Published on January 25, 2016 on The Weekly Review.
Ella Hooper finds solace in the country, and travels there to decompress, commiserate and write. The former Killing Heidi frontwoman’s 2015 EP, Venom, was conceived this way, after a break-up sent her out bush.
“That’s my place that I run away to when I’m feeling like I need to create and I need to get away, or I need to process whatever trauma of the day,” Ella says.
The raspy, winding and melancholic melodies beautifully evoke images of red dirt, gum trees and tin sheds as you go on the ride with her and her heartache.
Ella Hopper set to perform with Stonnington Symphony Orchestra. Photo: Supplied
Ella Hooper finds solace in the country, and travels there to decompress, commiserate and write. The former Killing Heidi frontwoman’s 2015 EP, Venom, was conceived this way, after a break-up sent her out bush.
“That’s my place that I run away to when I’m feeling like I need to create and I need to get away, or I need to process whatever trauma of the day,” Ella says.
The raspy, winding and melancholic melodies beautifully evoke images of red dirt, gum trees and tin sheds as you go on the ride with her and her heartache.
Ella’s upcoming EP New Magic is almost the opposite to this, the yin to its yang, as she puts it.
She’ll be debuting one of the songs from the EP in February at Stonnington Council’s The Classicsconcert, performing with the Stonnington Symphony Orchestra. The series of free concerts will also include performances by music theatre veteran Rhonda Burchmore and soprano Antoinette Halloran.
“I’m really excited to get into rehearsals for that one and see the orchestra’s interpretation of that new song,” she says. “It’s not every day a sort of rock/popper gets asked to sing with an orchestra.”
The offer to perform with the orchestra did come as a surprise, albeit a good one, to the 32-year-old singer/songwriter. Ella has spent much of her career bringing music to a young audience and mentoring young musicians, and she sees this concert as another way of doing that.
“I really believe in not preaching to the converted, and trying to sort of mix it all up. You never know what kid is gonna watch this and be like ‘I think I wanna play the violin’; it’s really good, I’m all about it.”
Writing New Magic was an exercise in moving on from her break-up and creating a new beginning. The music itself is more upbeat and full, with ample harmonies, drum machines and synthesisers added to the mix.
“There’s a lot of messages to myself in the music, to remind myself to just move forward and move on, and hopefully it’s sort of catchy and fun at the same time,” she says.
Ella has had many experiences with moving on, first from the teenage angst of Killing Heidi to her own solo music, and more recently from the reboot of popular ABC music quiz show Spicks and Specks, which was cancelled in 2014 after one season. The show saw comedians Josh Earl and Adam Richard take over from Adam Hills and Alan Brough respectively, and Ella taking the seat of radio presenter Myf Warhurst, with the intent of appealing to a younger audience.
“It was a bit of a learning curve, I was very disappointed. I was like ‘oh my god – that was my dream job and it lasted for one season!’ But you have to just go with it,” Ella says.
It’s funny to hear a well-known and prolific musician describe something other than music as a “dream job”. Ella explains that having other work in the media allows her to create her music in a different way than if she were solely relying on it to make a living.
“Your music can just become whatever you want it to be, you can stop thinking about getting it on the radio or selling out every show,” she says. “Music is the dream passion, and now it doesn’t have to be the dream job.”
This is the advice she gives to young musicians as well – to create their music the way they want to, for themselves, and not to please promoters or record companies.
“If only I had worked out earlier that those things could be controlled by me as well,” she says. “There’s no age limit in good music. There shouldn’t be, so don’t rush, make sure you’re happy with it and make sure you’re finding your unique voice.”
Seventeen years on from Weir and Mascara, Ella’s “voice” is fully formed and certainly unique, if not inspired by others in the Australian music scene. Adelita, The Jezabels, The Waifs and Missy Higgins have all had an influence on Ella’s music, as she surely has had on theirs. She says this is probably because of the close-knit nature of the Australian music scene.
It’s a testament to her that she has grown to practise what she preaches, creating music for herself that has gained a modest but steady following after the whirlwind of commercial success that hit in her teens.
The idea of playing that music now is almost akin to going back and reading your teenage diary – uncomfortable and somewhat cringeworthy.
“It’s a long line to draw between who I was then and who I am now,” she says. “Teenaged thoughts set to music, it’s really cute, but it’s hard for me. I sort of go ‘ohhh nooo, I don’t feel like that any more’. I see all the shades of grey now, as you do when you get older.”
She realises “all the twists and bends” and the fact that it’s “not as easy as it seems” are synonymous with many 30-something Australians’ teen years.
“I know that it’s music that’s kind of part of people’s lives and I really do get that, and I go ‘oh that’s so cool’ and I really want to honour that.”
That doesn’t mean she’ll be harking back to those days any time soon.
“It would be so funny to hear Mascara with the orchestra,” she says.
Stonnington Council’s The Classics Series
- Opera, February 6, 7pm. Victoria Gardens, Prahran
- Broadway with Rhonda Burchmore, February 13, 7pm. Ardrie Park, Malvern East
- Symphony with Ella Hooper, February 27, 7pm. Malvern Gardens, Malvern
Ella’s upcoming EP New Magic is almost the opposite to this, the yin to its yang, as she puts it.
She’ll be debuting one of the songs from the EP in February at Stonnington Council’s The Classicsconcert, performing with the Stonnington Symphony Orchestra. The series of free concerts will also include performances by music theatre veteran Rhonda Burchmore and soprano Antoinette Halloran.
“I’m really excited to get into rehearsals for that one and see the orchestra’s interpretation of that new song,” she says. “It’s not every day a sort of rock/popper gets asked to sing with an orchestra.”
The offer to perform with the orchestra did come as a surprise, albeit a good one, to the 32-year-old singer/songwriter. Ella has spent much of her career bringing music to a young audience and mentoring young musicians, and she sees this concert as another way of doing that.
“I really believe in not preaching to the converted, and trying to sort of mix it all up. You never know what kid is gonna watch this and be like ‘I think I wanna play the violin’; it’s really good, I’m all about it.”
Writing New Magic was an exercise in moving on from her break-up and creating a new beginning. The music itself is more upbeat and full, with ample harmonies, drum machines and synthesisers added to the mix.
“There’s a lot of messages to myself in the music, to remind myself to just move forward and move on, and hopefully it’s sort of catchy and fun at the same time,” she says.
Ella has had many experiences with moving on, first from the teenage angst of Killing Heidi to her own solo music, and more recently from the reboot of popular ABC music quiz show Spicks and Specks, which was cancelled in 2014 after one season. The show saw comedians Josh Earl and Adam Richard take over from Adam Hills and Alan Brough respectively, and Ella taking the seat of radio presenter Myf Warhurst, with the intent of appealing to a younger audience.
“It was a bit of a learning curve, I was very disappointed. I was like ‘oh my god – that was my dream job and it lasted for one season!’ But you have to just go with it,” Ella says.
It’s funny to hear a well-known and prolific musician describe something other than music as a “dream job”. Ella explains that having other work in the media allows her to create her music in a different way than if she were solely relying on it to make a living.
“Your music can just become whatever you want it to be, you can stop thinking about getting it on the radio or selling out every show,” she says. “Music is the dream passion, and now it doesn’t have to be the dream job.”
This is the advice she gives to young musicians as well – to create their music the way they want to, for themselves, and not to please promoters or record companies.
“If only I had worked out earlier that those things could be controlled by me as well,” she says. “There’s no age limit in good music. There shouldn’t be, so don’t rush, make sure you’re happy with it and make sure you’re finding your unique voice.”
Seventeen years on from Weir and Mascara, Ella’s “voice” is fully formed and certainly unique, if not inspired by others in the Australian music scene. Adelita, The Jezabels, The Waifs and Missy Higgins have all had an influence on Ella’s music, as she surely has had on theirs. She says this is probably because of the close-knit nature of the Australian music scene.
It’s a testament to her that she has grown to practise what she preaches, creating music for herself that has gained a modest but steady following after the whirlwind of commercial success that hit in her teens.
The idea of playing that music now is almost akin to going back and reading your teenage diary – uncomfortable and somewhat cringeworthy.
“It’s a long line to draw between who I was then and who I am now,” she says. “Teenaged thoughts set to music, it’s really cute, but it’s hard for me. I sort of go ‘ohhh nooo, I don’t feel like that any more’. I see all the shades of grey now, as you do when you get older.”
She realises “all the twists and bends” and the fact that it’s “not as easy as it seems” are synonymous with many 30-something Australians’ teen years.
“I know that it’s music that’s kind of part of people’s lives and I really do get that, and I go ‘oh that’s so cool’ and I really want to honour that.”
That doesn’t mean she’ll be harking back to those days any time soon.
“It would be so funny to hear Mascara with the orchestra,” she says.
Stonnington Council’s The Classics Series
- Opera, February 6, 7pm. Victoria Gardens, Prahran
- Broadway with Rhonda Burchmore, February 13, 7pm. Ardrie Park, Malvern East
- Symphony with Ella Hooper, February 27, 7pm. Malvern Gardens, Malvern
Jemimah Clegg 