Interview: Livealie (Written)
Rockers Livealie released their album, ‘Living in the Static’, in December 2024, and in this interview we get to know them a little better and find out what they’re up to.
1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.
Hey, likewise! My name’s Andrew and I play guitar in LIVEALIE. I started playing guitar, sheesh, around 19 years ago. I spent a lot of that time playing in a bunch of bands, where I met the others guys, Jordan, Brandon, and James. Fast forward a few years, and LIVEALIE is a band.
2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?
It depends on how deep the person is down the music hole. If they’re surface level, I usually tell them we play rock music since that’s easier for most people to grasp than whatever obscure metal sub genre. If someone’s tapped in, then I’ll say metalcore. Most of the time I try to avoid these conversations ‘cuz I’m a weirdo haha.
3. What’s currently keeping you busy? A new album/EP/single release? A new video? Playing live, or planning ahead?
Right now it’s preparing merch shipments from the Living in the Static release. We’re fortunate to have a good response from the collection, so guaranteeing everything gets out in a timely manner is first priority. After that, the guys and I are always writing. Fingers crossed we’ll have some new music out by the new year for everyone. Either that or we spend another 5 years doing nothing— the old heads will understand.
4. What is about this current period that is particularly exciting for you?
I’m enjoying the amazing response Living in the Static has gotten. We’re in a great spot now where we can capitalize on the hard work we put in the past few years, and guarantee following releases go well. For me, I’m excited to work on new music. Now that we’ve got a catalog of music listeners are familiar with, I’m looking forward to throwing in some easter eggs into the new music for the real ones listening. Callbacks to past songs, for example. We did it a few times throughout Living in the Static, so I’d like to trip someone out on the next release.
5. Tell me about the work that has gone into making it a reality and what it means to you.
I have a hard time giving myself credit for things, so I’m more stoked on the other guys and the hard work they put into Living in the Static. Maybe it’s me dissociating while working on band related things lol. Let’s speak again in the future when this past record release finally hits me.
6. Making music and being creative can be a very positive experience and can be very good for the mind. In what way has making music had a positive impact on your mental health?
Music has been my creative outlet for the past 21 years. I’m not one to speak about things going on in my life, so having a way to positively get those feelings out is priceless. I’m fortunate to have a support system of friends and family members who would, without a doubt, hear out anything I have to say, but it’s easier and more cathartic to get it out in a song. I credit all of the success in my life to music, so here’s me saying thank you to it.
7. It can also be incredibly challenging, more so in the modern times. What have been some challenging aspects of making music and how have you overcome them?
Before Living in the Static I’d say the biggest challenge was the mental struggle of making sure I do my part in delivering music to the band and listeners that would live up to the buzz we had. After Living in the Static, it’s the mental struggle of making sure I do my part in delivering music to the band and listeners that surpasses Living in the Static, and lives up to the expectations listeners have of LIVEALIE. I guess this is the antithesis to the positive mental impact in the last questions. I have crippling self doubt, but I’m also naive enough to believe I can do anything and I have such belief in the rest of the guys to know in the end we’ll all be good. Maybe I’m just a fool lol.
8. How do you handle the online aspects of being in a band? Having to put out content constantly, promoting across several different social media platforms, and having your success measured in likes and follows?
Bless Jordan’s heart because he’s the one handling all of that. I’m fortunate enough to be all in on music and some operational stuff for the band, so I choose to not worry about online stuff (except handling merch. I try my damn best to make sure every customer is satisfied with their order. I love and appreciate you all, if you ordered something know it’s me and Jordan getting it out to you xoxo). I have a monkey brain and I think social media is a net negative, so all the credit goes to Jordan for making sure we’re relevant online.
9. How do you make this part of things enjoyable, and fulfilling, for yourself?
For me, writing music is purely selfish, I’d be working on songs regardless if it was for LIVEALIE or not. I’m extremely fortunate to have the band as an outlet for the songs I write, and to have the other guys to collaborate with. I get such satisfaction in seeing the rest of the band get their flowers for the work they’ve done. Jordan, Brandon, and James are such talented individuals, so being able to hand them some crap I’ve wrote and have them add their spice to it, it feels great.
10. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help support you?
Hi, listeners! I appreciate and love you all. Our only ask is you get some kind of satisfaction from listening to our music. We put a lot of emotion into Living in the Static, so if someone can relate to a song it’ll mean the world. For those who want to go the extra step in supporting us, start addressing Brandon as Lando, and James as Jim.
11. Outside of music, what do you like to do to relax?
I’ve got no life and playing my guitar is my favorite thing in the world. I play guitar to relax from playing guitar lol. Besides that, a bit of rock climbing, skateboarding, I’ll read a bit (shout out my LIVEALIE book readers (specifically Frosty)). I guess I’m kinda’ a normal dude lol.
12. Where can people find you?
The meta answer is find us in the static. The real answer is https:// www.livealiecult.com/ which will link out to all our socials. Appreciate you all, thanks a ton for the questions!
