Annabelle Chairlegs Discusses Working With Ty Segall, Life In Austin, And More

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The Austin, Texas based artist Annabelle Chairlegs talks working with Ty Segall, forthcoming LP, and how Austin has changed

We first caught wind of Annabelle Chairlegs with her ‘Ice Cream On The Beach’ single that dropped recently. Since then, we blasted our way through her back catalogue and can now consider ourselves big fans. The fusion of velvety 60’s garage rock infused with more modern elements creates a surf-rock experience that is driven forward by Annabelles forthright vocals. It’s no wonder that she paired with Ty Segall for her forthcoming LP (out January 30th via ToDo) whom together are likely to make history. Annabelle is no longer going to be Austin’s little secret, she is pathed for a global audience.

We are stoked to be part of the first wave of people talking about her in the UK and look forward to hopefully seeing her live soon. In the meantime, get to know more about Annabelle Chairlegs via this wonderful interview.

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Kieran: Thank you so much for taking the time to have a chat! Before we jump in with your music I want to talk about your hometown of Austin, Texas. It’s had a cultural shift of recent and I am curious to know if it has changed much for you and how this may have affected you as an artist?

Annabelle: Yeah, I think it’s definitely changed a lot. The last few years I’ve been trying to be kind of positive about it but it’s not easy. Prices have obviously gone up an insane amount since I’ve been here, and it’s getting harder to maintain. You know, one of the first reasons I moved there was because I was like, wow, I could live in a house with my band and pay like 300 bucks and park outside, drive anywhere and like it’s affordable. We were able to work really hard for a few weeks and then go on tour. I think that is the thing that’s become most difficult is maintaining a job and leaving and going on the road or paying for recording or any of that stuff. It’s the trickiest thing at the moment.

Kieran: That’s very interesting to hear because it feels like something that is being felt across the world. However, in America in particular you’ve had these pockets of really artists spaces. Such as Francisco in the early 2010’s but they all got turfed out to L.A. Then people from L.A moved to Austin and now it feels like history is repeating, isn’t it?

Annabelle: Oh, for sure. And it’s, it’s funny because before it used to be like everything was a venue, everything was a music venue. Now, these spaces are struggling to pay bands and are favouring DJ’s. It’s really changed quite a bit.

Kieran: Has it changed how you approach things as an artist?

Annabelle: I think it has because it’s made me not do the whole rat race of trying to play as many shows as possible. Perhaps it was Covid or the whole pandemic but it sort of taught me to sit back and work on stuff a little more. I’ve gotten way more selective about playing and balancing out if we can actually afford too, which sucks. The positive note though is that I am putting more effort into the writing and recording side though.

Kieran: Well that ties in nicely with my next question which is about you signing with Todo Records, which is really exciting. How do you feel this will change things for you as an artist?

Annabelle: To be honest, I never knew how it could be helpful. But being someone who’s always done everything alone, like from booking and emails and like maintaining a deadline and scheduling and all that stuff, it’s so nice to have like an awesome team that can help. It’s so great to have a group of people you really admire and get a long with to sound off with as well and get their opinions. It’s been taking a little bit of the pressure and burdon off everything.

Kieran: I imagine that has helped you focus on the music more too?

Annabelle: Oh, absolutely. I feel less bad about actually recording as I am not having to balance so many other elements.

Kieran: Your recently worked with one of my personal music heros on your forthcoming record, Ty Segall. How did this come about and what was it like working with Ty?

Annabelle: So I played a couple shows with Ty. We did a solo show together, then our bands played together later on. I had recorded an album but I wasn’t super excited about it and wanted to tip it in half and almost make two different albums. Then my band mate aske dme who I think could record it and to be honest I have never thought about that. I have always done things alone. I immediately thought of Ty and I don’t know why. I am a big fan of his music but it wasn’t something that I had really been stewing on. But I thought that a lot of these songs had this sort of like sweetness but also a sadness and edginess to them. Ty balances this so amazingly with his records and it ended up being the perfect mash up. I didn’t know Ty super well so I had no idea what to expect. We hopped into our van and drove to Topanga, California from Austin and got an Airbnb and showed up to his house (where is his studio is). We had such an incredible time and there was so much happening too, for example on the last night we had to evacuate because of a bad storm, there was loads of funny instances like this. The recording end of itself, he was just so hardworking and so gracious the entire time. Like we were doing like 10, 11 hour days and even up into the last hour he was like, okay yeah, let’s do it again. He is incredibly hard working and fully committed to the artform of music.

Listen/watch ‘Concrete Trees’ here:

Kieran: Very cool! How was it working with another person on your music, I imagine that was an adjustment after doing it DIY for so long? Was anything done differently this time?

Annabelle: I feel like this one has felt the most honest and true. I think this is because when you have someone working with you, you’re doing the best for the song, as opposed trying to write a ‘hit’. Myself and Ty were very much on the same page with this.

Kieran: Is there anyone you’d like to collaborate with in the future?

Annabelle: There’s no one in particular but I am more open to it than ever before. It’s a very new thing for me but it is an exciting thought. It was so special with Ty though as we did it all analogue as well which is how I record my demos. It was just very much felt like how I feel at home making music alone, but with one other person. We were also at his house, so wasn’t like this big elaborate studio with engineers. This whole experience has made me think about this more often and even listen out for names in interviews or even when just reading through stuff. Like for example Mark Ronson seems really interesting and I didn’t know much about him but I think he’d be cool to work with.

Kieran: What an experience it sounds like you had! It must feel like a bit of a new chapter for you?

Annabelle: Absolutely, definitely. In the past I didn’t really know how to record or how sounds work per se. I’ve learned a lot in the past ten years so it felt like the collaboration with Ty came at the perfect time as I was so ready to be inspired. You know, I could produce and record my own things and get better and better every time. It was cool to see Ty there and almost envision that I could get there too.

Kieran: What can we expect from future releases from you?

Annabelle: Oh my God, a lot, like so much. I just, I really wanna start doing as much as I can. I’m actually working on recording my Christmas album, which is kind of funny but it’s something I really wanna do. I could be done in eight months or eight years. I actually have a Christmas tree up in my house and it stays up until I am done with the album. so that’s my, my little thing on the side that I wanna do. I’m also really excited get this forthcoming album out into the world as well!

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