Join us as we Get To Know LA Faithfull, a Melbourne-based songstress who’s just dropped her new single ‘Heart Back’.
We featured the track, produced by the boys from MSquared, on the site a couple of weeks back and we liked it so much that we decided we needed to scratch a little deeper to find out more.
01. Name : LA. Faithfull (Lisa Anne Faithfull).
02. Where are you based? Born and bred in Melbourne on the Mornington Peninsula, but I’ve called St Kilda home for the last sox years. I love being by the water, growing up the beach was always there so I guess when I got my own place, I was like I need to be able to smell the ocean breeze!
03. How did you get your start in music? Apparently, my mum says I came out singing haha! I just always remember being drawn to music. There were always records playing in the house growing up, my parents have a huge vinyl collection. I just remember the sounds of Janis or Joe Cocker floating through the house constantly. My dad also played guitar so we’d jam together a lot!
I started entering Battle Of The Bands and things at school at a really young age. Actually the funniest thing is – I recently found a newsletter from high school in a box in my cupboard, and it had the winners, Lisa Faithfull (me) in 2nd place and Michael Paynter in 1st place. And Michael Paynter ended up starting Msquared Productions and is now one of my producers! Haha smallest world ever!
I just remember always using music as my way of processing the things that happened to me. It’s a great way for an awkward kid with anxiety to deal with everything! I played in every band I could at school, went to Uni and studied music and played in every band I could there too! I played in so many different bands over the years, I’ve been the lead singer, band manager, booking agent, tour manager – I’ve done it all, and I guess that’s when I was like I just want to focus on being the artist and telling the stories and that’s when I started writing songs as LA. Faithfull and I teamed up with the boys at Msquared Productions.
04. Give us five words to best describe you as an artist. Colourful, Unique, Raw, Honest, Emotional.
05. Tell us a little bit about your sound and how it developed. My sound is very much inspired by my musical journey so far. Vocally I am inspired by powerful and emotive vocals. Growing up I always listened to really expressive vocalists and I was very inspired by the soul greats like Etta James and Aretha Franklin. Anyone who can reduce an audience to tears I remember looking up to!
As a teenager I listened to a lot of emo music hahaha, I loved anything about a breakup! I felt like they understood me as a teenager. I was probably Dashboard Confessional’s biggest fan! More recently I’ve been drawn to pop vocalists like Sia and Mo, who I guess have a similar vocal power to the soul greats I grew up listening to – probably why I’m drawn to them!
Naturally I’ve always written lyrics that sort of fit pop music, and I’ve always written sad songs much easier than happy songs. I guess I find it easier to connect with sadness – I even remember at a very young age a girl from a local school passed away and I wrote a song for her – I was 12 when I wrote it. The sound that LA. Faithfull is now I guess I would call indie pop.
I knew exactly how I wanted ‘Heart Back’ to sound when I took it to Msquared Productions, I told them the story of the song and how I wanted it to feel and I just remember them playing it back to me and I was like “It’s me, it’s my heart coming back at me through the speakers!” I’ve never had that feeling before in any song I’ve ever written, I knew it was special.
06. What’s your earliest musical memory? I was eight and my parents took me to a gig. It was at this little bar and the room was filled with super tough biker dudes… and me haha. Anyway the band left the stage and the room floods with like a blue light, and Billy Thorpe starts doing his rendition of ‘Over The Rainbow’ (if you haven’t heard it listen to it, it’s flawless!)
I remember looking around and all these grown men were crying… I remember thinking this is SO COOL!!! How cool is music!!! That’s what I want to do, I want to sing onstage and make people feel it like this… I was eight, haha. It’s also why I got ‘Over The Rainbow’ tattooed on my forearm to remind me of that moment!
07. Who have been your musical influences? There are so so many! The jazz and soul greats, right through to Sia and most recently Lady Gaga’s new album – it’s so raw and real!
08. What are your favourite songs of all time? ‘Over The Rainbow’ – it’s actually the first tattoo I ever got on my forearm; the lyrics and music of it! ‘Stand By Me’ – It’s just is lyrically so beautiful. ‘MMMBop’ – Hahaha I loved it as a kid so it makes me smile! ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ – it’s just stunning and Joe Cocker’s emotive performance is incredible.
09. Where’s your favourite place to listen to music? In the car, windows down! I also like to write my lyrics in the car, I do my best thinking there!
10. Who are your go-to artists when you’re feeling : Happy? I tend to go to all my old ’90s faves. It’s either old school R&B like the duets – Ja rule and Ashanti haha OR Yellowcard ‘Ocean Avenue’ is my other happy song haha!
Sad? Damien Rice. Oh his song ‘The Blower’s Daughter’ is my go-to.
Introspective? Ray Lamontagne (his song ‘Trouble’ is my fave, I swear I’ve listened to it so many times I’ve lost track. Actually the whole album is incredible and his delivery of lyrics feels like he has lived a million lifetimes, so beautiful!)
Exhausted? Normally if I’m exhausted I like silence haha.
11. What was the first album you ever bought? Ahahaha Hanson’s ‘Middle Of Nowhere’, and I still listen to it – it’s rad!
12. Give us a little fun fact about yourself that people might not know. For three years my grandparents didn’t know I had any tattoos!! I would go to every family event covered head to toe including scarves and gloves! Even on 40 degree summer days!
13. What would your chosen career be if music wasn’t an option? Professional Snowboarder!!! Haha I love snowboarding!
14. What’s the best advice you’ve been given in your career? If you love it then keep going!! One day you will write the song that will change everything!!! Until then just keep writing!!
15. If you could trade places with any artist in the world right now, who would it be? Easy! MØ! She is playing all the incredible festivals and getting to do the most amazing collabs with all the best producers, so rad!
16. Tell us about your latest release. ‘Heart Back’ is my latest single. I feel like it’s the most honest thing I’ve ever written. It’s about the moment you fall apart when something tragic happens and you lose tiny little parts of you that you feel like will never come back! It’s such a personal track for me, I took it to Msquared (my producers) and was like “These lyrics are so close to my heart, it has to be sad but beautiful.”
I just remember the moment they played it to me and it sounds so cheesy but it was literally like meeting myself for the first time, I was just sitting there and this story was coming out of the speakers that was so raw, I just bawled my eyes out. I guess I relive the heartbreak every time I hear the track, but I’m so proud of how honest it is! I’m yet to perform it live and its definitely going to be very raw!
17. What do your future plans involve? I’ve just recorded my debut EP and that will be coming out later this year. I’ve spent about six months working with Msquared on the tracks and I am so excited to share it with the world! I am currently putting together my live band for shows, I cannot wait to get back onstage, it’s always felt like home! And connecting with a live audience is what we as artists live for!
18. Where can our audience catch you live? I will be announcing my tour very very soon!! We are just in rehearsal phase! But I’ll be going on the road very soon! So audiences can keep an eye out on my Instagram page and Facebook page for the tour announcements!!! I can’t wait!
FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/LA.Faithfullmusic/
INSTAGRAM : https://www.instagram.com/la_faithfullmusic/
TWITTER : http://www.twitter.com/L_A_Faithfull
SOUNDCLOUD : https://soundcloud.com/la_faithfullmusic
YOUTUBE : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ0Npr0nV3U
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