When Hayden released his debut independent CD, Everything I Long For, a couple of years back, little did he know a huge bidding war would erupt between the major labels.
 
 Or he'd be called the next great Canadian hope in Billboard magazine.
 
 And he especially didn't think he'd ever be named one of the 40 most vital artists today (or rather, 1997) in Spin.
 
 He didn't know exactly how to deal with the stress that came along with all the attention.
 
 "I wasn't feeling stress," he says, "but I'd be somewhere and order a fruit plate, cut the pineapple and suddenly my whole back was out. Stuff like that would happen, so I think my body was showing it in different ways."
 
 Hayden -- who plays the Republik May 31 with guests Transistor Sound and Lighting Co. and Calgary's Sara and Tegan -- says it wasn't so much the stress of major label expectations but more the general stress of being known as The Next Big Thing.
 
 "I wasn't being listened to with open minds a lot of the time because people had heard so much about me and most of it wasn't about the music," he explains.
 
 "So my stress kind of came out in odd ways."
 
 These days -- besides being laid low with the flu -- Hayden is feeling more relaxed and happy with his first major label CD, The Closer I Get.
 
 Recorded in studios in Seattle; Bath, Ont.; Woodstock, N.Y.; and Los Angeles, The Closer I Get sounds full and rich, thanks to a full band. It features ex-Poledo members Joshua Malinsky and Mitch Roth and former Change of Heart drummer Damon Richardson, with whom he is also touring.
 
 "I'm feeling really good about this record ... There are really good positive things about the music that I'm enjoying," he says.
 
 "I'm also feeling really good about playing live with the band for the first time.
 
 "All three of them are really great people who I've known for a while. It's pretty magical right now.
 
 "Obviously anything can happen, but hopefully it will continue to be this way."
 
 Fans of Hayden's earlier stripped-down guitar and vocals need not fret, though.
 
 The Closer I Get still has its share of quiet, introspective numbers that highlight Hayden's unique deep, gravelly voice.
 
 However, there are more catchy numbers like the first single, The Hazards of Sitting Beneath Palm Trees, which continue in the same vein as his biggest hit so far, Trees Lounge, a single from the Steve Buscemi-starring movie of the same name.
 
 "It helped get more people out to shows, I guess," he says of the song in a humble tone.
 
 "This time around when we toured Ontario, there were a lot of people that you could tell knew me from that song and that surprised me. But I suppose it did make certain people notice me who hadn't before."