An Interview With the Fast-Rising Australian Group, ELIZA & THE DELUSIONALS!

Get to know all about the chart-topping Australian exports ELIZA & THE DELUSIONALS! The group is currently made up of Eliza Klatt – singer (sometimes guitar), Kurt Skuse – guitarist, Ashley “Tex” Martin – guitarist and Ruby Lee – bassist.

They have been busy touring with Silversun Pickups as their main support throughout the west coast. Later this month, they will head out on tour with Beabadoobee and Taylor Janzen on the SiriusXM Alt Nation Advanced Placement Tour with nine dates beginning March 23rd in Atlanta, GA. Eliza & The Delusionals will also be performing at Napa Valley Bottlerock Festival on May 24th.

Landing a recent #1 position on SiriusXM’s defining alternative rock station Alt Nation with its U.S. debut single “JUST EXIST,“ Eliza & the Delusionals prove that its explosive U.S. debut isn’t a fluke. Right away, the track amassed over a million streams in just a few week’s time. It was produced by Kon Kersting (Mallrat, WAAX, Big Scary, Tones and I).

Check out “Just Exist” here- http://www.smarturl.it/JustExist

Eliza and the Delusionals’ new music introduces a more mature subtlety to their sound, with front-woman Eliza Klatt ruminating on finding a balance between creativity and good mental health against a slowly building and insistent melody. After long stints on the road, they consistently prove their professionalism with their expertly crafted live performance.

Their forthcoming EP, “A STATE OF LIVING IN AN OBJECTIVE REALITY” will be released later this month on March 20th.

Read our All Access review of their recent LA concert here.

Connect With Eliza & The Delusionals Online Here- WEBSITE

Learn more about Eliza & The Delusionals in the following All Access interview-

When it comes to your music, what are you most excited about for 2020?

I’m definitely excited to finally get our new EP out. We’ve had these songs in our live set for so long now and we recorded them close to a year ago, so it’ll feel really good to get them out. I’m also keen to focus more on the newer songs we’ve been working on as well.

Can you recall the moment when you thought you could be in this group together?

It really just happened over time. Tex joined the band super last minute when I needed someone for a tour. He originally was just going to play for a few shows but it worked so well he ended up staying in the band. Kurt and I have known each other since we were kids, and through the music scene at home we reconnected. It just felt right. Ruby is the newest member, and we met her at a perfect time while we were looking to expand the line up. You can really tell – since we have played with so many different members (temporary and more permanent) – the difference between someone who wants to just come along for the ride or someone who is willing to put everything on the line for an opportunity.

Do you find that your band name still represents you and your music today?

I really don’t think so. I think it’s a cool name – it was originally inspired by a Blink 182 lyric – but when I first came up with the name and the vision to start a band I expected it to be more like a solo project. I didn’t really expect to find such like minded people that were as passionate about the music I was writing as I was. But I was lucky enough to find my band mates, and it’s very much the opposite of a solo project now. I think if I could go back in time I would change the name to something less confusing to people.

How do you think your hometown has influenced the sound and how you all carry yourselves in this group? If not, why is that?

Myself and Kurt are from a really small town called Pottsville in NSW, Australia. I feel like being from a small town you get a bit less distracted by things outside of your room. There isn’t a heap to do so you spend a lot of time at home doing things. I think that’s the way I see it anyways, I guess I’m a bit of a home-body. I’m not sure if it’s had a huge influence on the sound but it’s definitely made it easy to stay home and focus on music.

How excited are you to be releasing your forthcoming EP next month? What was it like making this collection?

We’re super excited. It’s called A State of Living in an Objective Reality. Collectively it’s our proudest released. We went through a lot of changes in the band and in our personal lives right before the songs were recorded, so the recording process was a massive creative release for us. We’ve been sitting on the songs for a while – some people might recognise them from our live sets over the past year or so. But it’s just really good to finally have it all together and out into the world. We just hope people enjoy it as much as we do!

How would you say that your tracks “Just Exist” and “Pull Apart Heart” prepare listeners for the rest of the EP? What was the inspiration for these songs?

I feel like the EP is pretty diverse for a five-track release. I think those two singles definitely touch on both ends of the overall sound. Lyrically Just Exist was written about the balance between depression and creativity. It’s a constant bittersweet battle between feeling sad but feeling inspired by it. Pull Apart Heart was written at a time where I had to make a lot of decisions in my personal life, and the line ‘my pull apart heart’ really summed up how I was feeling. The song kind of wrote itself around that.

Generally, how does this group go about writing your music? Do you write together or separately? What is the first step in your music-making process?

It’s usually always been myself with a guitar coming up with the lyrics and structure. It comes together more after it’s been demoed and rehearsed for the live set – everyone put their part into it as a whole. Now it’s a lot more collaborative – which I really like. Kurt and I especially have been working on all of the new music together before bringing it to the band. We’re super excited about the new songs. The first step is usually a lyrical concept or a melody that we really like and it builds from there.

I always like to ask bands if you all hang out socially apart from the music? When you aren’t working on music, do you guys hang out for fun?

We definitely do. They’re my best friends. I know it’s not always the case with bands. I know some bands that live in completely different cities (in Australia it’s like a ten hour drive between each major city) and I don’t know how they do it. We see each other all the time for rehearsals, but we always go and see bands and get dinner and heaps of other stuff. Kurt and I went over to New York for a month and I think that was the longest time we spent away from Tex in over a year.

How do you feel that this band has grown through the years? What has remained the same?

It’s grown and changed so much, especially in the past 12 months. What we are doing right now – although I’ve always dreamed for it to happen – I think we wouldn’t have been ready for it as a band and as individuals. We went through some really tough times as a band over the past two years, but now we’re better than ever and we are in a much better place. Not a lot has remained the same – but I see that as a good thing. You always need change to grow and try new things.

Where do you think you are all happiest- in the studio recording new music, on stage performing or elsewhere?

I think all of it makes us happy. That’s why we do it I guess, because we get to be a part of every environment.  We get to be in a studio for a week but then go overseas and travel for 2 months. It’s a wild lifestyle, but we love it so much.

What do you think makes for an ideal show for this band? What have been some of your favorite shows and venues lately?

A great venue and a great audience. We get a lot of our energy from a crowd that is really into it. We have fun at every show we play but it’s extra special when the crowd is really engaged. We’ve just finished up our first American tour with Silversun Pickups (the best humans in the world, by the way) and every show was incredible. They are so supportive, and they have really lovely fans that turned up super early to every show, which as an opening band coming from the other side of the world it means everything to us.

Where else are you excited to tour this year?

We hope to get up to Canada sometime and see more of the states. There is so much here to do. Then hopefully Europe and UK at some point as well.

How was your tour supporting Silversun Pickups? What were some favorite venues?

We have never been so welcomed by a band and their team on tour. After being on the road for a few weeks with them they became family to us – they are so lovely and kind. Their fan base is great as well. We just had such a great time on tour and we’re so upset it’s over. Some highlight venues for us were definitely The Wiltern in LA and Fox Theatre in Oakland. They’re the biggest stages we’ve ever played on and the venues were stunning.

Where are you looking forward to playing on your Alt Nation Advanced Placement Tour with beabadoobee?

We’re huge fans of beabadoobee. We’ve been listening to her for a really long time, so it’s crazy we get to tour with her. Alt Nation are the reason we’re even here in the first place, so we are very grateful they’ve put us on the Advanced Placement Tour this time around. We are so excited about it.

With all the different social media platforms out there, how do you balance it all? How do you think that social media has impacted this band? How often are you all on your different sites interacting with fans? How have you been able to utilize it through the years?

I think social media is such a great thing for a band to have right now. It’s such a great way to connect with people. When our song first started to get spins on Alt Nation we basically lived that experience through comments on Instagram and YouTube. Although as it is a really great way to connect it still has a lot of negatives. Online bullying is definitely a real thing – and it’s awful. People can use social media as a wall to hide behind while they share hurtful comments. I think as an artist you really have to balance yourself with it and not read too far into it, but you can still have that platform to connect with fans on.

We are currently living through a very trying and politically charged time right now so I am curious to know how you all think being musicians and in this band still gives you the most joy in life today?

The world is crazy – there is definitely a lot going on. I feel very lucky to have a platform with the band that people may feel influenced or inspired by. Music for me personally is like therapy. It’s something I can use to escape all of the wild things happening in life and it’s something I can use to express my emotions when I can’t really explain them. So I think no matter what happens we will always have that and that’s enough for us to keep going on.

What musicians have really been inspiring you all since you first started making music? Who would you still love to work with?

It’s funny – we all have a very diverse background in music. We all have very different tastes, but I think that works in our favour when it comes to making sounds and writing parts. But for me personally, Coldplay were a huge influence. Funnily enough Coldplay was both myself and Kurt’s first concert ever, and I remember after watching them play (I was probably 11 years old) I knew that that was what I wanted to do in life. Other bands that have had a huge impact on the way I think about all aspects of music would be Catfish & the Bottlemen (I have their album artwork tattooed), No Doubt, Paramore to name a few.

What do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people continue to take away from your songs?

The great thing about writing music is that everyone connects to it in really different ways. My favourite thing is reading people’s comments and what the song means to them. It’s probably the complete opposite of what I was thinking about when the song was written but I think that’s amazing. You know when you listen to a song at a point in your life and you just think “wow this is literally written for me right now at this time in my life” and I think that’s the best feeling ever.