Eliza & The Delusionals Gear Up for U.S. Support Tour
Article by Isabel Dowell
Photo by Nick Maguire
Australian indie-rock outfit, Eliza & the Delusionals – Eliza Klatt (vocals), Kurt Skuse (guitar), and Ruby Lee (bass guitar) – will be supporting The Front Bottoms on their Finding Your Way Home tour throughout the United States. The group will be featuring tracks from their sophomore album, Make It Feel Like The Garden, a fifteen-track LP that, Skuse calls, “an invitation to explore our vision of a garden—a place for personal reflection, solace, and inspiration amidst life’s chaos. It’s a journey of the senses and emotions, illustrating the transformative power of music.” Listen and order Make It Feel Like The Garden here: https://eatd.lnk.to/MakeItFeelLikeTheGarden
The beginnings of Make It Feel Like The Garden were created on the trio’s North American tour in 2022 following impromptu acoustic guitar sessions and voice memos. What started in a DIY studio in Napa, California, lead to recording sessions with acclaimed producer, Oscar Dawson, and guided Eliza & the Delusionals to the final set of tracks we now know as Make It Feel Like The Garden.
Eliza & the Delusionals are inviting you to escape to a dreamlike realm. Their garden is a personal retreat that evokes moments and memories of the perfect places and feelings. “I wanted to build a liveable garden that represents each track from the album, a place you could almost 'check-into' while listening to the record,” Skuse explains. “The Garden is where we spent most of our time creating this album, so we aimed to bring it to life through the visuals.”
Between the excitement of their upcoming supporting tour and the release of Make It Feel Like The Garden, we had the chance to chat with Eliza & the Delusionals to learn more about who they are, what touring is like internationally, and all the secrets behind their sophomore LP. Read all about it below!
THIRTEEN: Hello Eliza & The Delusionals! Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for us! You are about a month away from beginning your supporting role on The Front Bottoms’ Finding Your Way Home Tour. How are you all preparing for this experience?
ELIZA: Thank you for having us! Honestly the time has gone so quickly in the lead up to the tour, we can't believe it. We've been rehearsing a lot - the hardest part is honestly trying to put the set list together. We always struggle with what to choose. Personally, in August I broke my finger and had to have surgery, so it left me unable to play guitar for a while. So for me it's just been working through my rehabilitation (which has been going well so far!) and getting my hand strength back to play shows like normal. It's been a lot of mixed emotions but I'm feeling confident for the upcoming shows.
THIRTEEN: Coming from Australia, what are you most looking forward to when touring through the United States?
ELIZA: Honestly, there's so much to love about touring the United States but we are SO excited about the food. You guys are absolutely spoiled for choice when it comes to amazing food trucks and restaurants, so we've been trying to put together a bit of a list of where we should stop and eat along the way! (Recommendations are welcome!)
THIRTEEN: This tour will feature your latest album, Make It Feel Like The Garden. This album has been in the works since your North American tour in 2022 and is finally out for the world to hear. How has this album changed over the two years since its conceptualization?
ELIZA: I feel like it just continued to become a clearer picture. A lot of the ideas we had - musically and visually - we knew we wanted for the record but we weren't sure how they were going to come into fruition. But we were lucky enough to find the right people for every element to bring it to life how we imagined it. I think the concept and plan for what we wanted the album to be has always been very strong, it just became a reality between 2022 to now.
THIRTEEN: It sounds like every detail of this album was planned out and made to create a specific vision. What was that process like to ensure the final product was exactly as you envisioned?
ELIZA: As far as creating and collaborating with other musicians, artists and creative minds the overall answer is yes. When things like the artwork and music videos were finished, the three of us were so excited because we felt like we'd never been able to execute something we'd imagined so perfectly previously in our career. It was actually unreal to see it all unfold. I think musically and aesthetically we couldn't have asked for anything better, we're completely in love with how it all turned out.
THIRTEEN: It’s noted that this album is a testament to the band’s artistic evolution. How have you all grown as individuals during this time?
ELIZA: I think we've grown a lot as a band, as friends and as people. I think this album really did that for us, as we all connected so strongly to what it was becoming and we all believed in it. It's not easy to find people who can do that together. For Kurt and I as songwriters I think this album was a reflection of us writing music we're truly passionate about. I think it's our songwriting in its most honest form, because we let ourselves go creatively and just let the songs go where they needed to go. It was all about the feeling, and stepping out of our comfort zones when it comes to being creative.
THIRTEEN: Do you feel there is a song of the album that stands out among the rest? Perhaps one that surprised you as a fan favorite or one that hits you a little harder than expected?
ELIZA: To be honest, this is a hard question! Even when we were trying to choose singles we were having a hard time. We felt every song has its standalone strengths and reasons to be loved. For me right now, I have a love for 'Everything That Isn't Mine'. It was a last minute addition to the record and a sound we hadn't really explored before, but for me the lyrics are where it hits home.
THIRTEEN: I’d love to know more about your use of interludes on this album. I noticed that Make It Feel Like The Garden includes more than the typical album. What purpose do these serve on the tracklist?
ELIZA: Kurt can definitely take the credit for the interludes and the concept of having them on the record. We both have a true love for full albums, and we wanted to have a way where we could make the full album make sense and take you on a journey through 'The Garden' when you're listening to it. It was a really beautiful and musical way to connect the songs and guide the listeners through the record. I'm really glad fans have been connecting with them and enjoying them as much as we do, because I know there was a bit of concern about the record being 'too long' and things like that. We wanted to have an album where everything on it had a purpose, and I think the interludes really aided with creating that emotion throughout the record.
THIRTEEN: Storytelling is a big part of your music and lyricism. How do you decide which stories are worth telling and which you decide to keep for yourselves?
ELIZA: That's a great question. I think it comes down to your emotions at the time and what feeling or energy you're putting into the music when you're writing. Sometimes something as simple as guitar chords can take you to a place in your mind or bring back a memory, and I like when my brain can just spew out what it's feeling and I can make sense of it after. It's a really vulnerable thing for both Kurt and I as collaborators, but when it happens I believe it's really special. Stories that you think weren't worth telling at all end up becoming a really meaningful purpose for a song.
THIRTEEN: Once you begin this tour with The Front Bottoms, what do you hope those in attendance will be able to take away from your set?
ELIZA: I hope that people can connect with our new songs and have a fun time watching us play. When we toured with The Front Bottoms in Australia earlier in the year their fans were the kindest and most welcoming audience we've played in front of, so we're so excited to experience that in North America.
THIRTEEN: As the music industry begins to slow towards the end of the year, how do you plan to close out 2024 and what do you have in the works for 2025?
ELIZA: After this tour we'll head home and prepare for our 'Make It Feel Like The Garden' Australian album tour, which was postponed to 2025 due to my surgery. So we're extremely excited to finally be taking the album on a national tour in our home country, and hopefully back in the United States!