SHE CAN SING FOR MILES AND MILES
Petra Haden takes her quirky vocal re-creation of 'The Who Sell Out' to the stage
When I was single, I had a litmus test for first dates: If a woman could tolerate my musical taste, she was worth a second look. I know, it was an unforgiving audition, and I was a tough crowd. Needless to say, I ran off a handful of otherwise sensible women by taking them to gigs that, for them, may have been akin to water torture.
Here's one example: When I was a freshman in college, I took a girl to see a Laurie Anderson concert at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. It was our first - and last - date. I don't think we even talked on the drive back to her place. I guess "O Superman" isn't optimum make-out music.
But I never let a little rejection deter me. Thus, when Petra Haden was booked to play McCabe's in early 2000, it seemed like a perfect first date. The most beautiful, otherworldly sounds and phrasing emerge from her mouth. And that voice. Oh, my god. I swear to you, it's channeled directly from heaven. And that's without lyrics. Words are rare in Haden's canon, mere window dressing for her blissful la-la-las. Imaginaryland, her 1996 solo debut, was a dazzling vocal wall of sound, and Bella Neurox, her 1999 collaboration with accordionist Miss Murgatroid, added extra texture to the mix.
Okay, so the blind date went well. We got married a year and a half later, and, if not for logistical issues, Haden would have sung at our wedding.
Fast forward to spring 2005. It's one of those warm days that drops in from nowhere between rain and dreariness, catching you unprepared. Petra Haden sits outside a Koreatown Starbucks, and it's pretty clear that she didn't check the weather report before going out. She's wearing a down jacket zipped to the neck, oblivious to the elements. But that's just the way she is. It's not that she lives in her own Imaginaryland, per se, as much as she's seemingly oblivious to the less savory aspects of the cruel world many of us inhabit.
Haden usually relies on instinct, guile, and love for her muse. But this time, it was Mike Watt. About six years ago, the bassist-about-town began regaling his pal with tales of one of his favorite bands, the Who. "I heard them on the radio, and I could take it or leave it," Haden says. "But he was talking about it so much, and he said, 'Petra, I think you would really like The Who Sell Out, because of the harmonies. The music is really good, and I think you would do a great version of it a cappella. And I thought, okay, since he asked me to do it, I'll do it for him."
The Who Fucking Sell Out. Petra Haden decides to re-imagine the British band's legendary 1967 concept album as a lark, as a favor to a friend. Armed with only her voice.
Beginning in 1999, she painstakingly re-created the tunes over the course of several years, layering vocals for each track - bass, drums, guitar, voice. The most difficult instrument to replicate? "The drums," she says. "I admit I suck. I didn't know how I was going to do it, so it was the last thing I did. The easiest part was the bass and then the lyrics, and the guitar was the funnest; I just had fun with it. The trumpet's always fun. Mike Watt, I think his favorite part about the Who is Keith Moon, and so when it came to doing the drums, [I thought] oh, I'm going to let him down. I'm not a drummer. My rhythm is off."
When Haden finished cutting Sell Out's 13 tracks, Watt suggested that she actually release it as a record - something she hadn't even considered doing. "I thought, well, the sound is horrible; you can hear me pressing 'rewind' a thousand times; I sing the lyrics wrong. We cleaned it up a lot, but you can still tell it's from a Maxell crummy tape. No one will care. The point is that I did it, and I'm singing it, and it's fine for me. And if no one else likes it, then they can piss off."
But once she decided to put it out, there was no corner-cutting. She even replicated the Who's original cover, including the infamous shot of lead singer Roger Daltrey in a bathtub of baked beans. "They kept having to spoon it over me," Haden recalls. "They were smearing it on my face. But it wasn't disgusting. The beans felt like cold mud. Except it smelled bad."
Indie label Bar/None released Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out in February. "I wanted to rerecord it in a studio," she says. "But they liked how off it was, charming and different. I didn't think anything would happen. I didn't think anyone would hear it."
But Haden's take on the Who has had enormous reach, even landing on the doorstep of the source: Who guitarist Pete Townshend has publicly stated that he loves the record, though Daltrey is reportedly less complimentary. Then there are those ridiculous Who fans.
Haden has learned that when you mess with sacred cows, there's often a stampede of angry fans out for blood. "Someone said, 'What a disgrace! Petra Haden sucks. How could she do this?'" She laughs. "Before doing this project, I wasn't thinking anything but wanting to just try to get all the notes right," she says. "I wasn't thinking, 'This is my favorite band.' I wasn't even familiar with them. I think they all have the wrong idea that the Who is my favorite and that my idols are Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey. They don't understand that I was doing it simply because I just like singing."
The Who project is only one of many on Haden's plate: She's an adjunct member of Portland, Oregon-based smart-poppers the Decemberists, just released an album with guitarist Bill Frisell (Petra Haden & Bill Frisell), finished a second album with Miss Murgatroid, and still hopes to get the Haden Triplets - the long-discussed collaboration with sisters Rachel and Tanya - off the ground.
But live dates performing Sell Out with her 10-woman Who Choir consume Haden's thoughts at the moment: They'll perform this Friday at the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood. When the project came alive during rehearsals, it was as if Haden's wildest dreams had finally come true. "I was laughing, but I felt like crying, because I could not believe it," she says. "During 'I Can See for Miles,' I just stopped in the middle. I said, 'Excuse me, this is too good to be true. This is like a dream.' I've always wanted my own choir; ever since Imaginaryland, I've wanted a group of girls to sing, 'la la la la,' and all of a sudden it's here."
Published: 06/30/2005
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