Emilie Autumn

Fri 12th Mar, 2010 in Features

Gothic multi-instrumentalist Emilie Autumn has collaborated with Billy Corgan and worked as Courtney Love’s “anarchy violinist”, but on the eve of her first Australian tour, the master of “victoriandustrial” violin pyrotechnics paused to chat to FasterLouder about the tour and her struggles.

Having been a musician your whole life [Autumn began playing violin at age four and left regular school to attend Conservatory College and practice nine hours a day] how much did you have to rely on your own instincts?

I have no actual family, so my choices were my own, and they were actually quite easy to make as I always knew what I wanted – to be a performer, and a world class one. Of course, I had no idea at the start of all this that my performance would end up quite as mad and glittery as it has.

Having faced many challenges throughout your life as a musician, what has been the hardest to deal with or the biggest setback?

The most severe setback was, without a doubt, the major label fight, because I lost a great deal of time, and my spirit was thoroughly crushed after that. Dealing with bipolar disorder affected my ability to survive far more than it did my ability to create. In fact, I’ve created this entire “Asylum world” and all the music that goes with it directly as a result of being mentally ill and locked up, so, while I can’t say that anything is worth the pain of that, I’ve certainly made the ultimate setback into a launching of creativity and career success. Ironic.

From a live performance perspective, how important was the idea of bending the rules or blurring the lines of the traditional ideals of classical music in your formative years, compared to now? Does it still hold that importance or have your views changed now that you have firmly established your classically-infused, theatrically-gothic performances?

What was once an incredible struggle for individuality and nearly all I thought about has since become something I almost never think about – insisting upon absolute freedom and individuality has become that ingrained in me, and I think that represents the attainment of the ultimate goal: fearlessness.

As cliché as it may be, “it’s all about the music” seems to continue to echo around musician and audience circles alike, rather than considering a live performance to have both equal parts audio and visual elements. How do you balance, or unbalance, those elements in your show?

I simply don’t care any more about the people who don’t “get it,” because, 100% of the time, those that think it should be “all about the music” have never seen my show. Once they do, they don’t question it. Both myself and my band have massive respect for theatre and all that it takes to create a true and complete entertainment, and so I can be completely honest and say that my record is all about the music, but the show is most definitely not. The show is about the show.

Being this the first time yourself and your backing band, The Bloody Crumpets, have ventured to our shores, do you have any tricks up your sleeve for ‘breaking the ice’ with new audiences? What kind of expectations, if any, do you have for your ‘Spreading the Plague’ Australian tour?

In a perverse way, I think of it almost as a home coming in that we have been asked by fans for years to come and perform in Australia, but this is the first time we are actually able to, and so getting to meet and perform for all of the Plague Rats [fans] who have been waiting for so long is very exciting. I’m just glad that I am still at the point where these things, world travel and attacking new countries and such, are still thrilling to me, and are certainly not things I take for granted. The Plague spreading will be rampant and we will be recruiting for the Asylum Army, because, as all good Plague Rats know, if you are not with us, you are against us.

There is a core group of girls which make up the current Bloody Crumpets but you also have Bloody Crumpets bases throughout Europe as well. How has the dynamic changed or developed with any additions or losses of members? Are there any plans on recruiting or being open to any additional Australian Crumpets?

We do have Crumpets all over the world, and our Asylums are full of them, but the core group on stage with me right now is the Asylum Dream Team, and I’ve got no plans to recruit in the near future. We are all the best of friends and are quite inseparable.

You have an extremely strong DIY ethic, from writing, recording and producing your music, running your own business and designing your own costumes and extravagant set designs. Out of everything you’ve aimed to achieve, which process has had the biggest learning curb and is there anything that you feel you haven’t quite mastered yet?

There are a million things I haven’t yet mastered, but I’ll take especial care to make sure that you will never know about it, as I demand mastery from myself before anything is shown to the world. I suppose set building was a bit of a challenge in that so much knowledge of building materials, tools, and chemicals is necessary, but the beauty of that is that, now, not only do I have beautiful things to climb around on during the show, I have an Asylum cell full of power tools. Not bad at all.

In previous interviews, you have mentioned that you draw more inspiration from books and stories you’ve read as opposed to music you hear or listen to. Which authors or genres are you most attracted to and find most inspiring?

Shakespeare, obviously, then Wilde, Poe, the Bronte sisters, Jane Austin, the list goes on.

What are you most looking forward to on this tour and for the rest of the year?

Being able to hold my book, The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, in my paws and hand it directly to the fans. That is everything to me. Everything.

Emilie Autumn’s debut Australian tour

Thursday 18th March – Metro Theatre, Sydney
Friday 19th March – The Esplanade Hotel, Melbourne
Saturday 20th March – The Zoo, Brisbane