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Ahead of his tour with new outfit The Panamas, Larry Heath caught up with Ernest Ellis last week to chat about the tour, the new album Kings Canyon (which was released on Friday) and more!
How you going?
Not too bad thanks
How's your day going
Pretty good. I'm in Sydney, it's pretty sunny at the moment. Got some people mulching trees out the back of my house, giving me a bit of a headache. Otherwise pretty good.
I'm in Sydney as well, I find it on days like this that it's frustrating sitting inside and working.
Yeah it is.
So what is an average day in the life of ernest ellis at the moment. Lots of preparation for the tour i imagine?
Yeah just organising things, and practice and very hectic at the moment.
I don't imagine otherwise, You have a very hectic tour schedule coming up and it'll be pretty much taking up a month of your life!
Yeah, pretty much!
It's been a little while since you've performed as well, this is the first tour I understand, first performances rather that you'll be doing as Ernest Ellis and the Panamas
That's right, the band have been touring europe for a while, but its the first tour I guess that will be with Ernest Ellis and the Panamas.
What was behind that idea to have Ernest Ellis and the Panamas
The recording of the Kings Again was a lot more collaborative than the first record. I felt that it was the right thing to do because what we're doing at the moment is a lot more of a collaborative process. Involving a band from that perspective was a right thing to do. I thought that giving them a name was a lot more representative of their role on the album.
How have you found that process to be replicated on the album. How have you felt that the music has been transformed from what you were doing previously.
Definitely taken a new form, really developed from where it was at. We got to a point with the last record, the last song was "Loveless", and that was the point we felt more like a band. That's really continued with this record. We started recording straight after we finished the first one. It was a really great process this time around. Everyone brought their own parts to it. Now we can focus on the songwriting. It was quite alleviating to me in a lot of ways, because I trusted the people involved in writing the songs so yeah it was a great process.
From what I've heard of the album, it's sounding fantastic. And the cover looks amazing, with the running horses. Who did that?
Ben Morgan our bass player designed it. He did a great job with the artwork. We sorta left that to him and he did a great job.
So what can we expect from the tour? I imagine most of it will be focused on Kings Canyon. Will we get a taste of the older material as well?
Totally. We'll be playing a cross-section of stuff, we love playing live and really just want to have a great time. I think that's really the key. I don't like the bands that are really stale on stage, people taking themselves to seriously. I really just feel like when you play shows like the Flaming Lips play shows. Great pop rock and hopefully that works out.
And when it comes to the tours, is there anywhere your going to play that you haven't played before? It seems like a pretty standard fare though?
It's pretty standard, but we've never been to Tasmania, that's a pretty big deal for us to go there. We're going to Perth, Geraldton couple of hours out of Perth. That's pretty exciting for us. I don't know how that'll go, but it should go well I hope.
I don't know how to pronounce it. is it Nantes? The support act?
It may be the correct pronunciation. They are doing really well at the moment. On the radio especially. They are a great choice for support. Good bunch of guys, looking forward to seeing them actually. They haven't done too many shows as well so that'll be interesting. These are going to be our last shows in Australia for quite a while as well. We're planning to moving overseas. So this will be an interesting time for us.
Where are you looking to move?
Berlin, it should be pretty amazing.
The whole band moving over or just you?
Yeah the whole band. Pretty good plan on doing a bunch of shows and hopefully getting a release over there as well. Kind of plans are in November go over there and then America in April next year.
So yeah that's our plan for the moment. It's exciting to be doing these shows in Australia and then moving away to Europe. We've always wanted to go over there and travel for a bit. So yeah it's cool.
So we'll be seeing you at the SXSW next year I suppose?
Yes. That's our plan.
What have you heard about that event?
Everyone speaks highly of that event. Great forum for music, Mecca of music and the wider music industry. Playing there would be a really amazing situation, so that's kind of our plan to get there and tour around America. We really want to travel as well so hopefully that ties in with that nicely.
Definitely, Congratulations on the new album and I know it gets released in about ten days time so look forward to everyone hearing it and seeing you on the road in September and October.
Thanks man
No problem, Thanks for talking with us. Have a good one!
Cheers
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Ernest Ellis' tour kicks off Thursday night in Sydney.
THU 29 SEPT
GAELIC THEATRE SYDNEY NSW
Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au
FRI 30 SEPT
ALHAMBRA LOUNGE BRISBANE QLD
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au
SAT 01 OCT TRANSIT BAR CANBERRA ACT
Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au
FRI 07 OCT
WARATAH HOTEL HOBART TAS
* Tickets available from the venue or www.oztix.com.au
SAT 08 OCT
THE TOFF MELBOURNE VIC
Tickets available from www.thetoffintown.com & www.moshtix.com.au
SAT 15 OCT
JIVE ADELAIDE SA
Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au
FRI 21 OCT
L’ATTITUDE 28 GERALDTON WA
* Tickets available from Oztix, Moshtix, Heatseeker & all corresponding outlets.
SAT 22 OCT
AMPLIFIER BAR PERTH WA
* Tickets available from Oztix, Moshtix, Heatseeker & all corresponding outlets.
SUN 23 OCT
NEWPORT HOTEL FREMANTLE WA
* Tickets available from Oztix, Moshtix, Heatseeker & all corresponding outlets.
The new album Kings Canyon is in stores now...
