Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A Pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed. The interview may be lightly edited for content and clarity.
Peter Hartmann has earned a wealth of knowledge and cred in the scene having gotten his start in the DC indie scene and moving out to the Bay Area to participate in that storied scene. As Poppy Patica, Hartmann is gearing up for the release of Black Cat Back Stage on 5 May (pre-order). Peter was gracious enough to Roll the Dice with TGEFM for the latest of our interview series to discuss the differences between DC and the East Bay, Poppy Patica’s sound and what the future has in store.
Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. Congratulations on the upcoming release of Black Cat Back Stage! What can you tell us about Poppy Patica and the record?
Thanks for having me! Poppy Patica has been a lot of different things since I started the project in 2014. Sometimes a band, and sometimes a solo act. It’s usually just me, a guitar, and a drum machine (though I started out playing kick drum and hi-hat with my feet). Black Cat Back Stage is really my first full length release as Poppy Patica. It was recorded in Washington DC in early 2020 just before the pandemic. It includes songs written all the way back in 2014 from when the project began, as well as songs written in the year or two before the album was recorded. The album showcases the most recent lineup of Poppy Patica that existed from late 2018 to early 2020 in DC. This was the longest running band lineup for the project. After we recorded the album, I left DC and ended up moving to Oakland, CA. Then the project became a solo thing again. The plan now is to find a new band to play with me out here in California.
Both the DC and Bay-area indie scenes have such a varied but storied history. How has your transplanting from the Beltway to Oakland impacted your writing and music? How do the different locales play into your sound?
I think the biggest way moving out here has impacted my writing is being able to easily access natural spaces in the mountains or on the coast where I can play guitar outside and no one can hear me. This is one of my favorite ways to write these days, and that was something I didn’t really have access to, or at least didn’t utilize in DC. When I was living in DC, I would write a lot about how it felt to live in the city I grew up in as an adult and watch it change. I was a little too hung up on that theme, in my songwriting and in my daily life. Moving somewhere so different and new has kind of allowed me to start fresh and write about other stuff too. Though, the same story is happening here in Oakland. It saddens me, but doesn’t feel as personal. Also the landscape in California is so beautiful, so it’s been nice to focus on that as an inspiration and take a break from thinking and writing about DC all the time.
What album or band or significant singles made you go “Yeah, this is what I want to do” Not just an influence but who or what was the catalyst?
Hearing Nirvana for the first time when I was 11 was a big deal. I also saw Ted Leo + Pharmacists play in DC many times around the same time and that felt pretty inspirational. My dad also wrote songs and that gave me the notion to do so from a young age. I was also inspired by bands at my high school who were a little older than me, like Owen Wuerker’s old band Marfa.
The record gets its name from one of the DC punk venues of days past. There are venues that house a scene and venues that build and nurture scenes. What do you think makes a venue more than a building, what are the cornerstones for building a venue, like The Black Cat, that can foster something we will wax nostalgic over, that we will romanticize long after the doors are shuttered?
The Black Cat Backstage and Red Room space were special for a lot of different reasons, but for me it was mostly that they hosted all ages shows. They provided a space for me and my friends to hang out and see and perform music even though we were under 21. I was thankful for a long tradition of all ages shows in DC and to the Black Cat for being committed to that tradition. They also booked great bands and created a good atmosphere. It just happened to be the space I went to the most growing up, and I feel lucky that it was the venue I got, because it’s a pretty special one. Even though the Red Room and Backstage space are gone, I’m so thankful that the Black Cat lives!
The music industry in general, has changed dramatically over the last 5-10 years or so. What has been the most difficult to adapt to and where do you see things heading over the coming years within the industry and scene?
Well, it’s been said before but I’ll say it again: Spotify should pay artists more money for their streams. I do appreciate the access and exposure that streaming services provide, but it’s artists that keep the platform alive, so they should really pay it back. I love Bandcamp and am so thankful that it exists. It makes it so easy for anyone to share their music. Bigger platforms should follow Bandcamp’s lead, with their tradition of Bandcamp Fridays where artists can sell their music without the website taking a cut. If the bigger platforms did something like this, it might really help artists survive. I don’t know much about the music industry and don’t really have much to say as far as speculation about it. Touring used to be the way that bands made money, but now it seems like it’s hard to book a tour and break even. I hope something changes so that musicians can afford to live and make music. People need music to live, but I guess they aren’t really paying for it like the lifeline that it is. I’m thankful for the people who do buy music and support the artists they love.
I would love to see more mixed genre bills. It brings people together who otherwise might not be at the same show. It’s pretty standard to book 4 bands that sound alike, but this is kind of boring to me. I feel like people’s musical tastes are more varied than we think.
What’s the state of the scene from your point of view? We are living in a “just deal with COVID” world and everything about this timeline is some level of completely fucked. Beyond the lyrics, what impact, if any, does the current cultural and political landscape have on the band?
It seems like there used to be a lot more house show spots and DIY spaces than there are now, but hopefully in the era of rebuilding the music scene in the wake of the pandemic, more of those spaces will spring up, especially since a lot of traditional music venues have closed amidst the pandemic. I’ll keep trying to reflect the times and write about what I see and what I want to see. I want to keep trying to book and play on bills that include a diversity of genres, people, and experiences.
One of our obligatory questions in these interviews also tends to be the one I have found most important on a personal level. Who are some bands on your radar that TGEFM readers may not know about, but you think they should know about?
Some artists I love who should be on your radar if they aren’t already are Market, Abe Hollow, Katsy Pline, Boyscouts, The Cradle, Youbet, zannie, Lily Konigsberg, Airhead DC, Tunnel (my label mates on House of Joy), Flasher, Sour Widows, to name a few. There are more, but that’s a good place to start.
What’s next for Poppy Patica?
Black Cat Back Stage comes out on May 5th, so I’m playing some release shows for that. The first one is in DC on May 12th at the Cool Ranch with Dim Wizard, MANYEYES, Broken Every Angle, and Airhead DC. Then I’ll play in NY on May 19th at The Owl with Market, Katie Von Schleicher, and Broken Every Angle. In between those two shows, I’ll be in NY finishing a newer album I started recording last fall with Nate Mendelsohn (Market). I also have an EP in the works that I recorded over the last two falls in Brooklyn with Paco Cathcart (The Cradle). Otherwise, I plan to get a band together in Oakland, keep playing local shows out here in the Bay, and hopefully do some West Coast tours. I hope to do a national tour when my next full length album comes out.
Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
Head over to Bandcamp to pre-order a copy of the vinyl of Black Cat Back Stage out May 5th on House of Joy! Also while you’re there, you can peruse the back catalogue of Poppy Patica that’s been building up since 2014. You can swoon over, or laugh at, my old scrappy demos.
Thanks That’s Good Enough For Me!
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/
