Lola Bates on Hollywood scoring, touring with legendary musicians and why she took a step back to perfect her sound

Growing up in a musical household, musical prodigy Lola Bates has achievements well beyond her years, having contributed to major Hollywood scores at a young age, toured the world and learned studio skills from Grammy Award-winners. A piano player and vocalist, she has branched out not only into playing a variety of instruments but also explored the world of recording, production, arranging and mixing in depth with a little help along the way from some big names. On her debut album Love And Power she draws together her many influences and experiences to create a collection of songs that is sonically and thematically bursting with life. We caught up with her to find out how everything led to this point, her approach to production and which piano she would love to have in her studio… Hi Lola! Congrats on Love and Power! Can you tell us about how you got started both as a musician and a producer? What would you say is your primary instrument? Thank you so much! Definitely. At age 5, my dad signed me up for classical piano lessons with an amazing teacher who is now my mentor and dear friend, Ganna Parfenova. I went on to study classical piano with her for more than 14 years. The piano is an incredible gateway to learning other instruments — both for its percussive qualities and its theoretical foundations — so around age 14 I began to fall in love with the bass guitar, and later the acoustic guitar. As I got older, I found myself full of ideas for songs, and I wanted to be able to bring them to life myself, which is why I picked up Pro Tools at age 15. My dad and I had produced a few of my songs together, and that’s where I gained most of my knowledge of the DAW and production as a whole. Around that same time, I started taking vocal lessons, and after nearly nine years of studying with my coach and mentor, Julia Gregory, I’d say that next to the piano, my voice has become my primary instrument! Image: Press How did you come to be involved in performing for movies and TV, and what are some of your favourite such projects that you have been involved in? I was blessed to grow up in a musical household. My dad, Tyler Bates, has always involved me in his work — it’s one of the ways we connect as father and daughter. At age 12, after studying classical piano for nearly seven years, he gave me the opportunity to record as solo pianist for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1. One of my first professional studio experiences, I recorded on the legendary Capitol Records piano in Studio B, and just fell in love with the studio atmosphere. From there, I’ve gone on to collaborate with my dad on numerous films and TV shows. One of my favorite projects is John Wick: Chapter 4, where I was not only featured as vocalist on the rock ‘n’ roll cover of Martha and the Vandellas’ Nowhere to Run, but also performed most of the ambient vocal layering throughout the film. It’s such a treat to contribute to the storytelling of a film using my voice — and you can often hear this type of layering in my own music, giving it that floating, ethereal quality over a rock foundation. What are a couple of important lessons you have learned from your extensive touring and live playing — does this influence the way you write and produce in the studio? Absolutely. The reason I’ve started stepping into alternative rock is not only because I feel it’s a great genre for self-expression, but because years on the road have shown me how powerfully certain kinds of music move audiences; audiences of all sizes from 300 cap rooms to 70,000 cap festival grounds. Touring as keyboardist, acoustic guitarist, and vocalist in Jerry Cantrell’s (of Alice in Chains) solo band, I was totally engrossed in gritty, sludgy, haunting riffs and melodies, a wealth of rock history, and a fun, familial, almost pirate-like touring lifestyle — playing dice, dominoes, blackjack, and pinball, falling asleep every night at 5AM and waking up at 2PM… I definitely developed a harder edge after touring with these guys, and a newfound love for rock and roll that has definitely influenced the way I write music today. Image: Press Tell us a bit about your studio. My home studio is located in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, in the house where I grew up! I’m there every day — doing office work, creating ambient music, working on recording sessions for TV and film, and of course writing and producing my own music. It’s got a great flow; all my favorite instruments, mics, and pedals are at my fingertips at any given moment. I recorded most of the demos and all of the final vocal takes for my debut album, Love and Power, in this studio, and collaborated with my co-producer Maxwell Joseph on the majority of the initial mixes there. There’s a lot of green throughout the space — a color that feels soothing and grounding to me. Just add some incense and palo santo, and the creative channel is open and running! What’s your latest gear purchase? I recently invested in a pair of Royer R-10 ribbon microphones