland in early summer 2011.^[17] It was later confirmed on gemmahayes.com that the fourth album is due for May release with a single due mid-Spring as recording in Ireland and France neared completion.^[11] Gemma confirmed that 'Shock to the System' will appear on the album.^[18] On 15 March 2011 Gemma confirmed on her Twitter account that a track called Noise will feature on the album.^[19] On 10 April 2011 Gemma confirmed through her website that the new album will be released on 27 May 2011 in Ireland.^{[dated info]} The album will be called Let It Break.

Gemma confirmed that she has written two songs for Michael Uppendahl (director of US TV series Mad Men, Weeds, and Becker) for a forthcoming film directed by him.^[20]

On 11 October 2011 the soundtrack to Janie Jones is released in Europe and Australia. The album features three tracks written by Gemma Hayes. It also features the studio version of 'Waiting for You' which Gemma played as a promo track and on her tours throughout 2010 and 2011.

Hayes revealed in an interview with Evening Echo's 'Downtown' published on Thursday, 16 February 2012 that she has recorded a version of Chris Isaak's 'Wicked Game' which is to feature in a future episode of US Teen drama 'Pretty Little Liars'. The song also featured on her 2012 tour playlist.^[21]

It has been confirmed that Hayes will appear on Paul Noonan's debut solo album.^[22] Noonan has previously worked on Hayes' previous albums.

On 1 March 2012 gemmahayes.com confirmed her cover of "Wicked Games" will appear on Pretty Little Liars on 12 March and will be available to download as a single.^[23]

Popular culture[link]

This "In popular culture" section may contain minor or trivial references. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular culture rather than simply listing appearances, and remove trivial references. (May 2012)

• "Wicked Game", originally by Chris Isaak, covered by Gemma Hayes was featured in ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars second season. It appeared at the end of the 24th episode.
• "Sad Ol' Song" and "Chasing Dragons" featured in the final episode of Season 3 of RTÉ One's Raw on 13 February 2011.
• "Brittle Winter" featured on ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars.^[24]
• "Out Of Our Hands" taken from Hollow of Morning featured in episode "The Return" of season 2 of Vampire Diaries.^[25]
• "November" taken from the Oliver EP featured on US drama series One Tree Hill. The song featured on the episode "At the Bottom of Everything".^[26] The episode was broadcast on Monday 15 February 2010 on CW.^[11]
• "Sad Ol Song" a track from The Hollow of Morning featured on episode 6 of RTÉ drama series RAW first broadcasted on RTÉ One on Sunday 14 February 2010.^[27]
• "Under a Canopy" a track from The Hollow of Morning album featured on episode 5 of RTÉ drama series RAW first broadcasted on RTÉ One on Sunday 7 February 2010.^[27]
• Her song "Chasing Dragons" was featured on Private Practice episode 301: "A Death in the Family" which first aired on ABC on 6 October 2009.^[28]
• Her song "Out of Our Hands" was featured in ER episode "T-Minus-6" (from Season 15) which aired on 26 February 2009 on NBC, 10 May 2009 on RTÉ One.,^[29] and in the episode "Bad Moon Rising" on the CW show The Vampire Diaries on 23 September 2010.
• The song "Two Step" was featured in a season 2 episode of the hit TV show Grey's Anatomy.^[30]
• She was also featured in a duet with Norwegian singer Magnet on a Bob Dylan cover, "Lay Lady Lay" in the 2005 feature film Mr. & Mrs. Smith.^[31]
• Hayes was on the Ceol '07 album, which was released on 2 March 2007, singing "Rith Mé Go Crích", an Irish language version of "Ran For Miles", which originally appeared on Night on my Side. Other Irish artists who appeared included Bell X1 and Paddy Casey.^[32] The track "Rith Mé Go Crích" reappeared on Ceol 2010 which was released in 2010.
• She appeared on the cover of the June 2008 edition of State magazine.^[33]
• "4:35am" appeared in the 2006 film, Flicka.^[34]
• She dueted with Julian Lennon on "Faithful" from his album Photograph Smile.

Discography[link]

• Night on My Side (2002)
• The Roads Don't Love You (2005)
• The Hollow of Morning (2008)
• Let It Break (2011)

Awards[link]

• 2001 - Best Female Artist - Hot Press Awards - Winner
• 2002 - Mercury Prize - Nomination
• 2003 - Irish Tatler Woman of the Year Music Award
• 2006 - Best Irish Female Artist - Meteor Ireland Music Awards - Winner
• 2009 - Best Irish Female Artist - Meteor Ireland Music Awards - Nomination
• 2009 - Best Solo Female - Irish Music Television: Video Music Awards - Home (Video) - Nomination ^[35]

See also[link]

• The Cake Sale
• List of singer-songwriters
• List of dream pop artists
• List of artists who have released Irish language songs
• List of Irish people

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2012)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gemma Hayes

External links[link]

• Official website
• Gemma Hayes at the Internet Movie Database
• Gemma Hayes at Irish Music Central