| La Roux Interview | ||||
|
|
Words: Andy Future  Andy : So it’s been sort of rather, I guess, one can say quite a successful year really, how do you think it’s changed you, if it has?Ellie : Um…I think I’ve tried really hard not…not to let it …I guess it’s just…just sort of a matter of everyday being really aware of, you know, not behaving any differently or anything like that. It’s easy when you have everything at your sort of disposal, you know, when you ask for something usually and you get it. But it’s sort of trying to forget that and especially not to abuse that and sort of just, just remembering, you know Andy : sort of being grateful for what you have? Ellie : you’ve got to still, you know, be as normal as you can or you’ll just go mad. Andy : What do you think have been the highs and the lows of the last sort of 12, 18 months? Ellie : Um…I don’t really think there have been many lows. I guess, lows are sort of when you just get really really stressed or you get a bit homesick or something like that. That’s usually the sort of lows I get which there’s only, you know, there’s been maybe one or two of, erm, just when you get a bit homesick or whatever. But I guess the highs have been you know, being nominated for the Mercury Prize and playing some amazing gigs at festivals you know, Europe and we did some really great ones in Australia just a couple of weeks ago which was definitely mine and the band’s high points live-wise of the year. And the album coming out and Bulletproof getting to number one. I suppose they’re the top ones. Andy : So I mean, who of your friends and family do you miss the most when you’re visiting all these places? Ellie : You just miss actual home, you miss you environment Andy : you miss dinner with your mum? Ellie : Of course you miss people but yeah, just your local area you know, the food you’re used to, all of that kind of stuff. You just kind of go round the country having, usually funny, average meals, apart from the odd nice evening out with the crew. But mostly it’s like on the go, kind of very average meals from all different countries and cultures and stuff like that, but sometimes you just want some home comforts, and you just can’t find them, you know? Andy : Would you ever get the local Chinese flown out to Australia? Ellie : No, no way Andy : Kind of proper air miles for the food Ellie : yeah (laughs) Andy : Do you prefer playing the bigger gigs, or the smaller, kind of more intimate club shows? Ellie : Um…I definitely prefer playing bigger gigs, it’s much easier than playing smaller gigs. Smaller gigs are a lot more intense and you feel a lot more watched, strangely enough, even if there are less people you feel a lot more.. Andy : because you can kind of see their eyes Ellie : you’re very close to them, you know? I think there’s something nice about them, I don’t dislike them, but I would definitely say I preferred playing to large audiences. It’s easier to get into character, and to perform, and you’ve got more stage to use, and it’s just all working in your favour really. Someone was saying, “Don’t you find it more scary performing to more people?” and I said, “Well no, because the more people you perform to it’s more affirming.” It’s like, because there are more people there, so it’s more reassuring because you know that more people turned up. It’s like you’ve got a much friendlier audience on your side, if that many people are coming to see you, you know you’re doing something right. Andy : I understand. So what are your favourite venues you’ve played at, if you had to pick three in different countries? Ellie : We did a really great gig in – I’m trying to think if it was Sydney or Melbourne - I think it was Melbourne, and that was really cool, it was a really good venue. I don’t know what it was called but it was really good, you can look it up I guess. That was only about two weeks ago. Um…what else has been really good? Just trying to think…Shepherd’s Bush is a really good venue, and the Forum is cool, just because it’s really old and theatrey and it was really nice. Andy : there’s not many of those venues left Ellie : I like the older ones, I don’t like new ones very much. Andy : A lot of them are just box like, aren’t they? Ellie : They’re just black boxes, yeah. Andy : When you get the odd day off, what do you do? Do you shop, do you go to museums? Ellie : Sometimes I use that time to shop, yeah, and to get stuff for being on tour with, not necessarily stage clothes, but stuff for wearing around. When I’m in London, even if I’m working it’s kind of time off because I’m not away, what usually ends up happening is it usually gets filled up with meetings and photo shoots and things like that, and I have meetings about new clothes we’re going to make or design or whatever. Or I just have a really kind of home day, and I’ll just go shopping, cook some things all afternoon, or just have a day at home and watch a film or something. Andy : What are your shops of choice? Ellie : Well, they’re all vintage shops really, and then obviously sometimes a girl needs to buy underwear and stuff like that, basics really, so occasionally I could be seen in Marks and Spencer’s, you know Andy : Warn the paparazzi to stalk out M&S Ellie : Yeah Andy : What things are you going to be wearing this winter, other than M&S underwear? Ellie : I’m liking tapestry, kind of Tudor, regal kind of thing for me this winter, like hats and suede and big jackets. Andy : sounds proper kind of winter-winter Ellie : Yeah, and like big billowing white Tudor shirts with ties round the neck and stuff like that. Not ties like a man’s tie, as in like white strings, you know Andy : so it’s all a bit period drama then? Ellie : Yeah, yeah (laughs) Andy : So what do you think has been the most random thing that’s happened on tour? Ellie : Weird things happen quite a lot, but it’s difficult to remember them Andy: Are they usually self-induced? Ellie: Well, there’s ones where like…you know my keyboard player Mickey, a couple of weeks ago I woke up and we share a room because I don’t like being on my own, and mostly an artist will never share with anyone, I’m like the only one I know that shares with their keyboard player because I don’t like being alone, and Mickey’s like my best mate, and I’ll wake up sometimes and she won’t be there, she just won’t be in the hotel room, and I’m like, “where’s she gone?” She’s mad; she’s always off doing something. She just called our room 2 weeks ago and went,”Yeah? Hello?” and I was like, “Hello?” She was like, “Who’s this?” and I was like, “You called me, what do you mean who’s this?” and she was like, “Oh yeah, Ellie.” I was like, “Where are you?” and she was like, “ooohhh…I couldn’t get into the room when I came back last night, and now I’m in someone else’s room but I don’t know whose room it is, I’m on the floor.” So I was like, “Okay..” and she was like, “I don’t know whose room it is, I’m going to call you in a minute!” and then she comes stumbling in the room like five minutes later. When I said, “Whose room were you in?” she was like, “Crystal Castles!” Apparently she couldn’t get into my room, so Crystal Castle’s crew had carried her into their room and put her in their bed and they slept on the floor or something, and she woke up in the morning and in the middle of the night she’d hung her trousers up in the bathroom, like she was just so drunk, and just woke up in Crystal Castle’s room and they were really pissed off because she’d stolen their bed. It was quite funny! There was no sex involved in that story, just so you know! (laughs)  Andy : What are you most looking forward to on your next tour? Ellie : Having a bigger stage setup, I think. Just generally sort of adding to it all the time every tour, it’s sort of exciting, it’s more stuff for me to work with on stage and it just helps the performance and helps it be a show as well. Constantly making it as much of a show as we can, from the outfits changing and all that kind of thing, you know, making it better. That’s what I always get excited about. Andy : So it’s about having kind of the complete package? Ellie : Yeah, yeah Andy : Is it satisfying that girls have come back to reclaim the charts, as they have this year? Ellie : I don’t know if you can call it reclaiming, because girls have always been really strong in the charts, I feel. Andy : I guess pushing out the indie bands… Ellie : I think there are a few strong girls, but I think there’s a lot of girls but they’re not all that strong. Andy : Do you think there’s still some way to go then? Ellie : Well, no, I just feel like music’s kind of in a transitional period at the moment, you know – half of it wants to go one way and half of it wants to go the other way. I dunno, a lot of it doesn’t really sit well together in the charts, do you know what I mean? Andy : So it’s from the extremes, you mean? Ellie : Yeah, I don’t know, I think there’s a fair amount of bland music out there at the moment in the charts. But I think that girls have always been really strong in the charts and I think they always will be, it’s a really good platform for strong girls, more so than the film world, so I don’t see why it’s different now from any other time. I think there have always been strong women in the charts, it comes in waves but I don’t think this is a new thing at all. Andy : Where do you think things will go to over the next three or four years? Ellie : I haven’t got a clue, I don’t know. Andy : do you prefer the big kind of “gig” gigs, or festivals? How do you find the big outdoor festivals? Ellie : I love those gigs, they’re so good because there’s an atmosphere at festivals that you can’t recreate anywhere, not even in the biggest venues. It’s the whole thing of being involved in it for a whole weekend, or even if it’s just a day, you’re in it from morning till night and you will become part of the fencing and the camaraderie at the festival and everyone’s wanting the same thing out of the day and everyone just wants to be entertained, and there’s a really great atmosphere at a festival, which is why artists love playing festivals, because you get this euphoric buzz in the air. Especially when you get a gig at like a sunset or something, because you’ve got a good slot, you know, and nighttime gigs at festivals are mad. And Bestival is insane, the whole crowd is in f*&king fancy dress! It was space themed, so everyone was dressed as robots and aliens, it was really weird, really really weird. Andy : I saw your set at Leeds and it was pretty special, there was people who couldn’t get anywhere near the tent just for all the people kind of outside Ellie : It’s an exciting atmosphere Andy : If you could have any people, living or dead, on a festival line-up, whom would you have as your dream line-up? Ellie : Michael Jackson, David Bowie …I need to think about this…I’d have my mate Nadia because I love her djing, I’d have The Knife…I’d have to have a really big band, like maybe Tears For Fears. Andy : That’s a pretty good line-up. What was the first festival you went to? Ellie : Bestival Andy : Really? Cool Ellie : Yeah Andy : So what…I mean, going back to normality, when you were out with mates and at parties and that, did your friends ever try and get you on the karaoke or anything like that? Ellie : No, we never did karaoke. I’ve never done karaoke with my friends, it’s not something I’d go out and do. Andy : Even in Japan? Ellie : Oh, in Japan, yeah. But that wasn’t with my – well. It was with my friends, it was with my band and crew and stuff, it was pretty funny, we did covers, we did all like modern songs and like stuff that was in the charts and we just took the pi$s out of it, it was quite funny Andy : What songs? Ellie : I’m not going to divulge that information, but it was amusing. I did like, you know, even the songs that, you know…I did one, I haven’t videoed it and I haven’t sent it to her yet, but I did me doing LDN, because I know Lily quite well, and I did a video of me taking the piss out of it and I was going to send it to her. I haven’t yet, but she always takes the piss out of my songs so it’s all right. Andy : That’s all right then. Are there going to be any kind of cool covers on the upcoming dates at all? Ellie : there will be eventually, I don’t know about this tour yet, but they won’t be covers that people know. I mean, I’ll always announce it as a cover, I’m not going to try and pretend it’s my song, but they’re sort of like old disco tracks that I really like and stuff like that. I just adore singing and they’re just some of my favourite tracks, but they’re not necessarily ones people will know Andy : what do you want for Christmas? Ellie : I’m going away for Christmas, I’m treating my family to a holiday and we’re going away, and we’re not doing Christmas presents Andy : So you’re just going to have a sort of family time? Ellie : I’m just going to give them a big present, and then I don’t want any presents Andy : That’s really nice. Where are you going to be partying at New Year’s Eve? Ellie : I’m going to be away, I’m going to be in the Caribbean Andy : Oh nice. Ellie : yeah, I’m going to get away from Christmas and New Year Andy : So what can people expect from the bigger shows next year, is it going  to be bigger stage routines and bigger pyros and things?Ellie : Yeah, I don’t want it to get too massive because that’s not what we are. I just want it to still be – I want it to still have that dance, sort of slight rave/club element to it, you know, so I don’t ever want it to get too shiny, but I just think it’s about me getting more comfortable on stage, working out more rigid routines…not rigid routines, but you know, there’s certain things you do in certain songs where you go “yeah, that’s worth repeating because it really works” or whatever, just little things that you figure out as you go along, it’s just naturally grown. And just making the lights better and getting the light routines better with the song, all that stuff, you know, that we’re thinking about all the time, the stuff that is ongoing, trying and improve it Andy : Fantastic. Cool. Excellent. Thanks a lot for your time and if I don’t see you at one of your shows, have a wicked time in the Caribbean Ellie : Thank you very much, will do Andy : Cheers Ellie, take care |
Get latest updates, magazine release dates,events & freebies.
The sole purpose of Student Bodiez is to provide a true voice for students and young people. As universities and colleges are institutes that are solely focused on educational attainment and individual progression into the world of careers, education can become daunting and challenging. The opportunity to create an avenue of interaction and a channel of self exposure for students cannot exactly be claimed as a ground breaking idea but rather a perquisite which for many years has been ignored.