HAYLEY CHAN

Hayley Chan is a performer, improviser, and composer from Warrane/Sydney. Having grown up as the only female drummer in her school in Western Sydney, Hayley sought to research gender equality in Sydney’s music scene through her studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, graduating with a Bachelor of Music (First Class Honours) in 2024. Praised for being "an incredible drummer and sensitive musician" (Chloe Kim, Australian drummer) and "creative and technically precise" (Simon Barker, Australian drummer), her artistry seeks to transcend boundaries between musical genres, emulating formidable Australian artists such as Maria Moles, Bree van Reyk, and Andrea Keller.

Hayley has made her mark across Australia's east coast, having performed at the Sydney Opera House and at festivals such as Bigsound, Kiama Jazz and Blues, and Orange Winter Jazz Festival. As a 2024 Dots+Loops Performance Fellow, Hayley undertook a week-long residency at the Brisbane Powerhouse to put together two captivating sets of music alongside four performance fellows and mentors Helen Svoboda, Lexi Gorton and Frankie Dyson Reilly, culminating in their show-stopping performance at the 2024 Nonstop Festival.

Hayley joined the all-femme jazz hip-hop band, Monstress, in 2022. Since then, Monstress has scheduled single release after release, starting with ‘Honey’ and ‘Heather’s Diary’, a punk-funk-nu-jazz sonic experience. Their latest single ‘Hit It While It’s Hip’ was recently featured on ABC Rage.

In June 2024, Hayley premiered her drumset concerto, Creatures/Inhabitants, at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music featuring the incredible Uma Volkmer on trumpet and Gabriella Hill on tenor saxophone. Inspired by the art of Louise Bourgeois, Creatures/Inhabitants is a 25-minute semi-improvised piece that intricately explores depictions of landscapes and animals, and the inner workings of the human mind.

In that same month, Hayley was involved in Clayton Thomas’s large-scale improvisation SOUND THE ALARM, which brought together nineteen of Sydney’s best musical improvisers. Thomas’ instigation sought to bring awareness to and raise funds for the humanitarian crisis in Palestine..

Most recently, Hayley’s experimental post-hardcore band, Angel Grindr, released their debut album, “Short Leesh,” setting the stage for the next chapter of their experiemental, hardcore releases.