Artists : Emilie Autumn

Combine the violin mastery of Nigel Kennedy, the voice of some alien Siouxsie/Reznor hybrid, and the looks of a post-apocalyptic Marie Antoinette, and what do you get? Emilie Autumn. The pink-haired princess of gothic alternative has already morphed her way from classically trained violin prodigy to rock performer with the ability to shred on a fiddle like Yngwie, and with a cult following to match.

After spending a summer in France recording with Courtney Love at Ms. Love's express command, Emilie was invited to join Love's touring band,"The Chelsea," and was appropriately dubbed the "anarchy violinist" by Love. Next thing you knew, she was performing live on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and on national television with Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins fame, while appearing on the solo debut albums of both Corgan and Love. Emilie quickly gained attention as a solo performer in her own right, and was chosen as one of Interview Magazine’s “14 To Be,” a pictorial featuring 14 up-and-coming young female stars. Shot by famed fashion photographer Kelly Klein, and wearing a Helmut Lang gown while sprawled on a large wooden tea crate, Emilie was chosen as the magazine’s centerfold posing with her signature electric violin. Now, EA is setting her sights on the rest of the world, or at the very least, those of us who tend towards Victorian haunted houses, anime hairstyles, and have a volume of the Brothers Grimm stuffed between our Gothic Lolita Bibles.

Brought up as a concert violinist since age four, and trained in conservatoires as a composer, conductor, and music historian, Emilie's bizarre background is the element that makes her music so exceptional. The blending of strings, harpsichord, and glitchy industrial beats with vocal techniques from soul-searing belts to snarling screams creates an almost dangerous feel, only compounded by EA's dark and uber-literate lyrics.

After walking away from her first major label contract at age 18, Emilie returned to her classical roots and released her solo violin debut album, On a Day..., with the label she created and still controls, the aptly titled Traitor Records. Since the creation of her own production company, Emilie has branched out to create a number of side projects (The Jane Brooks Project, Ravensong, Convent), and is delighted to be collaborating with other artists including Detroit techno legend DJT1000, UK industrial staple Attrition, Dope Stars Inc., and Die Warzau among others.

With Enchant a proven success in the indie world, Emilie is now releasing her second full-length rock offering for release entitled Opheliac in partnership with the European label, Trisol Music Group. Written in the style EA calls "Victoriandustrial," her new heavily industrial sound takes "gothic" to a whole new level - sinister, witty, and combining her trademark violin pyrotechnics with growling vocals, virtuosic harpsichord, and electro-industrial beats. A concept album about "women, water, and madness," song titles include, "Gothic Lolita," "Dead Is The New Alive," "The Art Of Suicide," "I Want My Innocence Back", and "Misery Loves Company."

EA's previous releases include the solo violin debut album, On a Day..., recorded at age 17 and showcasing her mastery of the baroque violin, By The Sword, her charity single in response to the 9/11 attacks, Chambermaid, her first goth-rock EP, and of course, Enchant. Emilie also appears on Courtney Love's 2004 release, America's Sweetheart, released by Virgin Records, and is a featured guest on Billy Corgan's 2005 solo release, The Future Embrace, released by Warner Records.

When EA is not recording or touring, she designs for "Mistress," her own fashion and fragrance line for indie-couture company, WillowTech House. Notorious for her own visionary "punktorian" stage costumes, EA's design skills were put to use when she was asked to design and create all of the costumes for the music video for "Walking Shade," Corgan's first single off his 2005 album, directed by P.R. Brown.

EA is also a prolific writer and illustator, releasing and quickly selling out of her first volume of poetry in 2001. 2005 saw the release of her second poetry edition complete with audio version entitled, "Your Sugar Sits Untouched," offered by WillowTech House Publishing. EA is currently putting the finishing touches on the illustrations for her gothic children's book for adults only, "The Alphabet Book of X-Boyfriends."

Originally from Malibu, California, EA is now a proud Chicagoan, and can most often be found at nightspots such as the Metro and DoubleDoor as well as cavorting around the city's downtown in her Victorian bustle skirt, corset, and combat boots, attracting a ridiculous amount of attention.