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Music

Mayer Hawthorne's Run-in with the Law and the Song He Wrote About it with Kendrick Lamar

Mayer has a new record out which features people like Kendrick, Pharrell, and Jessie Ware. We discussed this for a while, but really, we were much more into talking about the LAPD crushing his party vibe, his Aunt Irene, crab scratches, and making Steely

Mayer and some dogs.

I didn't know exactly what to expect from Mayer Hawthorne. Apparently Snoop Dogg thinks he's cool, he's recently worked with Kendrick Lemar, and he gets angry when the LAPD won't let him and his buddies get drunk and party on the beach. When I show up to the label offices for a chat, I walk in to find him reclining in an armchair in a soft pink blazer, offering me one of his mom's homemade peanut butter cookies. This does not seem very rock 'n' roll, but my theory is that it might be those cookies which won over Snoop in the first place. Here's what happened when we talked to the smooth Michigander about bow ties, mullet-hawks, crab scratches, and Steely Dan.

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Noisey: Mayer! You have a new record coming out next week called Where Does This Door Go? and you've collaborated with some great people—Jessie Ware, Kendrick Lamar, and Pharrell Williams. How does that work? Do you just text them and ask if they want to be on your new album?
Mayer: Ha! That's pretty much how it works, actually I'm the type of person where I very rarely have other artists feature on my music, mostly because I won't harass people to do it. I only end up doing stuff with my friends. I met Kendrick at SXSW and we talked about recording something, but when it was actually time to record the track ["Crime," listen here], he wasn't available. The label sent over a bunch of alternative people, but for me it was Kendrick or nobody. So until about three days before the record was meant to be finished, it was nobody. But then Kendrick came in at the last minute, swooped in, saved the day, and took that song to another level. That song is my NWA "F**k tha Police." It's about me being frustrated with not being able to party on the beach in LA and play loud music in my house. My homies and I went to Malibu beach a couple weeks before I recorded that song and we all got $300 tickets for drinking a glass of wine on the beach.

Well luckily you're about to hit the road and go on tour where hopefully you'll find less stringent public drinking laws. What will you be packing in your suitcase?
I definitely always have a suit, because you never know when you're going to need a suit. I also always take my Dove for Men soap with me, because you can't trust hotel soap and you've got to always feel fresh you know? Super important. You gotta feel good about the way you smell.

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It is crucial and you do love a suit. Is dressing a certain way important to you?
Yeah, my motto is "flashy but classy." I got that from my grandmother and her sister—they would always wear the most unique things and whenever they walked in the room, you would always notice them. "There goes Aunt Irene right there, she's doing it big." But they looked classy at the same time.

I think you're doing Aunt Irene proud, but here's the big question: can you tie your own bow tie?
I can. It's a necessary skill. I actually didn't learn until a couple of years ago, but once you learn it you feel so accomplished and such a G, you just want to do it all the time. You don't ever want to wear the clip-on ones again. It's a life skill; definitely a lost art. I've done photo shoots where no one on the whole production knows how to tie a bow tie so I have to do it. I actually just did a whole piece for Filter magazine about how to tie a bow tie.

Mayer… available for modeling golf clubs and bananas.

You're a new wave gentleman. Flashy, classy, smelling good… you're still keeping it real though… with this haircut…
Yeah, I guess I have a mullet-hawk right now, although I feel like I'm not adventurous enough with my hair, despite how much I change it. It's something I really think about regularly—how people, in the most part, have boring hair. There are very few interesting haircuts out there, which is something that is so weird to me, like why does everybody do it exactly the same? Why don't people change the color of their hair more? People wear different clothes, but no one has different hair…

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Is it because you think about that so much and so often that you call yourself DJ Haircut?
Ha! I just thought about that. Actually that's been a nickname my whole life, since I was a baby. I used to hate having a haircut when I was a baby and would have a temper tantrum every time, so the only way they could get me to sit still and shut up is they would buy me old 45s and play them to me to keep me occupied. My parents still call me Haircut.

You started early with the vinyl then…
Yeah I've been DJing longer than I've been singing, I'd actually consider myself a better DJ than singer. I did record scratches on this album which was something I wanted to showcase. I can DJ for real, I could DJ blindfolded, it's something fun to shock people with. I like freaking people out with it, juggling doubles on vinyl and doing crab scratches.

I have no idea what a crab scratch is, but it sounds intense. You must have quite an eclectic record collection. What have you been listening to lately?
I've been bumping the s**t out of the new Jessie Ware record, the new Toro y Moi is awesome, the new Black Sabbath is righteous as hell and I love it. I've been bumping a lot of new deep house, like Detroit Swindle and Moon Boots, and a lot of Steely Dan. I listen to so much Steely Dan. There is so much Steely Dan on this record. My motto has always been, if you don't like Steely Dan, then I don't like you. But even for people who love Steely Dan as much as I do, I think everyone can admit there is nothing sexy about Steely Dan, so I took Steely Dan and tried to make it sexy.

You can hear exactly what that sounds like when his record comes out on July 16. Preorder it here if you're super keen!

Also! You can hear Georgie "crab scratching" on her EVR show Pop Goes The Future! Every Friday at noon (EST). It would help if you let her know exactly what the hell "crab scratching" is, on Twitter - @GeorgieOkell.

Style Stage is an ongoing partnership between Noisey & Garnier Fructis celebrating music, hair, and style.