Ella Hooper (27/11/2012)
I had many musical obsessions growing up, but the times when you’re most influenced is your teens and when I was 13 my Dad pointed out a song he heard on triple J called ‘Weir’ by a young band Killing Heidi.
My teens were filled with scrapbooking, colourful dreadlocks and emulating the dynamic and influencial front woman.
Fast forward 13 years and I am on a trip back to the family home, sitting in my childhood bedroom, the walls still host Killing Heidi memorabilia from my teen age years, when I receive a call from the lady herself, Australian music icon, Ella Hooper.
Ella: CASSIE WALKER, I know who that is!
Cassie: I couldn’t refuse this interview request, even a holiday can’t get in the way of this one.
Ella: I’m still special, thank you!
Cassie: I have to admit, I’m sitting in my parents office, which use to be my bedroom and they still have the painting I did of Killing Heidi on the wall, from about 12 years ago.
Ella: Isn’t it funny how time goes by and things follow us around and keep popping back up, it’s pretty cool that they’ve kept it, I can’t believe they’ve said “keep the Killing Heidi painting in the office”
Cassie: I can’t believe Mum’s kept it, I can’t believe I showed you and the band that!
Ella: It’s high quality.
After a bit of a catch up we get into interview mode.
Cassie: How is it doing press again after being a presenter and interviewer for a year now?
Ella: It’s refreshing actually, it’s fun to do both and I’ve always liked variety, you can’t give me enough variety, I really thrive on it so one minute I’m asking the questions and the next minute I’m answering them.
Cassie: I have to admit I was nervous writing this, now you’re experienced you can see through the cracks of a good and bad interview
Ella: That’s so true, I can use my new found powers for good and evil.
Cassie: Congratulations on the big step into your solo career, after two success bands Killing Heidi and The Verses, what pushed you to go on your own?
Ella: Well I think the one thing I hadn’t tried. I was saying earlier I love variety and it’s the curiousity that killed the cat. I wanted to know what it was like just to represent me, because when I’m in a band I actually feel like I represent that band and that persona, so this is a whole new step, just going ‘Ok this is just Ella Hooper’.
Cassie: Because you’ve always worked closely with your band mates, do you find challenges writing on your own?
Ella: I didn’t actually. I felt like because I’d taken so long to do it, I was really ready just to express the things that might be really personal that you think and you’re not trying to represent a democracy which is generally the case in my bands, I’ve tried often to be very democratic and make sure everyone really feels what we’re singing about and what we’re writing about, even though there has been personal stories within that, but this time I was just like ‘nup, I don’t care, even if it’s just one little thing that happened to me that no one will get, that’s what I’m going to sing about, because it’s about my expression and I needed to do it for my expression’, so I was just having fun being a little bit selfish.
Cassie: Saying that you finally have that opportunity to express the things that only you feel and not have to consider others, has a lot of the material on your solo album been with you for a while?
Ella: Yeah, there’s definitely been parts of it that have been floating around for a couple of years and nagging at me. Some of the more angsty things, especially as I’ve been getting older and going into my Saturn return and astrological phase which definitely brought up a lot of interesting energies, some of them quite challenging and I thought, now this is something for a solo record. I started singing about that with ‘The Verses’, about going home and looking at what I have done over the last ten years and this new stuff started to flow out and I thought ‘now this is going deeper and deeper into who am I, what am I doing’ that kind of crisis that happens in your late twenties and I thought ‘no there’s a solo record in this’ so I just started writing and putting them aside and then a whole nother burst of writing happened when I entered the studio. The first six had been around for a while and the latest six came out when I really let myself free of instrumentation as well and just started singing and writing to anything.
Cassie: Can you hear the difference of the two writing sessions on the album?
Ella: I don’t think they’re like chalk and cheese but I think you will hear a few that are definitely new ground for me sonically, so you’ll notice they’re the new batch and that’s really exciting for me but I definitely needed to put a few of the old ones on. There is a track actually that I’ll release next called ‘Everything was a sign’ and that was just build around me strumming my guitar and it’s slightly more traditional at it’s core, but then I’ve dressed it up with interesting production and it goes to this really crazy sonic space, where a song like that would have gone onto more of a mellow or folk rock place and now it goes into this cyber ballad. It’s still one of my older songs but that might not be recognizable as such.
Cassie: You’ve always worked musically with your brother Jesse, have you had him listen to the new material?
Ella: yes! He’s been involved, but not intensely musically. It was a conscious decision to step away from working with Jess or starting another band with him, I thought ‘no, if this is going to be a solo project, then I need it to be a solo project’ so I didn’t have much help at all. I found a small team that could help with it, because of me wanting it to be a strong, potent ‘Ella’ vibe, I didn’t want to water down the cordial, so to speak and Jesse was so supportive and so generous with his time, he even drove me to the studio a couple of times a week! How lucky am I to have a brother like that, who I’ve worked with for so long and then I go and do this huge shift on him and he’s still willing to help me get there on time, it’s really amazing.
He’s always been very supportive and I think he’s listened to the record and he’s really excited about how different it sounds and he’s been doing stuff of his own, so I think we both needed this time away from our projects together.
Hopefully we will keep collaborating on things in the future but for now it’s just nice to be mates.
Cassie: And the first taste of your solo career is the gorgeous single, Low High, which features Melbourne band Graveyard Train, when you were writing that song did you have the male and female vocal dynamic in mind?
Ella: I kind of did and I was going to do it all myself which sounded really weird and it didn’t really work and I knew I needed to find some big, hairy men because I’m just not cutting it, I can sing low for a girl, but not as low as a dude or a big bunch of hairy dudes.
It was really interesting, Low High, was one of the newer songs that popped up in the studio and was seriously refreshing. It was built just around me tapping on a bottle. I just wanted to sing, I didn’t want any strumming or any piano, I just wanted to sing over something completely stark so that’s how I go that very new vocal line and as soon as I had this sparse vocal line, which didn’t have too much in it I realized there was room for someone else, there’s room for a call and answer and that’s how that came about.
Cassie: Graveyard Train is a band that have built their music on those organic sounds and instrumentations, did you know of their music before writing this song or were they recommended to you based on how the song was written?
Ella: I’ve actually known them since before they started the band. They’ve been neighbours and friends of mine, I met them about ten years ago now and three of the boys worked at this bar called ‘Prudence’ which I spent too many years of my twenties, way to many nights just chatting to them and I’ve actually sung on a few of their records, well more like screamed and moaned and been kind of making crazy witch sounds and I thought, I know just the people who can return the favour, I know someone who’s good at chanting, so I got Adam to bring the chain in and I got them to come and sing. I’m a huge Graveyard Train fan so I couldn’t believe my luck when it all matched up. I didn’t write the track for them, but they were just the perfect people for it.
Cassie: The ‘Low High’ film clip, has this classic, old horror feel that portrays the creeping of the dark. Their manly, bearded look is the perfect contrast to your girlie dancing and soft makeup and dress, when you were working on the film clip, did you create this story line to feature the Graveyard Train members?
Ella: I did. When it came to the clip I did want that, it was part of the idea that I came up with the director Wilk, we sat together and I told him I wanted this dark force and I wanted that to be represented by them creeping up on me, because they represent the emotions you can’t control and being out of yourself and out of mind, whether it’s manic depression or just a really bad day, so they had to represent that and to keep them rough and in the shadows we painted their faces dark and it’s not just Graveyard Train, it’s just lots of different dudes I found with beards and I’m like ‘ok you can come and represent the psycho drama’.
Cassie: What a great job, to look around Melbourne for guys with beards.
Ella: I know, it’s a really tough job for me! It’s every girls dream in Melbourne, the beard capital of the world.
Cassie: The debut album, In Tongues, is due out next year, with so many changes in the music industry since you began, are you approaching this release differently to previous records?
Ella: completely. It’s going to be a whole new trip for me and I’m already feeling that, firstly because I’m an independent artist and that’s the first time since way back in the day that I’ve released something independently, with a very small team and very hands on without a major label behind me and also I’m so much more involved with and familiar with social media now, as you know back when I started in music there wasn’t any Youtube or facebook or even Myspace, so my music just came in a CD and fans would come to the shows and I would build a relationship there, face to face, but I wasn’t great with building relationships online and now I’m just relishing and flourishing in social media. I’m very late to that party, I realize that but I’m loving it now and I feel that I can be more connected to the people that love my music, than ever and hopefully I can find a whole new fan base out of it and control it a bit more organically myself.
Cassie: Well thanks for the chat and we look forward to hearing the new record next year.
Ella: Thank you! I’m really about trying something new and I really hope you dig it. I just think everyone should jump out of their comfort zone once and make a statement about where they’re at!
Cassie Walker
My teens were filled with scrapbooking, colourful dreadlocks and emulating the dynamic and influencial front woman.
Fast forward 13 years and I am on a trip back to the family home, sitting in my childhood bedroom, the walls still host Killing Heidi memorabilia from my teen age years, when I receive a call from the lady herself, Australian music icon, Ella Hooper.
Ella: CASSIE WALKER, I know who that is!
Cassie: I couldn’t refuse this interview request, even a holiday can’t get in the way of this one.
Ella: I’m still special, thank you!
Cassie: I have to admit, I’m sitting in my parents office, which use to be my bedroom and they still have the painting I did of Killing Heidi on the wall, from about 12 years ago.
Ella: Isn’t it funny how time goes by and things follow us around and keep popping back up, it’s pretty cool that they’ve kept it, I can’t believe they’ve said “keep the Killing Heidi painting in the office”
Cassie: I can’t believe Mum’s kept it, I can’t believe I showed you and the band that!
Ella: It’s high quality.
After a bit of a catch up we get into interview mode.
Cassie: How is it doing press again after being a presenter and interviewer for a year now?
Ella: It’s refreshing actually, it’s fun to do both and I’ve always liked variety, you can’t give me enough variety, I really thrive on it so one minute I’m asking the questions and the next minute I’m answering them.
Cassie: I have to admit I was nervous writing this, now you’re experienced you can see through the cracks of a good and bad interview
Ella: That’s so true, I can use my new found powers for good and evil.
Cassie: Congratulations on the big step into your solo career, after two success bands Killing Heidi and The Verses, what pushed you to go on your own?
Ella: Well I think the one thing I hadn’t tried. I was saying earlier I love variety and it’s the curiousity that killed the cat. I wanted to know what it was like just to represent me, because when I’m in a band I actually feel like I represent that band and that persona, so this is a whole new step, just going ‘Ok this is just Ella Hooper’.
Cassie: Because you’ve always worked closely with your band mates, do you find challenges writing on your own?
Ella: I didn’t actually. I felt like because I’d taken so long to do it, I was really ready just to express the things that might be really personal that you think and you’re not trying to represent a democracy which is generally the case in my bands, I’ve tried often to be very democratic and make sure everyone really feels what we’re singing about and what we’re writing about, even though there has been personal stories within that, but this time I was just like ‘nup, I don’t care, even if it’s just one little thing that happened to me that no one will get, that’s what I’m going to sing about, because it’s about my expression and I needed to do it for my expression’, so I was just having fun being a little bit selfish.
Cassie: Saying that you finally have that opportunity to express the things that only you feel and not have to consider others, has a lot of the material on your solo album been with you for a while?
Ella: Yeah, there’s definitely been parts of it that have been floating around for a couple of years and nagging at me. Some of the more angsty things, especially as I’ve been getting older and going into my Saturn return and astrological phase which definitely brought up a lot of interesting energies, some of them quite challenging and I thought, now this is something for a solo record. I started singing about that with ‘The Verses’, about going home and looking at what I have done over the last ten years and this new stuff started to flow out and I thought ‘now this is going deeper and deeper into who am I, what am I doing’ that kind of crisis that happens in your late twenties and I thought ‘no there’s a solo record in this’ so I just started writing and putting them aside and then a whole nother burst of writing happened when I entered the studio. The first six had been around for a while and the latest six came out when I really let myself free of instrumentation as well and just started singing and writing to anything.
Cassie: Can you hear the difference of the two writing sessions on the album?
Ella: I don’t think they’re like chalk and cheese but I think you will hear a few that are definitely new ground for me sonically, so you’ll notice they’re the new batch and that’s really exciting for me but I definitely needed to put a few of the old ones on. There is a track actually that I’ll release next called ‘Everything was a sign’ and that was just build around me strumming my guitar and it’s slightly more traditional at it’s core, but then I’ve dressed it up with interesting production and it goes to this really crazy sonic space, where a song like that would have gone onto more of a mellow or folk rock place and now it goes into this cyber ballad. It’s still one of my older songs but that might not be recognizable as such.
Cassie: You’ve always worked musically with your brother Jesse, have you had him listen to the new material?
Ella: yes! He’s been involved, but not intensely musically. It was a conscious decision to step away from working with Jess or starting another band with him, I thought ‘no, if this is going to be a solo project, then I need it to be a solo project’ so I didn’t have much help at all. I found a small team that could help with it, because of me wanting it to be a strong, potent ‘Ella’ vibe, I didn’t want to water down the cordial, so to speak and Jesse was so supportive and so generous with his time, he even drove me to the studio a couple of times a week! How lucky am I to have a brother like that, who I’ve worked with for so long and then I go and do this huge shift on him and he’s still willing to help me get there on time, it’s really amazing.
He’s always been very supportive and I think he’s listened to the record and he’s really excited about how different it sounds and he’s been doing stuff of his own, so I think we both needed this time away from our projects together.
Hopefully we will keep collaborating on things in the future but for now it’s just nice to be mates.
Cassie: And the first taste of your solo career is the gorgeous single, Low High, which features Melbourne band Graveyard Train, when you were writing that song did you have the male and female vocal dynamic in mind?
Ella: I kind of did and I was going to do it all myself which sounded really weird and it didn’t really work and I knew I needed to find some big, hairy men because I’m just not cutting it, I can sing low for a girl, but not as low as a dude or a big bunch of hairy dudes.
It was really interesting, Low High, was one of the newer songs that popped up in the studio and was seriously refreshing. It was built just around me tapping on a bottle. I just wanted to sing, I didn’t want any strumming or any piano, I just wanted to sing over something completely stark so that’s how I go that very new vocal line and as soon as I had this sparse vocal line, which didn’t have too much in it I realized there was room for someone else, there’s room for a call and answer and that’s how that came about.
Cassie: Graveyard Train is a band that have built their music on those organic sounds and instrumentations, did you know of their music before writing this song or were they recommended to you based on how the song was written?
Ella: I’ve actually known them since before they started the band. They’ve been neighbours and friends of mine, I met them about ten years ago now and three of the boys worked at this bar called ‘Prudence’ which I spent too many years of my twenties, way to many nights just chatting to them and I’ve actually sung on a few of their records, well more like screamed and moaned and been kind of making crazy witch sounds and I thought, I know just the people who can return the favour, I know someone who’s good at chanting, so I got Adam to bring the chain in and I got them to come and sing. I’m a huge Graveyard Train fan so I couldn’t believe my luck when it all matched up. I didn’t write the track for them, but they were just the perfect people for it.
Cassie: The ‘Low High’ film clip, has this classic, old horror feel that portrays the creeping of the dark. Their manly, bearded look is the perfect contrast to your girlie dancing and soft makeup and dress, when you were working on the film clip, did you create this story line to feature the Graveyard Train members?
Ella: I did. When it came to the clip I did want that, it was part of the idea that I came up with the director Wilk, we sat together and I told him I wanted this dark force and I wanted that to be represented by them creeping up on me, because they represent the emotions you can’t control and being out of yourself and out of mind, whether it’s manic depression or just a really bad day, so they had to represent that and to keep them rough and in the shadows we painted their faces dark and it’s not just Graveyard Train, it’s just lots of different dudes I found with beards and I’m like ‘ok you can come and represent the psycho drama’.
Cassie: What a great job, to look around Melbourne for guys with beards.
Ella: I know, it’s a really tough job for me! It’s every girls dream in Melbourne, the beard capital of the world.
Cassie: The debut album, In Tongues, is due out next year, with so many changes in the music industry since you began, are you approaching this release differently to previous records?
Ella: completely. It’s going to be a whole new trip for me and I’m already feeling that, firstly because I’m an independent artist and that’s the first time since way back in the day that I’ve released something independently, with a very small team and very hands on without a major label behind me and also I’m so much more involved with and familiar with social media now, as you know back when I started in music there wasn’t any Youtube or facebook or even Myspace, so my music just came in a CD and fans would come to the shows and I would build a relationship there, face to face, but I wasn’t great with building relationships online and now I’m just relishing and flourishing in social media. I’m very late to that party, I realize that but I’m loving it now and I feel that I can be more connected to the people that love my music, than ever and hopefully I can find a whole new fan base out of it and control it a bit more organically myself.
Cassie: Well thanks for the chat and we look forward to hearing the new record next year.
Ella: Thank you! I’m really about trying something new and I really hope you dig it. I just think everyone should jump out of their comfort zone once and make a statement about where they’re at!
Cassie Walker