Episode 49: Ella & Jesse Hooper – Killing Heidi

If you’re anything like me, the name Killing Heidi was one that was synonymous with the Australian music scene at the turn of the millennium.Formed in regional Victoria by siblings Ella and Jesse Hooper, Killing Heidi first rose to fame as part of triple j’s Unearthed series, with the track ‘Kettle’ featuring a newly-teenaged Ella on vocals. This promise that triple j saw soon exploded in 1999, with tracks such as ‘Weir’ and ‘Mascara’ serving as an indicator of what was to come on their debut album, ‘Reflector.’‘Reflector’ was a monster success, becoming the fastest-selling album in Australian music history at the time of its release, and winning the band four ARIA awards, including Best Group and Best Rock Album.A few more albums followed in the years after, but then it all went quiet on the Killing Heidi front. While the Hoopers are still immensely active (Ella can be seen frequently in the media world), it was only close to a decade ago that Killing Heidi themselves became active again. Now, after years of shows, the band are hitting the road this year to mark 25 years of ‘Reflector.’ They’ve not only announced a 25th anniversary reissue, but they’re hitting stages around the country to play the record in full. Put simply, if you were a Killing Heidi diehard like me, then you won’t want to miss this.Recently, I was lucky enough to be joined by Ella and Jesse for a chat, and truly, I can’t thank them enough for the pleasure.So before we get into it, I strongly urge you to buy a ticket to Killing Heidi’s upcoming gigs, and once you’re done doing that, pop ‘Reflector’ on the stereo, have a listen to our chat, and I’ll see you at the end of the episode for some general housekeeping.