The HawtPlates Discuss 'Dream Feed' and Musical Family Influences

"Dream Feed": A Shared Dream Sequence

• 🎭 The HawtPlates, a family singing group from The Bronx, are performing their work "Dream Feed" at HERE Arts Center until January 25th as part of the Under the Radar Festival.
• 앨 "Dream Feed" is described as a shared dream sequence and live concept album, exploring themes of dreaming while awake and asleep, generational dreams, and aspirations.
• 💡 The show aims to investigate the phenomenon of dreaming and what it means to carry on dreams, with a strong thread of motherhood and maternity woven throughout.

Musical Roots and Family Influence

• 🎶 Music has always been a central part of the Hicks family, with their mother teaching them instruments like the auto harp and normalizing singing as a form of communication.
• 🎤 Jade Hicks notes that her mother's love for jazz and diverse genres solidified as a heartbeat in The HawtPlates' sound.
• 🌟 Kenita Miller-Hicks, while from a somewhat musical family, draws influence from her mother's internal singing and her father's pride in the Southern University marching band.

The Genesis of The HawtPlates

• 🚀 The group formed about 11 years ago, initially exploring music by Odetta as a way to discuss world events.
• 💡 Director and producer Ka Shaw encouraged them to develop a project based on Odetta's music, leading to their first performance.
• 🍲 The name "The HawtPlates" is a riff on finding creative and spiritual sustenance in New York, with Justin Hicks's background as a chef contributing to the name's meaning of offering sustenance.

Performance Style and Improvisation

• 💬 Jade Hicks finds improvisation to be a significant and enjoyable part of her performance, allowing for experimentation with different sounds.
• 🎭 Kenita Miller-Hicks contrasts theatrical performance, where one might isolate parts of themselves to become someone else, with performing with her family, where she feels fewer boundaries.
• ✨ Justin Hicks describes "Dream Feed" as a mysterious world where anything can happen, with each element being a reveal of voice, objects, thoughts, and the iconography of the dream world.

Songs and Themes

• 🦷 The performance includes songs like "Teeth," which features lyrics about roots breaking, bones cracking, and searching for understanding.
• 🌶️ "Mustard Anthem," written by Don Meredith Smith, touches on themes of making do with limited resources and finding faith, referencing the faith of a mustard seed.
• 😴 "Rest Stop" offers comfort and respite, with lyrics about tough shoes on feet and providing a place to rest and be company.