26Jul2001
- AUSTRALIA:
Ready for another round.By CAMERON ADAMS. <return
to top>
NOT that long ago, Killing Heidi would have killed to get someone
to hear their music. Now, holed up in a swish house in Sorrento
on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, preparing for their second album,
Killing Heidi are making sure no new material is recorded in case
it gets leaked on the Internet.
However, as they note, their neighbours and passers-by have had
a steady preview of the material intended for one of the most hotly
anticipated local albums of late.
But no one's been more eager to hear new Killing Heidi material
than Killing Heidi.
The hits Weir and Mascara were written when singer Ella Hooper was
barely 15.
"We were more than itching to record, we were feverish,"
Ella says. "But there's always something happening. We had
to stop everything, do new songs. Songs from the last album we could
play in our sleep.
"It's so exciting to have to think, 'How does it go again?'
on the new songs."
The band had been on the road constantly since Weir was released,
a period during which they went to No. 1 on the singles and album
charts, sold more than half-a-million CDs, scored a US deal and
won an APRA award for songwriter of the year.
It's clear they relish the three weeks they've had to brainstorm
the album they'll have to live with for the next 18 months.
"It's way too much fun," Ella says. "People talk
about the difficult second album, but this has been so easy, the
songs have just come out.
As the band bash out versions of two new songs, working titles Amil
and Animal Style, a look around reveals the ingredients for a Killing
Heidi working holiday.
Apart from CDs (Tool, Queens Of The Stone Age, Placebo, PJ Harvey,
Good Charlotte and Coldplay are current favourites), there is the
obligatory PlayStation, a handful of DVDs (including Spinal Tap,
Star Wars Pez dispensers and a rented spa they've trucked in because
... well, because they can.
Their success is grounded on the number of bases they cover: they
are one of the few bands all three major music stations - Triple
M, Triple J and Fox - play and they featured in Smash Hits and Rolling
Stone.
"We want to maintain that crossover," says Ella, now nicknamed
Little Boozy after her recent 18th birthday.
Coming of age means the lyrics she wrote at school, which connected
with teenagers, are now history.
"I thought I'd get writer's block," Ella says. "I
thought, 'I don't go to high school any more. Where's my teen angst
going to come from?' Don't worry, touring gives you more than enough.
"The music industry. It's another high school in itself. I
dropped out of school but my exams were the ARIAs. I'm going to
rock 'n' roll uni. I'm learning so much.
"I've got plenty of food for thought. But it's not going to
be, 'Oh, I'm so unhappy in my hotel room in LA.' People would go
'Screw you' and they'd be right. I want people to get it still."
Ella has an A4 pad full of lyrics and drawings and Adam Pedretti
and Warren Jenkin admit things are more democratic this time.
"We're working very closely together this time," Adam
says.
"Last time we did our bonding after we recorded Reflector.
We don't have school or jobs or the other stuff going on this time."
They rejected an offer to record in the US and they start recording
in a Melbourne studio later this month.
"We're too close to the new songs to know if there's a new
Weir or Mascara," Ella says.
"It's very diverse, that's the Killing Heidiness of it. I just
think they're better. It's still pop, fun, hooky, but a little more
mature. All that good stuff."
They're going to change image ("I'm in between hair styles,
growing my dreads out," Ella says) but one thing will remain:
Ella's wailing.
"Oh, I get to wail a lot more on this album," Ella screams.
"I know some people thought the first one was a bunch of wailing.
Well, this one's even worse."
(c) 2001 Nationwide News Pty Limited.
Source:
GOLD COAST BULLETIN 26/07/2001
05Jul2001
- AUSTRALIA:
auction goes buy the book.<return
to top>
AN UNRELEASED book from the final INXS tour featuring
Michael Hutchence, signed by all the remaining members of the band,
is one of the many items in a new charity rock auction.
The auction, the proceeds of which go to Animal Liberation, is under
way on www.ebay.com.au
and runs until July 18.
Other items include a date with Frenzal Rhomb member Lindsay McDougall,
gloves belonging to Joan Jett, a Neon Ballroom tour jacket owned
by Daniel Johns of silverchair, and autographed items by Moby, REM,
Vanessa Amorosi and Killing Heidi.
Adalita from Magic Dirt has donated a top worn in the Dirty Jeans
video and Stephanie Ashworth of Something for Kate has donated a
bass guitar.
KISS, Pearl Jam, Boy George and Pseudo Echo memorabilia is also
listed.
(C) 2001 Herald and Weekly Times Limited.
Source:
HERALD SUN 05/07/2001 P47
xxJul2001
- THE
KILLING HEIDI REALM: Killing You, Not Softly<return
to top>
Technically, Adam Pedretti's career as a drummer began at
age four, when he found a drum stick in the back of his uncle's
car. "I'd been seeing Kiss and AC/DC videos on TV and always
looked at the drummer. I thought that looked cooler than playing
guitar. Within two or three years I could copy guys on TV playing
beats. Then, when I was 11 years old, I finally got a kit and it
started from there. I'm self-taught, but I'm trying to get lessons
at the moment just because I'm 24 now and I better get my reading
skills up to par," he laughs.
Among drumming influences, he cites Danny Carey from Tool,
David Sliveria of Korn, Lars Ulrich. and AC/DC's Phil Rudd. "And
Ringo Starr, too," he adds, being a huge Beatles fan, "ever
since I was a little kid all the way until now, he's still a big
influence." Pedretti most appreciates "Solid players with
a lot of tasty little licks. They surprise you sometimes, those
kinds of guys." Click
here to read the full article/interview.
