Bradley Hathaway | Undying Respect For His Art Form
radley Hathaway has a deep undying respect for his art form. That fact, coupled with a relentless drive to put out better and better songs, is what has kept Hathaway relevant all these years later. Abandoning his spoken word gig years ago, Hathaway has since picked up a guitar and turned out three widely diverse albums. His newest, A Thousand Angry Panthers, is by far his darkest. The album is only four tracks long but the subject matter is where the heart is, marrying melancholy to revelations. Panthers is a heavy listen but a great introduction to (perhaps) an all new Bradley Hathaway for those of us who have only glimpsed him through the spoken poetic lenses.
Ok first, I have to ask. How did you come up with the title A Thousand Angry Panthers?
Bradley Hathaway: It’s a lyric from the third track on the EP during the song “Would You Think Less of Me”. It says “You know I’d fight a thousand angry panthers screaming in the night if it meant you’d be kept safe sound and all right. But all I’ve ever had to fight is you and I’m giving up there’s nothing else I can do.” That imagery and those lines really stick out to me and I felt it appropriate for an album title. Album titles really can or should set the mood for records and one can look at this particular title in a few ways. I’ll let the listener decide the other possible ways, but for me it’s not an angry album or anything. A Mouth Full of Dust, the title of my last record, fit the songs with their yearning and grittiness. But this one is a bit more ambiguous I think. What are the panthers? Who are the panthers? Where are the panthers? Also, the past year I’ve been dealing with a lot of anger in my own life and while these songs don’t necessarily portray that anger, they are portraying a present darkness, and the title is a sort of reminder of this time in my life in regards to the anger I’m feeling toward the world around me, for this or that.
One of the reasons I think people connect with you is so easily you can shift from so somber to so loving in your songs. Sometimes I get the impression that you’re the happiest carefree dude in the world then the next song comes on and I’m blown away by how personal and dark you words can get. That being said, why did you choose these four songs?
BH: With the exception of my first book and record of poems, I really like to have thematic releases. Poets was the beginning and end of a love. A Mouth Full of Dust was all revolving around the absence or the yearning for God and the feeling of loss. And Panthers are all a set as well. The first three are just full of heartbreak, longing, disappointment, love and whatever else. The last one, “The World Is Screaming” is much the same only it ends up pointing to the comforter in the person of Jesus who gives us company during the darkness of the first three. And that’s why I think it’s so important to listen at least to any of my albums at least the first few times in their entirety. In an age of singles and the death of full lengths one will not get as much from my songs if they are not listened to just as I have presented them. It’s very important and I wish more people understood that. I have many, many songs but I think it’s very important to release them into the world at the right time, in the right way, with the proper support and environment. Some artists align albums just by way of the music with no regard to lyrics but I tend to look more toward the lyrics lining up but by the end of it, everything has to fit together or I’m not into it. There was another song recorded for this EP but the music just didn’t fit. The lyrics did but the music came out a bit different and instead of compromising the whole EP and that individual song, I’m just going to release it later as a single. And these four songs don’t fit that well with the other bunch of songs we have as a band so it just made sense.
I hate to use the word “mature” but do you feel like you grow up more and more with each release? Has there ever been a time where you look back on your older songs and you’re embarrassed?
BH: Yeah I’m not too into the “mature” word but I’m not sure what else you can call it. I just don’t like that it implies immaturity in my previous works because I don’t think that’s the case, I just think they are different than this release. But yeah, I do actually grow up more and more with each release and I hope that is reflected with each release here on out. I’m 28 years old now so I can’t, well I guess I could but I shouldn’t anyway, still be thinking and speaking about things that I did when I was younger. There’s no way I could have written the lyrics to Panthers prior to the past couple years. I’ve seen more, I’ve felt more, I’ve hurt more, I’ve heard more, I just know more, you know? And I’ve got so much more to learn and feel and hurt and hear. I’ve always looked forward to being an older man and singing songs about things I or others have experienced. And when I’m an old man and I sing “So Do I Love You”, which by the time I’m an old man will have been decades prior, it, by nature of where I’m at when I’m singing it, will sound more mature then as well. A twenty-four year-old singing that song sounds and means a lot of different things than a sixty year old man singing the same song with the same chords in the same way. I think that’s beautiful and I look forward to it.
As for looking back on my older songs and being embarrassed? No, nothing that I’ve put out in a proper release anyway. I mean I have a lot of songs in a vault no one will ever hear and that’s for good reason one way or another but I’m proud enough of everything I’ve released thus far. Some I might like more than others but it will always be that way and I’m not ashamed of my voice on Poets because, well, I couldn’t sing worth a flip then but I liked it still then and I like it still now. And I wrote about things on All the Hits that I wouldn’t write about now, but it’s where I was at the time and it will probably be where other people are at some time too so it all works out. Oh wait, actually there is one, no two songs I wish I’d never released and I didn’t like the way they sounded at their conception either and those came early on. And that’s something that as I “mature” I learn about and will never do again. I have to trust that inner voice that says yes or no and just go with it and not look back.
That being said, what did you purposely do differently on these tracks than on previous songs? Did you experiment very much or do you feel you played it pretty close to home?
BH: I don’t know that my band and I set out to do anything purposefully different. This is the first release with Nathan on guitar, though, and that had an impact and I’m afraid that one day we are just going to put out blues records with solos all over the place if we get carried away (laughs). Which I’m not opposed to if that’s where the wind takes us but anyway it’s not taking us there now. I just wrote the songs like I always do. “Would You Think Less of Me” had its lyrics written on the road somewhere between Akron, Ohio and Winchester, Kentucky, with the music found in a tee pee with buffalo painted on it in Golden, British Columbia. “Carolina” came to me in a Motel 6 somewhere in Virginia I think. And on it goes, but musically, if anything is different it’s that unlike A Mouth Full of Dust which had very spaced out moments and eight minute songs with me just playing one chord, Panthers is much more organized with each song having proper parts I guess. But that wasn’t intentional, it’s just how the songs asked to be sung and played. Each song calls for its own clothing and it’s the artist responsibility to put the right clothes on ‘em. That’s as intentional as I get.
What has been going on in your life since the release of A Mouth Full of Dust?
BH: I’ll spare the too personal life stuff but I’ll say that we played a lot of shows and I lost a lot of money (laughs). I’ve discovered a love of fiction writing, which wasn’t really there before and I’m stoked on that. I’ve fallen in love with the music and stories of Sam Baker. And I’m more aware of the love God has for me and us all as revealed through the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Earlier this year I decided to return to college to come closer to wrapping up a degree so that’s been nice. Gonna take some time off the road and be normal for a bit.
I know we talked about this the last time we spoke with you but you’ve never been signed to a label yet you seem to have this lasting charm that really resonates with fans. Is this just a fun hobby for you or is the dream still alive and well in you?
BH: It’s definitely more than a hobby, that’s for sure. The dream is still alive and well but the reality of the real world is pressing around me on all sides. The Egyptians are behind me and the sea has yet to part. I pray and hope it does, but I’m not sure. With the decline of album sales and turnouts at shows and this or that it’s literally not possible to continue as I have been for the past number of years so I’m not sure what the future holds at this point. I know that I love writing songs and telling stories with people and hope I can continue to do that for as long as I am able or at least want to.
Where can fans catch you this summer and fall? And where will the album be available?
BH: This summer I’ll be at Cornerstone and Purple Door festival as well as a few conferences and stuff here and there. But I’m not really planning on doing any proper tour until at least maybe around Christmas or something. I’ll be in school full time unless something big pops up. I’m open to playing shows around the Midwest on the weekends and fly out stuff but for the most part I’m not really going to be available as I have been. Aside from shows, you can get the album on most digital providers as well as direct from me through my web-store which is linked up on MySpace.
Thank you for the interview.
