“Personally, I haven’t celebrated Halloween in quite a while… because I’m, you know, considered witchy and gothy. I always get associated with Halloween,” says Allie X during a recent Zoom chat, laughing. However, this Thursday, October 31st, is a big occasion for the Canadian synth-pop savant, who will be releasing Girl With No Face Deluxe – the extended edition of her third LP, which dropped this February – and kicking off her Weird World Tour, the second leg of her 2024 tour. While opening night of the jaunt will have Allie X in Boston, on the very next night, November 1st, she will be headlining The Foundry at The Fillmore. Read what else Allie X had to tell me about deluxe editions, dressing up, and her first proper headlining tour.
Izzy Cihak: You recently announced the release of Girl With No Face Deluxe, an expanded edition of your latest LP, which seems to be getting to be a huge thing these days. How did the idea for this special edition come about? I understand it’ll include a number of brand-new tracks, in addition to a handful of remixes.
Allie X: Yeah, I mean, albums burn out really quickly. So, it’s just a way to keep momentum going and keep the era alive. We have a tour coming up for the month of November, so it made sense to release them alongside each other.
Izzy Cihak: While we’re talking about them, do you have any particular favorite deluxe editions of albums in your own music library?
Allie X: I’m not really one to become too much of a super fan of anything. Like, I have the complete New Order collection… But generally, if I’m a fan of someone, I’ll listen to their albums, and if I like it, I might buy the first vinyl. I’m not usually going that deep on deluxe editions, but I feel very lucky that I have fans that are people like that, fans that do care enough!
Izzy Cihak: The release coincides with opening night of the Weird World Tour, the second leg of your 2024 tour, which happens to be Halloween! So, before we get into that, I’m curious if you have any favorite Halloween rituals, routines, or memories?
Allie X: Personally, I haven’t celebrated Halloween in quite a while… because I’m, you know, considered witchy and gothy [laughs]. I always get associated with Halloween. And I do like this time of year for releasing music, because I feel like my songs aren’t very summary. So yeah, I always end up kind of active around this time of year, or in the winter as well. Halloween memories? I was a mermaid in kindergarten. That was cute…
Izzy Cihak: It’s funny, I was just talking to Jazmin Bean about Halloween, and they’re like, “You know, I dress up every day of my life, and I have since I was 13. That’s kind of my day off.” And I feel that.
Allie X: Yeah, I feel the same.
Izzy Cihak: What can be expected of the live show on this leg of the tour, when you return to The Foundry?
Allie X: It’s gonna be similar to the tour I did in the spring, but with a different setlist. We did all black and white styling last time. This time I’m incorporating the color red. We have a few new stage production elements. Touring is like any other business, it really benefits from experience and working out the kinks, and I think that last run really informed what I was gonna do on this run. So, I’m looking forward to putting together a really strong show and visiting markets that I’ve never played before, as well.
Izzy Cihak: What were some of the highlights of the first leg of the tour? It was your first kind of major tour in a few years, but it had you playing here in the UK. Did anything really stand out?
Allie X: I’ve never really headlined properly before. I’ve been an opener mostly in recent years. And before that I’d really just done major market sort of one-offs, where we’d almost be flying. Like, we wouldn’t even be routing it. So it was, in many ways, my first time, which is crazy because I’ve been doing this for a decade. It was my first time doing it properly. It was a steep learning curve.
It was super satisfying to see all the fans who’ve been supporting me and celebrating what I do in my music for so long, and finally meeting a lot of them. It was great not being an opener, because finally you get a lot of say in how things go, and you’re not just squeezing into someone else’s tour. And, not to toot my own horn, but I feel like I’m good at this. I’m kind of a seasoned performer at this point, and it felt great to feel that confident going on stage after all these years of doing this, to really feel like I was in my body and in my elements. It’s very, very freeing to perform.
And touring is very financially risky for artists at every scale and level. So, having 10 years of experience and a handle on that side of things felt really good as well, like where I’m no longer losing money, which is great [laughs].
Izzy Cihak: I know that you’re offering VIP packages for fans. What can they expect to be included in that? And how have they gone so far? I’m assuming you were doing it on the last leg, as well.
Allie X: Yeah, they’ve gone great! The feedback that I get from a lot of fans is that my VIP is way more than they expected. Usually, I think, for bigger artists, they have a bigger demand and a larger number of fans to get through. Most people that go to pop concerts, they get something signed really quickly and a quick picture, and then they move on. I like to spend time chatting and getting to know all my fans. We have to draw a line at a few minutes usually, but I like to have very genuine interactions. That includes signing whatever they brought and doing pictures, but also having a few minutes of conversation and getting to know someone. I find it really interesting to receive all that feedback and to have these sort of full circle moments of like, “Oh, I discovered you in 2016, and this was my favorite song, and it got me through this.”
Izzy Cihak: You’re gonna be on the road with Violet Chachki, who I know you’ve worked with before. What are your thoughts on her and her music? And how are you looking forward to being on the road with, I’m assuming, a fairly familiar face?
Allie X: Violet and I have collaborated a bunch. I mean, Violet and I are both strong personalities [laughs]. It’ll be interesting, but we’re both pros, and we’re both great performers, so I think it’ll make a fabulous show, and we even have a song that we did together; I featured on a song that I wrote for her. So yeah, it’ll be a cunty good time!
Izzy Cihak: You’ve collaborated with a lot of really cool artists, both as a performer and a writer. Is there anyone that you sort of dream of getting a chance to collaborate with in any manner?
Allie X: Right now, I’m sort of just looking for a producer to work on whatever my next record becomes. There’s a producer named Leon Michels — he just did Clairo’s last record and has done other really cool stuff — and I would feel really excited to work with him. And, I mean everyone wants to work with Jack Antonoff, so that’s definitely on my list. Shawn Everett is a fantastic mixer and producer, and we’ve talked about working together, but he’s in crazy high demand, so that hasn’t happened yet. I tend to like a lot of the Swedish producers, as well. So yeah, all those those names would excite me. With artist collaborations, I haven’t really had any in mind. And I do feel kind of ready to get back into pop co-writing, but the thing that excites me the most now would be those producers.
Izzy Cihak: Not to detract from your music, but you’ve always had really amazing both fashion and visuals, like you were talking about with the live production. What do the visual elements of your art generally draw inspiration from? I’m assuming it’s sort of a plethora of places.
Allie X: When I started as Allie X, there’s this hashtag I used, and I still use it now, called #feelingX. It’s been a common through line through the whole project. It sort of describes unexplainable feelings, like nauseating, beautiful, liminal sort of feelings. That’s always sort of been my inspiration visually, as well as just insecurity and being kind of unsure of my identity. Like, I’ve always identified as female and, I guess, heterosexual. But there feels like there’s so much else there that I don’t understand about myself. I’ve never felt too feminine or pretty, or any of those sorts of things that go along with being a typical woman, I guess, like wanting to have children or get married. So, I think a lot of my visuals sort of explore both this #feelingX concept, and this sort of unknown, the unknowns about my own identity. It tends to go kind of dark and ugly and have juxtaposition. It’s gone in many different directions, but I’d say those are the common through lines.
Izzy Cihak: On a similar note, do you get excited when fans seem to go all out when they come to the shows? I always miss you when you’re in town, so I haven’t seen you before, but I’ll definitely be there… but I imagine that your fans do really turn up to your shows.
Allie X: Oh yeah, I think most of us that dress eccentrically for how we present ourselves, we really enjoy seeing our audiences do the same. It brings more power to the room and to the performance, and a sense of unity and rebellion. I love it!
Izzy Cihak: Have you had any outfits that especially impressed you?
Allie X: I mean, the most impressive thing is usually the drag queens, and people like trans people, that are coming out in cities where maybe it’s not safe to even present yourself that way, cities where it’s like a real punk act to even walk down the street like that. That means the most to me. I think it’s not only a meaningful homage to something that I’m doing, but it’s also just pushing culture forward and pissing off the assholes, which I love.
Izzy Cihak: Finally, what’s next for you? How are you hoping and planning to kind of close out 2024, and maybe even start 2025, if it’s something you’ve even started thinking about? But I’m guessing you have…
Allie X: I am gonna be in the Monterey coast at that time of year. That’s usually where I like to finish the year. I usually rent a place up there, just taking it easy, making fires, making stews, going for hikes… I love that at that time of year, just kind of getting quiet and cozy. And then when I get relaxed like that, it’s very natural for me to get into writing.
*Get your tickets here.
**Listen for Allie X on the next edition of Philthy Radio, 11/15 (9-11pm ET) on Y-Not Radio.
