ROCK 108 Morning Show - Alisabeth Von Presley

We've got another

Iowa original here

too.

We do.

Good morning Elizabeth von Presley.

Good morning rock one away.

How you feeling?

I'm feeling great.

Do you feel good?

I feel good.

It does not feel like 9 a.m.. That's for sure.

I'm

gonna say she's a little perky

Guys normally not this perky or colorful as early in the morning.

I gotta wake him up.

Oh, you hear that?

Oh

my goodness.

Oh, yeah, that's too early.

Well, good

morning.

Welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me guys.

I appreciate it.

So

catch up the audience if they don't know

Give us a little bit about your career and how you got up to this point, just real quick.

Yeah, so I'm a singer-songwriter, born and raised in Marion, Iowa.

Moved to New York, tried to do the Broadway thing for a while, did a couple off-Broadway shows, realized I wanted to play the role of myself.

So I started writing my own music, came out with a couple albums, and now working on the fourth one just did...

a little singing competition show where I got to perform my own original song, which was really cool.

Did a couple other singing shows.

I did The Voice.

I did American Idol, but this one definitely takes the cake for the most experience.

Now we're talking my language.

There

we

go.

You've done the big three.

I

get the trifecta, baby.

Okay.

So how does that work?

Are you in a pool of people that these shows?

tend to pick

from I don't know I think people want a good representation of every state so they get a lot of viewership in a lot of the places so they're like all right Iowa Iowa singer and I think I just show up because I'm just the weirdest looking one and they think a pink-haired chick from Iowa like okay let's give this girl a shot and they talk to me and I'll talk about anything did you

have tiktok up did you have

any honestly I didn't

I didn't really want to do the TikTok thing.

I am, I'm a millennial and I thought, you know, I don't know, I don't know how to edit it.

It was, you know, bothering.

Can we swear on the show is probably not.

No, okay.

Just making sure.

The seven dirties.

Okay.

Um, yeah.

And so with the show, it actually was one of the voting platforms.

So I had to really lean into learning how to do TikTok.

And now I'll admit, I love it.

And my music's on there.

So it's sweet.

So you can find Elizabeth with an S.

and

an A, yeah, yeah.

But how did American Idol and The Voice find you?

Yeah, so both of them are just my online presence.

So like people just keep posting, you know, keep performing a show, record that show, put it out, and they saw, you know, a little bit of my music videos and my...

So you didn't go in through an audition call?

So with a...

With American Song Contest, they found me online.

With The Voice, they found me online.

But with American Idol, it was the one year they did the bus tour.

Where they went around and they went to Iowa City and I actually showed up and the line was too darn long, so I went back home.

And then my grandma called and she's like, I'm so proud of you for going and auditioning for American Idol.

I didn't have the heart to tell her I didn't go.

So I thought, dang it.

And I had some blue jeans on and a white t-shirt and I went out there and I was one of the three people picked.

And I thought, okay, and what I didn't know is you have to wear the same outfit.

Every time so I'm stuck in blue jeans and a white t-shirt, which was devastating to me being a visual artist But anyway, so this

was from an audition in Iowa City

Iowa City the bus tour yep, and then you go There's about five or six rounds of American Idol before you actually see What you see on television.

Yeah, and did you get on TV?

Yeah

Yeah, it was fun.

How could I not know

this?

I'm a huge American Idol fan.

You'd think I would remember the pink chick.

It was the year of Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey, Keith Urban.

Oh, wow.

It was the year that Mariah and Nicki had.

That was an awkward

year.

It was uncomfortable.

Was it awkward for you guys?

Yeah.

It was a bit uncomfortable.

They're sitting on opposite sides.

They didn't get along, you know, and you're sitting there.

You compliment one of them, but if you didn't compliment the other one, they were like, well, you know, so picking sides.

How do you think you've grown as an artist from the American Idol to American Song Contest?

I mean, there's some time in between the two.

For sure.

With American Idol, when you're in Hollywood, they sit you in rows and it was me and a bunch of other alternative chicks with tattoos and colored hair.

And you realize they're looking for one girl out of that row to represent the alt chick, you know, rocker girl.

And you.

So they had you, they had

you sitting down by style.

Yeah.

So then the row ahead of us, all the, you know, country singers of cowboy hats, then, you know, in front of that's all the pop princesses with the glitter and such.

And so it was like, okay, this is, I'm going to lean into that.

You know, I love pop music.

I love rock music.

And I want to intermix them together.

Like I always do a pop track.

It's going to have a guitar solo on it.

Cause like, I still love that guitar thing.

So

anyway, you're Iowa.

So

for sure.

I love 80s hair bands.

Yeah.

That's my jam.

If you were to go back, you had the ability to do so.

You got the time machine.

You're traveling

back to,

what, the 80s, right?

Oh, yeah.

Who are you going to be if you're in the 80s?

Or are you yourself?

Who am I going to be?

Do I get to pick a celebrity, an established artist?

Sure, you might as well.

Eddie Van Halen.

I mean, there is no greater.

The guitar god, you know, he's a musical genius.

I would be Eddie Van Halen.

My guitar is Eddie Van Halen striped.

I, yeah, I'm obsessed with that man.

So I would, I don't know if I'd be that man.

You know what?

I would actually like to be able to watch that man work.

So I would be David Lee Roth.

And

I know they didn't get along a whole lot, but David is, you know, Diamond Dave, I'll be him.

Well, I've seen you kick your legs up here pretty high while you're up on stage.

I mean, that sounded kind of odd, but

Jesus,

Brian, really?

Sorry

about

that.

We just get a brand new guest in the studio.

Here I am.

I'm going on.

That's not a fence.

I was trained as a dancer my whole life.

So of course, I incorporate the high kicks and, you know, watching Diamond Dave do the jump split off of, I did that in my, I'm the first time I performed with my rock band in high school and I split my pants in half.

First rock show ever.

From then on I knew Spandex, that's why he did Spandex.

I want to go back to your additions.

How far did you make it in American Idol and how far did you make it in The Voice?

So the voice was a producer only audition.

So I was in New York.

I was where Pink had just recorded her last album.

It was so cool.

They had all these Edison lights hanging.

It was so moody and cool.

And so I did the producers and two said yes, one said no.

And then they talked to each other and I ended up going home.

That's okay.

So they flew me out there.

That was awesome.

And then with American Idol, I was in the top 100.

So I was the top 50 women.

Yeah.

Yeah, which is really cool.

A bit of a huge, not only for you, but for the state of Iowa, I would say, wouldn't you?

Super cool.

Yeah.

I mean, when you think of Iowa, you don't think of, you know, a pink-haired rocker going up there and doing a thing.

Oh, I do.

Do you?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, man.

I've

had dreams of pink-haired rockers for years.

I have more questions.

Because a lot of people don't necessarily watch broadcast TV anymore, let's reset what this show is.

It's a new singing show.

Yeah, so American Song Contest, it's not you're singing somebody else's material.

You're singing your own, correct?

Yeah, you're singing your own material.

Yeah, it's super cool.

You're going out there.

Nobody's ever heard the song before.

It's an unreleased song.

Um, yeah.

And then they bring it to life for you.

It's amazing.

I had an all chick rock band up there and I started following them on social media.

Like one of them just played with Lady Gaga, you know, one of them was with Rihanna.

Like it's amazing, these amazing, talented people.

And I'm getting this experience to, you know, create something cool with them.

So was there an audition process that followed you like, like they do on the other shows first?

So for this one with COVID, a lot of it was virtual.

Okay.

So yeah, I was in a ton of meetings with them, a lot of phone calls, a lot of sending videos, a lot of singing, a lot of.

You know a lot of behind-the-scenes process and I'd only met these people via zoom So it was really cool getting to go to LA and actually be like oh, there's the face you're a lot shorter than I thought For the show yeah, we were live On NBC it was live.

It's the first thing I've ever done.

I mean aside from an actual live performance

that was there was no going back those you're seeing it while i'm doing it

that was two-story tall screens that were going on behind you while you're playing wonder i

was

like this is like a concert it was incredible and i had to imagine for you that's gotta be nuts standing on the stage being the center of attention at that point

it was absolutely wild to know that yeah there was an in-house audience

but that there was three million people watching you.

And that it was so different for me because I'm such a live performer and I'm looking at the audience and I'm making content, I'm feeding off of them.

But my audience, through this whole production, the producers are like, it's the camera.

Look at the camera.

Follow the camera.

It's America.

And that was so hard for me because I see these faces in front of me that are like, hey, hey!

I'm like, I can't look at you.

I gotta look at that little lens over there.

Like with a little red dot on it.

So it was really cool to get to test myself as an artist.

I love a

challenge.

handheld camera wandering around you as

you're performing.

They did.

Yep.

A handheld and that big like crane that's coming down, getting that swoop shot, the stuff that you could only dream of, the things that you see on all these shows.

And now you're seeing the behind the scenes and it's so cool.

Yeah.

It's wild.

So you did, you did your live performance and is there voting?

Yeah.

So voting happened for a day and a half after that.

Okay.

Yep.

Yep.

Which was cool.

And so there's a jury.

So there's one

which is made up of one music industry professional from every state.

And so they pick one song that they absolutely love.

So Brian wasn't picked?

Not this time.

How

is that possible?

I don't

know.

But the

interesting part

is, is you're going up against other contestants from other states.

The part that I have a little bit of a difficulty with is the state of Connecticut was represented by a multi Grammy award-winning artist in Michael Bolton.

How's that fair to you?

You know, when I first found out that there was going to be celebrities on there, I was definitely like, huh, okay, that's different than what I had expected in my head for this songwriting show.

But then you think it's an inaugural season of this show.

They need people to watch it.

We haven't heard from Bolton in a while.

He was

in

the lovely island, the Ballad

of Captain

Jack Sparrow.

Oh, which is hilarious.

Which I wanted to bring up with him, but I thought it's not the time.

No, he had a business suit on.

He wasn't into talking about that.

Yeah.

But it was close to like Macy Gray, Cisco.

Michael Bolton, we got Jewel.

Did you get an angel?

No.

She's like my

favorite.

So I'm against these, you know, heavy hitters, these people who have established careers.

And then you realize you're not really against them.

You're there representing your state.

You're representing how your state made you the artist that you are.

And what it is is just like a roadmap across America of the one thing that brings us all together, which is music.

So yeah, did it stink having to perform literally right after Michael Bolton?

But what was cool is I had his voice in my in-ears.

Had his dry vocal in my in ears and man, that's butter.

Oh, that's

cool Michael Bullen is I mean truly and incredibly talented Yeah, yeah, so that was an amazing experience to get to share a backstage with him because I was on deck while he was you know Standing there and he's just calm and composed and you learn a lot

He is the consummate blue-eyed soul singer.

Oh,

yeah

He could stand there and sing you the phone book.

Yeah, and you would buy it like that's what's incredible Yeah, so it was cool to get the opportunity to get to sing with him

American Song Contest on NBC.

There's a chance.

There's a chance you could be back.

I could be a wild card.

Yep.

Yep.

We just got a stream wonder, download wonder.

iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, all of it counts.

So wonder is your song.

Wonder, yep.

It's a female empowerment rock anthem.

Got a guitar solo in there.

It'll get you pumped up before you have to make big life decisions or a lot of people have been sending workout videos.

Oh, that's cool.

Yeah, like running at the gym or dancing, staying active.

So it's all

based on downloads, whether you get back in or listening to the Spotify

track.

Yep, it's all numbers.

So how do they find that?

Yeah, so if you type in, you can do American Song Contest on iTunes, or you can just type in Elizabeth Von Pressley.

It's the first one that pops up, Elizabeth and A and an S. Yep, called Wonder.

You can see it says American Song Contest on it.

Yeah.

So if everybody who listens to Rock 108, the vast Rock 108 audience just does that, that automatically gives her votes, which could

bring her back onto the show.

It should be amazing.

Because

you're fighting some pretty heavy hitters.

Absolutely.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, everybody deserves to be there.

You know, everyone was also humble, so talented.

It was cool to be around all those people from across America.

And now when I tour, I know somebody in every state.

It's amazing.

So I can go and be like, you want to open for me?

I'll open for you.

We'll do a little tag team.

I've heard Michael has quite the compound.

You could probably, you know, stay in his compound when you're in Connecticut.

I don't know, Michael seems a little too chill for me.

I might freak him out a little bit.

I know he commented on my outfit.

He said, wow, that's a really fancy outfit, you know?

Yeah, so I might be a little too much for him, but.

Time-loving pink.

No, that doesn't sound quite right.

Right.

I don't know.

He would look good

in pink though.

He

would.

Let's be real.

Yeah.

Thanks for joining us.

Of course.

I appreciate you coming in.

Let's not be strangers.

Yeah, I appreciate you guys having me on this morning.

It's a comfortable environment here.

Rock 108 listeners.

These guys are amazing behind the scenes, and they're just as cute as they sound.

Oh, listen

to this.

They didn't pay me to say that, I promise.

Not yet.

And we now know she's

a

liar.