Pages: 1 2 3 … 29

Darren’s Digital Catalogue Cleanup (Missing Albums / Never-Ending Singles Club / YouTube + More)

If you’ve been following on the socials or catching Darren Hayman’s interviews with The J-Card Podcast, Atwood Magazine, God Is In the TV and Merry-Go-Round Magazine, you might have noticed that Darren’s digital world has been a getting a good tidy-up lately.

We now have a fancy Linktree that will take you to just about anything you could hope to find about Darren’s music, art, social media, merch, etc.  What does a “digital tidy-up” mean, though?

After countless releases with numerous lineups on various record labels, bits of back catalogue had fallen off the digital services, gotten buried in a Metadata mix-up, or, in some cases, had never been uploaded to begin with. We’ve been working to sort that out and get things back where they should be.

Now, you can find previously missing or newly added titles like The Best of Hefner, The Ship’s Piano, Essex Arms, The Doll’s House Room, as well as newly expanded editions of The Violence and Hayman, Watkins, Trout And Lee, which were released with the Audio Antihero label. Additionally, we’ve started putting up some titles in their original forms, before we added second discs and bonuses, giving you a more classic experience of the Hefner albums and EPs, as well as other titles.

To dig back into the back catalogue and see what you might be missing, you can visit your digital service of choice, or check any of these handy playlists.

The Darren Hayman / Hefner YouTube channel is updating weekly with music videos, performances, art videos, and more!

Supporters of Darren’s Patreon can more easily find the type of media they’re looking for now that the monthly songs, album commentaries, “How I Wrote…” videos, BTS, etc, all have their own dedicated collection.

If you’re new to Patreon, there’s even a collection of free content to get you started, which includes things like exclusive songs, art tutorial, “How I Wrote:  The Day That Thatcher Dies,” and an album commentary for ‘Essex Arms.’ 

Hayman, Watkins, Trout And Lee (Bonus Tracks) by Hayman, Watkins, Trout And Lee” target=”_blank”>Bandcamp has been reorganised so it should be easier to find albums, EPs, singles and compilations from Hefner, The French, New Starts, Darren Hayman & The Secondary Modern, Darren Hayman & The Wave Pictures, and Hayman, Watkins, Trout And Lee (Bonus Tracks) by Hayman, Watkins, Trout And Lee” target=”_blank”>lots more.

  • Thankful Villages Website Back Online:

Darren’s Thankful Villages project is now back online and archived at https://thankful-villages.co.uk

  • What’s next?

A lot! So, be sure to follow Darren wherever you roam on social media and wherever you like to listen to music – https://linktr.ee/darrenhaymancatalogue

Amazing Things – Darren Hayman and his Electric Guitars

Pre-order the forthcoming album ‘Amazing Things by Darren Hayman and his Electric Guitars’

A year ago, I lost my friend.

During his last few months, he visited his favourite curry house and told the owner that he probably wouldn’t be in again.

“I have cancer,” he said.

The owner was upset and said, “Oh, but they can do amazing things these days!”

Darren Hayman has made an album about death and grief titled Amazing Things, which isn’t morose, slow, or quiet. Instead, it is packed with joyful, melodic guitars and some of Darren’s prettiest tunes. It is sometimes very sad, but also heartfelt, loving, and rewarding.

Darren recorded the album almost entirely solo, except for one song written with his childhood friend Andy Field. Darren is using the name Darren Hayman and his Electric Guitars for this project to reflect the making of the record.

“Apart from drums, bass, and vocals, the only instruments on the record are electric guitars,” explains Darren. “This is both an homage to my friend’s music taste and another one of the rules or limitations I need to make records. Despite the electric guitar being my main instrument, I often run scared from it and feel that records need many other instruments to create texture. This time, I had to take time and care and find out what guitars can be.”

Amazing Things is an album about the complexities of grief; it is about loss and love. “Nobody You’d Know” tells you about a friend you never had. “All The Toys” is about a heaven where you can have every toy you want and they repair themselves every day. “It’s Gotten Quiet Round Here” is a song about the deafening nothing that follows death.

Darren says, “When I knew we were going into the final months and that I would be spending some of that time with him, another friend said to me, ‘That will be an honour’; I didn’t understand what they meant until afterwards.”

Darren Hayman is a British songwriter best known for his work with late 90s band Hefner, but has since made more than 20 albums dealing with astronauts, the English Civil War, William Morris, Lidos, and Thankful Villages. He lives in South London with his dog.

Darren Hayman and His Electric Guitars
Amazing Things wia123lp

Released 22 August 2025
On black 12″ vinyl, printed inner with 7″ square colouring-in book
CD in card wallet with 7″ square colouring-in book
also available as download

Track List:

Nobody You’d Know
Amazing Things
Teenage Guitar
Something Beautiful
Clean White Page
Do Whatever You Want
Heart’s Been Broken Before
All The Toys
It’s Gotten Quiet Round Here
Somebody Good Thinks I’m Good

Prices include postage and packing.

Buy Amazing Things by Darren Hayman and his Electric Guitars on CD with colouring book


Buy Amazing Things by Darren Hayman and his Electric Guitars Vinyl with colouring book


PRE-ORDER A DOWNLOAD OF AMAZING THINGS FROM BANDCAMP

 

 

‘Nobody You’d Know’/‘Borderline’ – Darren Hayman and his Electric Guitars – Cassingle

‘Nobody You’d Know’ is the first release from Darren Hayman’s forthcoming album ‘Amazing Things’, to be released under the name Darren Hayman and his Electric Guitars.

‘Amazing Things’ is an uplifting about friendship, death and grief. ‘Nobody You’d Know’ is the opening scene setting song that hopes to tell you about a good person you possibly missed out on. The cassette single is backed with a version of Madonna’s ‘Borderline’, a favourite of Darren’s friend and subject matter of the whole album.

Despite the electric guitar always being Darren’s primary instrument this is the first time he has felt he’s dug deep into the instrument. This song and the following album are rich on tone, feeling and melody.

The cassette single is designed by Will Arnold who also designed the album art. Will is another good friend of the song’s subject matter and everything has been made with love.

Here is a video for the song.

The cassingle is limited to just 50 copies and comes with a download code. It will be released and sent out on or around 25th May.

Prices include postage and packing.

SOLD OUT

Fun Fair – Darren Hayman

For Darren’s exhibition of fun fair paintings at Art Dog Gallery this November and December we have a made a book featuring all 36 of the paintings over 76 pages.

This run of books is limited to 300 copies and Darren’s last art book ‘The Last Dog Walk’ sold out in a few weeks.

The book will ship on or around 23rd November.

Each painting is accompanied by a fragment of prose by Darren and the book also contains Darren’s thoughts on the process and creation of the paintings.

Prices include postage and packing.

Buy ‘Fun Fair’ by Darren Hayman


Bundle offer! Save money by buying Fun Fair and More Break Up Songs by New Starts together.

Buy Fun Fair/New Starts CD Bundle


Buy Fun Fair/New Starts Vinyl Bundle


‘Paul McCartney’s Birds’ exclusive print by Darren Hayman

An exclusive Giclee print limited to 100 copies on 240 gsm paper. Every one is numbered and signed in pencil by Darren. It features nine paintings by Darren based on songs by Paul McCartney that feature birds.

The prints are A3 in size (297 x 420mm) and will be sent wrapped in tissue and rolled into a mailing tube.

Prices include postage and packing.

Buy ‘Paul McCartney’s Birds’ print




More Break Up Songs by New Starts

Pre-order for release date on 16th August 2024 (records usually sent out before or on release date).

Darren has formed a new band with Giles (bass), Joely (guitar) and Will (drums).

“I wanted to have a band that’s like a first band when you’re young. Where you work out how you sound together by embracing four different personalities. I went full Tin Machine’

The album is recorded live with just two guitars, drums, bass and vocals. It is the most rocking Darren has ever sounded.

First single ‘Under the Striplights’ is out on streaming platforms already, shake a leg.

Prices include postage and packing.

Buy New Starts More Break Up Songs on CD


Buy New Starts More Break Up Songs Vinyl


Download the album for £7 here…

Essex Arms SALE PRICE

FPOP95 Format: CD / Vinyl / Download Released: 04 October 2010

The new album from ex-Hefner man Darren Hayman and his band of folk-rock renegades is their finest work to date

Essex Arms is the third album by Darren Hayman And The Secondary Modern. Darren, of course, is best known as the singer-songwriter of the phenomenally successful and much-loved Hefner, although it’s worth noting that he has now made six albums to Hefner’s four. In the latest incarnation of the constantly morphing Secondary Modern he has gathered together a set of musicians with the chops to do justice to his increasingly complex and mature songs; a tight, tough, but soulful folk-rock orchestra reminiscent of a more urban Incredible String Band or an Anglicized Lambchop.

The second in a proposed trilogy of albums about Hayman’s home county of Essex, Essex Arms is a conceptual piece about the East Anglian rural underbelly. Whereas Pram Town (2009) dealt with the displacement and ennui of living in a new town (Harlow) – and received the best reviews of Hayman’s post-Hefner career – Essex Arms takes the narrative to the countryside.

Buy Essex Arms on CD


Buy Essex Arms on vinyl (with download code)


 

Or buy the download from Bandcamp for £7

snö – Various Artists – 3CD set

Darren Hayman and John F Morrison reunite for their first ‘French’ track in over twenty years. Jack Hayter also contributes to this 3 CD compilation of Winter ambient music.

Please take care to choose correct worldwide location. Price includes postage and packing.

Sno – triple CD – Various Artists

The Last Dog Walk

A 72 page book of Darren’s first ever painting exhibition.

The Last Dog Walk is a collection of paintings about solitude, loneliness and envy. Each painting is accompanied by a new Hayman lyric or line of poetry.

Please take care to choose correct worldwide location. Price includes postage and packing.

SOLD OUT!

Darren Hayman Solo Art Exhibition

Darren is holding what is really his first ever exhibition of his paintings at Art Dog in Honour Oak in London from the 20th July to the 30th July.

39 previously unseen nightscapes with be revealed as well as a book of the exhibition.

The evening of the 20th July will be an opening with Darren’s new band playing. You are all invited.