elizabeth.

At age 15, sophomore Elizabeth Kupchella has already released cover songs and performed at multiple venues throughout the Twin Cities––all while managing to run on BSM’s cross country team and participate in various school clubs. Despite her young age and busy schedule, she has big plans to release a full-length album in early to mid spring of 2015.

Throughout her childhood, Kupchella was constantly immersed in music; her own grandfather played the guitar and recorded covers of songs. “The inspiration he gave me was that one can have a connection with music; he relates so strongly to his music,” Kupchella said.
Although the process of making and polishing up an album is tedious, Kupchella enjoys the challenge. “[Music is] something that you’re never done with. You can spend days and you can spend hours,” Kupchella said.

The album features eight to ten songs, which are inspired by local Twin Cities artists and their music styles. Nevertheless, they are written by Kupchella herself, who used her own life experiences to form them into songs that aim to express her emotions and personality. “Writing has meant so much to me and it’s a staple of originality,” Kupchella said.
With her newly released album, Kupchella hopes to tour different cities this summer, where she has already built numerous fanbases. “If you want people to remember that you can put on a good show, you have to go back there every six months or so to remind them. One of the biggest things in this business is consistency. You have to put yourself out there,” Kupchella said.

With any new adventure, however, comes its fair share of nerves––and Kupchella is by no means an exception to this norm. Not only is she worried about the tour and the logistics that come along with it, but Kupchella is concerned with whether or not her upcoming album will appeal to her fans and the bigger pool of listeners. “There always are nerves. If you don’t have any nerves about it, you’re probably doing it wrong,” Kupchella said.

By releasing a full album of her own, Kupchella feels more serious about her career and is eager to take the next step in sharing her first full album with the community. “I think by putting my music on an album, I am, in a way, advertising myself on a more serious level,” Kupchella said. - Knight Errant

*Elizabeth is no longer a freshman and would be finishing her sophomore year by the time of sxsw 2015 if given the chance to perform.

Despite dealing with all the hardships that come from being a freshman such as managing the new homework load, trying to find the different restrooms at school, and struggling to build a catapult out of brightly colored plastic fragments in the physical science class, Elizabeth Kupchella adds being a professional musician to her schedule.
Performing regularly at locations such as the Varsity Theater and Mill City Nights, Kupchella has launched herself into the music industry. She has written 30* original songs, worked at the Woodbury Studios recording her own music, and has performed with professional artists such as Vandaveer and Ash St. John.

*Elizabeth has kept writing since the interview and has now penned over 50 original songs.

Kupchella’s passion for music began when she was only ten years old and was soon able to make her debut at the age of eleven at Vitali’s Bistro, a coffee shop down the street from Benilde St. Margaret’s. She had been greatly influenced by her whole family and their love for music, especially her grandfather. “[My grandfather] was always playing folk songs with his guitar when I was growing up and I remember seeing him and wanting to try it,” said Kupchella.

Over the years Kupchella has performed at many locations both in Minnesota and Wisconsin, but her favorite venue is the underground stage at Mill City Nights located in North Minneapolis with a standing room of 250. Playing six shows a year at this location, Kupchella calls this stage home. “When I walk in there people know me and greet me, it really feels comfortable,” said Kupchella.
Kupchella also frequently performs at the Varsity Theater, which has staged artists such as Hot Chelle Rae and Fun. One of her most memorable performances was when she opened for local hip-hop artist Mod Sun's DJ, Pat Brown, who is currently on tour with Hoodie Allen. “Pat called up my friend Luke, who has been a mentor to me in this process, asking him if he knew of any high school kids that could open his show for him. At that time I was in eighth grade, but my friend sent him my link and said, ‘Here’s your girl’. It was an unbelievable experience, which I will never forget,” said Kupchella.
Rather than singing covers of popular songs by other artists live, Kupchella mostly sings pieces that she has written herself. “I don’t want to be writing about something that I don’t have any connection to. That’s the difference with my covers and my originals. You know you haven’t written the cover and you try to put a twist on it, but if you can’t connect with it a lot of the quality is lost,” said Kupchella.
Despite being just a freshman, Kupchella’s maturity surpasses far beyond her years. Her original songs dive into deep topics such as love and suffering, but Kupchella portrays them perfectly. “I try to make my songs very honest and true to my life,” said Kupchella.

As a young, professional musician working with people who are much older can be intimidating, but Kupchella views it as an opportunity to be mentored by their wisdom and experience. “It’s weird that all the friends that I’ve made in this process [and] all the people I’ve played with have been so much older than me. They become your mentors and your friends,” said Kupchella.

Kupchella seems to be light years ahead of most students her age who haven’t had the same real world experiences. Performing regularly in various sites around Twin Cities, Kupchella has attracted many fans that are much older than her age. “For my birthday I had a show at Mill City Nights, which is [located in] downtown and [is] 18+. It’s weird to not be able to have your friends come to your shows because they’re not old enough,” said Kupchella.

Regardless of her success in the music industry, Kupchella doesn’t plan on studying music in college because she believes that music is an independent pursuit, and the classroom environment would limit its value and character. Nevertheless, Kupchella will continue to perform and pursue her musical interests for many years to come. In addition, Kupchella hopes to go on a summer tour, traveling and performing all over the country before her high school career is over. “My family has talked about it, but I think a summer tour would be ideal,” said Kupchella.

Coming up in the near future, Kupchella has a concert with Nicholas David February 9th at the Fine Line. Nicholas David, who was the third place winner on the 2012 season of NBC’s “The Voice”, has recorded five critically acclaimed albums thus far in his career. The concert will raise money for the Smile Network International, which Benilde St. Margaret’s sponsored in our common baskets back in 2011. This concert along with other upcoming performances are listed on her Facebook page: “Elizabeth Kupchella Music”. - Benilde St. Margaret's Knight Errant

Sarah Hansen:
This is sara Hansen with the Local Vibe, and today I'm talking to Elizabeth Kupchella. How are you Elizabeth?

Elizabeth Kupchella:
I'm great - how are you guys? Thank you for having me!

SH: Thank you for being on the segment - great to have you! Lets start out... how about you tell me a little bit about yourself.

EK: I started music at about... well, I guess it's always been a part of my life, it's just been something I've been so immersed in. I started doing more coffee shop and open mic performances around age 10, I had my first solo show at 11... it's kind of hard to, you know, balance everything with still being in high school and I've been doing this for about 3 years now, I'm 14*, and it's been hard to balance but it's something that stays top priority in my life, for sure.

*This interview was done in 2013 when I was 14 years old, I am 15 now, have been doing this for now 4/5 years and would be 16 at the time of SXSW, if given the opportunity to perform.

SH: Wow.. yeah, you are very young to have a career in music right now but that's awesome... I mean... that's so cool. So you've been playing music since you were 10, you said?

EK: Yep! Music since age 10, then shows at 11.

SH: That is so cool.

EK: Thank you!

SH: So what started your love for music?

EK: Oh man... Definitely a combination of things. I grew up with my grandpa, actually, always playing guitar with these folk songs and still today, whenever we get together with family we still get together and play these old songs... I think that's where I really got started, and where I learned to play guitar. Then I got more of my own influences kind of along the way and later.

SH: So speaking of influences... what other artists influence your music?

EK: I would definitely say a lot of local artists. Definitely Dessa (Doomtree Collective), Ashley Gold, Allison Scott, Kevin Bowe, there's so many to name - so many people I've gotten the chance to do shows with... and that's kind of this respect that you have for them, not only with, you know, the songs they write, but just that they can really put themselves all on stage, you know, these local artists from Minneapolis! I think that's so inspiring. But definitely some more Brandi Carlile, Ed Sheeran, I love a lot of alternative music and kind of that stuff too... so I guess a little bit of everything.

SH: Sure. So, local music... you said you're from the cities?

EK: Yep, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota.

SH: Yeah... the cities definitely have a good local music scene. Lots of inspiration from there, a lot of talented people come from there. So are you currently on tour?

EK: I am not - I would love to be, I think it would be such a fun idea, but I'm not currently, no.

SH: Probably not with school I guess... that would be a little difficult.

EK: Yeah... It's a little harder to take off and we've talked about touring with tutors, and we've talked about touring with summer breaks so maybe not a year long, but touring is definitely something that I'd like to accomplish later on, for sure.

SH: So, for the future, where do you want to see your music career taking you? What do you think you want to do after high school?

EK: After high school... that's a hard one. I think... I definitely want to go to college. The whole [college] process is so exciting. I definitely want to have a college degree under my belt for sure. But where that takes me, where that helps take me, I don't know in terms of music. We'll see. There's so many options!

SH: Forsure. And you're so young in that you have so much time to think about that right now. You don't have to decide right now, there's still plenty of people in college who don't know what they want to do! Let's talk more about your music... I've been looking at some of your music on youtube and sound cloud, and it looks like you do a lot of covers. So, what about your original music? Do you have any original songs?

EK: Yeah! Actually most of my shows, I would say, are probably, well, it depends on the duration. If it's 30-45 minute shows it'll be pretty much all originals. Most of my YouTube and SoundCloud, well, I started YouTube when I was a lot younger, and so I did a lot of covers and I didn't write as much of my own music. But yeah, most of them are originals... but YouTube and SoundCloud have been catered towards more of the viewer and what they would want to hear.

SH: Do you think that you'll be putting more original music up in the future?

EK: Definitely. Actually we're almost done with an EP and it's been so cool to work with. (First Impressions EP)

SH: Very exciting! Do you know when that's going to be released at all?

EK: I think I would give a mid-December copy-in-hand estimation there.

SH: Okay. Super exciting! So if you're not currently on tour, are you playing shows around the cities? I know that you played in Eau Claire a few weeks ago.

EK: Yeah! The cities, downtown especially, have been some of my favorite places to play. There's a venue called Mill City Nights, it's an underground venue that has their main stage above ground so it's kind of a dual-purpose venue in that regard. It's probably one of my favorite places to play.

SH: Exciting! When did you say that show was? Coming up?

EK: Mill City Nights shows have been, I think we're coming up on about 6 this year at that location, so a couple shows there.

SH: Alright... well I think that was all of my questions for you. Thank you again so much for being on the show.

EK: No problem! Thank you guys so much for having me! The Cabin (their venue) was so awesome - thanks again. - WUEC 89.7 FM Blugold Radio (phone interview)