At a time in life when the word “legacy” is being attached to artists like Kidd, he’s focused on the here and now, which happens to be an exciting time. For the first time in a decade and a half, there’s a full album of new Hates music on the horizon. Kidd, 68, recently told the Houston Press what – and, more specifically, who - encouraged him to record his newest songs. He offered an exclusive first listen of "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Silver Lining," two songs from the upcoming album, The Pandemic Sessions.
Kidd said it was another Houston music veteran, Randy Wall, who got the ball rolling on the first new album of Hates music since 2008. Wall is a full-time musician attached to numerous projects and has worked on eight Billboard Top Ten albums. He offered to produce a new album and Kidd happened to have some new songs to showcase.
“What I had to offer at the time was, when the pandemic hit I was up to about three or four shows that were scheduled and then – boom – they all just got canceled. I really wanted to be performing so Alexis, my wife, suggested I do a livecast and the rule was nothing electric, it had to be just on acoustic guitar,” Kidd shared. “I thought that was great because it would cheer me up and when I announced it there were a lot of people that after I started doing it, they said it made them feel very happy. I was the highlight of the week.”
Kidd did the livestreams weekly, on Sunday evenings, during the height of the pandemic’s lockdown.
“I guess I wanted to be more ambitious with it, where I would have new material, so I started writing songs and they got featured on there. So, what I had to offer Randy were all these songs that I had written and performed on my livecast. And that’s why I call (the album) The Pandemic Sessions.”
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Working with Wall meant retooling the songs from their acoustic origins to plugged-in, full-on Hates songs. Kidd and his band – bassist Will Cheadle and drummer Colin Wooten – hit Bong Island Sound’s studios about a year ago and Wall said the album is nearing the end of mixing and mastering for an imminent release.
“Ninety-nine percent of the songs are ready to go, they could be put out as is, pre-mastered, they would sound fine. We started last February. I was hoping it would take more like four to six months and it’s taken a lot longer. I just had a whole lot of other stuff come up,” said Wall, who must be one of Houston’s busiest music pros.
Because they’re both longtime Houston music professionals, Wall and Kidd knew each other professionally. Once Wall got to know Kidd on a personal level, he said he said he was taken aback by how nice and humble Kidd is, words that are echoed by others who’ve met and known this Houston music icon. The pandemic’s slowdown gave him a chance to leap into action by asking Kidd to record new music. There’s no firm release date as of this writing, but Wall said the music is being mixed and mastered by Eddie Hawkins – not only a Hates fan, but also the head of the audio department at Houston Grand Opera.
“It’s been pretty wild and chaotic. It was a special challenge reining it in, but that’s probably what I enjoyed the most about it,” Wall said of producing the album. “And, of course, staying out of the way. I want it to sound like the band. I don’t want to change anything about that. It’ still very much the sound that they’ve had, I guess you could say just slightly updated.
“I made sure that everything we’re doing stays in Houston I didn’t want to ship it off anywhere to have it mastered. We have the ability to do so in Houston,” Wall continued. “I wanted someone who will give it the love and the care and the respect it deserves. We’re keeping everything that took place in Houston.”
“I guess if Randy had never offered me the recording session I would have never thought of taking these songs and putting them back into the realm of The Hates and boom, they’re electric now,” Kidd said. He said it was relatively easy going from stripped-down versions to electric songs. The new songs might even have a surprise of two for longtime listeners.
“One thing that’s new that I started to do on the live sets is I started playing harmonica. So, there’s two songs that have harmonica on them,” Kidd shared. “That’s something new for me. I was just kind of experimenting since I was playing acoustic guitar. I said, ‘What else could I bring to this?’ and I did that. And another thing, in the realm of the lyrics, a lot of songs are written about people who were watching the livecast. For instance, there’s a guy named Brian Simmons who, at the beginning of the livecast, he had a friend who said, ‘Hey, you should tune in and listen to this guy, you might like what he does,’ and he was writing to me and we just got to become friends. So there’s two songs on The Pandemic Sessions that are about him.
“Another person that was actually someone who was told to tune into my livecast was Amy Blackwell. She’s from Nacogdoches, Texas, came to Houston and graduated from the University of Houston, and moved to Colorado. And she’s a mountain climber and her nickname is 'The Mountain Ninja,' and I’ve written several songs about her. So there’s some songs on there about her.
“One thing I really tried to do, I wanted to have positivity. I was really trying to cheer people up. I think before I kind of got my footing on thinking about writing new songs, I think I already had in mind I was trying to have the positivity going on,” he said.
The pandemic created separation but Kidd maintained old connections and created new ones during that time. It’s why there are generations of Hates fans. Kidd hasn’t written a song for every single fan over 45 years but people are drawn to the songs.
“I feel very fortunate that it seems like there’s always this certain story where someone comes up to me – like I was at the bookstore the other day and an employee that was there said, ‘Hey, I was 14 years-old and I would sneak out of the house just to watch you guys play.’ And here you are talking to someone and they’re an adult now.
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Kidd likes the idea of the future of The Hates, focusing less on his backstory than what’s still ahead for the band. Sidelined by cancer in recent years, he’s taking the current opportunities to rev the band’s motor, not just on record but also live, adding new venues to the long list of spots the band has played. Recently they’ve played Acadia and even The Purple Hippo, a westside venue mostly associated with dance music. Next up, a date on Sunday, February 5 at The End, part of the Lawndale venue’s new Stay True Sunday Social Matinee series.
“We also played a skatepark about three or four weeks ago and there’s all these kids just skating while we’re playing on this halfpipe and suddenly one of these skaters yells out, ‘Hey man, play ‘No Talk in the ‘80s’ and I stopped and I go, ‘How do you know about ‘No Talk in the ‘80s?’ That song was written and performed for the first time in 1978.’ And he goes, ‘Man, that’s my favorite song and as far as I’m concerned you guys could play nothing but old stuff and that would make me happy. You don’t have to play any new stuff tonight.’”
We live in a time where YouTube and TikTok furthers The Hates music along. These platforms take music that’s almost 50 years old and puts it in front of today’s 15 year-olds. If there’s a vibe that 15 year-olds – and, let’s be honest, even 50 year-olds - need, it’s positivity. That’s the running theme through The Pandemic Sessions. Songs like “Alive and Well,” “Never Give Up,” “Do What Makes You Happy” and “Silver Lining” are infused with upbeat lyrics and vibes.
Hearing Kidd sing those positive lyrics, particularly with the backdrop of health challenges he has stared down in recent years, give those songs more heft. There’s a built-in buy-in because he’s a survivor. They just hit in a different way.
“It’s like damn, I was kind of wondering if it was over for me when I got cancer a couple of years ago and then if that wasn’t bad enough you’re recovering from cancer, so you lose your job and you’re like God, can it get any worse? And then the pandemic comes along and the job I was working at said, ‘Hey, I’ve got to cut back on employees, I’ve got to let you go.’ I felt the irony of the pandemic for me was I definitely had no job, I had plenty of time every day to work on this stuff. So, I told myself, I’m going the extra mile here. I’m going to put everything I can into this thing.
“I would say it was just as much a benefit for me as it was for my audience,” he admitted, “but, at the same time, it’s what I want to be. I want to be happy. Why would I want to wallow in all those problems? Rise above it, you know?”
Wall is putting the finishing touches on this album but already has designs on working with Kidd again, possibly on a rockabilly album. He said Kidd has a nice catalog of songs from that genre that deserve to be heard.
“He’s just full of creativity and he’s a really kind soul. I think those are the two things that made me think, ‘Man, I really want to work with this guy,’” Wall said.
While the focus is on The Hates now and still to come, we had to ask one question about Kidd’s long association with music. We pared our interest down to a single question. Could he name one moment in his career that simply stood out above all others?
“I don’t think I could do that. I think if you asked that question to a lot of other people, they’re gonna want to tell you about this show that they played in front of five million people. I’ve played in dives to just a handful of people and I’ve walked out of there feeling like we were the greatest band on the planet at that moment and that was the greatest show that ever happened. There’s just too many,” he shared. “I think the bottom line for me is I’m Houston proud. I feel like I’ve had such a unique experience playing in such a great place.”
It’s not a line for the media, it’s genuine, it’s why Kidd does this, why he keeps doing it, why there’s new music coming to enjoy. It’s love. And honesty. And looking at it that way, honestly, how could you not love The Hates?
The Hates, February 5 at The End, 7126 Lawndale. Part of The End's Stay True Sunday Social Matinee Series. With Fair Enough, YAFF and Municipal Bats. Doors at 3 p.m. and music at 4 p.m., all ages, $12.