Q & A with Alison
Alison is timeless and unique, with a quick, witty mind and a ray of sunshine on her shoulder. She is the lead singer of alt-pop band Howlite.
Name: Alison Thom
Age: 31
Connect with her here: @howlitemusic, Spotify or www.howlite.com.au
Run us through the last 3-4 years of life- what's been happening for you?I’ve spent most of the last four years feeling like an insect clinging onto the world’s windshield. I did a hard reset during the pandemic, was unemployed for a bit and went on lots of long walks, which was nice. Wrote an EP, recorded it, threw it out, wrote another one and recorded that one. Got a job, then got another job, then went back to uni to learn how to write more good. My partner and I bought a house, so I’ve also been doing a lot of cleaning and internally apologising to my mother for all the years I left my wet towels on the floor.
What are you listening to right now?A Norwegian artist called Oda Felicia.
Last thing you watched? South Park.
Favourite book? Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Favourite saying or word? “If my life wasn’t funny, it would just be true, and that is unacceptable.” - Carrie Fisher.
How would your friends describe you? Self-deprecating dickhead dressed like a high school art teacher. Most likely running late.
How important do you feel it is to surround yourself with the right people? It’s vital. The wrong people will wear you down or force you to fit their requirements of you.
Text or phone? Text...eventually. (I'm getting "Apologies, just saw this!" on my tombstone.)
What is the favourite song you’ve written so far? The song I’m currently writing is always the best and makes all my previous work sound like garbage. But Olympia and Pick The Bones Clean are two that I’m pretty happy with.
Tell us about a moment or event that shaped you? When I was about 10, a lady from the Australian Girls Choir visited our primary school - she came into our classroom and asked all the girls to stand up and sing the national anthem. Then she walked around, leaning in, listening, and would either hand out a flyer or move on to the next girl. She handed me a flyer. I always liked to sing, but this was the first moment I realised I might be good at it. Although looking back now, it sounds like a really cruel audition process...
Cast your mind back to when you were 18. Did you have any idea what you wanted to do and how you would get there? I wanted to be in the music industry somewhere or somehow but I had no idea where to start. This was 2009, so music degrees at the time required doing eight grades of theory training or – worse – contemporary jazz. My guidance counsellor pushed me away from the arts because she was concerned I would never make any money (which, to be fair, valid point). Instead, I got accepted into a nursing degree which I never started, and it took me another three years of stop-starting other things before I decided to seriously commit to music. Luckily, by that time there were more generalist industry courses starting to pop up – things like artist management and song writing, and I was three years more mature and prepared for study.
What is something you wish you were taught when you were in school?It’s not so much a specific thing, but I wish I was taught more holistically. I love learning, and I think there is no such thing as a useless thing to learn, but if I don't understand why I'm learning something, I find it very difficult to process the information. I know I missed a lot of really useful things purely because I got bored and zoned out.
What is something you can’t live without? Other people. I spiral very quickly into Howard Hughes territory when left alone.
Where would we find you on a Sunday morning? In bed, snoring like an Appalachian feral pig or planted in front of the TV watching cartoons and eating cereal.
Favourite gig? Jamie T at the Hi Far Bar in Melbourne, 2009.
How do you approach your career? With the carefree abandon and half-assery of someone who doesn’t have to rely on it to pay the bills.
Did you always want to be a musician? I think so, yes, even though I denied it because it felt embarrassing and shallow to admit. I was a very shy, ugly, awkward kid, but I knew I could sing and I knew I could write; it was like my own superpower to wield, I just had to wait for the right moment to reveal it. Like all people with delusions of being a popstar, the fact I would ‘make it’ felt inevitable. It still does, which is ridiculous! But you have to delude yourself a bit, otherwise you’d never give it a go.
Do you have any hobbies? I love making things. Arts and crafts, sewing, DIY – basically anything a professional could do quicker, better and more safely, I will insist on doing myself.
What's the best compliment you've ever gotten? An ex-boyfriend was in the process of breaking up with me and dropped the single greatest backhanded compliment ever: “you’re the best girlfriend I ever had! I mean, not physically…”
Do you have any mentors or people you look up to? Yes! I know nothing about anything. I have lots of different people I contact for advice. I will happily ask them stupid questions all day, or until they stop replying to my emails.
What is a good friend to you? Someone who accepts that I communicate like a Jane Austen character (sporadically, with long winded updates containing irrelevant information, idle gossip and hysterical bouts of the vapours).
How do you approach tough days? Gently, with chocolate.
If you could do it all again, would you? Yes, but let me write it all down first so I can start my new career as a psychic grifter.
Who do you look up to? I thought about this question for a long time. There are lots of artists I love for their work or their style, but the one I do genuinely look up to is Patti Smith. She’s someone I consider to be a true artist.
Who inspires you? The ones I find inspirational these days are friends and family who I see doing things that seem insurmountable to me – persisting through grief, running marathons, raising kids, fighting illnesses. Life is fucking hard. People are so impressive and we don’t get nearly enough credit for just getting up each morning.
How do you make time for yourself? Throughout the day, I will randomly stop dead in my tracks like a stubborn Shetland pony, and refuse to comply with any further requests unless they involve food.
Tell us about one of your quirky traits? I don’t know if it’s quirky so much as intensely annoying, but I am the target demographic for fidget spinners. Cannot sit without bouncing my leg or doodling or tapping or (worst) scrolling my phone. People do not enjoy watching movies with me.
What's a memory that makes you smile when you think about it? I have a really shocking memory. My brain is like a terrible waiter at an event that keeps offering you carrot sticks all night and then when they finally bring out the little hamburgers, walk right past you. Today, the only memory I am being served is the time I was running late and tried to put on a pair of pants on while running down the stairs, got my foot stuck halfway and fell arse over teakettle. My sister witnessed it and nearly died laughing. She said I looked like Foghorn Leghorn falling off a cliff.
In terms of career, you're in a pretty cutthroat industry. What advice do you have for other young women who are chasing their big passions in a tough industry? Present yourself and your art the way you want, don't let other people tell you who you are. Take your music seriously, take yourself seriously. Don’t view other women as competition or threats. Don’t take things personally.
How much importance do you place on your mental health? Much Importance, but unfortunately it falls under Life Maintenance, which I am bad at. I run my body like my car, so it’s only when the warning light is on and there is a strange noise coming from the engine that I start to think about getting it serviced. I am slowly getting better, but my therapist and my mechanic both look at me with the same disappointment before taking my money.
How do you ensure you’re taking time for you? There’s a Seinfeld episode where Elaine wants to get home because it’s Sunday and she needs to wind down. This is me. I require an enormous buffer window of recovery/preparation for the smallest house-leaving tasks. My plans are minimal and rarely spontaneous, allowing me to achieve my weekly number of contact hours with my couch.
What is a challenge you grapple with currently? I get overwhelmed and burnt out very easily. When this happens, my good habits (exercise, diet, basic grooming) are usually the first things to get abandoned. I am getting better at recognising when I’m about to fall off the map, but I still struggle to turn the ship around.
How do you approach it? Perfect is the enemy of done, as they say. I go into what I like to call Power Saving mode: bugger off all the extra tasks I can’t handle right now, automate as much as I can, get through the essential things, and make it to the weekend. Then just repeat. Until I die. I am open to better suggestions.
Do you have any advice on getting through the stormy patches? Write your thoughts down – get them out of your head. Put your phone down, or if you need a screen, put on your comfort TV show or movie. If you’re up to it, go for a walk and get some fresh air. I absolutely hate being told to go for a walk because it feels so patronising, but honestly, every single time I do it, I feel better. Infuriating.
Tell us a bit about your story? Former horse girl and space cadet discovers Avril Lavigne at 13, devotes the rest of her life to becoming the Australian version of a Canadian sk8er girl. There was some other stuff but that's probably my biopic pitch.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced in your life? I had always assumed I didn’t have any big challenges, just lots of little ones. But I got diagnosed with ADHD in 2020 and suddenly realised that all of those little challenges were actually caused by the one big challenge. It was a very Scooby Doo-villain-unmasking moment.
How did you overcome that challenge? I bought a stack of textbooks from reputable psychologists and specialists, read some studies and spoke to other women who had/have since been diagnosed to try and learn healthier ways to live with my rat brain. After being diagnosed, there was a process of going backwards through my life, applying this new information and suddenly understanding myself in a new context. With that, came a sense of mourning for all the opportunities I’d missed or things I would have done differently had I known how to manage myself. I think the thing that gets glossed over is how terrifying it feels to not understand your own mind, and how much time I spent feeling like I wasn’t in control of myself. There is a significant overlap of ADHD and autistic symptoms and it shares similarities with BPD, but it doesn’t get treated with the same level of respect, and the fact that I'm part of a generation who are just now getting diagnosed being called a 'trend' makes me cringe. I still feel a tremendous sense of shame about it – that I’m either making it up or using it as a crutch to avoid consequences or absolve myself from responsibility. I know most other ADHD-ers feel the same way.
What is the biggest lesson you have learnt? You can only control yourself. Let everything else go and just focus on yourself and do what you can.
What would you tell your 17-year-old self? Do not. Cut your hair. Into a mullet. The week before your Year 11 ball. You absolute walnut.
What is your biggest life tip? Pour your almond milk backwards, so the opening is furthest from the cup = no splashback. Start your day right.
As a musician, you're managing a brand. What do you wish more people knew about managing a personal brand? Everything about marketing and branding gives me the ick, but you have to respect that it’s really difficult to do it well. It’s a full-time career, and most musicians are doing it (for free) on top of their other full-time careers. Like all art, it takes time, energy and thought to create good branding. It's also a constantly evolving thing, because it's reflecting you, so it's a project you never complete and are never satisfied with for long.
What are one or two goals you're working towards in the future? Our band is releasing our third EP later this year. I would love to play some overseas shows and jump on someone's tour to support, so that’s taking up most of my manifesting energy for the foreseeable future. I’m also making a stop-motion video for one of our film clips which, given my track record, I anticipate will be finished around September 2029.