Ecca Vandal's debut is packed full of attitude - and you can see it for yourself when she supports Frank Carter on tour this December. Hey Ecca, your ne...
Get more Dork
Sessions · Playlists · Behind the scenes
Ecca Vandal's debut is packed full of attitude - and you can see it for yourself when she supports Frank Carter on tour this December. Hey Ecca, your new single ‘Broke Days, Party Nights' is great - tell us about how it came together. Me and my co-writer/producer Rich "Kidnot" Buxton were at our home studio, and we were playing around with this synth, and this weird 16 note pattern came out. We were like, "Hey, that's cool let's drop a beat to that." We never know where my tunes are going to end up, but I think we were initially thinking of going in a hectic electro direction but it ended up being a straight-up sort of punk tune instead. How did you develop your style as a musician? What were your early influences? When I was younger, I was all about Jazz. I loved Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Miles, Coltrane, all the greats. My sisters who were older were listening to only R'n'B and hip-hop, so that started creeping into my psyche. I remember hearing, I think it might have been Nas's 'The World Is Yours' and thinking, "Hey, these tunes sound like Jazz but kinda "new" and I really like that. As I got into my late teens, I guess my thoughts towards music shifted. Although I still loved Jazz, I didn't want to write music in a style that's already been executed perfectly 50 years ago. So I started listening to more hip-hop that led to reggae, which led to ska, and that led to punk. When did you first realise you wanted to make music? There was always music around the house and in the family when I was growing up. Sri Lankans love to have a sing and a dance, but it certainly isn't encouraged as a career choice. I was writing little ditties back then as kid quietly in my bedroom. It wasn't until I finished high school and I secretly auditioned for the VCA [Victorian College of Arts] and got accepted and started studying music where I started to get into writing my originals. How did you get yourself from those early days writing music, to supporting Queens of the Stone Age on tour and releasing your debut album through Island Records? Hard work. I think I've worked 12 to 16 hour days for the last three years straight on my music. So I think when you live it you just believe in it and put it out to the world. I guess then it lands in the hands of people who dig it and want to work with you, which is awesome and I'm super grateful for that opportunity. My team has a lot to do with it as well; they help put it out to the write people who may want to give you a shot. I mean that's how I got the Queens support. My team put my music in the hands of the band, and they seem to dig my tunes which is crazy!
"We never know where my tunes are going to end up."
What was it like touring with Queens? Were their fans into what you're doing? It felt good to do that tour; it was a real honour. The band seemed like they were great guys, who were at the top of their game. I also learnt a lot from watching their whole production to just watching them play from side of stage. As far as the fans digging my set? I felt like it went down well. I mean, every support act knows that the headliner's fans are not there to see you. So you just gotta get up there and do your thing. The applause after the first song is always a good sign, and the applause was solid, so I was like, okay cool I'm in with this crowd for the next 30 mins. Do you have any stories from your time on the road with them? Ahh not really it was all pretty chill. The only thing that comes to mind that cracks me up thinking back on was at our Melbourne show. Me and my band, we were side of stage with all our instruments out waiting to do a sound check, and Queens hadn't even sound checked themselves, and it was getting close to open doors. Josh walks out with his cane, compliments my set from the night before and then proceeds to tap my drummer's cymbals with his cane, smiles and says: "There's your fucking sound check." I burst out laughing cause it was brutally brilliant. Yeah, we didn't get to soundcheck that night, which is always brutal! So your debut album - how did you find putting it together? Where did you record? It was a labour of love. Rich "Kidnot" and I recorded the majority of it from our small living room in our two bedroom apartment. Ten out of the twelve songs were all written and recorded there. We both played pretty much all the instruments on the songs, so it was a pretty massive process, but we loved it. We did collab with a few people on the three of the 12 tracks. Rich and I went to NYC and did a session with Darwin Deez at his apartment in Brooklyn where 'Your Orbit' was born. We loved working with Darwin he's an amazing talent. We took that track from NYC back to Melbourne where Rich and I worked it up some more and got an amazing MC, Sampa the Great to collab on it as well. 'Future Heroine' was another song that was a collab session outside my living room. I went over to New Zealand and did a writing session with Mike Elizondo, and 'Future Heroine' came from that session. It was a really speedy session; I tracked the original vocals in like 20 minutes, so it was very fast but a great experience. Again I took that track back to Melbs and worked it up little more in my home studio, but I kept the original vocals. Richie produced it and changed the instrumental quiet a lot but keep the original arrangement and vocals from Elizondo. We also worked with Moonbase on a tune called 'Dead Wait', which was sick. Love Moonbase he's a really creative and vibey guy to work with. There is another jam off the record that goes by the name 'Price of Living' which Rich and I wrote, but we wanted to get other players to put their vibe on it. So we got Luke Henry from Violent Soho to put down some bass, my live guitarist Stacey Gray and live drummer Dan Maio added some additional guitars and percussion. Also, Dennis Lyxzen (Refused) and Jason Aalon Butler (Letlive, The Fever 333) are featured vocalist on the track as well. It was mixed by Hadyn Buxton in his studio which is out the back of his parent's house, so it was pretty freaking DIY for the most part. What about the record are you most proud of? I'm proud that this record is a window into who I am (without trying to sound corny). Stylistically this record moves all over the place, which was unconsciously deliberate. I'm really open to and listen to all styles of music, and I think this record is a true representation of that. What do you most enjoy writing about? Are your tracks generally autobiographical? I don't think there is anything in particular that I enjoy writing about as such. It all spills out onto paper, really. A lot of the tunes are autobiographical; some tunes are about experiences of very close friends of mine, who are cool with me telling their story. Other tunes have come about from watching the news or reading the paper and just seeing how backwards the world still is. Do you have any plans to come to the UK? December baby, I can hardly wait! Supporting Frank Carter and Basement! Taken from the November issue of Upset, out now. Ecca Vandal’s self-titled debut album is out now.
