Chase Petra embraces the theatrical flair of William Shakespeare as they dive into their new album, Lullabies For Dogs. “Not only is William Shakespeare arguably the most celebrated writer of all time, but he regularly got a little bit silly with it,” the band shares. While channeling Shakespeare’s balance of humor and heartbreak, the group explores how his wit, emotional depth, and cultural legacy continue to shape their songwriting and pop culture at large. As titans in their own right, Chase Petra draws from the bard’s timeless duality, crafting songs that both sting and soothe with a modern edge.
“Away, you three-inch fool!” — The Taming Of The Shrew
I’m no Shakespeare expert; I love the guy, but I’m not trying to become fluent in Old English, you know what I mean? Nevertheless, this is clearly a dick joke, right? Like this feels very much like a double-whammy: leave me alone and also you have a small dick.
“Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell.” — Othello
Not only does this insult feel very topical in regards to “Have Faith, Horatio,” but I love when an old-world insult feels uncomfortably modern, and this absolutely does.
“Villain, I have done thy mother” — Titus Andronicus
Ain’t nothing like an “I had sex with your mom” joke. This feels like the equivalent of saying, “That’s not what your mother said last night,” in the tour van somewhere in middle America.
“Thou damned and luxurious mountain goat” — Henry V
I don’t know that there’s much context to add here. I mean, he must mean what he says. You are (1) damned and (2) luxurious and also (3) a mountain goat. You are all things at once: unmannered, conspicuous, and goat-like in attitude and/or appearance.
“Get thee to a nunnery” — Hamlet
Look, we here at Chase Petra Inc. do not condone slut-shaming. It’s not something that we’re particularly interested in. That said, if you’re gonna call someone a whore, you’re gonna have to do it with all the flair of Hamlet in Hamlet.
Regarding how William Shakespeare inspired us sonically and lyrically, it comes down to the quote from Hamlet, “There are more things in heaven and earth than you could dream of in your philosophy.” I don’t at all remember why or where I came across this quote, but it stuck to me like Velcro. The way that Shakespeare wrote was often very lyrical and lilting, and there still is a kind of musicality to the way his lines are delivered onstage. So the transfer of that literary inspiration into music felt very natural.
Admittedly, Shakespeare did not have any bearing on our music that directly before Lullabies For Dogs. The fact remains, though, that Shakespeare and his works have inspired and directed many other creations that have in turn influenced Chase Petra significantly, whether we were aware or not. For example, one of my favorite films is 10 Things I Hate About You with Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles, which is – as we all know – a retelling of Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew. And if you think that that film did not inform everything about the way I carry myself, dress myself, and dance at parties, well, you’d be very wrong.
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Aesthetically, there’s no denying that there’s a Medieval revival currently taking place in our culture. Zendaya channeled Joan of Arc at the Met Gala in 2018, Chappell Roan donned a suit of armor at the VMAs in 2024, and fantasy book sales—which often pull heavily from Medieval and Renaissance styles when referencing clothing—grew 45.3% from 2020 to 2021 and grew 35.8% over the course of 2024. Now, to be clear, Shakespeare is more 16th-17th c. while the Medieval period is referential to approximately 5th-15th c. Nevertheless, fashion and aesthetics do not obey the lines historians and other scholarly types have drawn in the sand. Folks today borrow bits and pieces from all kinds of centuries to fulfill their styling dreams, and we’re no different.
Though we are not a group given to following a trend for the sake of being on-trend, we are human and by human, I mean completely enamored with this particular trend because it is so fun and cool. Between the white foundation on the face, the corsets, the flowy skirts, and those crazy, frilly collars (I’ve just discovered they’re called ruffs), we had no choice but to make this Shakespearian dream a reality.
