Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Eleanor Hammond. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Eleanor thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
Whenever I sit down to write a song, I must become an open channel. If I sit down instead saying in my brain “Let’s write a hit,” I will write shit. And I let myself write shit. It doesn’t feel good, but it is part of the process of showing up every time. And I don’t show up every day. It varies. Sometimes I write very often, sometimes less. I let my creative brain have space. Nothing feels better than when you have that moment playing and singing, and something brilliant from somewhere deep within comes out through your hands and vocal chords. It just feels as natural as breathing air. But that flow can get killed with judgement. It is important, I think, to work on that as a songwriter. It gets harder to do when someone else is watching. At least for me.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a songwriter and performer in Los Angeles. I am most proud of the versatility of my sound. Every release I feel like stems from a different genre. This wasn’t intentional. I genuinely just write that way. I am so glad my producer, Sam Doniger, honors that. My father was a music manager and manages independent artists now like Dead Poet Society. I took some music lessons growing up. Then songwriting. I was immediately hooked to a class taught by Lauren Hedgepeth Bruns. Since then, I have never stopped writing. I have a day job as a nanny and if I had to live in an apartment again in LA, I’d be getting another side hustle as well. Shit is expensive. But it’s worth it for the art. My art is theatrical, versatile, raw, yet interesting pop in its own way. And I love to perform. I promise, if you see me live, I’ll give you a show.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect is getting to work through my own personal traumas with music, and then in turn helping others’ get through theirs by listening to my music. And my song means different things to them than it did when I wrote it, which I think is magical.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
From age 14 I was also pursuing acting in Los Angeles. Being in productions was an escape for me from my unique and hard family life. I majored in theater in college, writing and putting on two musicals I wrote and performing in plays and musicals as well. I played a songwriter in my last production I acted in called Stupid Fucking Bird, and it led me to wanting to just focus on being a singer-songwriter. I still get to act in my music videos and singing, and I hope to get into it again someday if it’s right for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.eleanorhammond.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/eleanorhammond/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EleanorHammondMusic/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eleanor-h-97527594/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/hammond_el33283
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBs7kpAePueJPZGZf1vcFNg
- Other: https://linktr.ee/eleanorhammond
Image Credits
William Chapin