Petra Haden

Petra Haden est la violoniste et chanteuse de The Decemberists. Elle a également été membre de That Dog., Tito & Tarantula et The Rentals et a participé aux albums de Beck, Foo Fighters, Weezer, Green Day et Jimmy Eat World.

"She is the daughter of the jazz bassist Charlie Haden; the triplet sister of bassist Rachel Haden (her bandmate in that dog.) and cellist Tanya Haden (married to singer and actor Jack Black) with whom she has performed as The Haden Triplets; and the sister of bassist-singer Josh Haden, formerly leader of the group Spain.

In 1999 she released her first album, Imaginaryland, consisting mostly of a cappella covers. In 2000, Petra was struck by a car while crossing a street in Los Angeles; the resulting injuries forced her out of performance for several months. In 2005 she released the home-recorded album Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out (Bar/None), a complete a cappella rendition of The Who Sell Out. The project was suggested to Haden by longtime friend Mike Watt, who also gave her the eight-channel multi-track cassette recorder she used to make it. Funded in part by a Durfee grant and wanting to perform the work live, Haden created a new arrangement of The Who Sell Out for a ten woman a cappella choir called Petra Haden & The Sellouts. The premier live performance of the full work occurred in July 2005 at the Ford Amphitheatre as a part of the "sound." concert series.

She has also released a self-titled collaboration with jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, and a collaboration with accordionist Miss Murgatroid (otherwise known as photographer Alicia J. Rose) entitled Bella Neurox.

She contributed to the recording of ØØ Void by drone metal band Sunn O))) and played on the debut and follow up album of Sunn o))) guitarist Greg Anderson's other doom metal band Goatsnake.

She is also at work on a collection of songs with Yuka Honda,^[1] apparently with contributing performances by Sean Lennon.

In 2007, Haden recorded an a capella cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" for the compilation album Guilt by Association, set to be released in September."

En 2005, elle réinterprète merveilleusement a capella l'album The Who Sell Out des Who sur Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out. L'idée lui a été soufflée par le bassiste du groupe munk californien Minutemen. Et maintenant on a droit à d'autres perles, que ce soit a capella (Jenny Lewis avec les Watson Twins, Medulla de Björk, Le somptueux Fil de Camille par chez nous, et j'en passe) ou réinterprétations diverses (rien que cette année, chacun dans leur style les excellents Rise Above des Dirty Projectors et 12 Crass Songs de Jeffrey Lewis)

"In the Boston Globe on 13 March 2005, The Who frontman Pete Townshend had this to say about Haden's version of the record:

I was a little embarrassed to realize I was enjoying my own music so much, for in a way it was like hearing it for the first time. What Petra does with her voice, which is not so easy to do, is challenge the entire rock framework ... When she does depart from the original music she does it purely to bring a little piece of herself -- and when she appears she is so very welcome. I felt like I'd received something better than a Grammy."

Petra Haden - Rael

The Who - Rael