Creator Chats: Blushh & illuminati hotties
Welcome to Creator Chats - a conversation among two groups, bands or people in the music industry. Today we welcome Shab of Blushh and Sarah of illuminati hotties.
Blushh: I love every bit of “ear candy” I hear in the album. How do those ideas come about? Is it simply a creative part of the arrangement and production process or does some of it happen while you’re writing? What’s your favorite one?
IH:Thank you! It’s one of my favorite parts of making a record…when you get to add all the glitter and googly eyes and special moments that suspend your listeners’ disbelief. For the most part, those bits and pieces are all made from studio magic. Some of it was purposeful sound searching, and some of it was accidental noisiness that I chopped up or resampled. A few moments did come from the writing process though, sort of like an “oh it would make sense in the story if something that sounds like ‘squeee-neenooneenooneenoo’ happened at this second or a guitar lift needs to happen at that chorus”. My absolute favorite bite of ear-candy is in verse 2 of “Cuff” - there’s this weird glitchy synth that’s happening underneath everything and it builds up to a big noise burst right as the chorus hits.
Have you written new songs since making the album? And was the process the same or any different? Were more people / bandmates involved in writing any parts were you still the mastermind behind it all?
I’ve been writing whenever possible (and sometimes when I should be doing something else)! There are a handful of completed songs as well as a whole buttload of half-songs that I have to sit down and spend some time with. Also I’m always collecting little lyric or melody ideas in my phone…who knows which ones will turn into something. They’re good to have in my back pocket in case I need some extra inspo. Basically my process hasn’t changed much since writing “Kiss Yr Frenemies” - I try to do it in little pieces everyday until I feel like I’m bubbling over, like I can’t hold it in anymore, and then I song-splode. As of now, I’m still spearheading the writing process myself, but the band is so talented it would be a crime not to bounce some new ideas off of them this time!
Your live show is SO fun and so tight. Had you been performing for a while? Were you in bands before?
I’ve been part of quite a few bands in the past, but this is the first project where I run the show. While I’m no stranger to the stage, it certainly takes another side of me that’s not often unleashed but still feels real natural when the lights go up. I’m so lucky to be surrounded by excellent musicians who are game to work hard in rehearsal in order to keep the songs tight. Having fun is so important on stage, and I try my best to make sure the band feels comfy enough to emotionally go to all the places we have to go while performing for people.
If you could mail slices of pizza via UPS, who would you send a slice to?! (And why)
Ooooo, I’d mail a slice to my best bud Ashleigh (https://www.instagram.com/ashhayart/) up in Sonoma, CA. With no note on it. I know that she’d get a real kick out of it, and to have a slice of pizza show up on her door all slimy and cold would be a perfectly harmless prank :) Also she would for sure know that it was from me, with no explanation necessary. Hi Ashleigh.
IH: Okay, NOW I’M ASKIN’ THE QUESTIONS HERE, BUSTER.
Something I admire so much about you is that you manage to fully embody “the hustle” as a freelance professional while still being the nicest human AND maintaining a social life. You’re so talented at a lot of different things aside from music (i.e. photography, illustration, event/show planning, etc)! How do you balance everything as a true renaissance woman? Also what is your favorite aspect of what you do?
Blushh: Thank you thank you!! Indeed, for better or for worse, I've been dabbling in a lot of creative fields around the local music scene since 2014. The way I see it right now, everything has led to where I am now. Photography led to meeting artists, led to starting a blog, to throwing shows, to touring with bands, to eventuality getting tired of the back-end and deciding to write songs instead, ALL with the help of the friends I made along the way. Friends are key and the people have been the most important part of this process for me. Without them, I would not have been able to start playing shows or recording my music. Heck, I might not even have started writing songs.
How do I balance? truly I don't have an answer! At this point I'm so used to doing "all the things" I know no other way of living! One day something will stick. Maybe it'll be this music-making thing, we'll see!
All I know is this: I love making art and doing it with good people. That's the wave I'm currently riding!
A theme that constantly reappears in the Blushh catalog seems to be this quality of youthful apathy…like a wallflower watching everyone party in slow-motion or something. What’s sparked your interest in covering those subjects in your songs?
WOW, I think i used the wallflower at a party metaphor in an old journal entry 3 years ago, how did you know?!!
And that's proof that these feelings i've been feeling for YEARS. I graduated college and realized I'd been apathetically living as a bystander passively watching life happen. I've spent the past few year trying to beat apathy to the ground, which is probably why so much of my music points so much to these recurring feelings: I'm still trying to beat them! Update: I think I'm almost at the finish line.
Describe your regular morning routine in detail, followed by your DREAM-BEST-DAY-EVER morning routine in detail:
I currently am failing at any kind of morning routine :( I wake up, stretch for like 30 seconds then go make a cup of coffee.
IN MY DREAM WORLD, I'd wake up, do yoga for like 20 minutes, meditate for 10, read for 30, drink green tea instead of coffee.
Who inspires you, and if you could buy them one thing from Home Depot, what would it be and why?
One of my best friends Jessica Delijani aka Disco Shrine. She, like me, does "all the things" while putting every once of her energy and enthusiasm into them. As a result, everything she does, she kills it. ALL while being the kindest person out there!
I'd buy her a bucket of pink paint so she could take anything in her life or on stage and dye it pink. <3
