Elsie
Elsie is one of the solo females that we should all be keeping an eye on this year as she is about to drop her new single Assassin.
An album is set to follow later this year and I caught up with her to talk about the new single, working with Jim Lowe and what lies ahead for the rest of the year.
- Assassin is your new single so how would describe the sound of the record?
The record is… well basically I am calling it disco rock. I have always performed with a live band and so I wanted the record to reflect that.
We have used disco beats and I have put catchy guitar rifts over it but mixed it with pop melodies so it’s kind of pop meets that indie pop vibe.
- How have you found the reaction to the song so far?
Yeah it’s gone down well and it’s gone down really well with women. The song is basically about these shameless women in nightclubs who go out and try to bag anyone’s fella.
I don’t know about you but I am all for women going out and preying on a man to bag for the night. But if you see him with another girl or he has got a wedding ring on then that is off limits to me - but apparently not for these women. (laughs).
- It’s a warning song about messing with someone else’s man so is this the action you would take if someone made a move on your bloke?
(Laughs) I would get my rifle. I don’t think that I am going to kill anyone, but I wouldn’t it past me like. But I definitely think it’s the way that most people feel and I don’t think I am on my own when I say that women are not standing for it anymore.
I feel like we are a new generation of women that are like alpha-females, we are acting more like men now than we ever have. So yeah I would say that I am pretty obvious about people not being able to mess with my fella. These women are pretty predatory and I am willing to take it on.
- The single is produced by Jim Lowe so how did that collaboration come about and how did you find working with him?
My record label set me up with Jim and we got together for one session, like you do to see if it will work out, and we actually ended up writing Assassin together.
So we knew that it was going to work and we carried on writing songs and he produced the record because I wanted him to. He totally got where I wanted to go with the production.
It was a brave move for me because I know that no one else is bringing out music like this at the minute - on the radio now if you are not produced by David Guetta or if you haven’t got pitbull rapping on one of your tracks they are not going to play you.
So I stuck to my guns and I want to make the music that I want to make and Jim totally understood that and I felt comfortable venturing on with the album with him.
- So what does his influence bring to the record?
Jim has worked with the Stereophonics for a long time, he has done a lot of albums with them, so he comes from more of an indie background which really helped with that vibe because I wanted to have a touch of indie in it. So I guess he brought the indie and I brought the pop.
- There is a very minimalist feel to the video and most of it has been shot in black and white, which looks great, so how much input did you have into the development of the video?
We didn’t have mega bucks to spend and so I wanted to create something that was interesting but didn’t cost the earth. I wanted it to inspirational to women and so I came up with the idea of using three uniquely talented women and to show off their skills and basically inspire other women.
So I got a Kung Fu girl, a street dancer and a bodybuilder and just incorporated it into the singing. The lighting was all the production team’s idea but I thought it was brilliant, I thought that it really worked well.
- Is there an album just around the corner - and what can we expect from it?
The album was actually finished last year so I have been sitting on it for a while now and I have just been like ‘come on’ (laughs). But we are going to be dropping the album in the summer, but there are three more singles to release.
- How much of the writing on the album have you done? How important is it to have that creative input?
Really important, it’s everything that I am about. I have written every song and it’s just me. The album is basically about girls today and I just feel that nobody is really covering that subject and talking about this new generation of girls today.
- And we are always hearing about how difficult it is to find a way into the music industry at the moment so how did you find your way in and is this something that you have always wanted to do?
Yeah. I have been signed to various labels since I was twenty and I have been writing songs since I was about fourteen so I was lucky because I knew what I wanted to do.
It hasn’t been easy but it is just the passion and the drive for writing songs that really keeps me going because I just love it.
I was lucky enough to get signed as soon as I have moved to London and since then I have just been steadily making my way.
- How have you found the move to London - because obviously you are a northern girl?
I am yeah, that’s why I was so pleased when I heard your voice I was ’oh yeah a northern girl’ because you don’t really hear it to much down here.
I have been down here since 2006, so that’s six years now, but there’s not place like home. I really miss my friends and family but there’s no doubt about it London’s the place to be if you want to be gigging and get the opportunities that I have had.
- There are a lot of solo females around at the moment and enjoying success so what sets you apart from the rest?
I am bringing out a completely different style of music. I love Adele and I love Jessie J and all the girls with great voices but production wise I like bands like Kasabian and Miles Kane so I suppose I sort of crossing over into bands territory.
I would quite happily go to a Jessie J concert but the next day I would go to a Kasabian concert so I think I bring the two together.
A lot of the girls in the charts are very pop based, which is brilliant; I have seen Jessie J loads of times, but I definitely like to bring that indie element into it as it’s something just a little bit different.
- I was reading on your own music you are not a big fan of overly produced tracks so I was wondering what it was that your don’t really like about it?
I just prefer live music. Don’t get me wrong I listening to dance remixes of songs that I like but I always prefer the original. It’s just a preference really I just prefer the feel of live music and live is really where I come into my own.
I go to a live gig and I am just buzz off how raw it is but not only that if you go to a live gig like mine you get a vibe from it straight away because it is real and everyone has picked up an instrument and every sound that they make is real. But if you go to 90% of the pop music gigs today it’s just a DJ there with a singer on the stage - there’s no vibe it’s just someone singing to a backing track.
It’s funny because of you go to a classical performance or a heavy metal gig you get a vibe, even a country gig you would get a vibe, but unfortunately the pop scene in this country at the moment is sorely lacking in that department - you can’t get a vibe because there is not enough real music.
- What kind of music and artists are you enjoying at the moment?
Like I said Jessie J I am really into because I think that she is just phenomenal, she is out Beyonce, and technically really gifted. I have just got the Ed Sheeran album and I am really enjoying that and I like Bruno Mars.
Miles Kane his last album was great and I have all of Kasabian’s albums because I love them - I have seen them live about ten times.
- I know that you are always talking to your fans on Twitter & Facebook so do you have a message for your fans reading this interview?
I have always got a message for my fans because they are brilliant I just want to say thanks for all the support. I think that they know how important they are to me because I tell them all the time.
But they keep me going and keep me having the passion to move on because of all the great feedback to the music that I am putting out. So just a big thank you really.
- Finally what’s next for you are we going to be seeing you hitting the road?
Yeah, yeah we are looking to get on the tour in March, and that will be a full UK tour. As for now I am plotting the video for my next single, which is Dangerous Dog, I have literally have about five pieces of paper full of scribbles for it now.
I am working with Japanese popstars as well so I am doing some vocals with them and I have been working with Ministry of Sound, I have been writing some melodies and lyrics. So I am just using every kind of avenue that I can to get my name out there really.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw