Killing Heidi: Difference between revisions
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'''Killing Heidi''' is an [[Australia]]n [[rock band]] from [[Violet Town]], [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]]. |
'''Killing Heidi''' is an [[Australia]]n [[Rock music|rock]] [[Musical ensemble|band]] from [[Violet Town]], [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]]. |
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==History== |
==History== |
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Revision as of 22:21, 2 January 2008
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Killing Heidi |
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Killing Heidi is an Australian rock band from Violet Town, Victoria.
History
Early years (1996–1999)
The nucleus of Killing Heidi is singer/songwriter Ella Hooper and her older brother guitarist Jesse Hooper. They grew up in Violet Town, a small Victorian country town, with a population of approximately 2,000 where their parents worked as music and drama teachers.
They started jamming together at home; Ella singing while Jesse played the guitar. They played an acoustic gig together at the Violet Town Arts Festival in 1996, Ella who was then aged 13. Bent Records label owner and local record studio owner, Jamie Durrant, offered them some time in a studio with a couple of schoolmates as the rhythm section. They submitted these recordings into the Triple J Unearthed competition in 1996 and the track "Kettle" won the competition for their area of rural Victoria. "Kettle" was written by Ella Hooper, Brian Walton and Jessie Hooper added some guitar parts later.
The name "Killing Heidi" came from the band members generating two lists before their first gig; one filled with "soft" words, one with "harsh" words. Killing was chosen as the harsh, Heidi the soft. According to the band, the name basically means "the end of innocence".
Producer Paul Kosky who had worked with Crowded House, Rage Against the Machine, Kate Ceberano, and The Clouds was looking for a band to manage and sign to his new recording label Wah Wah Music. He decided to check out a very basic live performance by Killing Heidi. He developed the band from the ground up for the next two years working on songwriting, song structure and overall direction of the music. He became the manager of the band and arranged a contract with Roadshow Music (who had a contract with Savage Garden) for his label, Killing Heidi had also acquired a new rhythm section (which Kosky sourced and introduced to Killing Heidi) with Adam Pedretti on drums and Warren Jenkin on bass. They recorded the rest of the first album in 1999.
Career Success (1999–2006)
Killing Heidi's first single "Weir" was released in August 1999 and reached #6 on the ARIA charts (and Platinum sales) by the end of 1999. With a blend of Ella's crystal-clear vocals and roaring guitars, the song epitomised the band's musical penchant for slower, quiet verses and loud, up-tempo choruses. "Weir" quickly became a teen anthem, but more broadly, the song continues to be recognised as an Australian anthem in its own right.
The second single "Mascara", about self-image and individuality, was released in December 1999 and reached the top of the Australian charts in January 2000 - it stayed at #1 for three weeks, also achieving Platinum status. Although "Mascara" outsold "Weir", and indeed the latter still remains a popular teen anthem, "Weir" is generally considered to be the band's greatest song to date. Mascara has been noted as having a strong resemblance to Roxy music's Over You.
The band's debut album Reflector was released in early 2000 and debuted at #1, quickly becoming the fastest-selling album in Australian music history. The album featured a unique musical style, fusing hard guitar riffs with melodic synths and Ella's stunning vocals. At the turn of the millennium, Killing Heidi had become the biggest thing in Australian music and arguably the most hyped band in the nation's history; this propelled Reflector to spend seven weeks at #1 on the ARIA charts. The album spawned two further singles: third single "Live Without It" peaked at #5 on the ARIA charts, while "Superman Supergirl" became the fourth single release from Reflector in late 2000.
Reflector eventually sold well in excess of 300,000 albums in Australia, earning 5x platinum status and Killing Heidi won four ARIA awards in October 2000. However, the momentum halted when a cyst was found on Hooper's vocal cords and she underwent an operation in 2001. Her voice was slow to recover.
The band recorded its second album Present, despite Hooper's continuing problems with her vocal cords. This album was not as successful as its predecessor, only going gold with 50,000 sold and failing to make the top ten of the Australian album charts. It spawned two singles - "Heavensent" which reached the top 30 in early 2002 and "Outside of Me" which reached a peak of #12 later in 2002; a third song from the album, "Ammyl", was released to radio in 2003 but was never released as a commercial single.
After Present, manager Paul Kosky left the band (not the other way around as previously published) as a result of ongoing friction about the band's new direction and behaviour. The band signed up with Chris Robinson, Kosky's old financial business partner.
The band went over to Los Angeles in late 2003 to record a comeback album and rented a house in the San Fernando Valley while the album was recorded with producer John Travis. The songs were written both in Violet Town and in Los Angeles.
The first single from the band's third album was "I Am", released on July 12, 2004. Debuting at #16 on the Australian singles charts, it spent three months in the Top 50 charts but only reaching Gold sales, it also features on the Australian version of the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack but was no where to be heard on the film's release.
In late August 2004, Killing Heidi released their third studio album. Self-titled, the album featured a less styled and more sonically expressive sound. It debuted at #7 on the charts, again only reaching gold and then fell out of the charts relatively quickly.
In September 2004, the second single from the album, "Calm Down" was released, though it made only moderate impact, peaking at #23. Early 2005 saw a third song from the album, "Running Underwater" released to radio, but like "Ammyl" in 2003, it was not released as a commercial single and received very little radio airplay.
Later in 2005, Killing Heidi officially split with record company Sony BMG and began work on their next album. In an interview in early 2006, Ella stated that the recording process was almost finished. The band has also announced that they have produced the new album themselves. Early reports suggest that the new album has a more organic sound to it, with Ella claiming that the style of music on the upcoming album is the kind of Killing Heidi the band had always wanted to be.
The Break (2006–present)
In mid-2006, rumours - probably stemming from the band struggling to find a distribution deal for their fourth album - began to surface in the media of the possibility of Killing Heidi falling apart and even breaking up. The reports continued for several weeks, with articles in some magazines and newspapers claiming the band had already split. The band clarified the situation on their MySpace page shortly after, elucidating that Killing Heidi have not broken up at all, but are taking a temporary break of unspecified length. The band cited needing to "try something else for a little while" as they had been playing as Killing Heidi for nine years.
During the break the members will be reportedly working on side-projects: Ella and Jesse returned to Violet Town to work on material for an upcoming album. The siblings played several small, intimate shows throughout Australia during the latter half of 2006; a mix of old and new songs which they have been showcasing with an acoustic, folk-oriented sound. Ella also performed in the all-female musical touring show Broad in August/September of 2006. The brother-sister duo have now formed The Verses, representing a return to acoustic-based contemporary music. The Verses will be recording their debut album later in 2007 and release in 2008. Meanwhile, drummer Adam Pedretti is working with his other band, metal/punk group "Monster Truck Extravaganza". No details have been officially released as to the plans of bassist Warren Jenkin.
In the meantime, the Killing Heidi's fourth studio album, possibly titled "Holding Pattern", has been put on hold and it is unclear whether or not it will be released after the band regroups, although three demo tracks from the album, "The Waiting", "Prospect" and "Decide", were released on the band's MySpace page in May 2006.
MYSPACE MESSAGE
oh the waiting... oh the waiting.... ok, hi everyone. Here is the news: We are taking a break from killing heidi for a while but do not see this as a break up! It is us needing to try something else for a little while cos its all we've done for 9 years now. Killing Heidi will be playing some shows in the next 6 months so if you really want to you can get to these shows. I will post the dates as they are confirmed. Ella and Jesse are working on a new as yet unnamed project and will be playing in vic and nsw trying out new material and playing a few oldies too. Pedro is rocking with the very loud and very talented "Monster Truck Extravaganza" (see our top friends for a link to their myspace) so check them out when they start doing shows soon. Hopefully you guys will like what we all get up to over the next little while!!! There have been requests to change the new traks to downloads so i will look into that too!!! Thanks everyone for your continued support, we love playing for you guys and look forward to seeing on the road again soon!!!
Recently that message has been taken off the site with the only the words "ON HIATUS" remaining.
Members
As of 2006, Killing Heidi consists of:
- Ella Hooper (vocals)
- Jesse Hooper (guitars)
- Adam Pedretti (drums)
- Warren Jenkin (bass)
The original band had a different drummer and bassist but the above lineup did not record all of their albums either. Reflector had a session drummer for "Weir" and 5 other album tracks. Kosky also played a role as an additional musician on all songs from Reflector.
But there is a question that has been posed by the great Australian punk rock band Frenzal Rhomb: Who plays keyboard in Killing Heidi?
Discography
Albums
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Sales and certifications | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS | NZ | |||
| 2000 | Reflector
|
1 | 19 | 5x platinum (350,000+) (ARIA, Australia) |
| 2002 | Present
|
12 | Gold (35,000+) (ARIA, Australia) | |
| 2004 | Killing Heidi | 7 | Gold (35,000+) (ARIA, Australia) | |
Singles
| Year | Song | Australia | New Zealand | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | "Weir" | 6 | 41 | Reflector |
| 2000 | "Mascara"/"Leave Me Alone" | 1 | 48 | Reflector |
| "Live Without It" | 5 | 28 | Reflector | |
| "Superman Supergirl"/"Black Sheep" | 57 | — | Reflector | |
| 2001 | "Heavensent" | 28 | — | Present |
| 2002 | "Outside of Me" | 12 | — | Present |
| 2004 | "I Am" | 16 | — | Killing Heidi |
| "Calm Down" | 23 | — | Killing Heidi |
References