Hayley Thompson-King
has been recognized internationally for her songwriting, stage performance, and “explosive display of vocal prowess” (PopMatters) since she emerged onto the rock scene fronting garage-rock trio Banditas in 2012.
Her debut solo album, Psychotic Melancholia (2017) was praised by Paste Magazine as “a positively jaw-dropping exposition that celebrates the entire canon of rock ‘n’ roll’s energy, and should be considered an upping of the ante on the gritty sonic real estate of garage, punk, country, and Americana, into some amalgam altogether more apt of Thompson-King’s wondrous artistic aptitudes.”
Her second solo album Sororicide - produced by Sean Slade (Radiohead, Hole) - takes the listener on “a wild stylistic ride” (Billboard). In its review, Newsweek observes, “in the vein of alt-classical song cycles and rock concept albums, her new work layers wide-reaching sonics with palpable psychodrama. At its core is the battle between an artist and the voice inside her head.”
Her diverse sonic influences of garage rock to Americana to art music have earned her radio play on stations ranging from NPR to Sirius XM’s Outlaw Country and Underground Garage stations. She has shared concert billing with Jason Isbell, Andrew WK, GA-20, Hurray for The Riff Raff, Frank Turner, Brothers Osbourne, and Dave Alvin and appeared at the Stockholm Americana Festival in Stockholm, Sweden, The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA, Americana Fest in Nashville, TN, SXSW, and Frank Turner’s Lost Evenings Fest at The House of Blues Boston. Her music has been heard in film and television, including Marielle Heller’s Diary of a Teenage Girl.
In addition to her solo artistic output, she has collaborated as a vocalist with Major Stars - appearing on the albums Motion Set (Drag City) and Decibels of Gratitude (Important Records) - The Upper Crust, and Nat Freedberg. In 2025/26 she was featured on saxophonist Zishi Liu’s single “Landslide” and alt-jazz guitarist Eric Hofbauer’s album Tongues / Hope Language.
Hayley is on the voice faculty at Berklee College of Music as an Associate Professor, as well as a Teaching Artist in Jazz and Contemporary Music at Longy School of Music of Bard College - she specializes in vocal distortion and improvisation.