Der heurige Valentinstag war ein ganz besonderer für Elle Heedles. Während mehr oder weniger glücklich Verliebte die Blumenläden plünderten, bereitete Elle alles für die Album-Release-Party von Swelle vor. Die Newcomer-Band aus Wien, bestehend aus Elle Heedles (they/them) an Leadgesang und Bass, Lukas Rameder (he/him) an Gitarre und Vocals, Viktor Farkas (they/them) an der Gitarre und Alex Straub (he/him) am Schlagzeug, vertont Elles persönliche Lyrics zu emotionsgeladenen Stücken. Das Debütalbum »Gift Horse« ist Alt-Rock mit Einflüssen aus Shoegaze, Grunge, Midwest-Emo und etwas Country und hat sich bereits am Abend vor der Release-Party auf der Bühne des Chelsea bewiesen. Etwas gemütlicher ging es dann am 14. Februar 2025 im Café Comet zu. Die Besucher*innen verteilten sich an Kaffeetischen, während Elle allein mit der Gitarre in der Mitte des Raumes saß und rührende Akustikversionen aus »Gift Horse« darbot. Die Release-Party teilte sich Swelle mit Ghost Ambulance, die anschließend mit ihrer neuesten EP »tricks for you« auftraten. Noch dazu gab es kleine Aufmerksamkeiten und Nostalgie schürende PEZ-Spender. Im Interview sprach Elle über die ersten Schritte von Swelle und wie’s weitergeht.
skug: First of all, happy belated release day for the debut! How does it feel to have your first album out? How did the final preparations go and how did you celebrate in the end?
Elle Heedles: Thank you so much! 🙂 Getting everything ready for the release has been so hectic that I don’t think it’s hit me, even now, how wonderful it all was. I wanted to make music for my friends, and now, having played for my friends and so many sweet people, my heart is overflowing! I feel like I’ll always be trying to wrap my head around the idea that these songs would mean as much to someone else as they mean to me.
With »Gift Horse« you have succeeded in creating a very special, varied album. The mood changes within just one song, such as in »Chipper«, are particularly striking. What do you look for when you compose your songs? What does a song have to fulfill for you, what should it convey or trigger in you and the audience?
I try my best to follow the song where it tells me to go. If I have to think about it too much then I know it’s not the right direction. As with writing poems, I try to produce as much output as possible, so that some good stuff can hopefully float to the top of the rotting pile of garbage. I guess switching things up mid-song doesn’t feel out of character for me, as in classical music this happens all the time, and I’ve been playing cello classically since I was way little.
How did you get into music and into your band in the first place?
My mom is an incredible pianist and singer and music teacher, so it made sense that my siblings and I would play instruments. Not sure how I picked the cello, but it was what carried me through adolescence… I learned to play other instruments along the way. Making music and writing poems is how I spend my free time, it’s how I self-soothe and problem-solve. When I got fired from my last job, I had six months of unemployment benefits to give writing an album a shot, so that’s what I did.
Which bands did you grow up with and were you influenced by?
It was usually the radio playing in the house or in the car, at least until streaming platforms became a thing, and then I was listening to stuff like The Strokes and Eels. I loved Bon Iver, I used to listen to his titular album every day on my way to school. I think Justin Vernon was the first artist that gave me the feeling that you can do anything you want in music, especially when it comes to capturing a feeling or a place or a person. Listening to his music, also his stuff with DeYarmond Edison, was like nothing was off-limits, and that I just have to get out of my own way.
At your release party, you said that you’ve been writing lyrics for some time, but it took a while before you wanted to share them with the world. When were the first lyrics written, what stage of life were you in then?
The songs on the record were mostly written after a psychosis and a diagnosis lol 🙂 After therapy and with meds I was finally able to distance myself from myself. I guess that’s why most of the songs on the record are about being nowhere and everywhere at once. I was constantly oscillating between being in love all the time and deeply hating myself, and the songs helped me embrace being sensitive and feeling and messy.
The evening before the release party, Swelle performed at Chelsea. I noticed one person in particular in the front row who was dancing very boisterously and supportively. Do you always feel such strong support from your circle of friends? And what does that mean to you?
That’s the homies! 🙂 My friends mean everything to me, they are my chosen family, and everything I ever do is with them in mind. I want to be there for them the way they are for me, and that they showed up on that day makes me sob uncontrollably just thinking about it. They mean the world to me. I don’t know how I got so lucky to have come across such beautiful beams of light, I hope every day they wake up knowing how adored they are (it is my mission to adore them hehe).
You seem to give a lot of that support back yourself. Just the fact that you shared your release party with Ghost Ambulance and gave them the same stage as yourself.
That’s sweet of you to say… 🙂 When I found out we were sharing a release day it felt obvious that we should try and figure something out, especially since I’d been trying to see them play since forever! My boss very kindly offered up the cafe for the evening, and having all our friends in the same room felt right for Valentine’s Day.
Is this something that you have copied from the scene or rather something that you believe should be promoted even more?
I think the DIY scene is pretty good about supporting its fledgling artists, but I do think there’s room for improvement in who benefits from that support. It is still such a boys’ club, and I felt unwelcome at most shows I went to until I released the record, and it shouldn’t be that way. You shouldn’t be too scared to go to a show or be made to feel like you don’t deserve to be there. If any of the shows we play isn’t a safe and welcome space for everyone, I’m literally so out of there, goodbye!
You also published a book two years ago. Can you tell us something about it?
Yes! It’s called »Rain Noise«, it came out on Partus Press. I had time between lockdowns to work on some poems, and I had been thinking a lot about the space around what we say we are, and the implication that there is something that we cannot be. It led me to thinking about love as a dissociative state, which is what I’ve been thinking about in various contexts for the second collection.
What are your future goals and projects? Have you already booked more shows or even planned a tour?
We have a couple of shows lined up for Spring! We are opening for Cemented Minds in Linz in May and have a few other gigs in the works 😉 Myself, Lukas, Alex, and Viktor are preparing to write some new stuff pretty soon, which I am so beyond excited for! They are so insanely talented and that I get to make music with them is the greatest honor and joy!
And the most important question at the end: What is the hype about Monster Energy on your Instagram actually all about?
Hahaha my friends and I take Spaßgetränke seriously! 🙂
