VERA ELLEN: Cheer Up, You’ve Got Fake Milk
An interview by Tim Gruar.
Pōneke based indie pop singer/songwriter Vera Ellen will be re-uniting with her band for the first time since her ‘Ideal Home Noise’ release tour on Friday, September 22nd for the ‘Fake Milk Fest’ – a fundraising show to help her get the band to Australia for a multiple-date tour later this year. The gig will also include support from wistful crooner Hemi Hemingway and psychedelic fuzz-pop juggernauts Mirror Ritual.
I recently had the opportunity to talk with Vera about the songs on her new album, writing in a paddock and of course, her upcoming fundraiser.
It wasn’t that long ago that Ellen was named Best Alternative Artist at the Aotearoa Music Awards. Earlier this year she released her sophomore effort ‘Home Noise’, the follow up to the nerdy-bratty explosive debut ‘It’s Your Birthday’ (2021). The new album’s single ‘Homewrecker’ has already made RNZ’s Best Singles of 2022 list.
Over a slightly scratchy phone line, I catch Vera Ellen during our mutual lunch breaks. I have to offer my congratulations for getting on the bill for SXSW Sydney. “Thank you,” she politely answers, “I’m stoked to be doing that. It was on my list for the year.” In conversation, Ellen is nothing like her slightly caustic stage presence or the wild woman with the manic bed hair she portrays in her recent videos. Although everyone needs a point of difference in this cut-throat industry.
SXSW (South By South West), the annual pop culture and tech-conference was established in Austin Texas back in 1987 and is now branching out to Sydney. Running from 15th-22nd October, with over 1,000 events, screenings and live performances across the city. For over three decades the festival has welcomed high-profile speakers from Hollywood, the political and technology worlds such as Barack and Michelle Obama, Jordan Peele, our own Taika Waititi, Steven Spielberg, Lady Gaga, Prince, Melinda Gates, Elizabeth Warren and the ‘Dogfather’ himself, Snoop Dogg. And it’s also been a hub for film and TV premieres, music launches, gaming and technology drops and of course podcasts.
But getting your band over the water to play at a big event like this is no small feat. So, Ellen has created her own fundraiser, ‘Fake Milk’, a collaboration with local acts – the soul heartthrob Hemi Hemingway and dream fuzz merchants Mirror Ritual which will take place at Meow (Pōneke) on 22nd September.
Great name, I note. So, where did it come from? “Fake Milk?“, Ellen asks, “It’s a song on the new album. It was something that my sister said to me, when we were joking around about how the state of life today for young people. You know, moping about why it’s all ‘so hard’. Which it is. But then she jokes: “Cheer up. You’ve got fake milk and life is good!” … because I’m lactose intolerant. I thought it was SO FUNNY. For the song I got my nephew to say the phrase, to record it. And that was sampled on the song. It’s me., I guess, poking fun at myself a little bit. The song is about being ‘miserable’, and it asks: “Hey, what have you got to complain about?” You know?”
When I was listening to the album I got that there’s a theme running through – of who you were at a particular point in time. For instance, the lines in the song ‘Lenny Says’ go: “I’m 23 and I’m a bloody loser!” But that’s not true, is it, I ask her. She has two albums, done tours. She’s played festivals and now she’s off to SXSW! Is it her ‘thing’ to voice that dissatisfaction, maybe of earlier times, wrapping it in a self-deprecating viewpoint?
“Ha ha. I don’t know,” Ellen replies, “That wasn’t necessarily my intention, just how I felt at the time. I wrote that song a long time ago – I’m 28 now – and that was just the first verse. The second verse didn’t come until I was 26. I put in: “I’m 26 put me out with the trash/I’ll never find love and I’ll never find cash.” And I thought ‘Hang on a minute, it this still true? Who am I taking about?’ And I thought this all needs to go out with the trash. This is a point in your life where you think you are not measuring up to life for different reasons. You have expectations about where you should be and how you gauge that success or something. It’s tongue in check, as well.”
I comment that it’s funny how we all leave school, go to Uni or start work, in our early 20’s and we don’t really know what we are doing with our lives. The album kind of sums up that period of our lives, I wonder? “Yeah. Yeah. And now, older, you have so much more time. Contemplating. Don’t take yourself too seriously. But when you are that age, like in your teens, all of that feels very real to you. And it doesn’t really help when everything validates that – no money, no job prospects, bad or no relationships, judgmental people – all that.”
The song ‘Imposter’, I ask. Is that from that time, too? It feels like it’s based on a real situation. “I think that was from when I started out as an artist, where others perceive you in specific ways that you don’t perceive yourself. I almost feel I should add a liner note to the album to say: “Everything you are about to hear is BS because I don’t know where I came up with this or what prompted these songs, these feelings, but they are just here.” You know, exposing myself at the beginning and saying ‘Hey, I can’t take responsibility for any of this. LOL’. That’s a label we should have.”
Yet, despite this adolescent theme, the songs sound so mature now. Well produced, familiar, worldly even. A contrast to the insecure, snotty-nosed attitudes, even a bit bratty. Bedsit pop vs. studio taste-makers? “Thanks. I appreciate you saying that. That’s what I always try to do – that indie/familiar pop balance, I guess. That’s what’s in my head, at least.”
I ask about ‘Broadway Junction’, also from the new album, which has quite a confrontational narrative in the video (directed by Annabel Kean from Sports Team). Especially with the ‘hostages’ scene at the end. “It’s a bit out there. I’ve known Annabel as a supporter of the music I played and my friends for a really long time. She was really supportive of playing music from Under The Radar. And we built up a relationship, and I’ve always been a great admirer of her work. I love how funny and comical the videos are. It was across all three videos that we had a running theme, like a short film and they all connect. So, ‘Carpenter is the first, ‘Lenny Says’ is second and ‘Broadway Junction’ is the third.”
All three are made at what looks like a scruffy Bach on the South Kapit Coast. ‘Carpenter’ has a murder ballad vibe to it. It’s a bolshie and brash track about asking for help when you need it – even if you think you don’t.
Is that song about life challenges? Indeed, it is, she confirms. “We are all fighting some kind of battle – internal or external of the heart, the memory. But it’s a different feeling to bottle it up,” she says, “keep it close to your chest., fight them alone, with shame or whakama.” It really helps to lean on others, “the song ‘Carpenter’ is inspired by that,” she says in her press release, “A desperate cry. I think there’s a triumph in being able to ask for help, too. Taking back control.“
‘Lenny Says’ is loosely hung around her band getting on with life while Vera swells on opportunities lost. It’s a moody take on existence.
And then there’s the afore mentioned ‘Broadway Junction’. It starts simple enough, as a ballad, singer fronting the band. But as the camera pans about we discover the occupants of the house have been tied up, held hostage to listen to this sad tale of loss and woe. How often does this happen to us in real life, I wonder?
Ellen has continued to make more music, following this album, taking time out in the Wairarapa to write new material. “Well, I mean I was just in Greytown. I just wrote a new song every day, with cows around, on this farm, out in the fresh air. It was just amazing.”
Ellen spent time at a writer’s NZ Pacific Studio residency in the outer blocks of the Wairarapa town, where she could create uninterrupted by regular life forces. A place for a clear head to make art and music. During that time, she says she wrote 11 songs, ready for the world – perhaps. Watch that space. “It was a very productive time for me. Definitely move towards a new release down the line.”
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According to their website, NZ Pacific Studio offers 2-3 supported residencies each year for writers, musicians & other artists. Usually two or three weeks long, with complimentary accommodation, support for a public activity, and a modest stipend, artists can work on a project of their own design and engage with the community. In Ellen’s case, she got the opportunity to ‘road test’ a few songs at a small 40 seat venue in the Greytown called Studio 74 in the Little Theatre. “It was an amazing experience and bit of a privilege to have the luxury of writing and then playing, without the usual hassles of trying to get your stuff noticed, produced, promoted etc. Pretty special. That’s the everyday reality for musicians like me.”
Fans of vinyl will also have seen Ellen hanging about the Flying Nun store in Cuba Street. I wonder, is working in a record store a good thing? “Oh, yes. It leads to access to a whole bunch of music I would not normally be exposed to. Education is so important when you are a writer, to open your mind to new possibilities. It got me out of the mind set of thinking no-one was writing anything any good anymore. It also means that Flying Nun is so supportive for me when I need time off to tour and record. It was a dream to be in the store unboxing my own vinyl as part of my everyday work, too!”
And so, to the ‘Fake Milk’ gig. This will be supported by the wonderful talents of Hemi Hemingway and Mirror Ritual. Hemi Hemingway has been on the scene for a little while now – a self-styled soul/pop crooner. A sort of local mix between Chris Isaac and Roy Orbison. Hemingway is the ‘alter ego’ of guitarist/singer-songwriter Shaun Blackwell (Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga), who started out in music with John the Baptist, a local Welly alt-country act, formed in 2009. You can still hear some of that influence in his music. But it’s way more sophisticated these days. Hemingway has just released a new album, ‘Strangers Again’. He’ll be doing a solo set to promote that, including the single ‘It’s so cruel’. Ellen also hints that she will share the stage in a duet with him later in the evening – but that’s under wraps for now. It’s one of a number of surprises she has planned.
Also on the bill is Mirror Ritual, which has a number of connections with Vera Ellen. “Yeah. Lochie’s a co-worker (at Flying Nun) and Eli is my cousin. They are a really great band live. They are a sort of ‘Dream Fuzz’ band, I guess, all super psychedelic!”
Pōneke based Mirror Ritual is the aforementioned Lochie Noble and Eli Polaczuk (bass), as well as Riley Dick (drums) and Mia Kelly. Mirror Ritual started out as Transitor before changing their name as the band evolved. The floating vocals that contracts the punchy, staccato drums of their ethereal tune ‘Contextualise’ helped it top Student Radio Network charts in 2021. It was best described by our friends Under The Radar, as “unlocking portals to unknown realms with brain-melting power of psych-riffs and third-eye expanding, trance-inducing soundscapes”.
Currently leading their own fave songs on streaming networks, ‘Fear In All’ is definitely worth a listen. And check the geeky video, too. It endorses bad behaviour from table tennis players in enormous 80’s style shell tracksuits. It’s a disturbing slice of brain-fuzz that melds together layers of psych-guitar, swirly synths, and trippy vocals (think Stone Roses or Inspiral Carpets).
The evening will continue with an ‘after party’ – the regular Alley Cats gig that follows on featuring Ludus (aka Emma Bernard), who creates beautiful ambient/downbeat type electronica, and Boorloo born, Pōneke-based queer sonic designer/producer Current Bias.
Anything else I should mention about the gig? “Yeah. My mum will be cooking Polish food. There will be special merch going, and Lady Lazer Light, who’s done my gigs before, she will be doing these crazy-cool projections again. There’s a temporary tattoo artist, crazy antics, debauchery, and more [laughs]. There will be lots of things that will make it a special gig.”
Vera Ellen will be performing alongside Remi Hemingway and Mirror Ritual at ‘Fake Milk Fest’, Friday 22nd September 2023. Tickets are still available from Moshtix.co.nz, but get in quick as space is limited and it’s sure to sell out!
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