Americana Highways brings you this video premiere of The HawtThorns’ song “Let’s Get Together” from their forthcoming album Tarot Cards and Shooting Stars, due to be available on February 25 via Mule Kick Records. The HawtThorns are duo KP and Johnny Hawthorn.
The song was produced by Steve Berns and The HawtThorns. The video was produced by Stereophonic Films — directed by Nathan Meckel; with director of photography Sean Kelly. It was edited by Mark Niemiec & Sean Kelly; engineered and mixed by Mark Niemeic; with camera operators Sean Kelly, Zach Powers, Ben Ryderberg and Nathan Meckel. It was filmed at Westlight Studios.
On the video, musicians are Johnny and KP on vocals and guitars; Ryan Madora on bass; Ross McReynolds on drums; Greg Herndon on keys; and Sarah Aili and Sarah Jane Nelson on backing vocals.
We chatted with The HawtThorns about the song. The video premiere appears just beneath the interview.
Americana Highways: Can you give us some more background on this song, “Let’s Get Together”?
KP & JH – The groove on this track is something we wanted to try on this record -we were going for an R&B flavor. There is also a call and response between the vocal in the verses and the lead guitar that we thought was super fun. On this record, we had lots of time to dig in to the guitar parts and this tune ended up with several layers of electric guitar. The lyrical idea for the song actually came about because we were just really eager to be back out there with our friends, playing music. Our friend and production partner Steve Berns was in a session with us and said something about “The best spent tears” and we began to form the idea. It’s kind of about having gone through something hard, coming out the other side and not regretting the pain.
AH: How did the album title come about — Tarot Cards and Shooting Stars?
KP & JH – The title is a lyric in another song on the record called “On The Way” – a song about all the things that happen while we are trying to get to where we are going. We never know for sure where we are going to end up, so much of what happens while we are making our way through life seems very cosmic and unexplainable. The HawtThorns have definitely had some detours over the past year and had to cross our fingers and hope for the best – the title for this record encapsulates the idea that we get where we need to go with a little luck and a boost from the cosmos
AH: What has come out of your musical journey that you hadn’t expected when you chose to take this path?
KP & JH – One of the main things we got was each other. Neither of us thought while we were on our own paths that it was possible to find someone who could really speak the same musical language to the point of creating something that we both love equally. It’s a huge value-add to have this immense respect musically for someone in regard to taste, skill, vibe, etc and also be able to manage a great love/life relationship with that same person.
We also didn’t necessarily see the future when it came to our recent move to Nashville. We always considered our music very “California” and didn’t see ourselves fitting in in the southern US. Turns out that our East Nashville spot has been a great move logistically for touring, community and creative inspiration.
AH: You started your own label, Mule Kick Records. How has that worked for you?
KP & JH – Mule Kick Records was started by KP and Adrienne Isom (NOCONA) as a home for the music/soundtrack for an upcoming documentary film about The Palomino Club of North Hollywood (1949-1995). In so doing, we realized there were several artists that either had something to do with the film or the California Americana/roots music community whose music we loved and championed. We were able to make a distribution deal, work with some wonderful PR agencies and radio promotion (The WNS Group) to release several albums and singles over the past 2 years including NOCONA, Andrew Leahey & the Homestead, Rosie Flores, Side Pony, Desert Hollow and now the new record by The HawtThorns. The team is strong, there is lots of sweat equity here and we all love our jobs!
AH: Did you watch the recently released Beatles documentary Get Back and if so, how has it influenced your thinking the past couple months?
KP & JH – We did see Get Back – a couple of times! It was great to see The Beatles in a setting that showed them as a regular band that had problems like any other band. Watching their dynamic and the way they exchanged ideas was really cool.
How the band handled all the outside entities while trying to write a full album and get ready for a live show under a deadline was inspiring! Also, we were moved by the way they would throw out lyrics over chord progressions – listening to The Beatles all our lives, it always seemed like those lyrics were something that had to have so much meaning behind them. The reality is that the band was just putting neat sounding words and phrases in as puzzle pieces over their grooves and melodies. It certainly makes us look at our songwriting process differently.
Watch the lovely footage with purple hues. Listen and let the HawtThorns soothe your soul and bring the sunshine out again.
Find music by the HawtThorns here: https://orcd.co/tcardsandsstars