After her past two visits were cancelled, Chelsea Wolfe has finally landed in Australia for a national run of dates, including a show at Perth’s Rosemount Hotel this Tuesday, June 14. Fans have been told they can expect a career-spanning set on this tour with Chelsea Wolfe’s four-piece band, including songs from her newest album Birth of Violence, released in 2020. In colossal double bill, the US goth-rock/folk/doom metal luminary will be joined by singer songwriter and Sargent House labelmate Emma Ruth Rundle performing solo as support. BRAYDEN EDWARDS spoke to Chelsea Wolfe to find out about her latest album and what’s changed in her world since we saw her last.
This tour and Rosemount show in particular were announced in February 2020 and was scheduled for June that year which feels like a long time ago now! What’s something about your live show that will be different now than if it had happened two years ago?
I don’t think it would have been too different to be honest. Since I haven’t been back to Australia since 2012, even in 2020 I knew I wanted to play a range of songs from the handful of albums I’ve released since then, which is still what I’m doing.
And how about personally? What’s something in your life that has changed that you would not have expected in that time?
I got sober about a year and a half ago – something I wanted to do for a long time but really struggled with – and it’s given me a lot of new perspective that I’ve been channeling into new songs.
Your music blends a lot of different styles and genres, what’s one musical influence we might not expect?
Ah, who knows? I like a lot of different stuff. I definitely listen to a lot of old country….and Nordic folk music. Warduna is my favourite band, and I’m definitely inspired by them, though I’m not sure if you can hear that in my music.
Outside of music, what other inspirations do you draw from that have shaped your craft, particularly what your songs are about?
The realm of sleep and dreams is a big through-line theme for my albums. I’ve had sleep paralysis since I was a kid and used to have really bad insomnia so I started experimenting with lucid dreaming as well. (still working on that). I purposefully put a lot of that into my album Abyss, but it’s present on every album.
It’s great to have Emma Ruth Rundle joining you for this tour! What made her a fitting act to complement your live show for this run of dates?
She’s such an inspiring person, artist, musician, friend. I’m looking forward to hearing her play every night. The current work she’s performing from Engine of Hell is so heartbreakingly beautiful and direct, I love it.
Your previous two albums had a distinctly different feel to them. Do you have any new music in the works as yet? And is it likely to take a unique direction compared to what you have released before?
I do have a new album on the way, likely to be released in 2023. It’s quite different from both Hiss Spun and Birth of Violence. I worked with a producer on it because I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone. I look forward to sharing more about the album soon.
