On Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas, Alison Wonderland along with Kai Wachi, Sullivan King, and LayZ joined Shaquile O’Neil (aka DJ Diesel) at his curated festival: Shaq’s Bass All Stars. After giving birth to her first born son Max in June, Alison Wonderland returned to the live music scene. She completely wowed fans at mainstage inside Panther Island Pavilion, and she’s back on the road for more.
We had the opportunity to sit down with Alison Wonderland before her set to learn more about her pregnancy, upcoming projects and mindful habits. This was hands down one of the most amusing interviews I’ve ever conducted – all thanks to Alison’s high energy, individuality, and genuine character.
Congratulations on being a mom Alison, tell us about that mom life! Are you getting enough sleep?
This is a joke with my fans, they’re all my children. They all call me “dad”, so I feel like I’ve been a “dad” for awhile.
I’m getting sleep, he’s actually sleeping through the night. Look here’s the thing – I’ve been touring my whole adult life and I’ve been living off three hours of sleep for a long time, so it’s weirdly not as different as being on tour.
I’m pretty sure you were pregnant when you were working on your GENESIS project. Can you tell us a little bit about that – I’d love to hear some of the emotions you were going through whenever you were working on that.
I made a whole album and finished it when I was six months pregnant, and I started it while I was pregnant. I’m not singing on the tracks for this and it’s very minimal and bass/beat heavy. It’s my first, biggest scale introduction of Whyte Fang to the world, therefore “Genesis” – it’s being born.
It’s funny because when I was making a couple of the tracks, Max had started kicking and there were two specific tracks he was really kicking to every single time and now when he’s at the house, if I play them to him, he chills out and just sits there and listens. So, I basically have come to the conclusion that he loves like 140-142 BMP minimal techno beats.
Do you have any cool upcoming projects for either Alison, Whyte Fang, or your own record label (FMU)?
Oh my god yeah, so many. I don’t know why I’m so busy… but I’m loving it. I’m loving it!
We have Whyte Fang playing at a warehouse in Denver, the night before my Red Rocks show for Alison. It’s my 6th sold out Red Rocks! So thank you if anyone listens to my music and comes to my shows. You’re the reason I’m able to put these shows on.
I’m releasing new music. I actually just released a song under my own record label called “Fight Or Flight”. It was the first song I released as Alison Wonderland under my own record label, which is a really big deal because I’m still in my record deal with a major label, but I was allowed to by some really great people in Australia who I’m signed to. I love it, I love working with them [MEMA]. They’re so talented and their live shows are awesome.
I’m also releasing more music under AW. I’m trying to do more collabs because my last album was only me. I didn’t collaborate on it and I really miss that.
Are there any artists/anyone you would want to collab with?
I would love, as Whyte Fang, to do something with Lana Del Ray, but it will never happen. I love her so much. Or Kendrick [Lamar] on a track would be insane – that’ll never happen either but hey, a girl can dream.
Also something with Hudson Mohawke, who I love and is one of the best producers. Oh and also Kerin Dreijer, she’s the singer in Fever Ray and The Knife. She’s the reason I started making electronic music. I’d probably get nervous if I ever got to be in the studio with her because she is a genius. I would cry if that happened.
Do you have any affirmations, quotes, or mantras you’d be willing to share?
Yeah I do. It’s not really like an affirmation, but I do meditate with this drink called Ceremonial Cacao. I try to drink it a few times a week and I sit and I ground myself. It helps me slow down a bit.
I was a big loser in school. If you ever meet my sister, she was really popular, she’ll be like, ‘She was alone eating grapes on the hill everyday at lunch.’ I never knew how to impress people or be cool or anything like that. My art teacher said to me once, ‘Let your art speak for you.’ It was hard for me to prove myself to people, so I jus went okay well, the right people will get me.
Creds: Jared Tinetti
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