Interview: Elizabeth Rose talks recording, her dancing career and CMJ!

Elizabeth Rose is more than just a voice singing over beats. As per her conversation with Philippe Perez, she reveals a hidden former career in the dancing world, the notion of musicians being politically active, and much more. Oh, and she has a new self-titled EP out as well that contains some real throwbacks to the 90s with tracks like ‘The Good Life’ and ‘Sensibility’.

I’d like to ask about a gig that I saw where you were performing a few years ago. I saw you up on stage with a Groovebox kind of thing and a microphone. Has that set up changed since that setup?

Yeah, I have a keyboardist now. So I’m a duo. We’ve doubled in size. Alex Dawson plays two synthesizers and a MIDI keyboard. I just sing, play my sampler and vocal effects pedal for my voice and dance around! That’s it.

Forgive me for sounding so uninformed about instruments, but is that a similar set-up that you have at home?

I have a few more synths at home. I have about four or five. I just use my laptop with it as well with a drum sample library and lots of plug-ins. I use mainly hardware and then a bit of software to just bring it all together.

Did you record these EPs at home as well?

No, I only record demos at home. I would never record a professional recording at home. All the EP stuff needs to be done in a professional recording booth. So I got all that done at a proper studio with a vocal booth and all that jazz. I just don’t have the capacity at home to do all that.

Is it odd to have someone else with you on stage with you?

No, not really. It felt just like a natural progression. At the time it was good for what I needed and what I was. I think now stepping up with the new EP and [playing] bigger festivals and longer gig times coming into account, I thought it felt it was the right time to change these things up.

Has Alex ever suggested anything or given you tips on your performances while on tour?

No, it’s easy. We work well together. On tour we have a lot of fun. We just also try to have fun on stage and… it’s fun! I prefer performing as a duo compared to solo.

This is your second EP that you’ve released. It has a slightly dance-ier sound than your previous release. To me, it is a little reminiscent of the sounds that were prevalent in the 90s. Did that sound influence you?

I would say it’s more early 2000s. It’s not really 90s dance. I think it’s earlier 2000s R&B with some more contemporary production. It has flavours of late 90s if you think it’s more aligned with that decade actually. It was stuff I was interested in and loved listening to.

I noticed that you did triple j’s Like a Version recently and “Rhythm of the Night” by Corona was the song that you chose to cover.

I was listening to stuff like that all the time! I was born in 1990 and I did dancing when I was a kid. Every year at the end-of-year dance concert we would watch all the seniors all perform all these routines. In fact, “Rhythm of the Night” was one of the songs I did a routine to myself. I remember from my childhood vividly.

Dancing and music go together for me. I just thought they complimented each other when I was a kid. I just associated it always with dancing. I was into a lot of upbeat dance music as a kid. Pop and R&B especially. I wasn’t into ballads and stuff though. Things like Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera, really. Funky people really.

What specific types of dancing did you learn in high school? I assume that type of ‘jazz’ dancing that was popular in high schools?

I did hip-hop, tap and ballet. It’s something that a lot of people don’t know about me. I still dance now and take classes. I love it and it’s a part of me as much as music has.

Do you ever get to watch shows like So You Think You Can Dance?

To be honest, I hate all of those shows.

Why?

They’re just crap. I prefer to watch clips on Youtube of hip-hop crews from overseas. That’s more interesting to me. I actually found out an artist that I really like – FKA Twigz – was a professional dancer. She used to do it in other artists video clips and things like that before she did started her own music career.

Did you enjoy doing ballet?

Well it was okay initially, but I dropped it because it was becoming too intense. I couldn’t wear the special shoes that they wear because it fucks up your feet. It was okay and I have an appreciation of adults who do it.

Last year you won the SOYA Music Prize. I read a quote from you about the award saying that you wanted to perform the CMJ Music Marathon with the benefits of your prize. What did you get performing at CMJ and in New York venues?

It was good. I had good audiences at the show. Some shows were better than others. We got a booking agent out of from the States out of it. He just came to the show and approached me. I found a good [music] lawyer over there too. It was productive and wasn’t a waste. It was a good trip.

What made some shows better than others?

Oh, there was a better turnout to some gigs than others. There’s more to learn and experience [about gigs] over there. CMJ isn’t really a representation of what it really is like to play over there. There’s a venue that I played in that wasn’t really a proper venue. I guess I can get more of an opinion when I do supports at larger venues. What I did over there was pretty small scale.

Tell me more about the venues that you performed in.

There was a venue called Pianos where I played three shows at. They didn’t have a stage and no monitors to hear myself back on. I had to hear myself through the front-of-house, which was really challenging. Downstairs at that venue was pretty good but I played upstairs, which I thought wasn’t very good and I wouldn’t call it a live music room. The other venues were okay but were very small. Probably only about an 80-100 capacity.

Did you get to explore New York as a tourist, while you were there?

Yeah, a little bit. I had a few days off. I went to Staten Island, the Museum of Modern Art and the 9/11 Memorial. I only got a few days to do all that and we had to go home.

I noticed on your twitter feed that you recently wrote a song about the movement by the gay and lesbian community for equality in marriage. What made you want to write a song about that issue?

I just feel very strong about it. One of my closest friends is gay and I feel it’s very close to home that if your government is not giving it the time of day that it needs. I don’t think it is that big of a deal to not pass a [law in parliament to allow gays and lesbians to get married]. It hurts me to see my friends are singled out like that.

I’ve been meaning to write something about that issue for a while. I found the right song where that context fits into and I think it works. I like the song and it will probably be on the upcoming album.

How important is it for musicians to write and record music that makes a statement like your song about gay marriage, especially in Australia?

I think it’s very important. I think of it in a way where I see it I have this opportunity to express myself because I know people are listening to me. I know a lot of people don’t have that chance where people will listen to them. It makes me feel like ‘I can use this to get my opinions across’.

There’s just so much to write about in life, in general. I really enjoy writing about things affect me personally and things I feel strongly about. I be more in-depth with my writing rather than shallow, well I hope that’s how it comes across. I don’t want to just sing about love.

Is music that has a protest element to them something that is lacking in the Australian music scene today?

No, I don’t think so. I think it is lacking in the American music industry. Not ours. I think in pop moreso actually over there. The genre of pop is… the way it is written traditionally is simple – both simple in a contextual way and melodically too.

But there are acts, which you could identify as popular – like Macklemore for example, who released a song like Same Love in favour of gay marriage. Katy Perry also supports gay marriage and hit out at Tony Abbott even during the election over the issue. There surely is a movement over in the US pop scene to have this issue out in the masses?

Yeah I suppose so. I definitely agree in the idea of power in numbers, and I suppose it is happening over there. If someone has an audience they can speak their mind to and that audience respects that person, they can cause a lot of change. Well I hope they can.

Where are you at with your upcoming album?

I’m just writing it now. I’m only halfway through writing so I have a lot of work to do. I’m doing it differently to the EPs. I’m just focusing on getting the vocal and chord progressions rather than getting into the production early. I’m going to come back to the production when it’s actually crunch time when I’m in a studio with my co-producer.

I think it’ll be quicker and better that way for my ideas to get out there. We’ll see how it goes.

Elizabeth Rose is touring around Australia over the next month with SAFIA & Fishing. More info on dates and tickets can be found at www.elizabethrose.com.au

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