Ella Hooper – Moyhu Hotel

Ella Hooper made her entrance onto the Australian music landscape as the technicolour teenage frontwoman of her high school band, Killing Heidi. At age 13 she won the national broadcaster Triple J’s unearthed competition and has been writing and releasing intense, intelligent pop music ever since. She is also a radio host, TV presenter, DJ and self-confessed music junkie. Her songs of angst and wonder sound-tracked the early 2000’s for cool kids and outsiders alike. Melodic and anthemic, Ella’s song writing and colourful image cut a swathe through the mainstream, winning her a stack of awards (ARIA’s, APRA, ACRA’s) many of which she was the first female and youngest person to receive. Ella has featured on the cover of Rolling Stone not once but twice as well as every other music publication worth its’ salt and played the main stage of every major festival in Aus and plenty overseas as well. Ella’s time with Killing Heidi cemented her as one of Australia’s most recognised and distinctive front-women.

Ella’s music has since traversed pop to rock, roots to country back to alt pop and just about everything in between. In 2010 she travelled to LA to work with legendary producer Mitchell Froom and Elvis Costello’s backing band on a side project influenced by classic West Coast Americana sounds, ‘The Verses’. This collaboration spawned an EP and an album and the band toured extensively, opening for Fleetwood Mac who were one of Ella’s main inspirations for starting The Verses. A self-proclaimed ‘pop witch’ Ella believes the support slot with Fleetwood Mac was an instant karma reward for trying something new and decided to continue the trend for her next incarnation, deciding to claim her moment and ‘go solo’, encouraged by a backstage conversation with grand high witch herself, Stevie Nicks.

Hooper’s debut solo release was ‘In Tongues’. Delivering spiky synth pop sounds, the album has dark sexy vibe full of Saturn returning yearning. Stand out tracks Low High and The Red Shoes are both danceable and doomy and gained her a new audience, gathering steam online. The double EP ‘Venom/New Magic’ followed and was highly regarded among critics.

‘The most disarming and profound statement of Hooper’s career -Venom/New Magic is a buzzing, creaky tapestry of tunes that veers from punky New Wave bursts to creepy Bad Seeds-esque lurches’ –Rolling Stone

‘A bold, awesome accomplishment, New Magic is excited, open-hearted and eager. Venom, vocally crushing and instrumentally sparse. Hooper’s alternate reality is here…’ – Strine Whine

In between a myriad of media gigs, Ella tours consistently and shines as a live act. A seasoned pro with an assortment of gun players backing her (members of Jade Imagine, Machine Translations, Handsome, The Cactus Channel, RockWiz & more) she bends herself into contortionist positions, back bends and twists while punching out notes that fly and defy, or lays herself down over the fold back, delivering a verse hanging over the edge. Her talent for connection and genuine reverence for the art of a good rock show on display.

‘Ella’s stage attack is more refined now than it has ever been, charming all near her with her acrobatics, persona and dance moves –a true performer does not begin to describe her power. Similar to how a ballerina can silence a crowd, Ms Hooper can incite their chaos to whatever level suitable. Needless to say, the chemistry between her and her fans is still impossible to fracture’ – Glamadelaide

In and out of the studio for much of 2018, with a retro rock inspired EP on the way, Ella kicks things off with new single ‘To The Bone’. Never one to settle in a comfort zone, Hooper’s next offering promises disco beats, street walking strut anthems and pop chops a plenty. It’s been a colourful journey and it’s only getting busier for this chameleonic purveyor of pop rock. Stay tuned!

“Never satisfied with sticking to the status quo, Hooper fills ‘To The Bone’ with invigorating, near-obscene left turns; “come on,” goes her bubble gum and barbed wire voice, “I’m Ready!” This is a song that never stays still, from a songwriter who doesn’t either. It might be the best thing she’s ever put out..”