Elizabeth Rose interview

Carol Bowditch grabbed a few words with Elizabeth Rose about her current Australian tour:

How are you feeling about your first headline tour? 

I'm really excited to be on my first headline tour! With excitement comes also nerves. I get worried about the number of people turning up to the shows, but so far it hasn't been that bad!

What can people who attend your shows expect?

In my live show it's just me up onstage with my keyboard, laptop, sampler and me singing. I try to spice things up a bit with quirky outfits and makeup! The music I play live is slightly varied from the recordings, I like to experiment with new melodies and extended edits of the songs with obscure intros and outros.

You recently joined Chairlift on a national tour. How was that experience?

Touring with Chairlift was so incredible. I've been big fans of them for a couple of years and getting to meet them was just so surreal. Caroline and Patrick are so down to earth and they are so creative in their songwriting. I had a few good chats with Caroline about bands we're into and now I'm working on a remix for them!

Your video created with Ben Wilson is insane! How did you come up with the concept and do you think that video clips are an important tool to compliment your music? 

The video clip is trippy, hey? The concept came about when we realised we didn't have the time to shoot a proper clip from scratch. I wanted to use live footage from my single launch at GoodGod [in Sydney] but didn't want it to look like a 'live' show, if that makes sense? And that is where the crazy effects and overlaying of images came in! Video clips are a very important tool to compliment the music, they amplify the meaning/vibe/energy of the song and they are also really another fun tool to use to further express yourself as an artist.

Tell us a little about the collaborations you've been working on...

I've been working with some exciting people lately. A track with Flight Facilities should be coming out in time for summer later this year, and a track I did with UK producer Sinden will be on my EP. I've also been working on a track with a fellow Sydney producer Frames.

What have you been listening to lately? Can we hear any of these musical influences within your music? 

Lately I've been getting into the new Simian Mobile Disco album, Unpatterns. Also listening to Patrice Rushen, an 80's soul singer. Her album Straight From the Heart is great!

After the tour, what else have you got planned in 2012? 

After the tour I'll be madly preparing for the release of my EP! I'm in the middle of producing it at the moment. After that I have a few festivals coming up, including Mackay Festival of Arts which is a sci-fi dress-up theme! At the end of the year I want to start working on another release, possibly an LP....

Tell us something that it would surprise us to learn about you...

I love to go fishing. Ha! Bet you really didn't see that one coming.