Artist: The Hackles
Hometown: Astoria, Oregon
Song: “Birdcage”
Album: What a beautiful thing I have made
Release Date: April 7, 2023
Label: Jealous Butcher Records
In Their Words: “The protagonist of ‘Birdcage’ is a fictionalized amalgam of three real people:
1. A man that I read about in the local paper who was arrested for killing and cleaning a deer in the middle of the street in Astoria, Oregon.
2. A friend who is a vocal anti-vaxer and conspiracy theorist.
3. An evangelical farmer-friend from my childhood town.
“The song speaks to the warring feelings of obligation and fear when confronting someone who is in moral opposition to myself. I want so desperately to challenge them, but can only browbeatenly hide behind the lyrics of this tune.
“My husband and I bought a fixer-upper 1900s farmhouse in the fall of 2022. The Hackles’ live video of ‘Birdcage’ was filmed in an upstairs bedroom in front of a wall that was scheduled for demolition. We flipped on the antiquated knob and tube power just long enough to heat the room, shoot a live version of the song, strip down and change into coveralls, paint the wall a different color, film a different song, and so on … until we were roasting from the space heater, rosy from red wine, and had four live videos to pair with the upcoming record. Our good friend, Tyler Little, filmed and edited the videos, whilst Kati and Luke engineered the audio. I have since demoed the well-used wall, in the spirit of progress. Wouldn’t it be nice to think the bird has broken its cage?” — Halli Anderson, The Hackles
Photo Credit: Justin Ringle
