Purple haired rock goddess Anastasia Elliot continues to be a trailblazer in the Indie Art Rock world as she debuts the latest release off her highly anticipated full length visual album La Petite Mort. The single entitled “Masquerade” calls for the death of the inauthentic self and challenges others to show what they have been hiding. Throughout the various pieces of visual content surrounding this release, Anastasia explores many different types of "masquerades." To begin, the single's artwork, a collaboration between Anastasia and famed artist Cacho Falcon, explores a very vulnerable and exposed abstract interpretation of her feelings about her art through the medium of body painting.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Hello Anastasia Elliot. When was the idea to go into music born?
Hello! Thank you so much for this lovely interview! I can't remember a time where I wasn't in music. Music is who I am and I can't imagine going through any aspect of my life without being guided and driven by music. I have never had an alternative path or desire to do anything else with my life. My medium says that I have been in music in every one of my past lives so I guess it is just the very essence that makes me.
What do you use when producing music?
From a gear standpoint, this record was created using only analog instruments. We didn't want any programming on the album. I had lots of cool synthesizers, old pianos, a harpsichord and many brilliant musicians come into the studio to capture these sounds! I went to the craft store and some thrift stores with my co-producer and we got lots of random items and fun things that we created sounds with! Most objects can be used to create music if you just use your imagination! DAW wise, we did the pre-production in Studio-One and then recorded and mixed the album in ProTools.
Your latest song is 'Masquerade'. Can you tell us more about the making of it and if there were any unusual things happening during the process?
Yes! Masquerade is the fourth song off of my upcoming visual album, La Petite Mort. I actually wrote this song a long time ago and it was one of the first songs that I wrote where I really felt like I was tapping into who I was going to be as an artist sonically. I wrote it as a dance song and the demo track didn't have any live instruments on it at all. I played a big show back in 2012 and I didn't have any tracks to play with so I taught a bunch of musicians the parts I wanted them to play and when I heard the song as a rock song, there was no turning back. I wound up writing the operatic adlib bridge live on stage. When I decided to include it on the album, it was really fun to reimagine it through the eyes of an entirely different sonic genre. Another interesting fact about the recording process is that we recorded a really intricate and beautiful string section and then wound up scrapping it because it didn't fit. On my hard drive lives a really awesome string version of this song. Maybe I will release it someday as a bonus.
What was the most difficult challenge you faced?
I have faced many difficult challenges in my life. Overcoming my plane crash is definitely one of my biggest. I also had vocal surgery a few years ago and had to be silent for 75 days. All of the traumas that I have been through have just become integrated into who I am. We are thrown new challenges every day that we have to learn how to navigate. I have chosen to see challenges as opportunities for growth and expansion of some kind. The big challenges like a plane crash or the loss of my voice sound shiny and crazy, and they definitely were, but I also face challenges daily like fear of failure and self worth and self sabotage that I am always actively working on and those "smaller" challenges are just as difficult in their own way.
What does your music studio look like? What is included in it?
My music studio is like a small purple cave with no windows and it's full of oddities and treasures. I have my upright piano that I learned to play on at the end of the room and a pretty crystal chandelier. The walls are decorated with framed pictures of glittery eyes and a poster from a Coldplay show I went to in Dallas. I have a keyboard and a large Marshall amp and some guitars hanging on the wall. Grey velvet curtains cover the wall behind me. On my production desk I have "the book of extraordinary things" and "the thinker's thesaurus" and other various books of poetry. I have a piece of Kryptonite from the Superman museum, squishy bread and garlic to squeeze when stressed, a music box, a green army man, some crystals. My piano is covered in props from my music videos and other trinkets that inspire me. There is an anti gravity bean bag and a fluffy blanket. It's usually messier than I would like for it to be. I should probably get some drawers. My studio is basically the embodiment of me in a room as it should be.
How do you know when a work is finished?
A lot of artists say that they don't feel like a work is ever really "finished," but I don't feel that way. I can't really explain how I know that it is finished because it's just a feeling and a knowing. It's usually after I have filled any space that was too open and after I have tried all of the ideas I can think of. I just know when it's ready! I have to feel excited and moved by it!
What are your long term goals?
To be touring the world, meeting fans all over the globe, making records and art constantly, to live somewhere beautiful and travel often. My goal is to have a happy and creatively fulfilled life. I want to build my Purple Cult into an incredible online community of creative people. I want to write books that hit the best seller charts, I want to do lots more speaking gigs, I want to have songs in film and TV. I would love to someday own a record label and develop other artists. I am always dreaming big and coming up with new long term goals to add to the pile.
Do you have a mentor or coach?
I don't formally have a mentor or coach but I have many people in my life in high places who inspire me and give me advice. I try and surround myself with people who are doing the things I want to be doing or have some hand in the arenas I want to be in. Being an artist is such a personal thing I more so lean on mentorships in other areas like business development and how to handle certain situations outside of my realm of knowledge.
What are your biggest achievements in your career?
Finishing this incredibly ambitious visual album as an independent artist! Hosting my own panel at NAMM. Packing some venues and having great shows! I can list plenty of things that I am proud of in my career so far but finishing art is in my eyes the greatest achievement. I love getting to see something finished that I created. There is no greater feeling. When it reaches lots of people or lands a cool opportunity, that is just the best bonus.
Where is the best place in the world you’ve ever been to?
I think that would be a tie between Tanzania in Africa and Hangzhou in China. Both of those places were extraordinary and gorgeous. I loved being immersed in different cultures, eating new foods, and seeing the nature of other parts of our world. I have lately been feeling a real itch to travel somewhere incredible.