Petra Haden is an artist's artist. She is the former violinist for That Dog and the daughter of legendary jazz artist Charlie Haden. She has collaborated with everyone from Beck to Green Day to Yuka Honda (of Cibo Matto) to Victoria Williams. and that's just the tip of the iceberg. I recently had the chance to talk with Petra about her 2 new albums, a duet covers album with Bill Frisell and an acapella version of the classic record The Who Sell Out. Here's what the lovely Miss Haden had to tell me. - By Mark Fisher

Petra Hayden - A Sell Out ?  Nah........

Mark Fisher: Well Petra, it looks like it's going to be a big year for you! 2 new albums by the end of January.

Petra Haden: Yeah! (laughs) I know! It's pretty neat because lately I have been feeling like I haven't been very busy. It looks like now I'll be kind of busy though! (laughs)

MF: Let's start with your album with Bill Frisell if you don't mind. With the exception of 2 songs, these are all covers of other artists. Why did you decide to go that route as opposed to an album of original material?

PH: Well I think that it had to do with the timing of it. Bill was very busy but he really wanted to do a record with me. When he asked me to record with him, of course, I immediately said yes but after I hung up the phone I was like, "I wonder what we are going to do?" I didn't know if we were going to write stuff together or what. We had emailed each other about our favorite music and what styles of music we like, like classical and jazz. The next time I talked to him he suggested that we do a record of our favorite music, like the music we had been talking about. He really likes Tom Waits and Gershwin and stuff like that and I thought it'd be cool. I really like singing for fun into my 4-track or 8-track. I like doing classical pieces or my interpretation of things and so I thought his idea worked really well with that. We basically just figured it out when I got to Seattle to record. We made a list of all the songs that we liked. He played the Elliot Smith song for me their and it just fit so well. We agreed on everything. It was great. Plus I have always wanted to record "Moon River"! (laughs) I used to daydream while singing that song. It was just perfect, although I'd still like to do a record of original stuff with him since that was how it seemed to move near the end of our recording. We ended with an original of his, "Throughout". I just started singing and he started to play along with it and then he said that we should do more like our two originals, "The Quiet Room" and "Throughout", since it's what we both relate to. They both have a kind of dreamy sound.

MF: "The Quiet Room" is your original contribution to the album. Is that something you had written before hand or is it something that was spawned during recording like Bill's song was?

PH: That was something that I had written before but I had never finished it. I sang it for Bill while we were recording. You see, I don't write lyrics, I don't feel like I really have a knack for it. I want to so badly, it just doesn't happen. Anyway, that's something that I wrote on a 4-track that my dad got me for my birthday a long time ago. I wanted to learn to write on a 4-track and learn how to use it but I don't play guitar so I just started singing all the instruments parts. "The Quiet Room" started with a melody and from that I stacked the other things like the bass and stuff but it needed a change you know? So I played it for Bill and with him playing along it ended up sounding like a real song. (laughs) That's how that song came about really.

MF: Do you have a favorite cover song on the CD? Maybe "Moon River"? (laughs)

PH: (laughs) No, not "Moon River"! Although it is really pretty. I think I go back and forth between "Satellite" and "I Believe." I'd say those 2 are equally my favorite. The Tom Waits song ("I Don't Wanna Grow Up") I wasn't sure I could sing when Bill played it for me. I decided to sing it like a playful little kid's song and I think that one came out really well.

MF: Let's talk a little about Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out if you wouldn't mind. How did that come about? I read somewhere that it was actually Mike Watt's idea.

PH: Yeah it was. I had never really listened to The Who before. I don't have any of their records but I know a little bit about them. They are Mike Watt's favorite band I think. I had recorded an album called Imaginaryland in 1996. It's completely acapella with no lyrics. It's just all sounds that I do. I really love the Bulgarian Female Vocal Choir and they are a big influence on that part of me. I really wanted to do something like that and pretty much needed to get it out of my system. There are all these little melodies I have in my head and sometimes you need them to be bigger.

Anyway, Mike had Imaginaryland and he told me that he thought it would be a cool idea for me to sing The Who Sell Out in the same way that I had done Imaginaryland, like sing all the parts and stuff. The difference would be that this album had lyrics. I didn't really have anything to do; this was like 4 years ago, so I just sat in my spare time and worked on it. Mike gave me his 8-track and on the 8th track he had recorded The Who Sell Out. I listened to the whole record once or twice to get a feel for it and then I just started singing. I think I started with "I Can See For Miles" and then went from there. I ended up taking the 8th track out and just adding what I would have added if I had written the song. I did that with every song piece by piece. Well, except the commercials. With the commercials I tried to sing it exactly how it was on the tape. It kept my brain going because it was just one thing after another with no breaks. I made a lot of mistakes actually, partly because I still didn't know how to use the machine! I kept calling Mike and going, "Now what button do I press for this? How do I bounce tracks again?" (laughs) I still don't think that I ever really bounced any tracks. I got lazy and stopped for awhile and then I was in this horrible accident where I was hit by a car. I healed pretty quickly but I had a lot of time to kill. I ended up going back and finishing a lot of the album while I was in a wheelchair! (laughs) That was kind of fun because I was so bored that I really wanted to make the album the best that I could!

MF: Do you find it difficult to perform and record music acapella? I would think that it would be hard to do an album using only your voice for all the instruments.

PH: Well, for me it wasn't that hard. On the Imaginaryland record I did a piece by Bach and it was a lot of fun. I guess that it's easy for me as long as it's something I have a passion for listening to. I just love doing it. On the album with Bill Frisell I had a hard time doing the song "Yellow", which is a Coldplay song. It's not that I didn't like the song it was just that it is so popular and new and still being played on the radio and stuff. I was really self-conscious about doing that one. What makes it different though is that there are no drums. I tend to automatically add harmonies to things as well. I end up asking for like 10 open tracks for my vocals! (laughs) That worked well with The Who Sell Out because I was my own boss and could have as many vocal tracks as I wanted! (laughs)

MF: With The Who Sell Out album did you try to maintain the integrity/feel of the original album or did you approach it with more of a "this is how the album sounds through my ears" mentality?

PH: A little of both I think but I did really want to do it with the same energy that they did it with. Like with the song "Rael", it reminded me of like a pirate song. It just has this out on a ship looking over the ocean energy to it. I think that when I was doing that song my face even changed (laughs), like I was almost acting. With The Who record I wanted to sound exactly how they sounded and capture their energy but when I added my own harmonies I think I kind of looked at it as if I were making it my own. So that's how I went about it.

MF: Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out is on BarNone Records. Were they always the intended outlet or did they come along after the recording was finished?

PH: That came along after I was done with it. After I had finished it it just kind of sat for awhile. I didn't really know what to do with it. I have a friend named Jennifer Sharp who has a website called SharpWorld. I don't really know how to describe it but it's kind of political, entertainment, comedy.it's like a life situation kind of website. Anyway she did a segment on voices that sound like instruments and instruments that sound like voices. She called me and asked if she could put "Amenia City in the Sky" on her website so that people could listen to it. About a week later she said that she had gotten a message from a guy who has a radio station in New Jersey and that he would like to use that song as well as the others for his shows. He really liked it. I called him and it turns out he knows the people at BarNone and he told me that he was going to pass it on to them because they were really big Who fans. I was still really self-conscious about it because it was from the 8-track and it sounded really noisy. He told me that he thought that that was part of the charm of the record. Then I got a call from BarNone and they were really nice and supportive. I felt like they really "got it" you know? Some of my friends who heard it thought I should re-record it in a studio and said they didn't know if they could even listen to the whole thing! Of course, I was just folding my arms going, "Huh! Well sorrrryyy!" (laughs)

MF: I could see this album being really nerve racking to release. Do you get nervous about releasing things? I mean, this is an album that I absolutely love but there are a lot of people who just aren't going to get it.

PH: I know. I am nervous. I'm really sensitive these days for some reason. Lately I have been afraid to read any kind of review!(laughs) I have this idea that I'm going to get a review that says "The pictures are better than the record." (laughs) or something but that's just my head talking. I used to be in a band in the nineties and even back then I was always worried about reviews and things like that. I haven't been in that kind of situation for so long. People tell me though that as long as I like it that's all that matters. Still though, I do worry about what other people think. I just can't help it.

MF: The big question is, of course, what does it feel like to sit in a bath tub full of baked beans?

PH: (laughs) It was really funny actually! My friend Alicia Rose, who I did a record with that is due in the summer, she plays the accordion, is a photographer and had been recently taking pictures of bands and stuff. She asked if she could take the pictures. She set everything up and then we went to the store and bought ten huge cans of baked beans. I was kind of spaced out, that happens to me in huge stores (laughs), and it hadn't really hit me that I was going to have to sit in a tub full of baked beans. We ended up not having enough beans but the guys who lived in the house where we were shooting the pictures happened to be carpenters so they cut a piece of plywood and shaped it around me. We put all the beans on top but then they started sinking down! People kept spooning the beans back up and smearing them on my face. I had to sit in the same position so long that my butt got numb! (laughs) I could feel the beans sliding down my legs and I was like "Oh God! Oh God!" (laughs) It was pretty funny. I just went with it really. The worst part about it was cleaning up! (laughs)I have heard that Roger Daltrey got really sick after that photoshoot! When I eat baked beans even now I kind of smile you know?

MF: Do you have any plans to work on an album of original material this year?

PH: Yeah. I have talked about it with Bill Frisell. We want to do another record; he's just been really busy. I feel that I work really well when I am collaborating with other people, I just have to find the right people. I guess that I have to think about it some more but I definitely want to do an album of original material soon.

MF: Do you have plans to tour for either record?

PH: I do actually but I'm still in the process of figuring out who I want in my choir. I'm probably going to have to hire a choir director to write out all the music for people to sing because if I have to do that I think I'll go crazy! (laughs)I would like to have my sisters sing with me. We have been looking at doing some shows in New York City in the summer.

MF: Thanks so much for your time. Do you have any parting thoughts for our readers?

PH: No, not really. I guess I should mention that I'm going on tour with this band called The Decemberist. They asked me to come on tour with them and play violin and sing. I guess that's the latest thing that I'm doing. That starts in March. That's the latest thing I think. Thanks!

www.sovereignartists.com (Petra Haden & Bill Frisell)
www.bar-none.com (Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out)

  ABOUT MARK FISHER
Mark Fisher is the former creator/editor of 1340mag.com and is currently a freelance writer for various publications. He also works on and off as a bio writer for various independent and major label artists. Mark lives happily with his extremely patient and understanding wife in Fairmont, WV. You can reach him at mark1340@verizon.net.