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ON THE COUCH WITH: La Roux

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ARTIST INTERVIEW

Access All Areas.net.au: This is the second time you’ve visited Australia in the last 6 months, what is it about Australia that keeps you coming back?
La Roux: The crowd. Everyone at our Parklife shows were amazing, we were completely overwhelmed by the response we got at both Parklife and our sideshows in Sydney and Melbourne.

Access All Areas.net.au: The BACARDI EXPRESS train features a jamming carriage, dining carriage, chill out lounge, gaming room and sleeper carriages – where onboard do you reckon you’ll spend most of your time?
La Roux: Knowing my band, probably the dining carriage and the chill out lounge. I wouldn’t say I’m that much of a jamming person, I like to play piano when nobody’s watching….but who knows??

Access All Areas.net.au: What do you plan to get up to in Coffs Harbour (home of the Big Banana)?
La Roux: Qu’est que c’est the Big Banana? Sounds interesting…. I’ll check it out….

Access All Areas.net.au: How about the coastal town of Newcastle?
La Roux: I was there yesterday! Newcastle in the north of England though. It was very cold and rainy, I hope the Australian Newcastle is a bit sunnier!

Access All Areas.net.au: There has been an increase of illegal downloads of La Roux music in Australia since your recent visit. How do you feel about online music and the Peer2Peer sharing mechanics? Good or bad for the creators of music?
La Roux: Illegal downloading has become a joke. I have a section on my MySpace that is connected to a downloading debate with Lily Allen and other artists on this very matter. It’s a difficult time for emerging artists.

Access All Areas.net.au: For those who missed out on seeing you at Parklife, what can they expect from your live show?
La Roux: Flying monkeys and unicycling, what’s in your live show?

Access All Areas.net.au: There has been some controversy surrounding Britney Spear’s Australian tour and lip-syncing? Do you think it’s OK for some artists to lip-sync depending on their onstage performance, or should all performers be able to deliver everything they can live?
La Roux: Yes, I think you should be able to do your set live. People have come to see you sing live, not mime. There are certain TV promo things where you’ll mime for technical reasons but it’s rare. If the reason behind miming is because of intense dance routines then essentially you’re going to see a dancer not a singer aren’t you? I think they should lessen the dancing and let the dancers do it and they should focus on delivering a song. The problem is that some people can’t sing that well live and so they cover it with dancing, let’s be honest! I’d want my money back, or at least a warning when I bought my ticket.

Access All Areas.net.au: There’s some varying electro sounds in your music, what are La Roux’s influences?
La Roux: Heaven 17, Depeche Mode, The Knife, Michael Jackson, Prince, David Bowie, Eurthymics.

Access All Areas.net.au: How do Australian fans differ from your UK fans?
La Roux: I’ve only done one Australian tour so it’s difficult to tell, but the response we had here was brilliant.

Access All Areas.net.au: How would you describe your music style / genre in one sentence?
La Roux: Synth pop apparently?

Access All Areas.net.au: How do songs come about? Is there a sole songwriter or is it a team effort?
La Roux: With me and Ben, it’s definitely a team effort, we talk extensively about all the lyrics and sounds and care very much about the songs.

Access All Areas.net.au: Where do you draw inspiration for your songs?
La Roux: Personal experiences.

Access All Areas.net.au: It is said that songwriters write about personal experiences, is this true in your case?
La Roux: Yes, the whole album is based on personal experience. AS ABOVE

Access All Areas.net.au: Do you write songs about any person in particular? (A jaded ex or unyielding parents, etc?)
La Roux: Yes, the songs are about certain individuals.

Access All Areas.net.au: If you could collaborate with any artist (past or present) who would you collaborate with and why?
La Roux: We’re doing a collaboration with Heaven 17 which I think will be really interesting, Ben and I are massive fans. My fantasy collaboration has got to be Bowie though.

Access All Areas.net.au: Is there anyone you wouldn’t want to collaborate with?
La Roux: I’m definitely not answering that! I’ll get myself in to all sorts of trouble.

Access All Areas.net.au: Your video clips are quite popular (Bulletproof receiving over 2 million plays on YouTube), what has been your favourite video clip to make? Why?
La Roux: I’m Not Your Toy. We spent the day in a footballer’s wives type mansion with a pool and loads of tropical plants. Loads of my mates were in the video too, it was the most fun video I’ve made I think.

Access All Areas.net.au: What were some of the challenges you faced when making the clips?
La Roux: A very long day, getting very very hot!

Access All Areas.net.au: You’ve got an iconic look, particularly your hair. Do you have a routine to maintaining your quiff? What does this image mean to you?
La Roux: The quiff came about kind of by mistake, it was a gradual development. It requires a lot of hairspray but I’ve got the routine down to about 15 minutes.

Access All Areas.net.au: You said in another interview that you co-design your clothes with a friend, what is the name of your clothing brand and how did that come about?
La Roux: We don't have a brand or anything like that, it's just me and my designer friend Nova. We’ll pick material out and make things, or we’ll go shopping for vintage or vintage designer clothes together. And we have just started to collaborate with designers like Basso and Brooke, Gucci, and Otswald Helgason.

Access All Areas.net.au: What has been your favourite music experience to date?
La Roux: Seeing Prince live at the O2 in London.

Access All Areas.net.au: What has been the most surreal music experience to date?
La Roux: The Top Shop launch in New York earlier this year. It was in this TINY old prohibition type venue called the box and Kevin Spacey was doing a cabaret act, Jennifer Lopez got her knickers in a twist about a handkerchief falling on her head and I met Debbie Harry. The MC was a half naked transvestite dressed as a devil. It was amazing and terrifying at the same time.

Access All Areas.net.au: You’re the daughter of a well-known English actor [Trudie Goodwin AKA June Ackland from The Bill], was there anyone in your family that was into music (either a music lover or musician themselves) and influenced you in your music?
La Roux: Yes, my mum and dad both have great taste in music. My dad plays blues guitar and boogie woogie on the piano. He taught me the guitar and introduced me to stuff like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake.

Access All Areas.net.au: What do your parents/family think of your music career now?
La Roux: They are very proud and very supportive.

Access All Areas.net.au: What’s next for La Roux after BACARDI EXPRESS?
La Roux: Um… I think we go to America… again…..

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

La Roux, aka Elly Jackson and Ben Langmaid, are the electro-pop duo responsible for UK and ARIA chart topping singles “In For The Kill” and “Bulletproof”. Taking inspiration from such music royalty as Depeche Mode and Prince, La Roux have been dazzling audiences and winning hearts with a unique sound that also tips a hat to new school heroes such as The Knife and Chromeo.

www.myspace.com/larouxuk

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MY FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE

My Festival Experience
Mental As Anything

It's a pretty horrible one actually. On the Australian Made Tour in, it was about 87' - 88'. There was us, there was Barnsey (Jimmy Barnes), The Models, The Divinyls. You know it was a really fun tour actually, and we were sharing a brass section with The Models and the guy... One of the brass players he was fairly frail, he was quite young and he had a pacemaker and he actually collapsed and died during our set which was rather disturbing. It would be the most memorable but, only because it was so unpleasant. I would have to say that one sticks out for me.

What's your ideal festival line-up?
Gee, that's a hard one. It's pretty good these day's they have guys like Neil Young coming out, and it's good. It shouldn't be a real generational thing. There are still a lot of good musicians that have inspired a lot of the younger bands and I think that it's nice that they put these guys on the bill. It's an economic thing, obviously a lot of people want to see them but, I think it's also good for the younger people to see where a lot of this kinda stuff came from in the first place. I think the bills are pretty good actually.

Also, with the older bands and artists playing at shows it's a big thing for the younger ones because they have been inspired by that performer and seeing them play and being able to play along aside them is a big kick.
Yeah, I think it's great and as long as they can still cut the mustard, I've heard that on some occasions they have been a bit disappointing but, they really have got there acts together these guys if they are still doing it. It's pretty obvious when they aren't. I sort of jokingly say "I'm getting the hang of it now", because I sort of am really, It's taken awhile but, you kinda have to be a bit more professional as you get older about doing it because, you need to be. It's amusing to see the 20yr old guys staggering around drunk on stage, that's kinda entertaining. But, when you get older it's not such a good look. You need to start thinking about being a bit more professional and getting your act together a bit.

The fall of the aging rock star.
Haha Yeah, that's your job. If you want to keep doing it you need to stay reasonably healthy. I swim, I try and swim some laps everyday. That's how I occupy myself on tour. I've got to find out where the pool is otherwise I get a bit twitchy if I don't get to do my laps every day. You start to realize if you don't have your health you don't have anything. It's true of anybody but, particularly for entertainers if you let yourself go, your in trouble.

What's your most favourite artist you have seen at a festival?
I would have to say Roy Orbison. I saw him only a couple of year's before he died. I couldn't believe it. He had already had the open heart surgery and, he had a shocking life the poor guy. He's always been a hero of mine. I actually got to see him, which was a big thrill.

What are your tips for attending a festival?
I don't know. My kids are going to them kind of regularly and they seem to have a good time. I think the main thing is you need to get in early if you want to get ticket's to these things, because they seem to sell out really fast. They are really popular and just enjoy them.