Squirrel Flower on Touring, Palestine, and Finding Stillness

Chicago-based musician Squirrel Flower sits down for an interview with Lavender Editor-in-Chief Jada Fulcher.

Squirrel Flower on Touring, Palestine, and Finding Stillness
Photo creds: Janelle Abad

Ella Williams (known best by her stage name Squirrel Flower) is a 28-year old Chicago-based musician with some surprising Champaign-Urbana connections. Since signing with local record label Polyvinyl in 2020, Williams has released multiple critically acclaimed albums and her star has yet to stop shining. Before she finishes a year-long tour following the release of her 2023 album “Tomorrow’s Fire”, Williams is gracing CU with a closing performance on Aug. 24 at the Toast of Taylor Street Block Party in Downtown Champaign. Our Editor-in-Chief Jada Fulcher was able to chat with the artist about some of her biggest moments on tour and what comes next.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Jada: Who is Ella Williams, if you can give yourself like a little bio, what would it be?

Ella: I am still figuring it out.

Jada: Very real.

Ella: I'm a musician living in the Midwest currently, and after a long year of being on the road, I am taking time to embrace stillness and see what is there for me, other than touring relentlessly. For now, I'm going back on tour.

Jada: On the separate side, who is Squirrel Flower to you?

Ella: Squirrel Flower is a moody bitch. Squirrel Flower is like my musical alter ego. I've been part of different musical projects in my life, but Squirrel Flower is the one that has been the strongest for me, and like, it's kind of carried me to this point. I think of it as very witchy music and just very moody and romantic, but also, infatuated with nature and the cycles of the world and of life. So that's Squirrel Flower.

Jada: Hell yeah. 

Ella: I call it witch rock because I think genre labels are very funny. Everybody's always like, ‘well, describe the type of music you make.’ Like, it's witch rock.

Jada: Honestly, from your most recent album, I totally get that vibe. So talking a bit about you being on tour, “Tomorrow's Fire” has been out for close to a year, and you spent most of that time on tour. How does it feel to take your album all over the world?

Ella: It's amazing. Like, there's no better feeling than sharing, because, you know, working on a record is such an insular process most of the time. You're just really locked in with yourself and your focus and you have a very pinpointed vision, and then to be able to take that thing and share it with other people and have the art go from something that's more like insular to something that's very like community. It feels really good. It's a very different part of the musical process to share the music live. I don't really get tired of playing songs to people and feeling their energy, it's different every night. Some nights are really rowdy. Some nights people are very still. Some nights people are very emotional, and I actually see people crying in the audience. It really just depends where we are also, like whatever emotional state we're in also affects how we're playing and what the audience perceives. But, yeah, it's been a dream come true this year.

Jada: Are there any particular performances and places you had this last year that come to mind as really strong memories?

Ella: We were in Europe in July, and we played one show in Leeds. I didn't really know what to expect, but it ended up being, like, one of my favorite shows probably of the whole year. People were, like, packed in there, and it was so hot, like, so incredibly hot. They had no AC because it was a heat wave and England, you know, it never gets hot enough there for air conditioning. So it was like, hot as fuck and I would like, look over and my guitar player would just have his eyes closed because he was sweating so much he couldn't open his eyes. I don't know, something about that environment. It just felt so good, and it was one of the best shows we've ever played.

Jada: Talk to me a bit about playing this album throughout the whole year. Do you feel like you've gotten anything new out of [“Tomorrow’s Fire”] in that time? I'm sure you came into it with your own feelings on what the album was, how it felt to you. Has that changed over time?

Ella: I mean, something about playing the music live is like, I feel like it expands the songs. There's a lot more space in them when you do it live because recording, there are so many layers. And like the arrangements, I keep a lot of space in my recorded music, but there are many more parts happening at the same time than when we play it live. And even, like vocal doubling, things like that, and doing it with a four piece band and no tracks and more background vocals, I think it helps the songs shine through more. So yeah, I think of it like the recordings on the record are sort of like, condensed, and then when we play it live, we can expand them and put even more space. 

And you know, a lot of the songs are about what it's like to be a traveling musician and just a musician in general, and whenever I don't know, like, it started to feel really cool, like the songs were kind of helping me. Like any moment when I was exhausted or struggling In any way or like ‘This is really, really hard work. Like, I don't know if I can do this anymore’, I would get on stage and sing these songs that are sort of about that, and it was like a helping hand from my past self. And that's a really good thing to experience.

Jada: That sounds amazing. Talking more about the songs, what are your favorites, and has that changed during the year of touring?

Ella: I always loved playing “Almost Pulled Away,” that's one of my favorite songs. “Alley Light” is really fun to play. And “Finally Rain,” I think, will always be my favorite play. I usually play it solo when we do it live, but I think we're actually gonna do it full band at the festival. The song for me, just like encapsulates so much about the state of the world, and continues to be very relevant. And every time I sing it, it's sort of like a balm for myself. So yeah, I'd say that's probably my favorite.

Jada: Let's talk a little bit about you coming down to Champaign. How did you end up working with Polyvinyl all those years ago?

Ella: Well, I think someone who worked there followed me on Instagram in like 2018, and she was just posting my music as a fan. And then I had a record completed, and I sent it to her. I wasn't really expecting any sort of response, but she emailed me the next week, and she was like, ‘We are all obsessed with this. We want to work with you, let's talk.’ Then I worked with them, and it's been so great. It's very rare for a record label to be actually artist-oriented and kind and compassionate, and they are all of those things.

Jada: I'm glad you've been able to have that relationship with them. Talk to me a bit about how it feels to come to Champaign and perform right where your record label is.

Ella: Yeah. I mean, it feels great. I always love playing smaller cities in the Midwest too. I think there's so many towns that people overlook when they're touring and they shouldn't be overlooked.

Jada: We in Champaign appreciate that. As I've seen many an artist pass us by, and I'm like, ‘No, come back!’

Ella: I mean, I think a lot of the times in cities like that and towns like that, more people actually come out. Like, there's a few shows, and it's like a really exciting thing. I definitely experienced that when I lived in Iowa, when people did come through, it was like the most exciting, spectacular thing ever, as opposed to living in the city like Chicago, where there's like phenomenal music every night, there's like eight shows to choose between.

Jada: I know you're originally from the East Coast, but you've been settled in the Midwest for awhile now. How do you feel that these new Midwest connections have shaped you as an artist in these last several years?

Ella: Musically, the Midwest has shaped me a lot. I started Squirrel Flower as a project with songs that I wrote in the Midwest, inspired by the Midwest. I wanted to make music that sounded how it felt to be in the rural Iowan landscape. So it kind of created Squirrel Flower way back in 2014 and you know, while I was finishing college, or trying to, I played a lot of shows around the Midwest. I got into the DIY scene out here, and then I would also go home to Boston and play shows around the East Coast. 

But yeah, I think being part of the Midwest music scene has always been really important for me. At this point, all of the people who play with me, like it's kind of a rotating cast of characters, but at this point, they're all Chicago-based. I met them all just through the scene here. Yeah, it's a very special scene. It's very supportive and abundant. 

Jada: Talk to me about what that shift was like, moving from a small town scene to living in Chicago, performing there and in larger cities.

Ella: Yeah, well, I moved to Chicago in a strange time when, you know, shows still weren't really happening. So I had like five or six months to get my footing as a person before diving into the music scene. I mean, it's very different just because of the amount of things that are going on all the time. There's just so much to do and to choose from.

I think one thing that I struggle with being in the city is like, when I am in this kind of environment I want to be in motion all the time. When I lived in a small town, I was much more okay with just being bored and having stillness, and I think that boredom and stillness are so important for the creative process. So that's definitely something that was hard. For me, it's harder to stay at home and write music all day. It feels like there's so many people all around me doing a million different things all the time. 

Jada: Since you've been based in Chicago, I know you've been working with groups like Clean Air Club and they've been helping you make your concerts safer for you and your fans. Can you talk to me a little bit about the covid precautions you take and why this stuff is important to you?

Ella: When I found out about Clean Air Club, I was so thankful that something like that was starting. I started touring again in 2021 in September, and for the first year back on the road audiences would mask, that was kind of just like a given. Then they stopped, and then bands started getting COVID all the time and having to cancel tours. I never stopped taking precautions, especially on the road, I just didn't ever feel like it was worth it to stop taking precautions. And at this point, it's just like the wild west out there, and we have spike after spike after spike. I've toured through a lot of really intense COVID spikes where I see my peers having to cancel shows and tours, but like, I don't, because we take the bare minimum precautions. But aside from that, it's just so important for me to have my shows be as accessible as possible. And even if it's something that the majority of the audience members aren't thinking about, it still benefits them to have air filtration and purification. And to be honest, I probably wouldn't be touring if I didn't have access to these tools, because I wouldn't really feel safe doing so. 

So yeah, it's been really, really cool to watch so many mutual aid groups pop up, like they're all over the country now, international even. It can be very, very challenging to be a COVID cautious musician, because there are just like, so few, and the music industry very much turns a blind eye to it. It doesn't seem to be concerned with it at all, but I don't know, I take my health seriously. I take the health of my bandmates seriously. I take the ability to tour for a long time seriously. I am a vocalist, and if I get sick it affects my voice, so that's something I take into consideration. It's not something that I'm willing to risk, or like risk getting long COVID and being too fatigued to tour, an incredibly grueling thing. But yeah, at the root of it, there's me personally wanting to be safe, but then there's also me, as an artist, headlining shows and bringing people into a space gathering every night. Like, how can I make use of harm reduction tools to make it as safe and accessible as possible? 

Jada: Awesome. Thank you for sharing all that. It definitely is nice and appreciated to see artists who do prioritize this, because we have a pretty sizable COVID cautious community here in Champaign that's been building.  

Ella: That's awesome. I feel like in Chicago too, I think in Chicago, there's more of a community than I've seen than in other cities. I don't know why that is. I think part of it might be just like the nature of Chicago and the Midwest, and people really caring for each other, and there's less of an emphasis on, like, who looks the coolest. It's like, okay, how can we actually  care for each other, because we're in this for the long haul. And, yeah, it's very important to find community who are on the same page about it, because otherwise you start to feel crazy. And that's like being gaslit by the government all the time.

Jada: If there was something you could ask of your fans or your peers when it comes to COVID and COVID caution, what would you?

Ella: Probably to just think about how their individual actions might affect people that they don't even know. Like on the day-to-day, there are many immunocompromised people who don't have the ability to make a decision if they're gonna mask or not. And I think taking precautions is a very beautiful gesture that shows that you know you care about other people. Yeah, I would just ask for people to think about it in that way.

Jada: Focusing more on accessibility in general. What would you like to see more of when it comes to accessibility in the world of live music?

Ella: Obviously, high quality air filtration and purification. You know, that's a good question. Like, obviously, for spaces to all be wheelchair accessible and physically accessible in that way. Aside from that, I think having more all-ages venues and spaces that are not so centered around alcohol sales and alcohol consumption, but where like kids are welcome and like teenagers are welcome. I make music because of the shows that I went to when I was like 14 and 15, and there was a really rich all-ages DIY scene in Boston. And I think a lot of venues are, you know, 18+, 21+, and if you're under 18 or under 21, you have to pay extra because you're not buying alcohol. And I think that is absolutely ridiculous.

Jada: So you've been kind of been getting a lot of fervor. “Tomorrow's Fire” was on ‘Best Of’ lists all over the country, but within the last year, that wasn't the only reason that you were in headlines. I know in March, you were one of the first artists to drop out of South by Southwest in protest of their sponsorships with Raytheon and the U.S. Army and in solidarity with the Palestinian people during the current genocide happening there. Can you talk to me a little bit about what went into that decision of you deciding to drop out of South by Southwest?

Ella: It was kind of a hard decision to make. Well, it was, and it wasn't. I was signed up to play the festival, and I kept seeing infographics from organizations in Austin, like Austin for Palestine Coalition, citing the sponsorships and like, listing everything that was going on [in Palestine], and I started to feel more and more like I couldn't do it. I was just so deeply, morally opposed to it, and it didn't feel right. And I felt like, if I wasn't able to withdraw my art from it, then what's the point of making art, if you're not like standing up, using your art to stand up [against] horrible, horrible things that are happening. So it felt like a unique situation where I was in this position where I could withdraw myself from the festival, and I didn't expect it to really make a splash at all, but I expected that at least the people booking the festival would be slightly affected by it. Ideally, that would make small ripples and waves amidst the organization who's in charge of the festival, and then many, many people pulled out next like, I think, over 100 artists and speakers pulled out of South by Southwest, citing the same things. And a few months ago, they announced that they cut ties with the Army. They cut ties with the defense contractors. I'm cautiously optimistic, because we don't know what's going to happen the year after, but so many people when it first happened thought that it was stupid, thought that it wouldn't do anything, you know, thought that it was like a childish action. I think the fact that it actually did exactly what it was supposed to do shows that musicians have more power than people think, and more power than they think sometimes, because I didn't think it would really – I just didn't know, I didn't know that it would change anything.

Jada: Talk to me about the aftermath for you and your fanbase. Was there any backlash from people that followed you? Did it seem like folks stood by you? Was it kind of just a nothing thing? What happened with them? 

Ella: My peers and my fans were fully supportive and became supportive, and were very much on the same page as me about it. So that felt really good, like I did feel very supported by the people who listened to my music. And I felt very supported by my community of  musical peers. A lot of them did the same thing. I think a lot of the more negative sentiments were more from people who I don't know and have never heard of my music before. Just like internet trolls, or people in the industry who are just so set in their ways that they can't imagine another possibility, another way that things could be that is more just. But yeah, in terms of my fans and the community around me, I felt very supported.

Jada: Hell yeah, that's good. I'm sure that was a pretty scary moment for you, because I feel like there's a lot of fear around people being open about trying to support the Palestinian people and they think ‘how will that affect me? What if something goes wrong?’

Ella: Yeah, I honestly wasn't scared. I didn't feel fear until the governor of Texas and Fox News were tweeting about it and running stories about it, and then on my social media, because that's when I started to get a lot of scary, scary messages. But I never faced any material danger, and however frightening that was for like a week or two, it's nothing compared to what the Palestinian people are going through right now. So it felt kind of like the least I could do as an artist. I don't see, at least in terms of my morals and my beliefs, I don't see a world where I could be a musician and doing what I do and not also using that to platform my beliefs and stand up for what I know is right, and, you know, amplify the voices of others. I just don't see a world in which those things are separate.

Jada: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you for speaking on that. I know it was probably like bringing back to a heavy time. Turning this a bit back towards the current moment and the tour and all that, you've been talking a little bit about stillness after this tour coming to a close. Expand upon that a little bit, about what you're looking forward to now that things are winding down.

Ella: I was talking to my friend who's also a touring musician, and we were talking about how being on tour so constantly for so long, it burns you out in ways you don't even realize. Like, it is at once the most fulfilling, life affirming thing to do, and also sucks so much out of you. Which is really weird for those two things to happen at once, and I never get used to the combination of them, it's so strange. But, you know, I really have been on tour for, like, pretty much a year with no break, and I've tour managed myself throughout the entire thing. And I've also, like, managed myself for a lot of it. So what stillness looks like to me is turning inward to focus on what I want from my immediate daily life, and how music factors into that, in terms of creation, because when I'm on the road so much and doing so much, like administrative work and basically running a business, it's really hard to feel like you're in a place where you can make true art. So, yeah, I'm just, I'm gonna take a break from all that and kind of disappear for a little bit. I'm gonna travel a lot and probably go and write and record in many different places around the country, but it won't be in the context of touring, when you're in a different place every night. It really gets crazy. I feel like I'm on a treadmill, but it doesn't stop, going faster than I can keep up with.

Jada: Yeah? That sounds like a lot, definitely.

Ella: I mean, it's my dream. My favorite thing to do. Touring is always where I felt the most present and happy. But moderation is so important. It's just good to know it's time to switch gears.

Jada: What kind of things are you taking inspiration from these days, in music, in life, in vibes.

Ella: You know, I just started reading this book that's basically like a collection of short stories by Kafka. And I'm taking inspiration from that right now. It's so funny. Like, I don't know, there's something about being able to write about very serious topics, but have it also be hilarious and absurd. I just identify with that vibe. I'm taking inspiration from that, inspiration from the sunflowers, from swimming in the lake, from my friends.

Jada: Thank you so much for speaking with me. This has been a lovely experience. I'm excited to see you in town, and I hope you find some beautiful stillness in these coming weeks. 

Squirrel Flower will perform at the Saturday, August 24 Toast of Taylor Street Block Party at 10pm. Come out to hang with friends, support local businesses, and hear some great music! The event starts at 4:30 pm and goes until 11pm! Don’t miss out!