INTERVIEW: Elizabeth Rose

Posted on June 1, 2012 by 6foot9

To coincide with the news that talented newcomer ELIZABETH ROSE has announced her first headline dates across the country, PRIMO! had the pleasure of interviewing the 21-year-old electronic-pop producer herself.

‘Never Fear’ surfaced on community radio and triple j airwaves as well as countless blogs late last year.  She was named a Next Crop 2012 artist by triple j in December.

Her skilful blend of astral beats, shadowy samples and lofty pop melodies prompted an impressive list of invitations to play Parklife, Harvest, Peats Ridge, Field Day and support tours for Chairlift and most recently, Snakadaktal on their sold-out national run.  Elizabeth has also been busy with collaborations with UK producer Sinden and remixes for locals Jinja Safari and Flight Facilities.

6FOOT9: What were you like growing up and how did you get into music?

ER: I’ve always been playing music for a long time, since I was about 6 or 7, I learnt to play keyboard in primary school and I would write little jingles and pop songs on it. I studied music throughout primary school and high school, in high school I picked the acoustic guitar, I didn’t really know how to play it, so I sort of taught myself, I don’t really know any chords, but yeah played that for a while and did a few gigs, and that’s when I started to record myself in Garage band. That’s where it all started in terms of learning to record and mix myself. I did music for my HSC and then after high school finished, that’s when I got serious about producing, I moved on from Garage band to Ableton.

Was that a huge step going from Garage band to Ableton?

Oh yeah, definitely. My brother Anthony is a DJ producer as well (6Foot9: It’s Hook N Sling). He is a lot more advanced and has been doing it for a long time so he gave me the software and showed me the basics, and I kind of just taught myself from there and I’ve been doing it ever since.

Life must be pretty crazy for you at the moment with all the hype surrounding the new release. How does it feel to leap from the unknown into the known?

It’s scary, scary but exciting. I’ve put in a lot of hard work for the last 6 years or so and it finally feels like it’s going somewhere, which is really motivating. Yeah its great to have support, especially from triple j, I would have never thought they’d be so supportive, its been great.

Yeah that’s one thing I wanted to ask you about, I know FBI and Triple j have been very supportive of your music. How do you think unearthed helped you be discovered as an artist?

It’s helped a hell of a lot, since signing up only good things have come out of it. Its allowed a lot of people to contact me through unearthed. I actually got an offer to write for the Great Gatsby through unearthed. Baz Luhrmann’s office! I got this strange phone call from the unearthed studio and they were saying that they received an email from his office, so that was pretty amazing.

Did anything come of it?

Well yeah, it felt like the ball was going to roll when they set it all up, I went out to the studio and got to see Toby McGuire, which was so cool, but yeah since then they’ve kind of dropped the ball and I haven’t heard from them, it was cool to go out there though.

You’ve supported Snakadaktal and Chairlift recently and now you’re headlining your own shows and picking your own supporting artists, what’s it like to give bands the same opportunities you were given as someone trying to break into the scene?

Yeah its a great feeling, I feel like we’re all in this together. The supports and myself, we’re all putting on the same shows. I love that side of it; I love picking supports, its really fun. I’ve got some great supports lined for each show, which is really cool.

What can we expect from the live performance, I hear you like to dress up a bit?

Yeah! Not so much for the interstate gigs because I have a tiny suitcase, but ill make up for it with crazy hair and makeup!

What’s the craziest thing you ever dressed up as?

Um, a flight attendant. That was playing at a flight facilities party; everyone dressed up in flight theme and what not. I get all my outfits made by one of my good friends; it’s a good collaboration.

What sort of equipment do you have on stage with you?

Well it’s just me on stage. I have a laptop, keyboard, a sampler and a vocal effects pedal. So I’m doing a lot all at once. It’s hard to do at first, but I’ve got used to it.

I can imagine it’s a bit overwhelming at first?

Oh yeah, I made a lot of mistakes when I first started, but luckily that’s all gone thank god.

What can you tell us about the forthcoming EP?

So ‘Ready’ is the track that’s going to be the representative of the EP. The EP has 5 tracks on it, one of the tracks on it is a track that I co produced with Sinden, the UK producer, so I’m really excited about that song. Then I have few darker down tempo tracks that I’ve been testing out on the live shows. That’s really were all the tracks start out I guess, in terms of how the audience responds to them, its helps me decide what are the better tracks.

It’s cool to know that the audience has an input into how the EP has been shaped.

Yeah well its fun, I always change things in the songs when I play them live, kind of for my own sanity because you end up playing them so many times. But yeah I’m always keen to try new things, even this tour I’ve changed a few things around.

Do you record the live shows incase you whip up something magical and can’t remember it?

No I don’t, but I really should hey (laughs) thank you.

You might come up with some crazy thing, and be all ‘shit how did I do that’

(Laughs) Usually if I come up with a good idea I record it on my phone.

Talk me through the Sinden collaboration.

EMI set that up back in September last year, and yeah they called me into the office and told me he was looking for a vocalist, they put us into a studio for a couple of days and we worked really well together and powered out some tracks, which is really cool and really excited. So EMI might be getting behind it.

He’s been pushing some tracks over the UK on his Radio show, which his instant global recognition coming from someone like sinned.

Yeah I’m really lucky; lucky he likes my music as well.

Any plans to get overseas?

Yeah definitely get over there next year. My brother is living in LA so will be taking him up on his couch over there too.

Burgers of burritos?

Umm, I’d say burgers

Too easy, everyone says burritos; you’re a bit on your own there.

(Laughs) Oh, that’s cool.

Thanks for chatting with us!

- End -

TOUR DATES AND VENUES - Elizabeth Rose w/ Special Guests
Tickets on sale Monday 7 May 2012

FRI 01 JUNE – ELSEWHERE BAR, GOLD COAST
Tickets available from Oztix www.oztix.com.au or 1300 762 545

FRI 08 JUNE – THE STANDARD, SYDNEY

Tickets available from Moshtix www.moshtix.com.au, 1300 GET TIX & Moshtix outlets

SAT 09 JUNE – FRESH PRINCE @ TRANSIT BAR, CANBERRA
Tickets available on the door

Tickets $10 presale // $12 on the door in Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast.