Talking to strangers is fun. Well, it can be fun, sometimes it’s horrifying. In a mecca as massive as Brooklyn, it’s surprising just how often we see the same people over and over. Often times, we share the same commute/hang out schedules with the same sampling of people, but how often do we break out of our comfort zones to give a simple “hay.” Not very often. If you can summon the bravery to do so, giving a nice and random “hay” can produce a new friend, or at the very least, a new story to tell.
We said “hay” to Brooklyn band Haybaby, and the results were very positive. We’ll get into that more later, but first, here’s “Her” the first single off their debut album, Sleepy Kids, which is out on 10/23 via Tiny Engines.
We asked the band to describe the last memorable convo they had with a stranger, and Sam Yield was quick to respond with:
“The most recent memorable conversation I had with a stranger took place just the other night, during the course of an extremely ineffective mugging. I was walking home in Bushwick; it was late and I was drunk. About a block from my house, a young guy tapped me on the shoulder. He asked if I had any money. I said I didn’t. He said, “I think you do.” That’s when I noticed he was holding a tiny little knife in one hand, and that he was proposing to rob me. He seemed kind of new at it, and I don’t know, maybe he hadn’t practiced scary faces in the mirror long enough…in any case, I found myself just talking to the guy. I offered to buy him food but he said he wasn’t hungry. He said he wished he didn’t have to do this kind of thing; I agreed. I sometimes get the feeling that when a person points a little knife at you, or insults you, or otherwise claims to be your enemy, they’re secretly asking for your help in bringing the interaction to a crisis and making the enmity real. Anyway, nothing happened: no stabbing, no robbing. The conversation didn’t last long, and at the end of it, bizarrely, the guy gave me a little hug before taking off. He really wasn’t very good at mugging.”
That is more of a “nay” than a “hay,” but it definitely lands in the category of memorable and shows that Sam is a good person, who also so happens to be in a GREAT band.
You can catch Haybaby at Shea Stadium on 9/11, and at Baby’s All Right on 9/25. Pre-order their album HERE.