• News Archive - April, 2000

29Apr2000 - AUSTRALIA: PURPLE PATCH DISCOVERY
20Apr2000 - AUSTRALIA: Record makers and breakers in track work
14Apr2000 - TPA: Gig report 14.04.00
13Apr2000 - AUSTRALIA: Power surge
07Apr2000 - AUSTRALIA: National Youth Week Chat Transcript
02Apr2000 - AUSTRALIA: Heidi offers fans a killer of a show
01Apr2000 - The Killing Heidi Realm: They're a 'Weir' Mob

29Apr2000 - AUSTRALIA: PURPLE PATCH DISCOVERY <return to top>
By CARMEL EGAN.
A brother and sister from a small country town in Victoria have become the country's biggest musical item. CARMEL EGAN looks at the fairytale rise of Killing Heidi It has been a purple patch for Violet Town. The last time the sleepy hollow made the news was on February 7, 1969, when the southbound Southern Aurora collided with a goods train.
Since then just about everything has passed by Violet Town and its 1000 residents, despite it being sandwiched between the two great arteries linking Sydney and Melbourne.
The Hume Hwy became a freeway so almost nobody stops anymore, with the exception of express buses that pull into the local coffee shop, and if you want to get on or off at the railway station you have to book ahead.
Violet Town nestles quietly at the base of the Strathbogie Ranges on the very edge of the great continental plain.
It is two hours' drive north-east of Melbourne and half an hour short of Benalla. A geographically isolated place where getting your licence and access to a car is not so much rite of passage as a ticket of leave.
There are only 400-odd houses in the district and the hamlet itself has streets named School Rd, Long Gully and Happy Valley, Primrose, Cowslip and Tulip.
But in 1995 the ABC's Triple J started broadcasting to Violet Town and its teenagers tuned in. Jesse and Ella Hooper were among those who got wired into the latest contemporary sounds. The brother and sister had been raised on their parents' Van Morrison and Bob Dylan records. Dylan's lyrics in particular were to have an impact on young Ella and the folk sound the duo were developing would later be easily adapted to rock played hard.
When Triple J picked up one of Jesse and Ella's own compositions the teenagers also picked up a manager and record contract rolled into one.
Killing Heidi has now had a national No1 single, Mascara, and their debut album Reflector went straight to number one with 100,000 pre-booked sales.
Reflector was written nearly three years ago and recorded in the summer of 1998-99, but held back while the teenagers grew in mind, body and popularity.
Everybody has been waiting for Heidi to grow up.
Ella, who usually carries the burden for interviews, still exudes sweet 16 enthusiasm despite recently having turned 17.
As singer, lyricist and the one out front, Ella attracts attention. She tends to speak for the boys, including drummer Adam Pedretti and bassist Warren Jenkin, although Jesse holds his own.
There is something about the girl with her dreadlocks and bare mid-riff, the soft curves of her adolescence and all that energy. Boys are mad about her, girls copy her and older commentators, who have forgotten they were young once, look askance.
Initial criticism centred on her having been allowed to drop out of school half-way through Year 11 (Jesse had at least completed Year 12).
Then she made front-page news drinking champagne in the morning celebrating becoming the first Australian band with a No1 single since Savage Garden three years earlier.
"I'm a perfect target: pierced, dreadlocked, teenage, alcoholic, school drop-out [who] boozes it up in the morning," said Ella, unfazed by the moralising of radio talkback callers and commentators.
"I'm just going to be who I am, which hopefully is cool."
Lately, it has also been suggested that Ella is being exploited for her sexuality, a suggestion Jesse, Adam and Warren deeply resent.
"She is my sister," Jesse responded.
That belly dancing is one of the dance forms Ella has studied might help explain the beguilement, but she also mixes those age-old seduction techniques with unsophisticated jumps and twirls in time with the rock beat or emphasising the riff.
Jesse and Ella Hooper first performed on stage aged 15 and 13 at a festival in Benalla.
Jesse was already playing guitar and when Ella started plucking out simple melodies he was able to build them into tunes based on his own chord structures.
They met producer Paul Kosky (who formerly worked with Crowded House). He offered them a contract with his own Wah Wah Music label and became their manager.
Kosky took Killing Heidi to Roadshow Music (who have Savage Garden on their books) and got a distribution deal with Warner.
Their first single Weir was written about a local recreation spot and the video that went with it featured their friends from high school at Benalla.
The Hoopers were not typical country kids. They weren't into sport for a start, didn't join the guides and scouts and say they grew used to put-downs about their interest in music.
For Jesse, Violet Town was numbingly boring and music a means of escape.
Jesse, who has said he felt like an outcast in the sports-mad town, was amused by the Strathbogie youth award.
"I think we were the first non-sports people to be given it in the last 4000 years," he told Melbourne's Age newspaper. "But there's only four kids in the town and they rotate the award every year."
And he was still smarting as he recalled for the newspaper being heckled by sports jocks for being a "pussy guitar player".
It is not quite how the locals remember it though. The Hoopers received plenty of encouragement and music was part of the local primary school curriculum.
While sport was always the mainstay for teenage entertainment, other children in the town also played musical instruments and formed their own bands.
Residents express surprise at some of the comments made about their community by the Hoopers but stand by the teenagers nonetheless, taking pride in their achievements.
Strathbogie Shire's manager of corporate services Alastair Pirie for one believes the Hoopers put Violet Town back on the map ... or, perhaps, on the map.
Being awarded Strathbogie Shire Youth Citizens of the Year this year was recognition of their acceptance. Ella, at least, declared it mightily cool.
"They were both polite, intelligent children with a sense of humour," said primary teacher Heather Bamford, who described Jesse and Ella as A-grade students.
"I have been quite surprised by some of the comments but I can understand their attitude to sport," she said.
"Jesse was always good on guitar and Ella was recognised as having a really good voice even as a little girl. But everyone is very supportive, excited and pleased for their sakes at their success.
"It has already been a long road for them."
In addition to offering support to the Hoopers, Violet Town is also a sanctuary.
They may have been busting to get out to the big wide world but, when Jesse and Ella needed a break, there is only one place they wanted to go.
(c) Nationwide News Proprietary Ltd, 2000.

Source: DAILY TELEGRAPH (SYDNEY) 29/04/2000 P41

20Apr2000 - AUSTRALIA: Record makers and breakers in track work <return to top>
By Sophie Tedmanson.
IF former Noiseworks frontman Jon Stevens had been performing in the 1950s, Olympic swimming great Murray Rose might have broken more records. Rose listened to Glenn Miller's big brass number In the Mood when training for the 1956 and 1960 Games, but "if Jon Stevens had been around, who knows what I could have done". Rose revealed his musical tastes at yesterday's launch of the Olympic torch relay song, Carry the Flame. Originally written by Stevens as a love song, the soulful number was adapted to suit the inspirational attitude of the Olympic movement. The song will be included on The Olympic Record, a 12-track album on which Australian athletes collaborated with singers and songwriters. The album's musical director, Midnight Oil drummer/songwriter Rob Hirst, said the athletes - coaxed with a couple of bottles of sake - had revealed surprising musical talents during the recordings. Swimmer Grant Hackett kept a good beat on drums, former Mean Machine member Neil Brooks played a mean guitar and sailor John Forbes was bodacious on bass. "We found that the same sort of energy that it takes to be an Olympic athlete can also be applied to music," Hirst said. Artists involved in the recordings included Christine Anu, Paul Kelly, Marcia Hines, Jimmy Little, Vika and Linda Bull, Mark Lizotte (formerly Diesel), Taxiride and Killing Heidi. Athletes who inspired, played or sang on the songs included Cathy Freeman, Ian Thorpe, Rick Timperi and Melinda Gainsford-Taylor.
(c) 2000 Queensland Newspapers Pty Ltd.

Source: COURIER MAIL (QUEENSLAND) 20/04/2000 P6

14Apr2000 - TPA: Gig report 14.04.00 <return to top>
Killing Heidi @ Alice Springs Memorial Club huge outdoor indoors all ages / licenced crazy & enthusiastic response from the heartland

13Apr2000 - AUSTRALIA: Power surge <return to top>
VANESSA Amorosi (right) debuts at No. 1 with her album The Power. Last week, Amorosi and Killing Heidi had a neck-and-neck race for the top. Vanessa hit No. 1 in New South Wales and Queensland, while Killing Heidi's Reflector held top slot in Victoria (Vanessa's home state), Tasmania and Western Australia. The Seekers snatched No. 1 from both young whippersnappers in South Australia and the Northern Territory. The Power, which is already gold, has just spawned a third single, Shine.
(C) 2000 Herald and Weekly Times Limited.

Source: HERALD SUN 13/04/2000 P63

07Apr2000 - AUSTRALIA: National Youth Week Chat Transcript <return to top>
Kim: Where do you get your shirts made? They are so cool!
Ella: The k.h tees are made by the Love Police - WAY COOL!

Hayley: Ella, do you feel you have to watch what you say and how you act, now that you''re in the spotlight?
Ella:Well, because of my 80''s fetish I do have to be a little careful ... oops!

Liz: How old were you when you drew the picture that''s inside the album, the funny guy with the umbrela?
Ella: I did it a couple of months ago, everyone thinks I was really little, but it''s naieve art!!!

Hudder''s friend: Are you having fun yet?
Ella: neigh neigh neigh ... i''ll send the jacket back soon if i get another horsey picci!

Renee: How many songs miss out on getting on the CD?
Ella: A few, but hey - they turn out to be B sides anyway!

Amanda: What will the video of Live Without It be like?
Ella: Very Personal! I can''t really explain!

Jewel: Tell me something about yourself, which no one else knows (like hasn''t heard before)
Ella: On occasion I''ve been known to attend very wacky 80''s porn star parties at friends'' houses! Wearing anything with feathers and gardening equipment!

Ingrid and Nick: When I was talking to Jesse and Warren in the Tarago I saw some big leather studded thing in the front seat ... what was that???
Ella: uhhh ... yeah - um, actually that was mine ... 80''s porn again! ha ha ha

erica: What do think of the guys from Loki? u seem to play together a lot now! rick''s an awesome guys, bit silly sometimes though!
ella: I LOVE LOKI!!!! I think everyone should buy there record, they rock! Rick is a ledgend1

Hayley: Do you feel that being a ''country kid'' you have more grounding as to keep your heads out of the clouds?
Ella: Yeah I do sort of! It''s a unique thing being a country kid!

Emily: What does the album title "Reflector" mean?
Ella: It''s about things coming out in a different way - a different interpretation of things ... I dunno... it''s a bit post-modern.

Shiree*: Are you enjoying the fame and all your success?
Ella: No and yes, it can be good -the appreciation - but it can suck - the privacy - so ...!

Renee: I read in Recovery I think it was, that you learnt about using your voice whilst making the album because you hadn''t had much training, if at all. Is that true? You just appear as though you''ve always sung.
Ella: Yes thats true ... it was fun.

Jessie: Ella, have you lost any friends or drifted from them because of your success?
Ella: Nooooooo!!!!! Never!

Jess: Where do you get most of the inspiration for your songs?
Ella: From ze world around me!

Shiree*: I just want to say that I really like your music and that it''s great you have made such an impact on the music seen!
Ella: Thankyou!

Liz: Do you get nervous before you perform or is it something you feel at home doing?
Ella: No not really, I fool myself into thinking that there''s not that many people out there!

Renee: Ella, I really admire your work. How long does it take you to write a song?
Ella: Taaa! From a year to a day!

Justin: So what do you like to do, when you''re not touring or practicing music?
Ella: Art, reading, writing and dancing.

Hayley: Ella this, Ella that, do you ever feel overwhelmed by how well known you have become? Is it difficult being so well known now, as in going out with your friends?
Ella: Yeah, it can suck, but I''m pretty accomodating. My friends are ace an'' they understand.

Julianne: Thanks for putting my adress in your CD booklet (musicfans.to/killingheidi). Are you all working on new songs or relaxing for awhile?
Ella: No wuccas, I''m not relaxing but I''m writing some stuff.

Greer: Has your voice ever failed you in the middle of a performance?
Ella: Yes - due to a smokey, oh! I mean croaky throat. he he he

Jewel: You are all very talented ... did you ever get singing lessons or did you just start singing one day, and then become a star?
Ella: Thanks ... no lessons for me! Just wailing.

Lauren Pace: Hi Ella - please tell me how you do your hair? Is it permanent? Can I do it at home and what are the colours that you put in made out of? Pleaseeeeeee Tell meeeeeee!!! Thank''s go guys rule
ella: i have extensions , i just go to the hair dressers and they have a ball! it''s not permanent, but my dreds are!

Justin: Hi Ella, how are you? What direction do you see your musical style heading towards in future albums?
ella: rap!! ha ha , no i dunno

samantha: How old were you when you started singing?
Ella: 12!

Jewel: Ella, do you and Jesse write most of the lyrics for the songs you sing? Is it correct that you were first heard in 1996 playing kettle?
Ella: We write all our own songs (I do the lyrics, Jesse does the music).

jewel: How do you guys feel when you see such a huge crowd, who have all turned up to see YOU live??
ella: i feel wrapt that all these people have come to see us play and it makes me go off!

Hayley: Do you guys prefer your songs with keyboard stuff or without?
Ella: I like both as the album shows but if I had to give up the extra noise and go the acoustic guitar I would !

Louella Reid: What do you hope for in the future? And what impact do you want you music to have ?
Ella: I would love to make people happy but also convey a good message in my music.

KyLiE: Will there be an Australian tour by KH in the near future?
Ella: We have just done one, but are ready for more.

Michael: Ella I love your clothes, where do you get them from?
Ella: I love the violet town opp shop but really the melbourne brand TDM is what i wear on stage!

James Kennington: I guess you know The Church also wrote a song about Violet Town - have you ever met Steve Gilby?
Ella: No I have never met Steve, but I do like some of the Church''s stuff.

END

02Apr2000 - AUSTRALIA: Heidi offers fans a killer of a show <return to top>
By Megan Doherty
It's six o'clock on a Friday and hundreds of cargo-panted, dyed-haired teenagers are waiting for Australia's lastest pop sensation to appear on stage at the suburban monolith that is Woden Plaza shopping mall.
There's at least 2000 people crammed close to the stage and up on the balconies.
They're here for Killing Heidi, the biggest band in Australia at the moment.
And part of the band's appeal must be that its focus, the dreadlocked Hooper siblings, are around the same age as many of their fans.
Ella Hooper, the girl with the sweet China-doll face and wild-child dress sense, is just 17.
Her brother Jesse, who has bright red dreadlocks, is 19.
The Victorian teenagers were catapulted to fame, recording contracts and magazine covers when Triple J unearthed their single Kettle. Ella was just 13 and Jesse 15.
They have since been joined by Warren Jenkin, 24, and Adam Pedretti, 22, and become indisputable rock stars. Killing Heidi's debut album Reflector is No 1 and the band has just completed a national tour.
Its show at the ANU last Friday night was the last of the tour.
But before that, the band granted its younger fans a chance to see them up close and personal at Woden Plaza.
In true rock style, Killing Heidi was late and the anticipation was fierce.
Six police and 15 security guards patrolled the area as the fans clutched cameras, CDs and posters to be signed.
By the time the band appeared, the screaming had reached fever pitch.
"You under-agers are so loud - I love it!" Ella said, wearing an electric blue top showing the requisite amount of midriff.
A young girl wearing glasses and a blonde bob was front and centre of the pack which was heaving to the music.
She looked to be on the verge of tears, overwhelmed by her proximity to the dynamic Miss Hooper, as the band did acoustic versions of four songs including its breakthrough hit Weir.
And the young blonde fan quickly learned the simple rule of the mosh pit: jump or be jumped on.
In a back room of a record shop after the performance, Killing Heidi nibbled on sandwiches and contemplated having a break after playing a show every night for about a month.
Ella was looking forward to going home to Violet Town and seeing her friends.
"It's going to be strange not having someone knock on my hotel room, telling me to get up," she said.
Do they enjoy playing in shopping malls?
"It's cool. A lot of the fans don't get to go to gigs because they're under-aged," Ella said.
"I'm under-aged, too, but I get to go because I'm special."
The band's next step is to look overseas.
Canberra fans seemed mostly happy to be part of the hype.
"I thought it was good but I waited an hour-and-a-half and that's about half-an-hour for each song they played," Ashleigh Halliday, 12, of Narrabundah, said.
Adam Tune, 16, of Fraser, was in line for an autograph. How long was he prepared to wait? " For as long as it takes."

(c) 2000 The Canberra Times.

Source: CANBERRA TIMES 02/04/2000 P3

01Apr2000 - The Killing Heidi Realm: They're a 'Weir' Mob <return to top>
Hang on to your seats, hang on to your hats, hang on to yourself! There’s a mighty storm about to break.
Question: when was the last time a local rock/pop band had their debut and follow up single go Top 10 and platinum? It feels like a lifetime ago. Killing Heidi, this young and effervescent quartet from the Victorian country hamlet of Violet Town, have achieved just that. Both singles whoosh! They pick up the listener, blow the cobwebs out of their ears, spin the head and the body around a few times before dumping them down dizzy, wanting to hear more. ‘More’ has just arrived via a full length album, packed with crunchy riffage and bouncy, summertime, transistor radio tunes. One thing you can’t hear on the album is the buzz about the group which is predicting that by the end of this year they could well be the biggest band in the land. Right now, though, they have done something that has put the lighted match to the fuse: their second single “Mascara” has just hit number one. I spoke to guitarist Jesse Hooper about guitars, the new album ‘Reflector’, and the effects of writing and releasing a chart topping single.

Congratulations on the number one single. What does it feel like?
“A little bit surreal, I guess. I always dreamt of being in a successful rock band, as every kid does, and I don’t know how I got here but … I guess you just plug away. On Monday [when the single topped the charts] it was like ‘wow’, all this work finally paid off.”

How did you celebrate?
“We came up to Sydney on Sunday night and we woke up and found we were number one. We had a really heavy schedule this week, lots of promotion, interviews and stuff … even though we really wanted to celebrate we had to tone it down a bit. But we still went pretty hard.”

I’ve heard that the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney were pretty special. What do you remember? “Man... Are you talking about the performance or the party?”

The performance!
“The performance was awesome. Walking out on that stage…there were so many people on the harbour that night. It was just amazing. We only had to play four songs so it was short and sharp. It rocked out. There was such a vibe.”

Why did you learn to play the guitar? “The first instrument I ever took up was the violin and I couldn’t stand my own noises. I played it for three years and was just starting to get the hang of it probably. I picked up the guitar and thought, ‘I like this a lot more.’ I could pick up stuff a lot quicker on the guitar than I could on the violin. It was just acoustic stuff for the first two years, playing on the good old nylon string guitars at school, with 20 other kids who’d bring their guitars in and have lessons and stuff. I got my first electric, which was my Fender Strat, a Japanese blue one and that was in grade six.”

A Fender Strat as a kick off was pretty good going.
“It was awesome. I had to go halves with my parents. I had to save up $250, which was the biggest amount in grade six.”

Do you still have that guitar, Jesse?
“I do. It’s not actually being used on the road, but I think I’ll always keep it.”

What do you think it is that keeps the guitar returning to popular music?
There are times when the synthesizer’s in, there are times where sampling seems to take over and relegate the guitar back to nothing, but it just seems to keep coming back. What is it? “I don’t know. I think it’s something that everyone’s grown up with in their musical background, [if only] in terms of listening. So I think it’s something that’s always there. I like dance music, to a degree, but some of the best dance music has got good guitar parts in there. For me, with an acoustic guitar in particular, I love the simplicity of it. I can sit on a chair and I can get a really warm tone out of the instrument. A lot of people who play the guitar use it as a method to get away from stuff. They can sit down, play the guitar and chill out.”

It has, in that setting, quite a meditative application doesn’t it?
“I think so anyway. I’m sure if you’re playing punk it’s hardly going to be meditative if you’re jumping around and head banging. I used it to relax. I sit down and play the acoustic for about half an hour and just relax.”

Judging by the new album you don’t seem all that keen on guitar solos. Why is that?
“I’m not a solo player. I can do the odd little bit but I’ve always been more of a strummer kinda guy. I don’t know why that is. Most of the guitar teachers that I’ve played with have been rhythm players so that probably has something to do with it. In terms of the record; we got this great guitarist, Andrew Day in to do some of those lead licks. He was from a band in Perth called Non-Intentional Life Form. I love his work; it’s just awesome and I was thrilled to have him come on and do stuff that I couldn’t. The recording actually took place a year and a half ago now so hopefully my skills have progressed somewhat. It was just awesome: here I was in Year 12 with one of the best guitarists I’ve ever heard playing on my CD.”

I’d actually pegged you as a riff player rather than a solo player.
“Yeah, that’s me.”

Do you want to have a go at pulling out, off the top of your head, your three favourite riffs in musical history?
“I think ‘Under the Bridge’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers: that guitar intro. It’d have to be [plays mouth guitar] Dee dee dee dededede dededede: Black Sabbath, ‘Paranoid.’ The riff from ‘46 & 2’; by Tool.”

Can I ask you for a handful of guitar heroes.
“Hendrix, definitely.”

Why Hendrix?
“The sounds he pulls. Because I’m not a solo player, he is like a superman of the guitar for me. [He’s] someone that can think of a note and his fingers just go there. That guy was just incredible. It was like he was just talking through his guitar. Everyone says that, but I think it’s the best way to describe it.”

Who else?
“I love a lot of John Lennon’s stuff, the classic guitar lines that he wrote, and the guitar arrangements throughout The Beatles stuff. As far as acoustics go, Ani DiFranco is one of the most fabulous, weird-arse folk guitarists I’ve ever heard.”

Tell me about your equipment.
“I’ve been in close contact with Maton guitars so I have been playing both six string and 12 string acoustics with the AP5 pick ups. We D.I. unless we’ve got the time and the space to set up a good mike. And I love the beautiful electrics from Maton, they are fantastic. I’ve got a Fender Deluxe with this Trace Elliot Supertramp head, 100 watts, and the Trace Elliot quadbox as well. And that’s my main rig. I’ve also got a Fender Deluxe amp which is awesome. It’s got a single 12 in it. It’s sort of like a reissue of an old Fender valve amp. It’s pretty nice. During the recordings we used the Trace Elliot, the Fender and a really old, huge SG, all valve monster. It was like something out of Dr Who. It had had blue and red and yellow buttons everywhere. It was full on. For some of the tinny sounds on the recording we used one of those tinny belt buckle amplifiers. [In terms of effects units] all I use is the valve overdrives on the Trace Elliot head. It’s one of those ones where you’ve got ‘dirty’ and ‘extra-dirty’ settings, so basically I stagger between a clean, dirty and extra-dirty sound.”

Is there any space in your day for practice?
“I honestly think I have nowhere near reached my capacity, but at the same time I don’t really know how fast I’m progressing: it’s hard to tell. Because I’ve been recording and playing these songs live I guess I have been progressing, but finding time to actually just sit down and practice by myself is definitely hard. Most of the practice is at gigs and sound checks. If I get a day off, I definitely sit down with my acoustic. That’s what I love to do when I’ve got some spare time. But I haven’t had much spare time this week, that’s for sure!”

What did your time in the studio teach you about the guitar?
“I had had very little experience recording prior to this album recording. When we did this album almost every guitar part was set up differently. We had the acoustic guitars going out of the kitchen, for example. I tried to absorb as much as I could. A huge learning curve.”

Is there a moment on the album you feel especially proud of in terms of your guitar work; a moment where you go, ‘oh, wow!’?
“I really like ‘Astral Boy.’ I wrote that about three or four years ago, so it’s really simple. I like the way it’s a simple line. It fits with the sparseness of the song. I really like the verse riff in the song called ‘Real People.’ It pumps along.” - STEPHEN ANDREW