Liv Quigley, a singer-songwriter from York, has released her latest single ‘A Place You Call Home’.
I had the chance to sit down with Liv to discuss the inspiration and process behind writing the song, her musical influences and her future plans as a musician.
Liv mentioned that her musical influences came from the music she grew up listening to, which included bands like Queen and R.E.M that her Dad listened to, but her Mum’s music included singers such as Kate Melua and KT Tunstall.
Liv explained that a lot of her music is about personal experiences, she said: “I write about things that I know other people relate to.”
She added that ‘A Place Called Home’ was inspired by a friend that was struggling: “She kind of inspired the whole song. I had the idea for the song for a while and I knew how I wanted it to sound and how I wanted to structure the song as a whole. Writing it felt kind of easy, and I thought a lot of people would relate to the song.” We talked about how music can foster connection and bring people together, and Liv agreed that it can be healing as well.
I asked Liv about her experience of performing in different venues in York, and what she thought about York’s music scene. She said: “I think York has got a pretty good music scene. There’s plenty going on. You always see loads of buskers out on the street.”
I then asked Liv if she had a favourite venue to perform at. “I got lucky enough five years ago to sing at The Barbican. I think that was probably my favourite experience. And then there was a pub on Castlegate that I got regular gigs at, but it closed all of a sudden. I think it was to do with how expensive it is nowadays with rent prices and everything to keep gig venues open.”
Liv cited United Response, and her tutor Andy Bowden, as a driving force behind her music career: “I go to this place called United Response and my tutor Andy Bowen encouraged me to do all this writing and to set myself up doing these gigs, so another person who goes to United Response wanted to write a song with me. Andy has been really encouraging and has helped boost my confidence.”
We then discussed a song that Liv is planning to release this summer, which is a collaboration with another singer from United Response: “I have actually got another song that I’ve written called ‘POV’, but I’ve done a collaboration with someone else and this is something totally different to what I’d usually write. It’s more of a dance track and it has a Becky Hill sound to it. I wanted to wait to release it because I feel like it has more of a summery vibe. I’m hopefully going to get an EP done at some point as well.”
Liv also talked about her upcoming gig on the 17 May: “I’ve got a gig coming up in May. I’m singing at the Yorkshire Lavender. It’s just outside of York in Terrington. I saw a girl advertising that she was looking for people so I just put myself out there.”
As our interview drew to a close, Liv said that she was going to spend the rest of the day working on her music. It was wonderful speaking to Liv and I wish her the best of luck on her musical journey!
To listen to ‘A Place you Call Home’ on Spotify, follow this link: https://open.spotify.com/track/3tu7pksfqbfxJxx1ExS8OP?si=504e0f00b3444e34
Heather Gosling is an English Literature student at the University of York. She has previously written for Nouse, The C Word Mag, and she has started Circulation Magazine, a student-run music magazine. Heather is interested in music, and all things arts and culture related – she also enjoys keeping up with local events happening in York.
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