Through the partnership with Rogue PR we bring a new interview for you, the reader.
Check out our conversation with the band Liam Naughton & The Educators below.
1 - How did you start the band?
My get of my arse moment was when Danny Byrne hit the play button on Neil Young’s Harvest Moon in the background at work one day. I was mesmerised at how he put the story across in the lyric. After years of bull shitting myself I bought a guitar and practised 4 hours a night, 6 hours on weekends for 6 months straight.
I started writing soon after I moved from Ireland to Perth Australia in 2004. Neil Young kind of gave me a standard to work toward in my own lyrics, so I try to get there and hopefully at least approach it more often than not; but that’s what I try to do. My first release ‘Cornerstone’ was produced at Jericho Music with Jerry Freedman. We
worked together on the arrangement and then got all the players in to do their parts. After Cornerstone I then got the band together to support that release. And I happy to say that line-up has been pretty settled since Leaning In was released in 2018
My get of my arse moment was when Danny Byrne hit the play button on Neil Young’s Harvest Moon in the background at work one day. I was mesmerised at how he put the story across in the lyric. After years of bull shitting myself I bought a guitar and practised 4 hours a night, 6 hours on weekends for 6 months straight.
I started writing soon after I moved from Ireland to Perth Australia in 2004. Neil Young kind of gave me a standard to work toward in my own lyrics, so I try to get there and hopefully at least approach it more often than not; but that’s what I try to do. My first release ‘Cornerstone’ was produced at Jericho Music with Jerry Freedman. We
worked together on the arrangement and then got all the players in to do their parts. After Cornerstone I then got the band together to support that release. And I happy to say that line-up has been pretty settled since Leaning In was released in 2018
2 - Can the current moment be considered the best of the band?
No I don’t think so. There’s a constant evolution to life so unless I lock myself into a dark room I should have a few more surprises up my sleeve. I have pretty much written the follow up record which I’m very happy with. I just have to find the $$ and patience to push it forward. I’m not 100% sold on doing another full length album and pushing it out as such. I think I’m just going to release it in a
series of singles. Less stress and you can tweak your approach as you go; seems to make more sense in a society with zero patience!
No I don’t think so. There’s a constant evolution to life so unless I lock myself into a dark room I should have a few more surprises up my sleeve. I have pretty much written the follow up record which I’m very happy with. I just have to find the $$ and patience to push it forward. I’m not 100% sold on doing another full length album and pushing it out as such. I think I’m just going to release it in a
series of singles. Less stress and you can tweak your approach as you go; seems to make more sense in a society with zero patience!
3 - Speaking of creation process, how much thought is there before creating new material? Is there a plan or do you let ideas flow naturally?
I let the ideas flow naturally. I sit down with my guitar and just start playing and see if I can find a chord progression or rhythm that’s interesting. It’s pretty rare that I say to myself, ‘I’m going to write a song about this or that’. Normally I just seem to find a lyric that works with the flow of the chords and develop it from there. Sometimes I’m not 100% even sure what the song is about until I’m half way thru it. But for some reason, I can then I can relate it to something in my own life and solidify the lyric from there. It’s pretty strange how it works but that’s normally the case
4 - Have you ever thought of playing here in South America? Audiences
in Brazil are very passionate about music!
You know, I’ve never been to South America but it’s definitely on my bucket list. Living in Perth Australia, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a lot of Brazilians and they all share the same enthusiasm for life, music and culture. I’d love to go there at some stage with my band or even solo or just on a holiday. When the Pandemic is over that might be a possibility but until then we’re all in a state of Limbo and waiting for the silver bullet vaccine .
5 - We know that the music market is no longer the same ... what does
it take to stay fresh and relevant?
I think if you keep writing from the heart and don’t bend to the outside trends I think you’ll always do something interesting. And if it truly comes from inside you, then it must be good. I guess staying by staying relevant you mean staying popular so you can opt for the tried and tested formulas but I was always more interested in doing my
own thing. – maybe that’s why I haven’t had commercial success yet hahaha
That being said, one can still use the power of influencers to promote. So I do have a plan to release a new single called Panda Eyed Princess which is about prostitution, get an insta influencer to star in it and get to their audience. And here’s a world first lyric release.
Panda Eyed Princess
by Liam Naughton
Take a cut for the pimp man
Paying rental to the one hour room man
And shoot the pipe to keep you naughty at night until day break
Walking freely by the side of the road
Free and easy past the talk of the town folk
And turn a trick so you can saddle a fix - Ride on babe
Red light in the window you see
You got your cigarette and gut rot whiskey
I guess the reason is she’s short of a buck
And then the man in the truck said you’ll never get love slut
You’re strung out and no meds
A high class for the wealth man
A window worker for the walk down the street man
Or cruise a patch where you can hustle your ass for the top rate
Thigh high boots you’re fashionably dressed
You got your game on but your life’s in a mess
He’s got a buzz on going to work till you sweat
And then your Panda Eyed Princess got to fix up her makeup and leave
Mamma what the hell is happening to me I got this need
Daddy begging please for forgiveness it’s still me inside this scream
I let the ideas flow naturally. I sit down with my guitar and just start playing and see if I can find a chord progression or rhythm that’s interesting. It’s pretty rare that I say to myself, ‘I’m going to write a song about this or that’. Normally I just seem to find a lyric that works with the flow of the chords and develop it from there. Sometimes I’m not 100% even sure what the song is about until I’m half way thru it. But for some reason, I can then I can relate it to something in my own life and solidify the lyric from there. It’s pretty strange how it works but that’s normally the case
4 - Have you ever thought of playing here in South America? Audiences
in Brazil are very passionate about music!
You know, I’ve never been to South America but it’s definitely on my bucket list. Living in Perth Australia, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a lot of Brazilians and they all share the same enthusiasm for life, music and culture. I’d love to go there at some stage with my band or even solo or just on a holiday. When the Pandemic is over that might be a possibility but until then we’re all in a state of Limbo and waiting for the silver bullet vaccine .
5 - We know that the music market is no longer the same ... what does
it take to stay fresh and relevant?
I think if you keep writing from the heart and don’t bend to the outside trends I think you’ll always do something interesting. And if it truly comes from inside you, then it must be good. I guess staying by staying relevant you mean staying popular so you can opt for the tried and tested formulas but I was always more interested in doing my
own thing. – maybe that’s why I haven’t had commercial success yet hahaha
That being said, one can still use the power of influencers to promote. So I do have a plan to release a new single called Panda Eyed Princess which is about prostitution, get an insta influencer to star in it and get to their audience. And here’s a world first lyric release.
Panda Eyed Princess
by Liam Naughton
Take a cut for the pimp man
Paying rental to the one hour room man
And shoot the pipe to keep you naughty at night until day break
Walking freely by the side of the road
Free and easy past the talk of the town folk
And turn a trick so you can saddle a fix - Ride on babe
Red light in the window you see
You got your cigarette and gut rot whiskey
I guess the reason is she’s short of a buck
And then the man in the truck said you’ll never get love slut
You’re strung out and no meds
A high class for the wealth man
A window worker for the walk down the street man
Or cruise a patch where you can hustle your ass for the top rate
Thigh high boots you’re fashionably dressed
You got your game on but your life’s in a mess
He’s got a buzz on going to work till you sweat
And then your Panda Eyed Princess got to fix up her makeup and leave
Mamma what the hell is happening to me I got this need
Daddy begging please for forgiveness it’s still me inside this scream
6 - Do you like the idea of releasing videos in lyric format?
Yes I do. When I was prepping myself For the Cut On a cut EP release we were in a Covid lockdown here in Perth. I bought some finger puppets from IKEA and put them to work in a homemade music video for Party Words. And you know what, they never answered back, they never got frustrated, they did exactly as they were told. One of them didn’t even say a words when I placed it face down in the toilet hahaha It was pretty cool shooting it on my S7 and learning the software on how to put the video together. I also did a lyric video for Promise Cross Your Heart. The lyrics scrolling thru a homemade performance of me in my living room. It’s pretty easy to do but very effective and I think that you got to get those visuals going along with the song. Were visual animals so that appeals to us so yeah – I’m a fan. Check them out on youtube/liamnaughtontube
7 - We finish here, the space is yours ...
Thanks very much for taking the time mate, I appreciate the chat and hope your readers / listeners find something in my music that they can connect to. I’m not going to stand on a pulpit and give a sermon only to say….Stay calm, we’re only passing thru
Yes I do. When I was prepping myself For the Cut On a cut EP release we were in a Covid lockdown here in Perth. I bought some finger puppets from IKEA and put them to work in a homemade music video for Party Words. And you know what, they never answered back, they never got frustrated, they did exactly as they were told. One of them didn’t even say a words when I placed it face down in the toilet hahaha It was pretty cool shooting it on my S7 and learning the software on how to put the video together. I also did a lyric video for Promise Cross Your Heart. The lyrics scrolling thru a homemade performance of me in my living room. It’s pretty easy to do but very effective and I think that you got to get those visuals going along with the song. Were visual animals so that appeals to us so yeah – I’m a fan. Check them out on youtube/liamnaughtontube
7 - We finish here, the space is yours ...
Thanks very much for taking the time mate, I appreciate the chat and hope your readers / listeners find something in my music that they can connect to. I’m not going to stand on a pulpit and give a sermon only to say….Stay calm, we’re only passing thru
.jpeg)
