An eventful year thus far for Alice Ivy, not just musically to say the least – tripping at Paradise Music Festival, the Melbourne artist and producer managed to break her right fibula quite severely – but she mended quickly and is healed. Past the broken bones and still with metal in her leg, Annika laughs fervently about it all now. “That weekend was hectic, we had to drive from one festival to another – I set up my tent, ready to roll, a couple of beers in my hand and I slipped on a black safety mat. It was the tiniest fall ever, it’s not like I did anything dramatic. Then we got amboed out of Paradise that night, in to hospital at 4am and hey, my leg was broken. Had to cancel a couple of shows which I was annoyed about but yeah, all good now though!”
Without sounding condescending to Annika, she was rushing from one show to another when she had her accident and the remainder of her Winter Tour is not likely to be much different. Straight off the plane from the U.S. and on to a show at Sydney’s Brighton Up Bar, one wonders if the muso is something of a walking disaster. Laughing furiously Annika says, “Nah, I’m actually pretty good. Like I’m 23 and I’ve never had a filling, a broken bone, I’ve always been pretty chill and I don’t do sport or anything – then again saying that, we recently were offered to be put up in a ski-resort, five-star place for a show we did, and there’s me, knowing I only broke my leg six months ago of course I was like, ‘Oh sure, I’ll go skiing! See how we go!
“I feel like you need to do everything you can to like, live life, and you know, the most you can just so you know you can pull through and say you don’t regret in life. I don’t regret playing Paradise, that was a really sick festival so, you know, it’s kind of a funny thing in life, I can look back and say, yeah cool, I remember that time I broke my leg at a festival!”
They are the stories she’ll certainly want to share when looking back on times – it wasn’t rock ‘n’ roll but at least she was holding beers! “I was actually holding a beer and a cocktail,” Annika laughs.
She’s been on the go all year, highly in demand. The winter dates that have been performed by Alicy Ivy thus far, appearances at Heaps Gay, Groovin’ The Moo and Vivid Sydney, all in the run up to the final headline shows in Sydney and Melbourne, have been met with a warm reception. “[Heaps Gay] was the friendliest most appreciative audience I’ve ever played to in Sydney, which was a really fun night. Groovin’ The Moo was pretty crazy, we were asked if we would like to be bumped up to mainstage and then as soon heard that, that it was happening, I started freaking out in the car – on stage everything was totally slick.
“I guess it has been kind of a whirlwind but I have a couple of weeks off before touring again… But we announced Listen Out today, so I’m playing all of that in September and October, finishing an album right now too. So I guess it’s not really downtime but it is for the shows.”
Her first headline shows for a year, it’s not common for many Australian artists to do tours half and half, festival and headline, so there may yet be a different vibe to look forward to at Annika’s headline shows. “I know for a fact that, well Northcote Social club is a hometown show, and everyone’s buying tickets to see you play and obviously they’ll be special – the festivals were awesome, everyone having an impact but a headline show, everyone’s bought a ticket to come see me play.
“Festival crowds, no matter how big, you know you play shows like Groovin’ The Moo was 20,000 people. You walk away and say that was friggin’ awesome, but after you play a headline show and everyone’s been there at Northcote Social to see you, you walk away and it’s the ultimate feeling.”
When & Where: Northcote Social Club, Melbourne – July 14
Written by Anna Rose