All About The Food Q & A: Eilish Gilligan
Melbourne songstress Eilish Gilligan is back with her latest “piano-led scuba dive” of a single, Here. Her eerie, minimalistic production coupled with her expansive vocals have seen her over the past year support Alex Lahey, Darling James, and SAATSUMA. We asked the rising artist some questions about her taste buds and the story behind her latest single.
If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Obviously the answer to this question would be smoothie bowls! You got liquids, you got solids, you got nutrients, you’ve got it all! I’m not sure if smoothie bowls as a plural counts as ~one food though…so if we’re being really by the book I would have to say potato, although you might spot me as a main protagonist on ‘My 600 Pound Life’ in a few years if that was the case…
What were your favourite childhood snacks you want to bring back?
When I was a kid I wasn’t really allowed to have unhealthy food, and when I say “wasn’t really allowed” I actually mean I didn’t know what a fruit rollup was until prep when I saw Casey peel one off that nasty bit off plastic they’re always stuck to.
So a snack for me – a treat, even, a dessert – was a piece of wholemeal bread with some margarine on it. My sisters and I used to beg for this after dinner (“Please can we have some bread and butter while we watch ‘Sale of the Century’!!!’). I don’t really need to bring wholemeal bread with margarine back, but sometimes I’ll have it with some soup and go for a nice nostalgia trip.
Sweet or savoury food?
Savoury, probably. I’ve got salty tendencies so it suits. I have a pretty big sweet tooth when it comes to Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt.
The biggest question in the air at the moment, does pineapple do on pizza?
No. No no no. Pineapple on pizza is so gross, that is the only reason I have. Sometimes risks pay off, like the first guy to try milking a cow, that worked out! I applaud the chutzpah that it took to try it, but it doesn’t work, so give it up.
Out on the road, what snacks are a must have?
I like to be a bit of a ~healthy gal~ so I like to have roasted nuts (almonds preferably) and a muesli bar or two. I just got back from Singapore with my band Frida and everyone was making fun of me for being manic about muesli bars – they don’t have them at the 7/11s in Singapore, did you know that? You can buy beer at the petrol station but you can’t buy a muesli bar, crazy!
What is the best food for a hangover cure?
Hmm. I don’t really drink that much either but I do stay up pretty late and keep early mornings so I often feel ‘hungover’ in a sense. It’s not so much the food itself (although I am partial to smashed avo on toast) but the amount of it and when you have it…it’s a complex science.
After a break-up, what is your go to comfort food?
I ate a lot of peanut butter, let’s leave it at that…
For the uninitiated, how would you describe the sound of Eilish Gilligan?
Spooky, drippy, sharp pop music.
We’re really vibing the sound of Here, how did this song come about?
I wrote this song after binging on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ for approximately six months. I highly recommend this show to anyone who is experiencing writers block, or a bout of sadness, or even just a loose end on a Friday night. The colours in that show are completely off the chain and they informed a lot of the weird chordal movement in Here, and a lot of the lyrical content.
I’m a huge fan of drag performance and I find the intricacies of the art form super inspiring. My friends Max Dowling (Tetrahedra), Lewis Coleman (The Cactus Channel, Frida), and Becki Whitton (Aphir) all came to my aid in a mixing sense once I’d gotten the track ready for new ears, they made this track shimmer like it does!
Lastly, what are the three things people should know about Eilish Gilligan?
- My friends call me Gil, as in Gil Gunderson from ‘The Simpsons’. You can call me that too, if you like.
- I’m working on more music that will be out before the year ends.
- I don’t really have a third thing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
