HAYES & THE CALL OF THE WILD COMBO

The fact that Bonnie Hayes & the Wild Combo will open Huey Lewis’ shows at the Forum on Monday and Tuesday probably raises a few questions--among them: Who’s Bonnie Hayes?

People who follow the San Francisco music scene could respond with a variety of answers, depending on their command of history--and their degree of cynicism.

Longtime students of Bay Area rock might reply that Hayes is a veteran performer who fronted San Francisco punk band the Punts in the late ‘70s. Perfectly good answer.

Others might say that Hayes is a gifted keyboardist-singer-songwriter who, with the Wild Combo, made two fine independent records whose perky pop drew favorable comparisons to the Go-Go’s and early Blondie. Also a good answer.

Another possible response: Hayes is the sister of Chris Hayes, guitarist for Lewis’ group the News. This is the answer cynics might prefer, assuming that nepotism must explain how she ended up opening six dates of the Lewis tour.

“The funny thing is, ‘the sibling connection’ actually kept me from working for Huey for years,” Hayes said.

“They’re really afraid of appearing nepotistic, especially my brother. My brother has strong feelings about not using his influence. Basically, though, Huey’s been a friend and a fan for a really long time. . . .

“I’ve been trying to get on Huey’s shows for five years. When I put out my first record I begged Huey to let me open for him,” she said during a recent phone interview.

“He said, ‘We need somebody with a record on a major label.’ I mean, it was really true that we couldn’t offer them any help. And they were not in a position to take an unknown band with an indie record out on the road.”

Apparently Lewis & the News can now afford to take an unknown band with no record out on the road. Hayes & the Wild Combo haven’t released anything since 1984’s “Brave New Girl” EP, which followed their debut album, 1982’s “Good Clean Fun.”

Said Hayes, “Our problem has been that we’ve been loath to do another independent record. Both of our records were independent, one with a company and one by ourselves. Neither of them proved to be what we needed in terms of reaching a bigger audience.”

Why would a fairly obscure band play such high-profile shows without having an album--or even a single--to promote? Hayes explained that since the first records didn’t attract a larger audience, they’ve reversed the process and are hoping that performing before a large audience will lead to a major-label record deal.

And why would the Lewis organization finally agree to have Hayes open some shows? Answer: With Lewis’ increased power and influence comes more flexibility about such matters. Another factor: Lewis’ manager is guiding Hayes’ search for a recording contract.

But Hayes isn’t making another stab at pop success with the same approach or sound she used before. Indeed, after both records failed to click, she took some time off from writing and performing to reassess her career and musical direction.

With some changes made and others in mind, she returned to writing songs. “I started looking at my band more as an extension of my own mind. And it really worked. I started writing songs that are really interesting musically for them to play, but at the same time have piles of backup vocals.”

It’s clear that vocals--lead and backup--are enormously important to Hayes. She gave up playing keyboards with the band to concentrate on her singing. She’s added two singers and some other musicians to the Wild Combo, which includes another brother, Kevin, on drums. She also began playing solo concerts in the Bay Area, as part of a desire to improve her vocals.

“I wanted to work on my singing,” Hayes said. “Something that was bothering me was that I felt my singing was real one-dimensional on the records. . . . I listen to Rickie Lee Jones and other singers who really use a wider emotional range.”

So at those weekly solo shows, Hayes performed jazz, pop standards, R&B; and blues--trying, she said, “to traverse some of that emotional range.”

More recently, she’s turned her attention back to leading the Wild Combo. For the last six months they’ve been working on refining the live show and the new material.

“Now, we’re feeling really ready and really strong, like we have a lot of really good tunes,” she said. “The band is incredible, the band is committed. Now I want to to see if this assessment is actually what’s going on.”