Liv Austen.
Where are you
from?
I
am originally from Norway - but now I live in London!
Name of band:
I
go under my name, Liv Austen, but I have a permanent band backing me.
Who else is in
your band?
I
have two guitarists; Lee and Mike, my drummer Luke, bass player Nigel and
pianist Wayne.
How would you
describe yourselves and your music?
I
usually go between calling what I do new country and singer/songwriter. I feel
the latter is a bit vague! I guess country is the best way to describe it. I
love discovering new things to do musically with my songs - especially because
my band is fantastic, but my songs are very lyric-driven. I wouldn't be a
songwriter if I couldn't put the lyrics first. To me having something to say in
your songs is incredibly important! But we also like to just have fun and
entertain people.
Who are your
main influences musically?
Great
Nashville songwriters like Jessi Alexander, Brett James, Brandy Clark and
Hilary Lindsey. Singers I love are Carrie Underwood, Jana Kramer, Little Big
Town, Hunter Hayes and Lee Ann Womack to name a few!
What do you hope
to achieve in music?
My
goal is to be able to live off my music, meaning I would love to tour with my
band and share my songs to audiences in different countries all over the world.
I have so many songs I want to share and my next project will probably be
another EP, after that I hope to start releasing full length albums. And I see
myself as a songwriter just as much as I see myself as a singer, so I would
love to have other artists sing songs that I've written.
What has been
the highlight of your career so far, and why?
I
think the highlight so far was to perform at the Brooklyn Bowl stage at
Country2Country, the UK's biggest festival for modern country. I had no idea if
anyone was going to show up and I walked on stage to an audience of several
hundred people! It was a fantastic experience and has lead to a lot of great
opportunities. I was very nervous and excited that day and probably didn't do
my best vocal performance! But it was a wonderful memory and a moment that made
me think "yes, I can do this".
And what’s the
moment you want to forget?
Great
question! When I was first starting out I would take any gig that came my way,
and I remember performing in this quite trendy pub, with some guys thinking
they were way too hipster and cool for my music trying to heckle me while I was
performing. I can always think back to those first gigs from before I had a fan
base and it'll definitely keep my feet on the ground!
If you had to
pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?
That
is incredibly difficult. But I am going to go with Rain On My Side, it is my
first single from my debut EP and you can hear that it is somewhere between pop
and country.
Where can we
listen to it?
You
can check it out on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUKRblGOJxI or
on SoundCloud here: https://soundcloud.com/liv-austen/rain-on-my-side
Where can we
find out more about your music?
Here
are many different ways to find out more about me and hear my music:
YouTube
link to EP: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL21Kb9mz22Jfnn2sqzl60fL5QfZ43j8Ph
Anything else
you’d like to say about your music that I forgot to ask?
I
have quite a lot of shows coming up - both acoustic and with a full band - you
can have a look on my website to see if I'm playing near you in the future!
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