Lullabies to a vanishing landscape

And then there’s one more issue that the Hawks, well, take a hit on.

Each album seems to have one or two marijuana-themed songs, with “Humboldt” from “Grapevine” celebrating the new-millennium grower and “Barrier Reef” from “California Country” featuring the could-be stoner mantra, “The power of the leaf is the Barrier Reef to my sanity.”

“We’re moderate users, we have no problem with it,” Lacques admits. “And I believe somewhat in the proper use of hallucinogens to guide you to a higher consciousness. And if you’re not into that, you can probably do it through meditation, too.

“But the main reason we write those types of tunes is that we believe that the drug laws are just absurd. We can get into some nasty political arguments about a lot of things, but we all believe the drug laws are nasty and obtrusive and a real waste of manpower. So there’s a political reason behind the ridiculousness of the weed tunes.”

The Hawks are shooting for bigger and better things for their next album, and like the protagonist in the song “California Country,” they’re happy to stay put in the Golden State — warts, smog, overpopulation, Govenator and all.

Maybe that’s because they manage to keep their sharp senses of humor.

“If you’re not laughing at this stuff, you’d go crazy,” Lacques says. “These are really insane times and you could be devastated by it. A lot of my friends are and it’s eating them alive.

“But we’re jokesters at heart. We definitely are not of the earnest school of modern alt-country.”

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