INTERVIEW: Mayer Hawthorne
We had a chat with Mayer Hawthorne about his new album and his heroes.
With two successful albums already under his belt, MAYER HAWTHORNE is about to lay a third record on us all entitled 'Where Does This Door Go?'. The album is a long time coming and with some outstanding tracks, including one with KENDRICK LAMAR, it's sure to be one that you'll be playing on repeat.
Whilst touring Europe for a couple of weeks, we got the chance to have a chat with MAYER HAWTHORNE himself, straight from the "jolly old town" of London. The guy connecting the call referred to the singer by his actual name Andrew, which was followed by a chuckle and MAYER HAWTHORNE casually saying "my parents don't even call me that!", and so it begins...
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You’ve been touring Europe for the last couple of weeks..
Yeah we’ve been all over playin’ these new songs for people.
And how has that been so far?
It’s been great! Every show’s been sold out and you can’t really ask for much more than that.
Any highlights of the tour, or is it just regular shows?
We never do a regular show [laughs] but it’s been amazing just to get to play some new songs for people, I can’t wait for people to hear this new material.
The new material was made with help from some pretty big producers like Pharrell Williams, did you ever feel intimidated by their presence?
I don’t really feel intimidated. These guys are all guys I felt very comfortable working with you know, I met a great deal of other producers and a lot of them I decided [that] they weren’t the ones. These are the guys I felt comfortable working with, and guys that pushed me to do something new and get the best out of me.
How did they end up ‘getting the best out of you’?
There was a lot of arguments in the studio, I mean these dudes really pushed me hard! There were times where I was very frustrated and I’m a producer myself, I produced my first two albums completely [by] myself, and I have to give up that control sometimes. I’m a perfectionist in the studio you know, I have my methods, and these guys pushed me out of my comfort zone but that was the whole idea. But it’s not easy.
Your collaboration with Kendrick Lamar is quite a number, how did that all get arranged?
We met at a festival in Austin, Texas called South By South West (SXSW) and we were choppin’ it up backstage and decided that when we got back to Los Angeles, we should do something ‘cause we both live there, in LA. I went up to a beach in Malibu and we had a bad run in with the law, the long arm of the law came down on us and we all got $300 tickets for drinking a glass of wine on the beach, which is illegal in LA and we were so frustrated by that, we were all so mad.
I went into the studio and came up with a song called ‘Crime’, and it was sort of my version of NWA’s ‘Fuck The Police’, that was the sentiment, and who better to guest on a song like that than Kendrick Lamar? He’s from Compton, where NWA’s from…
Are there any other collaborations coming up?
Yeah! You know what I actually have a collaboration with an Australian artist coming out. It’s with these cool dudes called The Ashton Shuffle, I just recorded a track with them for their new album, it’s one of my favourite songs I’ve done in a very long time.
Exciting! We're very familiar with the lads, what makes this track so special?
It’s just completely different, it’s completely different than anything I’ve heard them do before and it’s different from anything I’ve done! It’s what I’m all about you know, the unexpected.
So have you gotten any other ideas to experiment with after that experience?
I’ve always got new ideas, I’m always looking at new music, and I’m actually working on two new albums right now. And this one hasn’t even come out yet!
Do you keep yourself busy quite a lot?
Yeah sure, I don’t hang into the devil’s workshop or anything like that [laughs] but yeah we keep ourselves busy. I mean, life is just so short and I have so much that I wanna do, so we don’t sleep too much out here.
I’ve read in a couple of articles, people calling you a “soul revivalist”, would you agree with that?
Honestly I could really care less what people are gonna call me, everybody’s gonna call you something. It doesn’t matter what you call me as long as you call me [laughs]. It doesn’t really bother me, if you want to call it Bulgarian folk music it’s fine, as long as your listening to it and enjoying it, all good.
There aren’t that many artists doing what you’re doing around at the moment, sound wise anyway ..
For this record I just threw every rule that I had out, and the only rule I had was that it had to be fun. And I don’t know why I didn’t do that a long time ago.
So you’re going to be having a lot more fun in the future?
I sure hope so!
You’ve gotten praise from a lot of interesting artists about your music, how did you react when you found out Snoop Dogg was a fan?
Oh man I remember my manager handing me the phone one day and he said, “it’s Snoop Dogg he wants to talk to you,” [laughs] and I was like, they’re pulling a prank on me ‘cause we’re constantly playing jokes on each other and everybody in the crew, and I thought he was just pulling my leg and I picked up the phone and of course it was really Snoop Dogg. And he said (in a Snoop Dogg voice) , “hey I really love what you’re doin’ man!” and it was just ahhggg, I was just fully buggin’ out. He’s always been a hero of mine.
Who are some other heroes of yours?
Man there’s a ton of people and a lot of them I’ve been very fortunate to either meet or work with. Already it’s been such a cool experience, I got to work with Daryl Hall! I went to Daryl Hall’s house, from Hall and Oates, and sang ‘Private Eyes’ with Daryl Hall, that was pretty amazing. I worked with Booker T on his new album, I have a song on his new album called ‘Sound The Alarm’ which just came out, and he’s a true living legend. It was amazing working with him and you know the list goes on.
Have you always wanted to play music?
That’s it! And eat, eat good food.
Words by Lauren Payne
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