Petals of Spain: Your Everyday Bodhisattva
by Tim Wenger
Denver’s beloved jazzified indie rock posters Petals of Spain are dropping another record, their second of the year, on August 30 at the Bluebird Theatre. This record will be a full length record, containing the EP that they released in February as well five new songs. The songs were recorded at So and So Studios here in Denver.
“This is the year we’re going to put out three,” says Nic Hammerberg, founding member and, in addition to Hunter Hall, the group’s main songwriter . “We have tons of material, we just haven’t put out stuff before.” The band is going through a self-described “evolutionary stage,” and this upcoming record will reflect that. This album will not be just another collection of desperately satirical but eerily catchy love tunes. The guys in the band are, for lack of a better term, a bit ‘trippy’ when it comes to their music. Channeling everything from altered states of mind to lights in sky, Petals of Spain are coining a new definition of the term ‘original music.’
“I was under the impression that we were going into an age of enlightenment,” says Hammerberg. I think we are still going in that direction. I don’t think everyone is enlightened, per say. But with the way communication is, how fast technology is advancing, I think we are definitely going in that direction. (The record) pokes fun of that. Reaching for that, like really wanting that love to be there.”
“(It talks about) coming to terms with the dichotomy of (enlightenment) not being there,” says Hall, also a founding member of the band. “It’s based on more imagination than the previous album. I feel like the songs I wrote on the album maybe have more personality than before. It’s almost like there is a little more theatre in it.”
Despite the emotional idiom displayed in the band’s new music, Hall and Hammerberg admit that they aren’t yet at the peak emotional state. “I think I’m more of a Bodhisattva than an enlightened being,” says Hammerberg. “Which is one who seeks to enlighten others. That is more a position of my being on this earth. It doesn’t mean that I can’t reach enlightenment, but it’s not really about that, it’s about helping other people reach it.”
As far as how we all can attain enlightenment when the record isn’t quite enough? “I think that we can do that by just living, dealing with the things as they come,” says Hammerberg. “It’s not going to be all good, it’s not going to be all love. There’s a duality in everything, and I think it is experiencing that and embracing that.”
“I think music is kind of like that perfect moment, it’s so romanticized,” says Hall. “You can try to catch yourself trying to feel that way all the time, you know, really good and really energetic, like everything has a purpose and everything has a meaning. Not to be too idealistic, but when we play music, that’s a lot of times how I feel.”
Dealing with the processes of enlightenment can also mean dealing with anxiety, especially in a world dominated by social media and a constant focus of attention on the here and now. “The inspiration for some of my writing is the paranoia of the technological age,” says Hall. “It’s made things so much easier to communicate, but at the same time I think it’s kind of taken away from human communication in a way. People aren’t as comfortable just sitting around a table anymore just sitting around and talking. The world has become passive aggressive in certain ways. People don’t appreciate the information they have as much because it’s so easy.”
The use of substances such as alcohol, marijuana, and other substances has historically played, sometimes and with certain artists more prominently than others, a role in songwriting. Hammerberg and Hall talked about their personal opinions on the subject as it relates to out of body experiences and creating music.
“Sometimes it can bring out a new perspective on the song,” says Hall. “I don’t want to write music when I’m smoking weed all the time, but at the same time I think that it can give me a different perspective. If you’re using it for a creative source, you have to respect it and try to use it for that rather than for recreation. It’s our goal to speak to those realms but also speak to the very sober reality of being alive.”
“I think it is absolutely inspirational,” says Hammerberg. “It’s a way to just separate your consciousness. It can take you to a realm unlike anything you would experience in your lifetime.”
Petals of Spain is becoming known in the Denver music community for their pants-to-the-floor live performance, and with all of the sentiment and heart the band puts into their music, it comes as no surprise. There are good shows and bad shows, large crowds and small crowds, but the guys maintain that it is a band’s job as an entertainer to set the mood for any performance.
“Some of my favorite shows just go by in a blur,” says Hammerberg. “Like, ‘Wow, that was so awesome, did that just happen?’. We are on stage connecting with people, and they are out there connecting with us, and then it’s just over.
“It depends on the energy of the band and it depends on the energy of the audience,” says Hall. “If things are going right, it should feel like a nostalgic celebration. Like this joyful experience that reminds you of your childhood in many ways, because I think the greatest experiences we have, have some kind of déjà vu or nostalgia to the past.”
“We are trying to implement more and more theatrical elements into our show,” says Hall. “Telling the audience a story, and literally taking them through a narrative. It’s not just a collection of songs. Every set list we have, we try to go, ‘OK here is the through line of this story.’”
Petals of Spain hope to expand their horizons far outside of the Mile High City in the future. Their consistent hard work and constant presence in the Denver music scene over the last few years serve as a strong base to make that happen, and as they continue to release recorded music and hone their live performance, the band will continue on the long rise to success, stopping at nothing short of musical enlightenment not only for their growing fan base, but also for themselves.
“Eventually, I think we’d all like it to be a spiritual experience, changing that idea of a show,” says Hammerberg.
Online: pofsmusic.com
Category: Buzzworthy2
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