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Killing Heidi.
It seems like yesterday that Killing Heidi released their debut
album and hit the big time with the teenage anthems Weir and
Mascara. Their latest album, simply titled 'Killing Heidi,'
has already struck a chord with music lovers across the country
thanks to the 'Spider-Man 2' tie-in single I Am, and
the band have just set off for a national tour in support of
the release.
"We've just finished the Queensland leg of the tour and just about to start NSW tonight," guitarist Jesse Hooper begins. "It's been warm and really good. We've been all the way up to Cairns and Townsville - along the beaches too, which is nice. Before we started the tour we weren't sure how some of the shows would go, especially the regional ones, but it's been great. The crowds have been strong too."
The band have spent a fair while out of the public eye, but Hooper insists that the lack of visibility didn't signify a lack of activity. "We spent a lot of time writing this album and trying to work out who we wanted to work with," he explains.
Many of those "different things" were down to Ella Hooper, sister to Jesse and the band's frontperson. "Ella's voice was going through some changes too, and just different things were happening, which meant we took a little longer than we perhaps did previously."
Hooper reveals that Ella had her share of personal trauma over the last few years, mainly regarding a voice problem that many thought would never heal. Despite the possibility that she wouldn't be able to perform again, she pulled through and by all reports, is singing as strong and powerfully as ever. "Well, we have only done about ten shows so far, but her voice is just getting better every night," a clearly relieved Jesse declares. "It's fantastic! She took a while off when we were overseas recording the album, but now she's singing better than ever."
Hooper's clearly proud of the new album, which he describes as being a joint effort amongst the group, with everyone getting a pretty equal say in the music and words. "We wrote these songs much more co-operatively than ever before, whereas Ella and me would start off the songs in the past and then the band would work on the arrangements together," he explains. "This time everyone was writing from the inception of the songs. That's one of the main differences [with 'Killing Heidi']. Also the way we recorded meant we spent a lot less time in the actual recording and went through it more quickly live. There are less layers in the music, which is something different with this album to the previous ones. When someone had a particular favourite part they definitely wanted on the album, we would respect that. But it worked out really well."
One of the incredible things about Killing Heidi is the age of the group - in particular that of Ella, who is still only twenty-one. The group was so successful at such an early age that they not only had to deal with their new found careers, and the fame and fortune, but also had to face the everyday challenges that teenagers face.
"We had that crazy success so young, and here we are three albums later, still growing," Hooper shrugs. "Most bands would work live for a number of years before maybe they caught a break. With us it just happened so quickly, we seemed to bypass a lot of that stuff. We've had a huge start at such a young age, it's incredible. Hopefully we can keep building on it."
For now, the band are quite content to let the new album find its own voice while they play some shows across the country. They will be at the Gov shortly and Hooper declares that they've always enjoyed coming here. "We love Adelaide. Something always strange or funny happens in Adelaide, and some of our fans here are a little strange, but they're much loved anyway. We really enjoy it."
Chris Niehus
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Killing Heidi play at the Governor Hindmarsh on Tues 19 Oct.
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The latest issue
available now!
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