Photo by Luke Henery
Eliza & The Delusionals is an Australian indie rock band founded in 2015. The band consists of Eliza Klatt (singer/guitar), Kurt Skuse (guitarist), Ashley "Tex" Martin (guitarist) and Ruby Lee (bassist). They've recently toured the US with Silver Pickups, and released their debut US single "Just Exist" alongside their debut single. They've released "Pull Apart Heart" which features on their new EP A STATE OF LIVING IN AN OBJECTIVE REALITY (out now!) In this interview, Eliza and I discuss the writing/creative process, touring the US, and so much more!
Hi, and thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions! How have the States been treating you? Hello! We've had the best time in the states. Unfortunately our stay was cut short due to the current ongoing situations around the world, but the tour we were able to do across Feb/March was incredible. What made you want to start a band? How did it come to fruition? For me personally, I always loved music. I remember going to see Coldplay as my first concert in 2008 and I felt so inspired by their live show and music. I knew that that's what I wanted to do, I wasn't sure how (because I was 11) but I knew that I would get there somehow. Through school I had a few bands here and there with my friends at the time and that's when I started to get into writing songs. When I was 16 or 17 I started Eliza & the Delusionals, and I knew that that was the band I wanted to take seriously. I was lucky enough to find Kurt, Tex and Ruby to do this with. We all share the same passion and love for music and live shows, which can be hard to find. So I feel extremely lucky. Kurt and I have known each other since we were kids and through the music scene we reconnected. I knew Tex through mutual friends at university, and he jumped on a tour super last minute as the guitarist at the time decided to leave, and the rest is history. Ruby was in an opening band at one of our shows, and we asked her to come on tour and she fit in so well she joined the band. Before starting a band, were you involved in the local Australian music scene? I always loved going to shows - but being under 18 before the band started it was hard to go to a lot of local gigs. But E&TD was definitely my introduction to the Australian music scene and figuring out how it works and how to tour. You recently toured with Silversun Pickups. How does it feel coming all the way from Australia to the States to do such exciting tours? It's surreal. It's been a dream of ours to take the band over to the States for touring and festivals. I remember when our manager told us about the Silversun Pickups tour we were so excited about it. I had been listening to the Silversun Pickups since I was 15, so it really was a dream tour for us. We pretty much said tell us what we have to do to make this work and we'll do it. It's not easy being a smaller band in Australia coming to tour the States - there are a lot of blocks to learn about and overcome before we could even get there. It takes a lot financially, which is why I think a lot of Australian bands might struggle to take their music overseas. While on tour with Silversun Pickups, what was your favorite city that you visited so far? Favorite venue? The cool thing about touring the States is that every city and state is so unique and it's own thing. That was definitely exciting for us. I think collectively we loved The Wiltern in LA, Fox Theatre in Oakland and Cains Ballroom in Tulsa. Those were some of the most unique and beautiful venues we had ever played. We also had a really amazing time in Las Vegas. Is there a difference between U.S crowds and Australian crowds at gigs? For us, I think so. We were lucky enough to have our song on rotation on a big nation-wide radio station, so we had a lot of people turning up early to watch our set as well. It was crazy to come to the venues that were so large and to see them so full for the start of our set. We didn't really know what to expect but it was really amazing to see so many of Silversun's fans come out early to support the opener. “Just Exist” was released in the U.S. as your debut single. Can you tell us what the inspiration was behind it? What was the writing and recording process like? Just Exist was written about the bittersweet balance that I think a lot of creatives face - the balance between depression and being inspired by those feelings. I feel like some of my favourite ideas have come from some of the worst times in my life, and I think without those feelings I would plainly just exist. We had gone through a lot of changes within the band and our personal lives, so taking Just Exist into the studio felt really good. It was like a massive release of everything that had been happening in the lead up to it. From releasing The Deeper End EP in 2017 to A State Of Living In An Objective Reality this month, were there any differences in the writing and creative process? Definitely. A lot of the songs on The Deeper End were written when I was 18-19 years old, so I feel like if I still connected with the songs and had the same writing process then something isn't right. The songs were a lot more collaborative on the new EP and reflect a different period in my life that even now I've moved away from. What was the hardest song to write on A State Of Living In An Objective Reality? I think one of the hardest songs to put together was the last track 'Feel It All (and Nothing)'. There were a lot of ways it could lean - whether it was going to be a bit less 'bandy' or not. I think we made the right decision making it a full band song. In terms of the writing process, it was really difficult to write emotionally. It was the final song for the EP, and it was hard to put my feelings into words. I think that song really helped me get through the hardest time of 2019, so I think I will always have a connection to that song. A lot of the songs you write seem to come from personal experiences. Are the majority of the songs you write stem from interpersonal relationships and life challenges? Everything on the EP is inspired by really personal things. I feel like I can be more honest with lyrics when I'm writing from something I've experienced myself. A lot of it is based around my mental health situation at the time and my relationship at that point. There were definitely a lot of challenges around that, and music (like it always has been) worked as my own personal therapy to help me figure out how to get out of the position I was in. Is there a formula you follow when creating music and writing lyrics? Not really - we don't have a strict formula. A lot of the times it'll just be some chords or a melody that myself or Kurt have come up with and the song and concepts form from there. When the song has some sort of structure we can bring it in as a band and work through it to create it as a full song. When writing lyrics, do you have a certain audience you want to reach? Not specifically - anyone who wants to listen, and anyone who connects with what we're saying. I think after doing two months of touring it was really cool to see the diversity of our fanbase. Has there been any change in your writing since the earlier songs? Yeah, absolutely. I think as an artist it's important to change and grow from the style or procedure you know. Not like changing your songwriting or sound completely, but it never hurts to explore other styles or be more collaborative. I've also changed a lot as a person since writing the older songs, so I look at them in a different way and don't really connect with them the way that I used to. “Pull Apart Heart” has very relatable lyrics, like a lot of your songs do. For this song in particular, what was going through your head when writing it? How did you come up with the name for this track? Thank you! At the time I was going through some big changes with myself, and I had to make a lot of decisions to try and make much needed changes in my life at the time. The title was actually the first thing that came about. I remember writing 'pull apart heart' on a page in my notebook and instantly started writing around it because I connected with it so much. It really accurately described how I was feeling at the time. Did growing up in Australia influence your songwriting, and creative process? In some ways I think so. I think everyone can be a product of their environment. I live in a really small coastal town, we don't really have venues or anything nearby unless if you travel more north towards central Gold Coast and Brisbane. So I think when I was younger I was definitely influenced by being so limited. I always feel inspired by traveling overseas though, so I guess it's a bit of yes and no. What bands/artists have influenced your writing and sound the most? For me personally, I've taken huge influence from bands like Coldplay, Blink-182 and Garbage. I guess I really got into those bands when I was discovering music and going to concerts and festivals for the first time as a teenager. But I'm always being inspired by new stuff - I'm recently really into Car Seat Headrest, Chairlift and Snail Mail. I get super fixated on an album or a song and it's like "my thing" for a few months. Listening back to some of our songs I can definitely hear what albums/bands I was listening to when each song was written. You guys will be playing festivals like Bottlerock and Firefly! What’s it feel like knowing that your music has reached so many different people that you get to play well known festivals now in America? We are so excited about these festivals. American festivals have always been a dream for us, so to be on such huge lineups is really exciting for us. Unfortunately, due to the current health pandemic, Bottlerock has been rescheduled for October. It's hard to be at home waiting for the all clear for these festivals, but we are excited to still be able to visit and be a part of the lineup. We are so grateful to everyone who has been putting our music on radio and to everyone that has been listening to us and connecting with our songs. It's really changed our lives, so thank you. After the success of your singles and albums, what's next? We have some plans in the works! We are always writing music and putting things together, so we'll just have to see where it takes us this year. But you can definitely count on touring when we get the all clear to go back to it. We can't wait to play the EP across the States. Last question: we’re all about discovering new music. Who should we be listening to right now? Right now I've been into so much new music. It's a really hard choice. Maddy Jane from Aus has just put out some amazing new songs and she's got a debut album coming, which we are really excited about, and there's a newer band called The Flowers (from Aus as well!) that have put out some really lovely music that I've been listening to a lot.
Keep up to date with Eliza & The Delusionals (also check out their tour dates here)
Words by Melody.
