Ella Hooper [KiLLiNg HEiDi] - (Pictures: Dolly magazine, April 2000)
Pictures from Dolly magazine, issue: April 2000


 

Ella Hooper, aged 17, is definitely one of the most amazing people I know of in the world. She left high school to be in a rock band with her older brother, Jesse Hooper, and two other guys Warren Jenkin and Adam Pedretti. The band's "Killing Heidi" and they got a record contract after they won the Unearthed competition on Triple J with the song "Kettle".

Below I've got a couple of interviews with Ella from some magazines... I hope after reading them you can understand why I admire her so much.

Big Hit magazine, April 2000
Ella and Jesse Hooper from Killing Heidi tell us all about their No. 1 hit "Mascara"...

"I was actually out in the backyard of my dad's house up in the country when I wrote 'Mascara'," says Ella. "It was a nice sunny day about a year ago and I was with my guitar. I had the little verse feel - doo-da-doo-doo - and I had some lyrics too. Jess joined me later and came up with the chords and helped me finish the song by giving it a chorus and a middle section.
  "I knew I wanted the song to be about image," Ella explains, "a song about how people slap labels on themselves and say, 'I'm this or I'm that', and 'That's what I am, that's my identity. I'm a Goth' or 'I'm a Sporty' or 'I'm a Barbie Girl' or 'I'm a raver'. I was just thinking some people take it way too far and don't allow themselves to even meander outside of what they think they are. They just label themselves and that's what 'Mascara' is about.
   "There's a few lines that best describe the song. I like All dressed in black/Won't take care of that/Don't be stupid girl. I had a few friends who were doing the whole Goth thing and were like, 'No, I have to wear my black!' I've always been in school wearing bright happy colours, like funky bright things and they were like, 'Why don't you like Marilyn Manson?' Not that I don't really like him, but that was the look and everything. It's sort of like the tokenism of being sad too, like in the beginning of the song, Stumbling along looking at nothing/Because your eyes are always on your feet/If you ever looked up/You'd see the sun and the morning/You wonder why things are so bleak."
  Jesse explains that the single is different from the version on their album, "Reflector". "On the album there's the real version. The single has been edited for radio," he says. "For example, the intro goes for two bars on the single and on the album it goes for four."
"Yeah, and the chorus is twice as long on the album," adds Ella. "They have to change things like that because our songs are too long. 'Mascara' is quite an epic, it goes on and on. Even on radio it's four minutes and they're always like, 'It's too long, it's too long!' "

[The Lyrics to 'Mascara']
Stumbling along looking at nothing
Because your eyes are always on your feet
If you ever looked up
You'd see the sun and the morning
You wonder why things are so bleak

[Chorus]
Boring and old
Are the things you're told
About the outside world
And just wearing black
Won't take care of that
Don't be stupid girl

Walking and always talking
But never listening
You just kick back
So how do you handle
All the bullshit
That gets thrown in your way

[Repeat Chorus]

[Chorus 2]
You're down on your knees
Trying to appease
Somebody's mixed up statement
'Cause in not much time
Your beliefs are that lies
Will be left by the pavement

They'll be left by the way

I've been doing some thinking
About all your preaching
And I don't want to know
'Cause that's just conforming
And that is not what you want to be

[Repeat Chorus]
Don't be stupid
[Repeat Chorus 2]
They'll be left by the way

Oh left by the pavement

Oh don't be so stupid girl
You're in your world
All dressed in black
Won't take care of that
Don't be be so stupid girl

(Words and music: E. Hooper/J. Hooper)

Dolly magazine, April 2000
making Mascara
At just 17, Ella Hooper has endured so many interviews since Killing Heidi's first single Weir put them on the map, you'd think she was Madonna. But what can you expect? the song not only catapulted itself to the top 10, but the band's second single, Mascara, hit number one. Now, with their brand new album Reflector on the shelves, Ella can be pretty sure her life in the interview chair has only just begun.
  But with Dolly shooting the questions, will Ella settle for your average run-of-the-mill interview? Absolutely not. She has more on her mind than band quirks, stage techniques and the secret behind their name (it's loosely and symbollicaly based on Heidi, the novel). Today, Ella wants to talk teen. Because aside form actually being one, Ella really understands the pressures of growing up, standing strong, and figuring out who you are.
  "I've done interviews where they're really generic and it's not about anything. I want this to have a bit of substance," she says. And it does! Unknowingly, she answers many of the letters sent by you, our readers, to the Dolly office, about body image and feeling good about yourself.
  She says, "I'm really lucky, because I was very empowered from the age of six. My parents are really good like that. They are totally accepting, broad-minded peope. And I've always been around all kinds of people, not just ones who might be a bit more conservative in the way they feel, act or dress," she says.
  So what happens when she sees her peers struggling to conform? She gets angry. She gets sad. And she writes songs.
  "With Mascara, I was so in the thick of high school, and high school became just a total fashion parade. Really, it's one of the worst places to be when you're going through all these hormonal changes and growing up. It's all about what you look like and what you are or aren't wearing. The song explains that you've got to go with what you feel is right on the outside, and on the inside just be who you are."

early days
Back in her high school drama class, getting into character was never a major hassle. For Ella, that is. But sometimes it seemed not everyone shared her level of comfort. "I would be one of the only ones getting up there and letting go, and not caring about looking like an idiot in front of a whole class. Even at discos, everyone just stood against the walls, and I was like, 'Let's go!' I know so many kids in my country town high school, they didn't even want to express themselves at all."
  Don't get her wrong. Ella's had her share of self-consciousness. In fact, she was often the victim of foolish name-calling - "witch" and "lezzo" stand out. "I used to get called all sorts of things 'cos I looked different, and probably acted different too. And even though I'm not a witch and I'm not a lesbian - and there is nothing wrong with either of those things - I'm still angry that they used them as insults."
  But it wasn't only comments from strangers that ticked her off. Sometimes they came from friends. "I knew people who were into that whole thing there it's fashionable to be depressed. And I thought, 'NO! It is not fashionable to be depressed.' It's a really serious issue, and when you aren't, you shouldn't actl ike you are."
  Many of her friends didn't realise that, according to Ella, by dressing in black they were still conforming to a lifestyle that hid their own individuality. Not that conforming is completely foreign to Ella. Even she understands the desire to belong.
  "I've done it for ages, and I'm certainly not saying that you're a weakling if you do. Humans are pack animals - we like to fit into a group and feel secure.
  My friends are very close and are sort of into the same things as me. But we're all still individuals. Imagine how boring it would be if we all popped out as carbon copies! My advice? Don't just be what the stereotype wants you to be.

boys, body and the band
In Ella's eyes, being a part of Killing Heidi has proven to be a dream. While she never sang madly into her hairbrush, she does admit, "I was the girl on top of the table in the classroom, pissing everyone off because I wouldn't shut up."
  And while life in the band has been quite an adventure on its own, being the only girl is another experience altogether. "It's really rough sometimes. That's why I'm strong on issues like body image and self-esteem. But the guys sometimes don't get what I'm talking about, and probably never will, through no fault of their own."
  Not that guys are completely oblivious to these concerns. In fact, Ella says guys are just as much a part of image building as girls are. But her take on guys seems just as strong as her will to be an individual.
  "I've always thought of the way guys looked at me as either they really love the way I am or really hate it. ANd I only ever hung out with the guys who loved it. There were a large number of boys who thought, 'Oh what a trollop,' because I would never wear a dress or a skirt. That's how crazy it is today."
  But, as she sees it, there's no point in changing yourself just so a guy will like you. Because while you may get the guy, he'll be liking hte person who isn't really there. "You've got to find someone who likes you for you. I love my boyfriend's personality - he's wild and wacky, but he's not really out-there, like I am. He's quiet." But I know what he's like as a person, and he knows and likes the real me."

time for real change
Being accepted for who you are, not what you look like, won't happen overnight. This much we know. Issues of image have plagued society since the beginning of time. But music idols like Ella are sure to shove us in the right direction, and songs like Mascara have messages that can only inspire.
  "For some, Mascara could be really revolutionary, and I hope that for some it is," she says. "I think it would be great if it becomes a small step in a long line of image changing."
  As a songwriter and a feminist, Ella has her work cut out for her.
  But just because she's an inspiration to many girls doesn't mean she doesn't have a few of her own idols. "I love strong women who have their own identity and their own ambition. I listen to a lot of Ani DiFranco, and she's very empowering. But she is a lot more forceful in the way she puts that across than me. Because I am a teenage girl, and I still feel those pressues 100 per cent whenever I walk outside.
  "Ani really disses girls who aren't empowered, but I don't think that is right. It's not their fault - there's still lots of things that propel the victim you are. But I really don't think you should construct your day around the way you're going to improve yourself.
  Now, we return to the Dolly mailroom. When the endless questions have been sorted out and served, what's the big message behind Ella's words?
  "I don't have the big message," she admits. "I just want to be a part of the changing process. But I say, just relax, and start digging what you've got. I don't think anyone should have to conform. Wear what you want, and more so, be who you want to be."

Ladies and gentlemen: Ella Hooper - (Picture: Dolly magazine, April 2000)