Artist to Watch: Ebony Bones

Upon entering Tuesday night’s show at The Mercury Lounge fans were greeted at the door by an enthusiastic duo who handed out neon whistles and Mardi Gras inspired masks for those there to see the musical sensation that is Ebony Bones.

The south Londoner brought the house down with her carnivalesque punk rock show and her nine-piece multicolored band. Her magnetic stage presence had attendees simultaneously moving from side to side and front to back, the music is so infectious it’s hard not partake in the dance-along.

Minutes prior to taking the stage I was escorted to the boiler room of the venue where Ebony Bones awaited, patiently seated on a wooden chair, in full make up and leopard attire. Looking back on it now it’s hard to believe that the captivating warrior onstage is the same soft spoken woman I met by the pulsating furnaces. But if there’s one thing I would quickly learn is that Ms. Bones is very much in control.

“Normally there’s not a lot of mental preparation allowed [before a show],” she said, “We’re [generally] rushing like mad women and mad men. What’s always fun is that the show is filled with lots of color, costume, theatrics. So it’s almost like preparing for theatre with the makeup, costumes [and] band members.”

The theatrical elements of her show were inspired by a film she watched obsessively as a child, “There’s a scene in The Wiz which stars Michael Jackson and Diana Ross, where they’re all at the Emerald City and they’re dancing around in a circle and I use to watch that obsessively as a child. I use to think ‘Oh my god they look so amazing’ but that along with [being] a big Sci-fi fan I get really bored of seeing people onstage who come and look like they don’t wanna be there; in their t-shirts, jeans and sneakers. I’m definitely gravitated to putting on a show in every sense of it. It involves being a musical artist as well as a visual one.”

The tour came about rather quickly, “we were planning on shooting [our new video] and I thought, ‘we might as well do some dates around it.” And so The Warrior Tour was born and will culminate with the filming of the “Warrior” music video in Mexico. “We have this amazing director, Simon Henwood, he directed Kanye West’s video “Love Lockdown” and he’s also Rihanna’s creative director. So we’re very excited, it’s going to be my first official video.”

Her music has been described as post-punk and carnival influenced rock for Bones it’s about letting, “people listen to it, digest it and decide what they want.” Bones believes genres are a thing of the past, “I grew up listening to a bit of everything and now with things like iPods it’s so accessible to have a mix of genres in your life. I’m excited about the future and what will emerge [from all] the culture clash.” She admits that the genre bending is nothing new on her part, It’s what made artists like Prince so magical.”

The multifaceted singer not only writes, sings and produces her own music but she also plays many of her own instruments on the recordings, “I have a band live but in the studio I do everything myself.” The reason for it she explains, “The music industry is very much a boys club. There are lots of guys behind the scenes as producers so if you’re a girl making rock n roll you really have to prove yourself. It’s not enough to survive you gotta shine. I’m most definitely up for that challenge, to prove to myself that it’s important to inspire yourself as well as others. We’re in a very celebrity [centric] age where everyone is looking to others to be their icons but I feel that in life you have to be your own hero. That’s the message I try to push forth [through my music].”

“I decided to do what indie boys have been doing for years, pick up a guitar, get behind some drums [and start playing]. I had no formal training, it was a therapeutic thing. I was so bored of what was on the radio; a perpetuation of the same thing. I just created it for myself and my friends. It wasn’t aimed at being anything that would be released. I was very overwhelmed when radio started picking up on it and playing it. Then suddenly from ten people in the room it would turn to a thousand. I’m still like ‘are these people here to see me?’ so I don’t take anything for granted. I feel very blessed to be able to make music and perform it.”

“It’s interesting when you’re a male artist no one is interested in what male [behind the scenes] produced it. But when you’re a female artist the first question is ’so what male is behind you making this music’ like it’s not possible for a female to be able to do that herself. It’s about changing people’s perspectives. It’s about inspiring other people to go and do that whether it’s making music or owning a magazine or whatever.”

Relatively unknown in the states it was interesting to see the crowd at Tuesday night’s show singing and shouting song requests. I was interested in knowing whether it was easier or in any way different winning over an American crowd versus a UK one?

“For me it’s not really about winning over anything,” she said. “It’s being able to have the audacity and confidence to be who you are whether people love it or not. We’ve played in New York a few times and it’s always been a good audience. The great thing about New York crowds is that they really enjoy music, they are music fans and enjoy live shows.”

“The magical thing about music is that it does make us think about the people we love, people we hate or the things we wanna do. It helps us to dream. That’s definitely my motivation.”

Her US debut album is scheduled to drop this summer.