What are your names?
Our names are Olivia and Georgia
What is the bands name?
The band name is LIV’n’G
How did you come up with the bands name?
The name is super simple! Olivia gets called ‘Liv’ for short, and Georgia gets called ‘G’. So we just put them together to create our band name!
What is your genre of music?
We like to think of our music as tropical/world pop/RnB. Our music has previously been described as ‘inclusive to all cultures and generations’. We like to use unusual or different instruments from around the world to create hooks such as ‘an accordion’ in one track.
Give us a little bio about you.
Were a sister singer/songwriter/producer duo from Hartlepool, North East. We have a catalogue of original music which were hoping to get heard! Were all about equality in all aspects of life including music. We hope our music can be considered empowering as well as bringing a fresh vibe to pop! We’re looking forward to playing to 30,000 at Saltwell Fireworks for Metro Radio on 3 November too!!!!!
What made you go in to music?
Olivia has been singing from a young age and has always had a passion to perform; whereas Georgia only started to learn to play the piano/guitar around 3 years ago watching YouTube tutorials after seeing how much her sister loved singing & music. Olivia is the out-going spotlight performer, and G is the musical maestro.
At first, we jammed together with a few cover songs together and we’ve been doing it ever since. In the past year started writing and producing our own original music, we hope people enjoy it!
Are you a signed?
We’re unsigned at the moment…but you never know who’s reading, watching or listening.
You are set to release your new EP ‘ SHADES ‘, tell us more about it.
We’ve actually had the songs from our EP for quite a few months now and we’ve only recently built up the courage to let everyone hear our music. With winter approaching, we wanted to release mainly our mid-tempo story / meaningful tracks and keep our Summer songs for release next year! ‘Shades’ includes the first song we ever wrote together; can you guess which one it is?
What was the writing process like?
We write our original songs every day! It’s very easy for us to work together with us living under the same roof. We don’t have to organize rehearsals and writing sessions as were both together most of the time.
We write in our little home studio that our parents have created for us! Sometimes we write the track first and work on the lyrics depending on what vibe we get from the music. Other times, with more personal songs, we write the lyrics first building the story, then create the music to fit!
There are some very personal tracks on the EP, but being honest each song has a meaning to us.
What was the recording process like?
Were lucky enough to be able to have enough equipment at home to be able to produce tracks and record vocals. Two of the tracks from the EP were recorded this way. For the other 3 we traveled to London to work with an amazing producer on enhancing the music and recording Olivia’s vocals. We love to travel, its always super fun!
What is the message you want listeners to take from the EP?
‘Be yourself’, there is only one of you and you are unique, don’t try to fit into societies roles.
Each song from the EP has a story. We feel our songs are very relatable and can be interpreted in many ways depending on the listeners situation.
There are various messages we hope our songs will give including, follow you heart, stand up for your rights, love yourself and it’s OK to be afraid.
Describe each track in two words.
Walls – breaking barriers,
Green Light – sensuous desire,
Senorita – unshackled beauty,
Equal – empowering women,
Haunting – aural seduction.
Do you have any gigs planned or a tour in planning?
Yes! We are always gigging on a weekend and in our spare time, we have performed over 200 gigs in the last 12 months, some even in Benidorm when we were on holiday.
You can always look on our Facebook Page where all our events are listed. If there are no events near you, get in touch with us to request a gig somewhere!
If so where are you thinking of heading?
We love to travel, gigging all over the North East, we’re heading up to Scotland later this year and are hoping to organize some shows in London.
What else can we expect from you this year?
Where do we start, we are writing new material every day, as well as writing for other artists. We’re averaging two gigs a week throughout the North East and Scotland. Obviously, we have our FIRST EVER EP being released on 16 November and hopefully we are shooting a video for it too. Before that we have Saltwell Fireworks (30,000) on Saturday 3 November 2018 and Darlington Fireworks (5,000) on Sunday 4 November for Metro Radio and TFM – we have a special postcard we’re giving away with a code for a free download of a song we love performing.
Do you have any collaborations coming up with any up coming artists?
We’ve just released a song with a Producer called ‘Red Stripes’, who contacted us and asked if we would like to provide lyrics and a top line melody; which we jumped at!!!! The song is called ‘The Reason Why’ and it can be found on all platforms and streaming services.
Would you be up for collaborations if other musicians wanted one with you? and who would they have to contact?
We’re are sooooo up for collaborations so get in touch! You can contact us directly on any of our social media sites! So if you have Calvin Harris’, Marshmallows’ or David Guetta’s number, pass on our details.
Do you play any instruments?
Georgia plays the instruments. She will have a go at anything but can mainly play the piano, guitar, sample pad and trumpet. We are lucky as Yamaha have supported us as UK artists.
Who are your influences?
Olivia loves Beyoncé and uses her as a benchmark for the performance and vocal side of the music.
Georgia loves Clean Bandit as they champion the song writing and musicianship that is involved in creating a song.
We have so many musical influences that find their way into our original work; from Ella Fitzgerald to Ed Sheeran, The Animals to Little Mix, Tina Turner to Rihanna.
Both of us love the likability of Anne Marie.
How do you get inspiration to write songs?
If we have a personal experience that we feel we would like to share with music, this if often a good way to start a song. Our tracks are always about something that is important to us, in one way or another.
It’s about being honest to who you are, about asking questions about life, about putting a little bit of yourself and your heart out there; because there will be thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people who feel the same way.
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
We hope to both be on the bill supporting Beyoncé very soon (joking)!!!
Until then we hope to have released many more songs which people are enjoying and hopefully get some interest and recognition from influential people in the music industry, and working and collaborating with amazing artists too.
Ideally, we would like to be signed, with management, performing our own songs worldwide!
When you’re not doing music, what do you do?
To be fair there isn’t much of our time when we aren’t involved in something musical – we write for others, write our own material, work with dance school developing original songs, work in a school twice a week, all based around music, then gig from Friday to Sunday.
When we’re not doing music, we love to spend time with our family and our dogs!
We do love to eat most of the time so wherever there is food, we’re probably there.
What was the song you listened to most that influenced you to go more in to the music scene?
Olivia – the song that really impacted on me and turned me towards music was ‘Fields of Gold’, the Eva Cassidy version. My Grandad played her version one day, I went away and learned all the words and then sang it for him. It was the first time I had ever felt anything with a song, rather than just listening; I was actually relaying the words, the sentiment. Afterwards, I cried, not out of fear or sadness, but because the song was that beautiful.
Georgia – It’s a difficult one, but I remember my mum playing The Cranberries ‘Zombie’ all the time in the car when I was younger, I can remember humming along to the song, loving the melody; as time went on I really started to listen to the lyrics, and realized just how powerful they were and how important music is to everyone. That one song made me realize that music can take you to memories lost, take you away from hurt, share your feeling with others who feel the same and change lives.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given?
Musically, the best advice we were given was to start writing our own original songs. We started last year and have improved so much and now know we are on the right path, growing as artists every day. We love expressing ourselves through our music. There are some things you can say through music, that you can’t say out loud if that makes sense!
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians not about the industry and just as an artist?
We would say be true to who you are, personally and musically, don’t let anyone else try to shape you into something they want you to be! Don’t be afraid to put yourself into the music and lyrics.
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
Again, we would definitely and defiantly stick to the quote, ‘be true to who you are’.
Where in your hometown is a must go to visit?
Furniture, Fireplace and Granite warehouse as it’s our family business. We’re joking but they do sell lovely items!
You can go over to the Headland and visit Heugh Battery with all the army equipment, and you have the Royal Navy Museum too, or if you like the beach, we have Seaton Carew…loads to do.
We think the Marina is a must visit as its beautiful and has so many lovely bars and restaurants. Plus Sambucas doing a cracking Sunday Dinner!
Your coming off tour;
1/ Where do you go first?
Olivia: To see family.
Georgia: The nearest Chinese Takeaway that must sell gravy.
2/ Who do you see first?
Both of us: Family!
3/What do you eat first?
Olivia: BBQ based pizza with garlic sauce
Georgia: Id like to say everything at a Chinese buffet but we’ve just joined slimming world so I think Pam would be disappointed. So maybe a slice of lettuce.
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
Our equipment, our set list, our food money, our shoes (which often happens), our hairspray
Don’t ask how many times we have left really expensive equipment behind too….
Do you have social media accounts, so your fans can follow you?
Yes.
Snapchat – LIVnGmusic
Basically everything LIVnGmusic
