Mike Hadreas of Perfume Genius (Photo courtesy Cody Critcheloe)
RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
Rich@DallasVoice.com
Thirteen years ago, Mike Hadreas made his first appearance in Texas after releasing two albums. Under the moniker Perfume Genius, Hadreas toured for his second album Put Your Back N 2 It and landed in Denton at Dan’s Silverleaf.
Today, Hadreas is older and wiser, and he’s heading to Dallas in support of his seventh album, Glory.
“Oh man, I think back then it was just me and Alan on stage, and it was just a piano and Alan’s keyboards and us singing together,” he recalled. “I was behind the piano the whole time. When the third record hit, I was like ‘I need to stand up and start like moving a little bit.’”
Back then, Hadreas said, he was scared to be on stage despite being joined by his husband on keys. He has a whole band with him now. More than a decade later, Hadreas is certainly, but unsurprisingly, a different performer.
“Now I’m like, screaming and flailing around and throwing chairs and shit like that, so, just physically, that’s what changed since back then. In my music, so much has changed.”
Perfume Genius performs Tuesday, June 3, at The Studio at the Bomb Factory in Deep Ellum. Urika’s Bedroom opens the show.
Back then, Hadreas wasn’t fully comfortable with interviews. He’s had some time to adapt to that. Now 43, he’s just gonna do things his way, whether it’s dealing with the press or dealing with himself and his music.
“I think I should be [afraid of interviews] sometimes because of the things I say. But no, actually. Perhaps I should be a little less candid.
“I’ve always been very unfiltered, but I was more shy, and maybe there’s just a filter built into that,” he said. “It was just a very strange thing. The music is so personal, then, suddenly, I was asked really personal things by someone that I just met. And I think I was surprised about that.”
While it wasn’t actually planned on his part, Hadreas gets to kick off Pride Month with his Texas dates. He’s in Austin on Monday, June 2, before the Dallas performance.
Before he was sober, he admits, he missed the revelry of it all. Today, he’s down to stay home with the husband — or, like right now, he has to work.
But Pride isn’t lost on the musician.
“The first time I went to the parade, I thought we’re supposed to be all angry and walking around and like ‘What the fuck?’ but then there’s a Bank of America float, and it was different than I thought,” he laughed. “I also have been sober for so long, too, but I do miss going out after and just being in a room with a shitload of gay people.”
Hadreas may be all over the place in his live shows, but he wants to give his audiences and fans an escape — especially in today’s world. Gay, straight, nonbinary — everyone’s struggling with today’s political climate. Perhaps a Perfume Genius show is a temporary oasis to head toward.
“We’re all dealing with everything, me and my friends. But I’m even more excited now to go, to you, know cities that aren’t as big, just because, even if it’s a break for an hour, hopefully the show can be an exorcism of all that shit,” he said.
Hadreas doesn’t consider his music political, yet he does feel it’s influenced by polirtics. What he does write are deeply personal songs that veer toward the melancholy and maudlin but are also laced with humor, romance and a tinge of dread.
It’s his thing.
“Yeah, and I think I would have written a different record now than this one. In the beginning, I didn’t really think of my music as political. But it was thought of as political because I wasn’t changing pronouns or filtering what I was saying.
“Then I became more conscious of what it could mean to do that, and so it became part of the writing.”
He continued, “Otherwise, it’s just scary, you know — the trans members of my band and their passports, and we’re touring the world, and I don’t know what’s gonna happen.
“Every day it feels like there’s something new.”
Performing takes Hadreas’ — and hopefully the band’s — minds off of the bullshit and lets them bring Perfume Genius music to the masses.
“When I’m writing and performing, that’s when grace comes in,” Hadreas said. And he does that on his own terms. Hadreas very much is loud — in his reserved way — about eschewing many gay ideals. He embraces getting older. He’s fine with being a little messy.
“It’s hard for me to do all that stuff. I don’t know how people do it. I just wake up overwhelmed when I have nothing to do,” he said. “I kind of show up as I am to a lot of this stuff, and I like how I look more without all the trying to fix all the things that I thought I needed to look like before.
“I am kind of just too tired, and I feel too old to like do all this shit.”
Words to live by.
For tickets, visit TheFactoryinDeepEllum.com.