I turned up an hour early to Soundcloud x Monkey Shoulders event ft. Alice Ivy, to see Alice jamming out on her guitar and doing a soundcheck while the crew all dash around her placing out all the final touches of the event.
Alice appears to be nonchalant about the fact she’s playing at sound clouds first ever event here in Australia. After doing her soundcheck, Alice ducked into the green room to eat before her show and I soon followed behind her to have a quick chat.
Walking into the green room Alice’s crew were all chilling out and the place smelled like food, proper can’t wait to sink your teeth into it food.. none of this “I’ll eat a salad” nonsense.
We sat down at a circular table and joked over the fact I couldn’t wait for the tacos to start coming around, and got straight into the interview. When talking to Alice, its clear to see she is super chilled about her rising popularity, she’s just here to create music and have a good time doing it. She’s wearing a boiler suit and sneakers, with no makeup on her face and seems super relaxed about what we can chat about.
Check out the questions and answers below !!
Favourite colour?
Yellow
Lucky number?
7 – everybody says that. (she laughs)
First album you ever got?
oh my god, Delta Goodrem – Innocent Eyes.
Dog or cat?
Dog.
City life or country life?
At heart – city life but I love the country for a break.
Favourite fast food chain?
Woah, oh my god thats really hard – probably … Schnitz and Nandos.
Favourite festival to go to?
Splore festival in New Zealand – in a comfortable spot in the crowd.
How many tattoos do you have? And what is the story behind them?
I only have one – its my family dog Lexi, I took a photo of her with her paw on a bag of nuggets and I wanted it on my arm.
If you weren’t a musician, what would you be doing right now?
I can’t answer that – couldn’t think of doing anything else
In the world of social media, do you love it or hate it?
I love and hate it – I find Tik Tok hilarious and I love memes, but I hate how much time I spend on it.
What’s a normal day look like for you?
Every day is different – I have no routine because I’m always travelling. My ideal day is waking up having a coffee, go to the studio, go out for lunch and have my partner cook me dinner.
When in the studio do you have a certain routine that you go through to create a song? What is it?
A lot of what I do is very different – I usually find a sound I like and work off of that.
Once you’re in that writing bubble, do you shut people out or are you the type that can let people in on ideas as they’re happening?
Music for me is a really collaborative process, I like sharing ideas, I feel like you get more out of a song.
Im a perfectionist – I won’t stop until its perfect.
Chasing Stars is one of your most popular songs, what is your favourite song of yours?
In My Mind – I like the vibe. Its easy going, euphoric.
Your musical guilty pleasure?
Coldplay – I actually really like their early stuff.
One artist you’re dying to collaborate with?
Uhh, I mean.. theres heaps. Out of Australia id love to collaborate with Kaiit, Sampa the Great. I’d love to write a song with Lizzo. There are so many sick artists out there.
When creating music, do you also visualise video clips and story lines or is it purely on sound?
I do visualise a story – if we’re writing a song, we’re always like this would be sick if we did this and had heaps of motorbikes or shot this at this location. It definitely helps the creative process.
Go to instrument?
Guitar.
A genre of music you wish you could do.. but just can’t seem to?
Jazz, thats one thing I was learning in high school but I grew out of it and now I have a really good appreciation for it, especially jazz keyboardists. I also wish I could rap, that’d be sick.
Lady Gaga outside of music is known for her theatrics – outside of music, what would you want people to know you for?
Being genuine, I feel like it’s really important to be honest and real when creating music – it sounds cheesy but I want people to feel like they’re my friend.
Ever had your heart broken? Who broke it and how many songs did you write about it?
I haven’t hadn’t my hear broken before! Losing my dog was so hard. But relationship wise I haven’t had my heart broken – which is crazy.
Have you ever released a song hoping that ONE particular person will hear it?
Always. Yeah yeah, all the time.
Your biggest musical influence?
I think maybe Frank Ocean. Groundbreaking and different and pure, its so special. I think Blonde is the greatest album ever released.
In terms of electronic music I really love Bonobo and Kaytranada.
But then also soul music – etta james, I love that big soul sound.
I read that it was your family that got you into music, would you say they continue to inspire you to create?
Uhm, yeah i guess. I learnt guitar of any uncle and my Grandma used to play piano and we’d sing along with her. My immediate family are so supportive, they inspire me to work harder.
Describe your fashion?
I usually wear a lot of kicks, I like to be really comfortable all time, sports wear style.
Why the name Alice Ivy? How did you come up with it?
A few years ago when I hadn’t started my career, I was just doing bedroom producing, my friend said a dj had pulled out at a uni night and asked if I wanted to do a beat set or something. I needed a name and my full name is really German and didn’t have a lot of class to it. I really like Alice, I thought it was really cool and my first name is Annika. I used to play in this band called Ivy and the Sting.. so I took the Ivy out of that and became Alice Ivy. It’s really boring and last minute, so yeah, it stuck. Lame story!
The biggest highlight in your career so far?
I’d probably say playing Splendour In The Grass, that was a really big show and so many people came early to see me.
Your goal festival to perform at?
Coachella! Or Fuji rock actually, that’d be fun.
What can we expect on your next album?
Lots of collaborations – I’ve matured a lot since my fist record as a producer – it’s got some strong writing on it, yeah I’m really excited about it.