Inside the Circus

Interview by Stuart (Anderson-)Farrar and Charli Anderson(-Farrar) Write-up and Photographs by Charli Anderson(-Farrar)

Driving down the remains of an old runway, the history of Metheringham is clear to see. Once an RAF base, it is now farmland and rural housing; a beautiful and tranquil location for our interview. Our destination is a converted farmhouse, owned by Philip and Catherine Scott, and home to not only them, but their daughter, the talented Julia; the subject of our visit. Upon our arrival we are greeted by a fabulous house, stunning grounds and a warm welcome; exactly what we needed on that chilly November day.

For our photoshoots, we decided to take one “casual” Steampunk outfit, and a second more dressy outfit, and played around with various props from Julia’s collection. A vast array of swords, guns, taxidermied animals and vintage cameras were played with, as was Julia’s “pet”, Otto, the octopus. He even had his own lead, eyepatch and tophat!

Once our photoshoots were completed, Julia, Stuart and myself sat down in front of an open fire, Comic Relief on in the background, and talked about Julia, her life as a Steampunk, her crafts, and most importantly, her music.

Julia is 27, an only child and originally from Sheffield, though she has lived all across the UK. The titular “Alice” of Alice’s Night Circus, she describes herself as “very simple”, a perfectionist and perhaps “a little bit weird”. Her greatest loves in life, not including any people, are food and music (though she also appears to have a great fondness for shoes), and she is something of an introvert. “I don’t like it when people come into my bubble,” she says. “I really don’t like it when someone invades my space. It sounds antisocial doesn’t it? But people getting too close or touching me without invitation freaks me out.”

Julia’s foray into Steampunk began when she was taking art classes at school; a project which saw her creating masquerade masks led her into the wider world of jewellery crafting and clothing. When people started buying her creations, commenting that her items were “really good Steampunk insert objects here”, Julia had no idea what people were talking about. “I had no idea what it was,” she laughs, “I was wondering what people were doing with my crafts!” Looking into it, Julia found that her customers were right; her crafts were quite Steampunk, and all without knowing what it actually was! “It was this really cool aesthetic… thing? Movement? It was really interesting”

For Julia, Steampunk is primarily about the aesthetics and sounds; the fashion, design and music. “Those are the things I’m most interested in, both in and out of Steampunk,” she explains. Her favourite outfit, she tells us, is her Hessian dress, which she wore to The Asylum in 2013. It has hearts embroidered onto it, and at the Asylum she teamed it with an animal-bone headdress, a bright red hobby horse and a porcelain doll-like mask. The outfit was quite distinctive, and garnered a lot of attention. Inevitably, when dressed in an outfit that elaborate and unusual, people are going to point, make comments and ask to have their photograph taken. “”I don’t personally mind,” Julia shrugs. “But I think it’s better if they are polite when they do it. There have been a couple of times where I’ve felt a bit hounded by slightly creepy photographers; they sort of just go “Oi!” at you and launch themselves at you to shove a camera in your face. You end up feeling, “whoa, what?!”, which is probably a personal space things again, but it isn’t very nice regardless. If we’re going to dress so drastically differently, which Steampunks do, and it’s such an interesting aesthetic, people are going to be interested. Some Steampunks want to be left alone, and people should respect that, but at the same time, I quite like the idea of letting people know what I’m doing, because most people are just really curious.”

Not all Steampunks are lucky enough to have missed out on being targeted as a “weirdo”; Julia appears to have been one of those who has never really had to deal with anyone getting in her face. Her message for those new to Steampunk is simple though: 99% of the people who come up to you are just interested in what you’re doing, and she doesn’t feel that the movement is as socially blacklisted as some previous movements have been. Contrarily, Julia is happy that an interest in the Steampunk aesthetic has started to show from more mainstream shops and labels. Her belief is that availability and accessibility have made it easier for those new to Steampunk to get themselves a “starter kit”. The idea is that the mainstream clothing people buy acts as a platform that leads people into the next rung on the ladder; adapting and making their own things and being more creative. However, Julia does draw the line. When it comes to the theft of intellectual property, like all creatives, Julia emphasises that she hates it when big chains rip off designers and artists within a community. She also expresses a dislike for “lazy design” and the over or misuse of culture symbols, such as the cog, and attempting to make a quick turnover off the back of the movement. “Moustache-print t-shirts, brown shirts with cogs on… that smells like jumping on the bandwagon to me. I like that Steampunk is getting its name out there, but I don’t like the idea of someone doing the typical ‘slapping a cog on it and calling it Steampunk’. That’s just a bit… not on; it’s not functional!”

Julia also feels that there is a cultural, social element to Steampunk; that like-minded people, with similar ideas and views, enjoy sharing the safe environment that Steampunk offers, as they do not fear being looked at like they are completed mad. Julia believes that the openness of Steampunk, the ability of each individual to create their own personal experience from it, attracts not just the geeky, creative types normally associated with Steampunk, but also those who are not from those backgrounds. “People draw other people,” she says. “It’s an excuse for a social gathering!” However, despite media attention, Julia does not think that Steampunk could ever become the mainstream norm. “I suppose it could,” she muses, “but I think it’s still one of those subcultures like Goth and Punk; it will always have that different edge to it, so while I think elements of it can, and HAVE, been embraced by the mainstream, I don’t ever think that a mass market of people will ever start dressing Steampunk.”

As Julia points out, with the Steampunk movement continuously moving forward, due to the number of creatives within in, there’s no time for the mainstream to catch on! It’s hard to disagree with that thought!

Back once more with the subject of clothes, Julia explains that if she could not be a singer (more on that later!), she would, if she could, go into fashion design. She already makes most of her own accessories and a lot of her clothes, so if anybody ever sees her in a Steampunk outfit, the chances are, she made at least part of it herself. “I find that it’s simpler, because when I have an idea, nobody ever seems to have anything like that I imagined!” The concept of keeping a firm hold on her own creative identity is important to Julia, whether she be singing or crafting, and she does not believe in criticising the work of others for that very reason, though she is heavily critical of her own older work! “I don’t tend to criticise as I usually end up getting ideas myself! I think that you can’t please everybody. Somebody may not like that you’ve done, but so long as you’re happy with it, it’s okay to disagree with them. Learning to manage my M.E. Has allowed me to deal better with negative opinions. I try to be a positive person, which is difficult with the M.E., but I try to see the bright side. Occasionally, not everything is going to go right and I have learnt that you just can’t let them bring you down. Keep going and get on with it!”

That brings us nicely onto the subject of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, the debilitating condition that afflicts Julia’s everyday life. M.E. is a disability also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It is a disabling condition affecting all types of people at all ages. ME can present in the form of severe and debilitating fatigue, painful muscles and joints, disordered sleep, gastric disturbances, poor memory skills and poor concentration, though the way it affects those with it varies from person to person. For Julia, having this disability means that she has to plan every aspect of her life in advance, and then stick to those plans without exception. The consequences of ignoring her well-laid plans, are severe. “There’s no option for a spontaneous “oh, lets just go do this”. No spur of the moment. If I’m going into the studio, and I KNOW I’m going in to the studio, I have to plan my week around that one event to make sure that I have enough energy to be able to do what I need to do on that day.” This means that Julia often has to miss out on other plans, such as going to the cinema or seeing a friend to go shopping. “I’ve had to learn to prioritise what is absolutely the most important thing to do in a week, and then make sure that THAT is what I focus on. Everything else has to be pushed aside, no matter how “important” it is. It’s really frustrating.” On top of all of this, Julia has to calculate the intensity of everything she does and add it all up, in order to ensure that she is left with enough energy at the end of the week to carry over into the next. Simply being in the studio for 2-3 days is enough to knock her out. This heavily impacts on her ability to interact with other people on a regular basis. Many M.E. sufferers find that any form of social interaction is incredibly drain-ing, and Julia is no exception. “After a few days in the studio doing heavy thinking and interacting with the guys there, it’s very difficult not to get tired,” she explains. “Once I’ve done it, I need to take a few days where I just don’t talk to anyone or do anything, even if it means that I have to give up social events such as Steampunk Wednesdays at the Well.” Unsurprisingly, there are a few who are unsympathetic to Julia’s condition. They perceive her as being lazy, or simply tired, but Julia maintains that they just don’t understand. “It’s not “tired”, it’s fatigue, and it’s simply not like any other kind of tiredness that a normal person would get. They don’t have the muscle problems or the Brain Fog that goes with it, or the fact that some days you simply can’t get out of bed because it hurts too much.”

Sadly for Julia, and all M.E. sufferers, there is no cure for M.E., and Doctors have no set ideas for how to treat it. Despite the numerous options available, there is no combination that is proven to work nine times out of ten. When Julia was referred to a specialist clinic in Grantham, she was given the option of activity management, which so far, has proven effective. “The only way for me to really cope with my M.E. was to learn how to manage it. That was hard for me. One day you’ll feel fine and you’ll try and get as much done as you possibly can in one go. You’ll keep saying, “just a bit more”, but then your body will say “you should’ve stopped hours ago” and you’ll crash completely. I’m a perfectionist, and I just wanted everything done properly, so managing was difficult for me to get my head into.”

Despite the unpredictability of her illness, Julia doesn’t allow it to stop her doing what she loves most: singing.

Julia’s interest in music began a few years before her foray into the Steampunk lifestyle, when she was “suckered into” joining the choir by her friends. Returning from seeing the Lion King musical in London as part of a school trip, Julia found herself coerced into singing the opening to “The Circle of Life”, which she claims was very embarrassing. “The music teacher heard from the front of the bus,” she explains. “She basically stood and demanded, “Who did that?”. Everybody pointed at me and she said, “Right, I’m going to see you at choir on Wednesday.”” And that was that. Not given much choice as she felt she had nothing better to do on a Wednesday lunchtime, Julia joined the choir.

Taking inspiration from the world around her, music, film and books, Julia’s music is a fusion of musical theatre, Steampunk, Pop and Classical. A huge fan of Cirque du Soleil, Julia is also heavily influenced by the sights and sounds of the circus. “I wanted to make music that was a bit different, but not so completely out there that it wasn’t accessible to lots of people. Maybe even people who are slightly unusual, like me!” Julia laughs. “I really admire Jessie J as I think she has really amazing vocal capability. I wouldn’t normally go for that kind of music but she can really sing and she has great strength as a female star. My favourite people are those who can write and sing music that really gets under my skin and means something to me.”

Up to the date of the interview, Julia has written eleven songs for her first album, with a further song still in the pipeline, though she has yet to formalise which song she wishes to release as a single. At the moment, the song at the top of the list appears to be “Curious World”, which she has already released onto YouTube and her website. She is developing her work under the guidance of Sheffield-based songwriter and record-producer, Eliot Kennedy, most notable for his work with The Spice Girls, Bryan Adams, Delta Goodrem and The Wanted. Suddenly surrounded by a lot of people giving her attention, make-up artists, publicists, photographers, we have to ask how all that makes her feel. But Julia doesn’t come across as being phased at all. She looks at it as a positive thing, but not for the reason some might expect. “As a creative person I like to express myself in a visual way so I have a lot of fun allowing my slightly weird ideas to become a reality; especially if it’s something that I couldn’t do myself but someone like a hair or make-up artist could.” The idea of having images in her mind and watching them come to life is highly appealing to Julia, which is probably why she is so relaxed about the attention she receives. On the other side of the coin though, Julia’s concern about hanging on to creative control does play on her decisions. In studios, there are solid ideas about what will do well and what will not, but Julia does not wish to not be labelled in that way.

Determined to plant her individuality onto her work, Julia is highly protective of what goes out into the wider world; it has to be something that she really wants to do and has created, as opposed to something that someone else has told her to create. “It’s my music. If I want to feel anything for it, it has to some from me. It has to be personal, so I’ve tried to hold on to as much creative stuff as I can. I prefer to take others concepts and ideas for me and mould them into something more personal.”

Does this mean that cover songs are out of the picture? Well no, actually it doesn’t. While the covering of another artist is incredibly hit and miss, and Julia vows never to cover for the sake of covering, if the song is personal enough or inspirational enough to her, then Julia would be interested in covering it. “I’d personally cover a Queen, IMX or Adam Ant song. They’ve been a great inspiration to me. But I know I’d have a lot to live up to!” She also wants to set herself apart by utilising her craft stall, Curious Fashion, as her official merchandise stall. At the moment, Julia has been too focused on her music to allow herself to get out and about with her stall very much, but by combining the two, she hopes to effectively kill two birds with one stone. “I think it would stand out because most bands sell t-shirts but I’d sell my creations that I’d designed and made myself. I’d definitely consider a t-shirt with my face on because it’s what some people want, but I’d want it to be a little different, in some way.”

With a song already on YouTube and her father (understandably) proudly showing off samples at every opportunity, Alice’s Night Circus already has a following. Over the next year, Julia hopes to see her music getting out to more people by making it more accessible. Her album is pencilled to be released in 2015, though she is unwilling to rush it in order to get it out by a set date. The plan is also to spend more time performing live shows once the album is actually released, and she has had some thoughts about touring old-fashioned theatres. “As I develop as a person, the music develops with me. I’d like to hope that, in a year or so, it would have taken off. That would be nice! As long as it gets out and about and a few people like it, I’m happy!”

The opinion here (at the Chronicle) is that Julia has nothing to worry about there! Why not check it out for yourself at www.alicesnightcircus.com, where you can listen to “Curious World” and even “Join the Circus”! We certainly will!