Killing Heidi are an Australian rock band, formed in Violet Town, Victoria in 1996, initially as a folk-pop duo by siblings Ella and Jesse Hooper.
The group disbanded in 2006, with Ella and Jesse taking a lower profile with an acoustic folk duo, The Verses.
[citation needed] Ella recalled in January 2015 that the name was "a play on the end of innocence and embracing imperfection": it was chosen to have something to fill in on the Unearthed entry form.
[1][4] With two schoolmates as the rhythm section: Aaron Hart on drums and Rowen Murphy on bass guitar;[7] Killing Heidi recorded "Morning" and "Kettle".
[1] Paul Kosky, a Melbourne-based engineer-producer, who had worked with Crowded House, Rage Against the Machine, Kate Ceberano, and The Clouds, was looking for a new band to manage and record.
[4] In March 2000 Kosky recalled that their rhythm section were musically weak, although the siblings showed "a raw talent I knew could be turned into a global appeal.
[1][4] Kosky helped develop the band for two years and, as their manager, arranged a distribution deal with Roadshow Music (which also had a contract with Savage Garden) for his own label.
[1][4] By the end of 1997 Killing Heidi had acquired a new rhythm section with Warren Jenkin on bass guitar (Rick Price, Merril Bainbridge, Deborah Conway) and Adam Pedretti on drums (ex-Non-Intentional Lifeform aka NIL).
[1][10] Pendretti described his recruitment, "[Kosky] had worked with NIL as producer, so he knew I could play a little bit off the wall... [he] dropped off a Killing Heidi demo and I started learning the songs.
[1][4][10] According to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, Kosky was "meticulously shaping the band's début album";[1] he worked as their engineer, producer, talent manager and record label co-owner.
[1][12] McFarlane described it as a "winning mix of quiet/loud acoustic/churning electric guitars, adolescent angst and sing-along pop with a funky mid-section.
"[17] Billboard's Christie Eliezer reported that Killing Heidi were one of three "major domestic breakouts" in 1999 in Australia, "all released on independent labels".
"[9] Eliezer noticed that Killing Heidi had a "flamboyant, outspoken appeal [that] gained pop, rock, and fashion media coverage.
[12] McFarlane opined that it was "one of the most highly anticipated Australian releases in recent years, it was a remarkably assured début, a mix of spirited pop, big rock riffs and adolescent energy.
"[1] Jon Azpri of AllMusic rated it as two out of five stars, he felt their first two singles were "catchy pop hits with just enough of a grrl-rock edge to mollify young audiences.
[21] The three other nominees were: Single of the Year for "Mascara", Best Cover Art for Kosky's effort on Reflector and Highest Selling Album for the latter.
[22] The group "played a handful of club showcases" in the United States by May 2001, with Reflector, appearing in the North American market in March that year.
"[11] From mid-2001 the band's momentum was reduced when a cyst was found on Ella's vocal cords and she underwent throat surgery late that year.
[23] Peter Holmes of The Sydney Morning Herald described the album, "a dose of punchy, melodic rock embellished with keyboards, strings, horns, scratching and drum loops.
"[24] "Heavensent" (December 2001), the first single from the album, reached the top 30 in early 2002 even though "live promotion for the track was limited" as Ella recovered.
[2] In late 2003 the band spent three months in Los Angeles recording their third studio album, Killing Heidi.
[2] It was produced by John Travis – Mathieson described how "[Travis] proved to be easygoing, and sessions ran much faster because he favoured recording the three instrumentalists playing live and using entire tracks, as opposed to recording each separately and editing together numerous takes to make one technically perfect but often coldly sterile piece.
"[23] Tim Cashmere of Undercover felt it was "a huge step in their sound and [they] returned with an album that can compete on a worldwide scale... [by] a band growing into its full potential and while they're not quite there yet, they've come a long way, baby!
[31] Matt Holt of Light of the Quasar caught their gig in Traralgon: they were "an effervescent and popular group... their music would be to call it poetically rocking.
[34][35] Pedretti formed a heavy metal group, Monster Truck Extravaganza; Jenkin returned to work with Merril Bainbridge as well as "generating electronic music with computers, synthesisers and keyboards.
In early 2020, Killing Heidi took part in the Australian-wide Red Hot Summer Tour as one of the major performers.