Rock and Pop: Interview with Camden Square tweeter Eliza Doolittle - Gig: Dingwalls, tonight July 15
Published: 15 July 2010
by ROISIN GADELRAB
AS SHE relaxes into her seat in a Camden coffee shop’s secret garden, Eliza Doolittle takes out her phone for a vital bit of tweeting.
Camden Square-born singer @eliza1doolittle’s got 4,792 twitter followers but after her album launch on Monday – it was this Selfridges appearance that her chipped multi-coloured nails were tapping out as a tweet – those numbers will no doubt multiply.
Single Pack Up is Top five and her eponymous debut album has won critical praise and numerous recommendations as the summer album of 2010 – and, judging by the happy Jamaica-filmed video for Pack-Up, it’s clear why.
Although it’s not all about the smiles insists Eliza, who these days lives in Primrose Hill: “I like to think people will play it when it rains to cheer them up. People say it’s very happy and positive. It is but not happy, happy all the way through. It’s got thoughtful messages and some that are not the happiest topics.”
Just 22, she’s been writing since age 12, is signed to Parlophone and plays MTV presents at Dingwalls tonight (Thursday) and Club NME at Koko (July 23).
She may have gone to posh private school Channing in Highgate, “I didn’t like it very much”, and be the granddaughter of Sylvia Young, daughter of director John Caird and singer Frances Ruffelle but she doesn’t come across with a privileged air.
Eliza left school at 16, knowing all she wanted to do was make music and has been working at it ever since.
She said: “When I was about 12 I said to my mum I want to be a singer. She said start writing because that’s where the money’s at.”
Not yet a teen, Eliza copied Destiny’s Child and listened to UK garage: “I just wanted to fit in with my friends and then I grew up. I just found stuff myself...The first person I was like wow about was Stevie Wonder. It was like seeing a different colour that didn’t exist.”
Eliza celebrated her new album last night (Wednesday) at Highgate’s Boogaloo with family and friends.
She said on the eve of her album launch: “I was up at 12.54 and I thought Oh My God my album’s out – that was the moment I actually felt it. It feels amazing, like my whole life’s built up for this moment, I’ve been working towards it for so long.”
Eliza’s colourful album cover is a reflection of herself, she said: “I really wanted it to be me in my world and my world’s London so there’s a lot of landmarks in there and all sorts of other things from my imagination and things I love.”
Her ideas were then interpreted by professional artists.
She was only in Jamaica for three days while shooting Pack Up. She said: “I thought it was so cute the idea of me coming out of a suitcase and it wasn’t too like ‘let’s try and make a really cool video with loads of effects’. (Director Paul Minor’s) references felt right, they were all from French movies and stuff. I thought it was quite sweet and romantic. It was in a war veteran bar, and all these kids and everyone came and danced. We tried to create that romantic happy vibe and Jamaica was perfect for it. I was there for three days. I didn’t really get to see everything but what I saw was so beautiful, white sand, turquoise water – like the ideal screen saver.”
Eliza can be spotted hanging out in the most “in” venues in Camden – the Lock Tavern and the Flowerpot but is sad the famous Marathon Kebab House in Chalk Farm Road no longer has a late licence.
She said: ““Sometimes you would find me at the Marathon bar at 2.30am. That was the only reason people went there. I’m on Marathon’s side. I wish it still opened later.”
She only has modest requests of water and beer (for the boys) when she when she plays gigs, mischievously promising: “I’ll wait for my moment to get divaish”, and admits she doesn’t take her wardrobe too seriously, adding: “I just have fun with it. I like lots of different colours. It gets me in the “what were you thinking” pages.”
A tour with Alphabeat appears to have left Eliza disappointed but her experiences touring with Jamie Cullum soon after were inspiring.
She said: “I went from Alphabeat where we didn’t really see them to Jamie Cullum where he was saying guys I really want you to come onstage, (afterwards) his saxophonist was knocking on the door saying come and have a drink with them. Every night I watched him play I learned new things. He was unbelievable.”
And there are big ambitions for her forthcoming Koko show: “I’m trying to make it bigger onstage we’ve got drums but it’s quite sparse. We use double bass, guitar and drums but I’m working on extending the band and bringing in someone who plays the extra, a bit of violin, flute, brass, I don’t know if that kind of person exists but i’ll try and bring him in.”