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A ROCKLINE UP N' COMER: HAYSI FANTAYZEE Boy George watch out!! Did you think you'd cornered the market on loveable quirky new British phenoms? You've got something else coming. Actually, there are two- well, if you count their instrumentalist, three- of them and they're aiming to take your imaginative approach to pop/rock one step further! Actually, Boy, you know these guys fairly well- one of them, 21 year old Jeremiah Healy, is an old friend of yours, and in his own colorful way, he's as unique as you are!! You know how you like to write fun songs with titles like "I'll Tumble 4 Ya"? Well, Jeremiah- he's the lyricist of Haysi Fantayzee- dreams up lines for songs and then scrambles them. "I write the lyrics in my head,"says he, "and then I chop them up and mix them together." The result is tunes like "I Lost My Dodi" (one reviewer "shuddered to think" what a dodi was), "Jimmy Jive Jive", "Shoofly Love", and the ever-popular "John Wayne Is Big Leggy". The last one's about that legendary actor- and his offbeat relationship with an Indian. Told ya this guy was original! And the music's something else- that's put together by Kate Garner; she's 27 and a former fashion photographer and model. Along with Paul Caplin- he's the behind-the-scenes bloke who co-writes, co-produces and manages the group- Kate comes up with melodies that mix jump-rope chanting with backwoods fiddle, reggae, country, folk and even voodoo!! Hey, even their name is original! Haysi Fantayzee is pronounced just as it looks- silly, but it sure is memorable and intriguing. And George, they've even taken your cultural mix of dress a but further; it's been described as 'rasta-reggae, hillbilly, and African'- topped off with long,flowing dreadlocks. Original thinker Kate even hand-paints her clothes with snippets of the group's lyrics. So where did this pair come from? Well, Jeremiah's from your neck of the woods- London to be exact- and even as a child he had trouble 'fitting in' with conventional society. Booted out of school because of his pranks, he began living on his own at an early age. He fell into a career as a DJ and might've stayed there had he not met Kate. She's from Wigan, in Northern Wales, but split during her teen years (she too was expelled from school), roamed Europe and settled into photography and modelling. The two got together, took up with Paul, and Haysi Fantayzee was born!! "Shiney Shiney" is their first single- it's doing well on video too- and it comes from the debut LP, BATTLE HYMNS FOR CHILDREN SINGING. 'Course the album isn't everyone's cup o' tea- one critic took offense at what he called their "brittle musical attack and insipid lyrics". But no one should know better than you, George boy, that individuality isn't immediately appreciated by everyone. And Haysi Fantayzee is nothing if not individual: true originals. ROCKLINE thinks you'll like 'em!!
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