How to Find Your Creative Confidence with Singer-Songwriter Øllie
Listen to Øllie’s music here: https://snd.click/qgnx
Have you ever felt paralyzed by the fear of what others might think? This week's podcast episode is a deep dive into the life of musician Øllie who candidly shares his regrets of not starting sooner and the realization that those very fears were part of his creative process.
He talks about the fraternity brothers who became his bandmates, the connections that led to recording his first single, and the overwhelming support that now surrounds him. We get a glimpse into his creative process, the inspiration behind his songs, and the raw emotion that goes into each performance. This episode is a must-listen for anyone who's ever let fear hold them back.
Please Enjoy:
Liv: I didn't post anything until I graduated, high school because I was too scared.
Øllie: Isn't that so weird?
Liv: It's so dumb. Looking back, I'm like, I wasted so much time and caring so much about what other people think. And it's like, looking back, it's like, that could have been, like-
Øllie: You could have been the next Emma Chamberlain, like, you know?
Liv: I’m like, if I just started my YouTube channel, like, at 15, I could have been there now. But it's just, I think it's part of the process. I don't think you can be confident and, like, I've seen you get up on stage, I don't even think you get to that point until you work through whatever it is you're going through. People aren't just born confident in their creativity. You need to find it, through trial and error.
Øllie: I've been around music my entire life. It's always been very musical. My Dad, he's played guitar for like, 30 years. I did chorus and the musical and stuff growing up, up until about middle or high school, where it shifted into more of an individual thing for me. I think when I was a kid, I did the group stuff at school and music was a big social thing for me, interestingly. And I write about this sometimes. When I got to, I was probably twelve or 13, music started to not be cool for boys. And so I was like, oh, like, I guess I can't do this anymore, because I cared a lot about what people thought and so I kind of shut myself away from it, for a long time. Ever since, like, the 4th grade I was really into piano. And I remember my Dad bought me my own one, which, I still have right here, the same one, next to me. And so I would play piano on my own, but I didn't really, like, talk about it. I never took any lessons. I was kind of self-taught that way. And I remember my junior year of high school, I learned how to play guitar, which was also a self-taught thing. I remember being very frustrated because my brother learned and my dad had always played, and I was like, it's kind of cool, but it looks really hard. And I just picked one of my Dads up one day and I looked up how to play, you know, certain chords and I just kind of taught myself that way. And then when I got to college, I met a couple of people within my fraternity who were also musical. They said they wanted to start a band, and for about 3, 4 years now, I've been playing with them. And those are the people that helped me write and record the songs that I release now under my artist's name. And, yeah, I mean, I'm very, very new to, like, the whole scene. I only put out my first single in December, but it's what I want to do, with my life. It's probably my single greatest, creative outlet and as I said when I departed from it during, like, my early teenage years, it was really stupid. Like, looking back, I'm so mad at myself and I can't believe that I cared so much about what other people were thinking and it was so embarrassing. But, yeah.
Liv: It's the creative process to get in your head about it.
Øllie: And, you know, nowadays I'm just absolutely surrounded by nothing but support. And it's great, but it's come a long way. I have this running joke with my brother who actually is, like, you, he works for a band. He's a full-time photographer for them and kind of like, an assistant tour manager. He runs their social media and stuff and edits their photos and helps them with their music videos. When we were kids, like, when I was like, I don't know, like, 7, 8 years old, I loved music. I loved singing. I loved being on stage. Like, it was definitely what I wanted to do. I remember being a kid and I'm gonna be an actor. I'm gonna be, like, a singer. And when he was a kid, he liked filming. And I remember we had, like, a little flip camera and we would make, like, videos on the flip. And we had a YouTube channel with no traction whatsoever. But we loved doing that stuff. And then we both got into our teenage years and everyone was like, that is so not cool. So we stopped. and then I always tell my brother, it's so interesting how we found our way back home, you know, we're both like, I'm almost out of college. He's out of college now. and we're doing, like, what, we did as kids. The joke is that you never really change from when you were 10 years old. You always kind of keep those core qualities. And I think especially when it comes to outlets of expression and artistic stuff that comes through real, real hard. so, yeah, that's kind of been my journey. I'm sorry, that was like a long monologue but.
Liv: No, I love it.
Øllie: That's it. Yeah.
Liv: When you're growing up making videos, I did that with my sister all the time. We would make horror movies and just random stuff, but we had so much fun. We'd literally spend hours doing it. And then we'd have, like, a screening showing our family, and they'd be like… okay. But yeah, I kinda went through a similar thing, like, in high school. I didn't post anything until I graduated, high school. Cause I was too scared for.
Øllie: Isn't that so weird?
Liv: It's so dumb. Looking back, I'm like, I wasted so much time. I think it's part of the process. I don't think you can be confident, and I've seen you get up on stage. I don't even think you get to that point until you work through whatever it is you're going through. People aren't just born confident in their creativity. You need to, like, find it. And through, like, trial and error.
As people get older, they learn how to be themselves more
Øllie: I think that obviously as people get older, they learn how to be themselves more. And you kind of, like, you have a growing understanding for who you are as a person. And I think especially with performing arts, because I think it's true for all kinds of art, including visual media, like photo and stuff, but especially the artwork, you're required to get up in front of other people and do something, man, that takes practice. Like, I'll tell you, yesterday we had a gig at a bar in town, and it was like, some of our shows we’ll be hired as a band, and you're kind of there for more ambiance, and sometimes you're hired and you're the main event. And yesterday, we didn't know what we were, so we just kind of showed up and started playing. And for the first time, 30 minutes to an hour, it was very chill. There weren't that many people watching, but something happened, like, halfway through the set, and all of a sudden, the entire place was right up on the stage, and there were more people watching us than ever before. It was one of those times when I just blacked out and I was sober. Like, I don't remember. Like, I don't really remember what happened, I don't remember what I was thinking. And everything just kind of felt really natural. And afterwards, I was like, damn, 5 years ago, I don't think I could have done that, you know? Like, I don't think I would have had the confidence or the delusion to get up there, right? I mean, definitely there's people from high school who see my posts on Instagram or I'll run into them and they'll be like wow, I didn't know that you did that. Like, I don't know. And I'm like, well, I was afraid of what you would say, you know?
Liv: People who have heard your music, like your song?
Øllie: Yeah or they see, like, I post on TikTok all the time. just, like, random covers, or they see the band's instagram. We post pictures from shows, and people just bring it up. My point is that I think II've undergone very healthy growth in that way, because, as I said, I've always wanted to do it, but you can't get where you want to go unless you kind of, hang up your insecurities and accept that. Yeah, it is gonna be a little bit weird, or I am gonna feel a little bit delusional or overconfident doing this stuff, but that's only because I'm still listening to all those weird people. Really looking back on it they weren't actually judging anything. The stuff that my brother and I would make, for example, we were like kids. We were 10 years old, and, we were having fun, and we loved it. That's why I'm mad is because it's like, they weren't smart enough to be like, oh, the stories in your videos are bad, or, like, you've got bad characters. Like, it wasn't writing critique, it was like, wow, you're so stupid, or you're so cringey, or you're so xyz.
Liv: Cringey.
Øllie: Cringey that's the word for just, like, putting something on the Internet. It doesn't matter what it was. It doesn't matter if it was good content, it was just the fact that someone is putting themselves out there. It's dumb, it really is.
Liv: When you're young, you just care so much more about that. So when you are doing something that people can critique, you just want to shove it down even more.
Øllie: Yeah. I mean, I don't know if you've ever gotten, like, hate comments, whether that be on the Internet or from like actual people. I luckily, I mean, I'm like a nobody right now, but like, I'm at the point where no one has ever really commented anything like that before. Maybe it's like once or twice, but it's never been to the point to where I've been like, oh my God. So maybe one day that will start happening to me, and the fact that I just said it out loud.
Liv: No, it means that you're doing something right. I think I used to take it very personally, but now I'm like, you know, if somebody's that moved by something I did to be upset and then comment about it?
Øllie: Hm.
Liv: That has to mean that you're doing something right. I don't even know. But it's just like that you're able to get under somebody's skin, I think shows that you're doing something that affects people.
Øllie: Mm And that's the goal anyway, with art, right, is like, you hear so many people, especially music artists, at least in my experience, listening and watching people talk about their stuff. When someone asks, like, oh, how do you want people to feel when they listen to this song? What do you want people to think of this record you put out, how should people be reacting to it? A lot of artists don't have a response. They just say, I just want the listener or the consumer or whatever to take what I've made and feel something and whatever they feel is right. Or when someone asks, what does this song mean? A lot of artists won't tell them. They'll be like, I want it to mean whatever it means to this person. And within the topic of hate comments and the “cringey” hate comments. But in that realm of reality, because that is a real thing for a lot of people who have traction on the Internet. I think there's this, I don't know if it's a quote or maybe it's like a lyric. There's one song I know that this one rapper, he says, “I'd rather have my name covered in dirt than dust.” Which is like, obviously, I feel like there's a toxic way to take that, as in, I'll get any attention that I can, no matter if it's bad. But even if you're not gonna look at it that way, I still feel like there's validity to, if you're trying to make it, like you said, if someone's willing to go out of their way to say something negative, you know, at least you're not, like, making something no one's watching. At least. At least somebody got really mad about it, you know, at least if someone could get that mad about it, someone could probably get that happy about it too, you know? And in this day and age where everybody's trying to figure out how to manipulate the algorithm and how to get, you know, I'm sure you can speak to that much more than I can. But using social media to their advantage, sometimes the hate comments are gonna get more views. Like, the interaction alone is gonna get people to watch your stuff. And you can tell sometimes when people fake it and they post something controversial so that, you know, people will watch. But, yeah, it's crazy.
Liv: Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. That's, like, exactly my perspective, but don't really talk about it or not, like, in this way.
Øllie talks about his debut single Firefighters
Firefighters
Liv: I like that perspective, but I really want to talk about Firefighters. And I know you just said you don't want to, or some people don't like to explain their songs in depth, so if you don’t want to we don’t have to.
Øllie: Oh, I'll explain it. Don't worry.
Liv: Not even lyrically, but like, production wise, who produces it? Because it sounds so good.
Øllie: I appreciate it. That song, okay, so I have written music by myself for as long as I have been writing stuff down and making things rhyme. And sometimes someone will say something, and in my head I'll be like, oh, that sounds so poetic. Or that sounds like something like a movie character would say, or that sounds like a song. A lot of it's really, really stupid. But the point is that I've there's always been stuff that I've been writing down. And, it wasn't until about a year ago when I was like, you know what? I know I've always wanted to do this. I've been in a cover band for a long time. It's about time I probably start trying to see what I can do. And so, I've just got the utmost privilege and pleasure of being in a band with really, really, really talented people. And so I sat down with my lead guitarist about a year ago, and I was like, let's write a song. And he was like, okay, we make indie stuff, right? Like, here's two chords. And so we sat and the basement of our fraternity one night for 3 hours, and I played the chords over and over again on my guitar, and then he just kind of soloed over it. And I used this mic right here, which is a Shure Sm7b and anytime he played something I liked, I said, go back. Let me record that. I used, Logic, just as an audio production software, and so I created this little demo, and I used a drum machine. He recorded a bassline all in the frat basement. I think the basement's disgusting and it's where the band practices, in general. But the acoustics are terrible, and it's just like, it's not an ideal recording space, but we did it anyway. And so eventually I had the demo done, and I was like, oh, God, like, what do I do with this? Because I didn't know anybody within the industry or like, audio engineering. And I, had a friend who, from high school, like a distant friend. I hadn't seen her in the longest time, and she has younger brother, and get ready, because the connections are crazy, she has a younger brother and they're in a band together, and they used an audio guy. And so I was just looking through my Instagram stories one day, and she had reposted a story of him, who had reposted a story of the band, who had reposted a story of the audio engineer advertising himself. And this guy has, at this point, I don't know, like a few hundred followers on Instagram. But I went and I listened to my friends brothers band stuff on Spotify. They're called Midsummer Motel, they're so good. You should listen their stuff, and anybody who watches this should listen their stuff. And I was like, oh, that is the exact sound that I'm looking for for this song. And so I cold DM'd him and was like, “Hey, I go to Georgia tech and I'm looking to make music.” I probably said something a little bit different, but I basically was just like, “I have this song, I need help producing it.” And he was like, “send me a demo. I'll help you.” And so I sent it to him, and it literally took, like, that was in, like, March or April of last year, and it took all Summer and through September to finish the master. Because originally I just sent him the demo and I was like, mix this. And I wasn't satisfied. And then he was like, you really should do live drums. But I was like, I don't know how to record live drums. I don't have drum mics. I don't know how to do that. But he got me connected with a guy at a nearby studio, and so he took me in there. We recorded live drums, redid a lot of the guitar parts and all the vocals. He retuned them, and I recorded them into a much nicer microphone set. Obviously with all his help, he's amazing. And, he finished the master, and then he helped me put it on streaming services, and I don't know, I couldn't have done it without him or anybody else in the frat. and then I showed him the next song after that, and he was like, all right, let's keep doing this. and so it's kind of picked up a little bit from there. especially when I think about, I graduate at the end of next year, and I don't want to lose any of this, but I also don't want to waste the time that I have now because in college, you know, you have a lot of free time. so I try to spend a lot of that writing, but basically that song just kind of came from, I don't want to call myself desperate, but I was very. I wanted to write something and make something so badly. Like, I was yearning to put something out there, and I just, I don't know, I just, I was in, I was in the basement.
I heard the song on TikTok for the first time
Liv: I heard the song on TikTok, I think, for the first time.
Øllie: Woah, how did you hear? I'm so curious. I remember when you dm me and I was like, oh, this girl has 40,000 followers. Like, what the hell?
Liv: Like, yeah, I saw it on TikTok. I'm on TikTok a lot, I guess. That's how I found most of my guests. Yeah, I think it was just, it's.
Øllie: Probably one of my paid ads or something.
Liv: It was like a clip of somebody running, and I think it was just with the chorus, and it was just a beautiful song. I was like, what is this song? I think I haven't heard a song like that in a long time.
Øllie: Oh, wow. Thank you, like, so much.
Liv: You could just tell, like, the passion in your voice. I literally haven't heard a song with that much, like, soul and love that was put into it. You can really just hear how much love it. That's all I can say is that, I heard it and I was like, wow, I need to talk to whoever made this. I just haven't heard music like this in so long.
Øllie: That is really, really sweet. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. I get that sometimes about the way that I sing. One of my guitarists tells me that sometimes he's like, you sing with a lot of passion. People like to watch you sing. I attribute that to my Dad, who's a complete drama queen. And I take after him in my mannerisms and also in the way that I sing and perform live. And really, when I'm in front of people, I catch myself. I'm like, I'm talking like my Dad right now, or I'm on stage as if my Dad were on stage. The way that I sing, I have kind of this, vocal growl that I can turn it up naturally, depending on what I'm doing. But it's always kind of there, the way that I hear it is always like I'm yelling or like, I'm reaching within my chest and pulling something out, you know? But especially for that song, the lyrics are kind of like a messy story. The take me back to the hill part, is actually the name of a playlist that my older cousin who has, like, 6 or 7 years on me, it was the name of a playlist he had. He went to the University of Colorado, Boulder. This is really cringey, and I promise this is not what this song is about. But, all of the greek houses there are referred to a place called the hill. Like, it's like, oh, I'm going to the hill as in, like, I'm going to frat row or I'm going to a greek row. So the play this was for him was called take me back to the hill, because it was all the songs that reminded him of being at his fraternity. And that was one of those moments where I was like, wow, that's a good line. It's just general enough, but it's also nonspecific and specific enough to be good. And so I wrote that down, and then when I was in the basement with my lead guitarist that one night, I was like, this might be that song that I've always kind of kept that line in my back pocket for. But I used that line to kind of extrapolate the rest of the song and what it was going to be about. Which the song, hopefully when people listen to it, they know that I'm not a firefighter, and I don't put out fires all the time. But I wrote it kind of about nostalgia. And especially as I've gotten older, it's felt like I've had a lot of friends or relationships or experiences or parts of my life fade away almost instantly, and I'll wake up or I'll blink almost and all of a sudden, I don't know that person anymore. Or, I don't hang out at that place anymore. I don't go to xyz, or I don't feel the same way anymore. My friend group feels different. I want that part of it to be able to be applied in whatever. In whatever way a listener feels. But sometimes it feels like there are parts of my life that are just burning down, and I have this desperate need to take a big fire hose and put it out. And so, yeah, the take me back to the hill isn't necessarily take me back to my fraternity or take me back to Colorado, Boulder, because I didn't go there. It’s more so like, when you say, I sing passionately, it's because, I mean, when I wrote that song, I was really feeling that. I was like, I'm older and this sucks. And I wish that I was a stupid, feral freshman again, and I didn't know anything. And I don't know. And I wish that I could feel that young again. Cause I know that it's not gonna happen. And, yeah, I mean, something happens your third year of college where you're like, ugh, I can't go out every night anymore. And my friends aren't doing it. It's kind of weird, you know, I probably need to, I need to get an internship or I need to get my life together. I need to, like, am I going to grad school? You know? And my second thought after that is always, I don't want to do any of that. Like, I was having such a good time.
Liv: Yeah.
Øllie: You know? And so I gotta put out that fire is like, I can't lose this part of my life, even though I know I'm going to. It's just the feeling of like, ah, I can't let this burn away too. so hopefully that part of the passion is channeled through that part of the message, if that makes sense.
Liv: Yeah. It's coming from a real place.
Øllie: Mmhm
Liv: Which I think is how the best stuff is made when you pull from a real place.
Øllie: Me too. My dad says the same thing.
Liv: I want to ask about some, little details. I think in the beginning there's like cars driving by?
Øllie: Uh-huh. Yeah.
Liv: Do you want to talk about that?
Øllie: Oh my God. Somebody told me when I was making it, they were like, why are you putting those in there? Like, no one's gonna hear that, blah, blah, blah. So this is like, this is great. And this is a great I told you so moment, I did not prepare for this.
Liv: [laughing] I'm a big fan.
Øllie: No, I love it! There's at least 2 different sounds. I don't want to confuse this with my other song. I haven't listened to the beginning. I feel like Johnny Depp who famously is like, yeah, I don't watch my movies that I'm in. I don't listen to my stuff unless I have to, unless I'm getting another version of the mix back, unless I rarely unironically put on my own stuff. I don't want to hear it. Sometimes my friends will pay the bartenders at the bar to play it and then they'll come and hype me up around me and I'm always like, turn it off. I think I'm still triggered by like, people that when I was younger, that we were talking about earlier, that I take it as like they're making fun of me when really my friends just want to be excited for me. It's cute. But that being said, I don't know if there's 3 sounds in my head, and I know for a fact 2 of them are in this song. So, I'll talk about those 2. The car effect, it is a car. It's a car driving by. And, that is because when I wrote this song, and still when I hear it now, I think about this one time where I was driving, I must have been, like, 4 or 5 years old, and I was driving in the car with my brother and my Dad, and we were going down a street nearby, one of my childhood homes, and we looked out through the window, and there was a house in flames, like, on fire. And my Dad had known from the neighborhood association or something, he was like, oh, yeah, they're doing a test burn over there. And my brother and I were like, what's that? And he was like, it's when, someone's moving out of a house or there's an abandoned house, and the fire department uses it as a drill for their firemen to go and pretend they're saving people and stuff like that. And so we drive, but I don't know if seeing a house on fire is a rare thing, and I don't think people think about it a lot. It is very uncanny. It's very strange. And, I don't know, I just. You don't really get to see something like that. You don't get to see a big fire, period. But a house on fire is, It's just a very, I said uncanny. It makes me feel uneasy when I think about it. But as a 4 or 5 year old, I was like, oh, my God, what if my house was burning down? And so the car effect is in there to run, and we passed it for, like, 3 seconds. It was like we were driving by and so that car is supposed to be my representation of that. It also works because I think a lot of times people compare life to, life is a highway, you know? The experiences you have are like little places that you stop in. And so for me, because the idea of the song is that experiences are burning away and I'm trying to prevent myself from forgetting the person that I was or whatever it is you're playing the song. To drive by the house that quickly is sometimes how it feels for shit. To just fade away, for it to just go. You know how sometimes you have a life experience? You're like, what did I even just see? You didn't even have time to process it. So that's the car passing by. And then at the end of the song, there are some sirens in there, which is a voice memo, from my phone from when I used to live at the fraternity. And there was an ambulance driving by and I put my phone on the windowsill pressed record. I was like, that's going in the song. And that's more of like an on the nose thing. and also because sirens are kind of a weird sound too, they're indicative of an emergency. Somebody's in trouble, something's burning down, somebody's hurt. At least I feel like that's what I associate those sounds with. I love sound effects. I love natural, raw stuff that people just kind of hear in the wild. I love applying them to the work that I'm able to do. And so I put that at the end there. Yeah.
Liv: Yeah, that is such a cool story. Now listening to the song’s gonna be like 10 times more cool to me.
Øllie: I hope so.
Liv: That is awesome. The ambulance coming at the end, it could also symbolize safety's coming.
Øllie: Yeah
Liv: It'll get better because people are like, even though people are leaving your life, like better, more aligned, people are coming in, maybe down the line.
Øllie: I like that too. I've never thought about it that way. That's good. Yeah.
Liv: It has so many meanings. Well, cuz like you said, whoever listens to it, however they interpret it, it all means something.
Øllie: Mm Yeah, Mm, that's great.
Adam, our lead guitarist, improvises most everything on the spot
Liv: Is that you playing the guitar or you said that was your friend?
Øllie: I'm playing the acoustic guitar that you hear. And the rest of it is my guy from the band, his name is Adam.
Liv: He's so good- that like solo.
Øllie: He improvises most everything on the spot. He never plays the same thing twice. When we play any song, just really, really effortless. He’s just one of those people. And the funniest part of him, you wouldn't expect it from him. He always, like, when we come to practice, he always comes down in his like flip flops and he sometimes looks like he's just woken up from a nap. And sometimes I'm like, ugh, I hope he's not rusty today. Like, he looks pretty tired. Never. Never. He used to keep all his, you know, guitar pedals. He used to keep them all in this bag, like a book bag. A lot of people keep their pedals on a pedalboard, which he does now, but he used to keep them just all in a backpack. And we would, we would go to, like, battle of the bands events, and he would like, he would bring his bag and then he would pour them all out on the stage. And I remember there had been times I'd look at the other bands and they'd point and they'd like, you know, say things and I'd be like,
Liv: Just you wait.
Øllie: Mhmm yep. It makes me so mad. And we've never lost a battle of the bands. I'll toot my own horn there. And then he gets on stage and he puts his pedals out in front of him and absolutely shreds.
Liv: So when you perform the song live, does he do different solos each time?
Øllie: He does the same general idea. it would be like, an artist, like a visual artist. He draws a sunset every time, but the sunset is in a different place. It's on a different beach. It's slightly different. And it's enough to the point where I can tell where he is and I know when I need to come back in. But no, he never plays the same thing twice. It sounds fantastic every time.
Liv: And you met in college?
Øllie: I wish he was here because I don't want to tell this story wrong. I believe he had heard that our fraternity had a band. And so when he was rushing, he came to our house.
Liv: For the band?
Øllie: Mmhm, and someone came up to me and was like, there's this kid, and he wants to talk about the band. And I remember talking to him briefly and we had already formed by the time he had rushed, but then, our lead guitarist graduated, and so he took that person's spot and he's been with us ever since. I can sing. There's my claimed fame, but they're just as talented, if not so much more. I mean, I feel so belittled by their achievements and their crafts. Every time I play with them, they are absolutely phenomenal. And I could not do any of it without them.
Liv: Just the fact that you can all vibe off each other when you're performing live and you can just switch it up and keep it fresh, that is so cool. And that adds a whole layer of a bond as a band to be able to do that, I think that’s so cool.
Øllie: It’s my favorite part, even if I wasn't writing music, because that's definitely the coolest thing that we do, especially when we all get to go to a studio together. We literally feel like famous people we’re like, oh, this is so cool. But even if we didn't get to do that, all of us come from the most different musical backgrounds. I'm more into the poppy stuff and the indie rock, and I've got a pretty diverse palette, but that's where my taste comes in, because when we craft setlists, it's all about what each of us kind of wants, and we add our own little thing, to each part of it. But I like that stuff. Adam, he is kind of, ic he watches this, I hope he doesn't get mad at me, because I don't want to butcher any of their tastes. But to me, he likes a lot more of 80s rock, so I know he likes Journey a lot, and he's a huge Grateful Dead fan. Then my other guitarist, Lee, he is kind of, like more of a southern rock guy. He, likes, I don't know if you know, Uga, but the town Uga is in is called Athens, and it's a big music town. There's a lot of small southern rock bands that come out of there. So he likes rem and Widespread Panic. He also likes Grateful Dead, but his taste is a little bit more southern rock than Adams. Our bass player is rightfully so, like, a funkier, groovier guy. When I talk to him about his taste, he definitely has the widest spread over things. He knows the most about music theory and the most about big artists, discographies, but he's, like, funkier and groovier. He's had his Thundercat phase. His taste is very interesting, and he seemingly likes it all, I'm not gonna lie. And then our drummer, he was taught in jazz drumming, so he is a big fan of off time beats and kind of atypical musical structure. I know he listens to a lot of instrumental stuff, because he was raised on jazz, as in, that's how he came into music as a drummer, which is so cool, because if you talk to him, he'll tell you jazz is, like, the hardest kind of drumming to play because it's so, I want to call it off time, but that makes it sound like it's a wrong word. Jazz just has a lot of time signatures and song structures that are different than that of typical pop songs.
Liv: Like sporadic.
Øllie: Yes. It's a lot more experimental. It's what makes jazz jazz. It makes jazz harder to play. So when we play, like, rock songs, sometimes he'll spice it up in really great ways or he'll get bored of certain things because it's too easy for him.
Being in a band has changed my mind about a lot of things
But I say all that to say all of our different palettes and all of our different tastes come together as a band and my favorite part of doing that is they'll suggest a song that they should play. A lot of times, I'm the only one or me and one other person don't want to do it. But if they all want to do it, I'm like, okay. I mean, it's the majority. I'm not going to be that person. I hate being in charge and being like, no, we're not doing that. but what happens every time is the song will grow on me because we're forced to practice it. I'm forced to listen to the studio recording over and over and over again. I've got to learn the lyrics. I've got to learn when to come in. And so I'm, like, doing all this, investigating with a song that I wouldn't typically do if I was just listening to it passively, you know? And then after we've practiced it 5 or 6 times, I'm like, wait, this is kind of good. I get why they like it. And I'm gonna come out of college when I'm done, having been with this band for so long and been like, wow. My taste in music has been molded so much for the better, and I used to be such a snob. Just about what I like to listen to and being with them and having to hear everyone's perspective on music has changed my mind about the smallest things. But it's so great. It has been the highlight of, honestly, like, my life.
Liv: Yeah. After shoving down creativity for so long.
Øllie: It's like, and then comes out able to do it and get paid to play gigs. And I love hanging out with them and its just, it's so good. I love it. I never want it to be over.
Who do you listen to the most that inspires you musically
Liv: What would you say is your number one artist?
Øllie: What do you mean? To cover, to be inspired by? Who do I replicate? I'm gonna be specific with this question.
Liv: Like, who do you listen to the most day to day?
Øllie: Who do I listen to the most? the person who probably takes a cake and has for about 6 years now on my Spotify Wrapped might, be surprising she's a really underground artist called Billie Eilish.
Liv: [laughing] Never heard of her.
Øllie: Actually this is her little, I don't know if you can see-
Liv: Oh, that's so cool.
Øllie: Her little brand that she doesn't really market. It's called Blohsh she doesn't really market it anymore. I wouldn't say I'm like an Og fan, but I'm an OG fan. I had a friend in high school who put me onto her back in, 2018. It was like, right when she first started blowing up, she came through to a festival called Music Midtown, which is like Atlanta's Coachella. It's just like a festival in town. and she was there. And my friends that I was with that year, they dragged me. The girls that we were with were like, we're going to see Billie Eilish. And I was like, who is that? And, I thought it was a boy. And this girl with blue hair comes out and we're like, at the very front. And I was like, what? We were outside, but she tore the house down. It was one of the most metaphysical experiences I think I've ever had in my entire life. And everyone was like, she's our age, she's 16. And I was like, oh, my God. There were literally, like, 30,000 people watching. And the way she could harness the energy of everybody there. And she was in this, like, really angsty phase. Cause now she's like, she's not like a teenager anymore. She's matured. Back then, she was like, that girl was angry.I don't wanna say,
Liv: Emo
Øllie: Emo, but not really. Yeah, like, you could just tell. It was kinda like how I hope the way that you describe the way that I sing, but the way that she was doing it, you could feel that she had a lot of self hatred, and she knew what her art was and her angry songs, you knew she was pissed. Her sad songs, it was, everybody crying, just like, pure talent. And it was absolutely inspiring, to watch. And I've never forgotten that day. I've seen her 5 times since live and, I don't know if you listen to, hopefully when I have more stuff out, this is more apparent. But the way that I layer my vocals is absolutely from her. I love the sound of stacks, as we call harmonies on top of each other and she's so good at it. She and her brother, I could watch them forever, and one day, I hope I get to meet them, because they're just. They've inspired me, literally, from day one. I mean, people even tell me, like, when I'm on stage, I do this weird kick dance move where I kick my leg up when we have a big crash after a full stop or when there's a big swelling of a chorus or something like that. And somebody yesterday came up to me or my photographer yesterday. She'd never taken photos of us before. I was like, oh, how was it? And she's like, oh, I got all the angles. I got all your kicks. I was like, my kicks? And she's like, yeah, that kick thing you always do. And I was like, yeah, I guess I kind of do that. And then yesterday, last night, I was thinking about it, I was like, Billie does that. I definitely copy her because she does that.
Liv: Inspired by. Because she wasn't the first person to do that.
Øllie: No, but she, for me, was. Yeah, I saw her do that, and I definitely take a lot of my dancing inspiration from her. So musically, performing wise, I feel like my entire artistry would not be complete if I had never met her. I mean, you can't see, or can you see, right? *Øllie points to Billie’s album cover on the wall*
Liv: Oh, yeah, right. When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go.
Øllie: Yeah, there it is.
Inspirations in songwriting
Øllie: Yeah. That album completely changed my life. I listen to it every single day. even alone in my room, I cover her songs. I can pretty much play every single one on any instrument as long as I can sing along to it. But I love her. So definitely, definitely her. I, think given the context of nowadays, of what's been going on in the music industry right now, I can't leave out, Taylor Swift as a source of not writing inspiration, but she knows how to market herself and she knows how to captivate an audience. I don't listen to her too much. There's a couple song of hers that I really, really like. I don't care for her at all in terms of her music. And, I know she's kind of taking heat on the Internet right now, so I won't speak to that. but purely from a songwriting perspective, especially her earlier stuff, you can go back and listen to it. I mean, I don't know if she had a team behind her, depending on what song, but her music. There's a reason why so many young girls love listening to her, and in that way, I do. She’s an interesting case study for me and so I end up listening to a lot of her stuff because I like to investigate why people find things so universally adored, you know, everybody knows, like Love Story. Everybody knows You Belong With Me. Everybody. I mean, what's her more like recent stuff? Everybody knows, like,
Liv: Karma
Øllie: Yeah, everybody knows, like Anti-Hero, the breakout song from that album. She's just on top of the world right now. and so I'll mention her, and I'll mention one more, I'll mention a Folklore, a folk group, kind of like americana, they're called the Avid Brothers. They're kind of not small, but I would say if you're not into that genre, people probably don't know who they are, but check them out, they're really great. And I cite them because I listen to them all the time. They write about, like, longing and family and like really deep, desperate love. When they started out, they weren't married, but the songs that they wrote about love were just, it makes me cry a lot. I have a lot of nostalgia for it because my Dad listened to them a lot growing up. I've seen them twice now, at Red Rocks, the coolest place I've ever been in my entire life. They have a way with their words, is what I'll say. And I would like to think that I try to take after them, in the way that I write songs because they have a really, really heartfelt way of telling stories. So there you go. Billie, overall, everything, Avid Brothers and my songwriting. And because of the current state of the industry, I can't ignore Taylor Swift. Nobody can.
Liv: You can't ignore it.
Øllie: Yeah. As an artist, I have to admire her at least a little bit.
Liv: Yeah. I don’t listen to that kind of music. But just the fact that she's consistently shown up and put in the work and changed and not always stayed the same.
Øllie: Yeah.
Liv: Keeping it fresh. That's admirable. Even if you don't like that music, like, I think that's really hard for anyone to do. So I totally agree. And I think, Billie and Taylor were both so young when they started and they were writing from their life, like, what they were living in high school before fame.
Comparison is the thief of joy
Øllie: I mean, I think that adds to it, I think sometimes, and I feel like all creatives maybe feel this way, we compare ourselves to people our age. When I was in high school, I knew what I wanted. I knew I wanted to make music. When I saw her up there, and she's my age, like, I'm so behind. I need to start, writing. Obviously that was crazy because, yeah, looking back, I had so much character development to go through. I still do. But at that time, I had no idea who I was. There was no way I could have written anything of substance. But I feel like sometimes we get caught in that trap of just comparing ourselves to other people when we don't need to be doing that, you know? She was homeschooled anyway, and her life happened the way it did. And I'm sure hopefully if I meet her one day and I brought that up with her, she would say, oh, you didn't want that. She would say it was awful because I've heard her talk about it in interviews before where that amount of fame, I mean, it happens to all those young, like Justin Bieber, same way.
Liv: I think about Justin Bieber all the time.
Øllie: Yeah. It can take a turn for the worst really easily. And for her at least from not knowing her personally at all and, only watching her through the public eye, she didn't get totally screwed over the way that, like Justin Bieber did. And as far as I know, you know, how Hollywood's filled with drugs and all sorts of bad influences that did not come and get her like it does with a lot of people, as far as I know. But it totally could for a lot of young people. And I have to remind myself a lot that, you know what? Yeah, my music career is probably going to take a while to take off, but it's probably a good thing that I got my childhood and I got to live a normal, you know, american upbringing as opposed to, I mean, can you imagine being, like, 14 or 15 and signing your life away and then all of a sudden,
Liv: I mean, no, I think about Justin Bieber a lot and, like, miley Cyrus, they were, like, so, so young and expected to tour. Like, that's crazy.
Øllie: And people still expect them to be normal. Miley Cyrus’ Bangers phase. People still talk crap about her for that.
Liv: I’m surprised that didn't happen, you know?
Øllie: Yeah, like, did you see what happened to her? Like, can you imagine having that many eyes on you? I mean, a lot of people who have the most to say about people like that have no idea what it's like in the inside. I mean, I don't. I have no idea what that's like. You know?
Liv: Yeah, you can't even judge anybody doing that because you don't even know what you would be like.
Øllie: I also think about, like, especially with what's going on with Taylor right now. The internet is so quick to just, like, jump to conclusions and be like, yeah, this is what's going on. Here's the beef. I feel like nowadays in my, like, social groups, I'm the first person in the back of my head be like, was this planned? Is this a marketing scheme? Like, this hate that Taylor's getting right now is ironic because she's been on top of the world for so long, and she's felt invincible. Do you listen to Taylor?
Liv: There's a few songs I like.
Øllie: Okay. You know how she's doing the re recordings, though, right? So this next one that she's supposed to put out is the one about, Reputation. And that one, the last time she put that album out, the stolen version, was when the internet hated her and she made this big comeback.
Liv: Right.
Øllie: It's suspicious to me that as everyone's talking about, her putting this next album out, and she had this whole fake out with this new album and stuff. Now, my entire for you page has been people being like, that was so tacky when she at the Grammys, announced her album, her private jets. And a lot of it's valid criticisms and stuff, but even if I'm wrong, I think this applies to a lot of celebrity drama and artists in the industry. When people talk about them, not only do we not know their lives, but some of them are definitely, like, orchestrating things on purpose so that people will listen or so that they can get streams, just that, blah, blah, blah. And I feel like that should be everybody's first thing, you know?
Liv: Yeah. Like, what we were saying about hate comments, in a lot of ways, you kind of need haters to keep your name relevant nowadays.
Øllie: I feel like that's just not what people think of. People don't want to know that because they, like the idea of the drama better. People will tell me, you're no fun. Like, what do you mean? Those people are definitely beefing. And I'm like, I don't know, though.
Liv: Like, the industry's pretty small. It seems big, but I feel like it's not.
Øllie: And I feel like they all know each other. They all know each other and have met. They all go to the same award shows and the same. I mean, yeah, come on. I looked at the Grammy nominations. In fact, a couple weeks ago, the mastering engineer was the same for, like, 60, 70% of whatever category I was looking at. I was like, these are such different artists, and they all use the same guy to master their songs, which is, if you know anything about production, it's like, the last bit of the process. After you finish the mix, you master it and make it sound like a studio song. It's hard to explain unless you're an audio engineer. I'm really bad at saying what it is, but they all use it. It's like, a crucial part of the development phase. And I was like, damn. They're all, you know, nominated against each other, and one of their creatives on their team is the same for a lot of these people. That's so weird. You know?
Liv: That is weird.
Øllie: So weird. hm.
Liv: It is based on who you know, I think.
Øllie: Yeah.
It's all very orchestrated
Liv: And it's all very orchestrated. I agree. Because I think people don't want to think that their favorite singer is orchestrating anything. They just want to think that they're perfect or whatever.
Øllie: Yeah, it's uncomfortable to like, confront maybe an opinion you had about somebody or to admit that you might be wrong about your judgment of someone's morals or their actions or something like that. Yeah, for sure.
Liv: Yeah. That's very true.
How do you escape boredom?
I think that's like most of my questions, but I do have one last question that's like a little fun one for me.
Øllie: Okay.
Liv: This podcast is called Bored FM. My Instagram is boredxm because I really started being creative in general because I was bored and I found myself wanting to express myself but didn't really know how. So the question is, how do you escape boredom? Or how do you navigate times where you feel not really inspired or creative to write. Like, what do you do in those moments?
Øllie: What a great question. I love that concept. That's great. God, no one's ever asked me that before.
Liv: Everybody has a different answer. I mean, that's why I like asking.
Øllie: I think because of who I am and definitely music. I set up my room in a way where no matter where I'm sitting, I can always grab an instrument. I can always sit up and so I don't have to walk somewhere. I've got a ukulele right there and my piano is right here. I can touch both of them from my desk chair on my bed. I have my guitar hanging right there, right over it. And then I keep a ukulele on my bed, where I sleep, just in case I wake up in the middle of the night and something comes to me. But that definitely keeps me busy, especially, when I think about the near future. With the amount I'm probably gonna need to be writing, it's not so much boredom so much as it is I gotta get on my shit, you know? But I don't know, I think outside of music, I just, I love my friends. I think when I'm bored and I can't write or I'm not gonna go do music, something, I just wanna be around people that I love, whether that's going out and having fun or just. I like to thrift, I like to go just to stores and look at clothes and buy stuff and feel like a young person. But I'm really blessed to be surrounded by, just like really supportive people, who are always at like the drop of a pen, willing to come hang out with me and spend time. And especially as I near the end of college and I know that people are going to move away. That means a lot to me. Music, anything, with my friends and I don't know. My ForYou Page is great. that's a whole different conversation that I won't even start monologuing about because I think algorithmic social media has completely changed the way that people spend their time. I'm sure everybody knows about.
Liv: Yeah.
Øllie: Scrolling for hours and stuff. which I've tried to get away from, but it's hard.
Liv: I have that, what's it called? One Sec app you can like. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Øllie: Yeah, 1 second a day. I used to do that in high school. Yeah.
Liv: Yeah.
Øllie: So I journal as well. That’s translated into that, I guess that's something else I do when I'm bored, too.
Liv: Yeah, just like, get your thoughts out.
Øllie: It's important.
Liv: And then this is like a little extension of that.
Feeling uninspired is just as important as feeling happy
Do you think moments where you're uncreative, you feel like you don't have that creative spark? Do you think that's necessary to then create anything? Like, do you think those moments make you create?
Øllie: I think about this a lot.
Liv: Me too.
Øllie: Well, I think what I think about is when I'm feeling uninspired and I'm annoyed at myself for feeling uninspired. I think instinctively, I want to say that feeling inspired or having that divine voice speak through you and be like, this is what you're gonna create. Because sometimes that's especially with me when I'm creating lyrics and it's actual words, that's, what it feels like sometimes. I think feeling uninspired is just as important as feeling sad versus happy because the good days that you have, the good times that you have, the good experiences that you have are only that way because you know what it's like to have bad days and what it's like to have bad experiences, you know? Which I don't know if that's the healthiest way to look at it, but it's like yin yang, you know? Like, you have to have one to have the other. And it makes those inspired moments feel so much better and so much more, like, cinematic,
Liv: Deserved,
Øllie: Yeah, it's like, this is so much more important to me, in that way. So, yeah, I think they're crucial. I think it's even more important to always remember that even if you're not feeling inspired, that doesn't make you a bad artist or a bad creative or anything like that. I think it's just like, we are the product of our own experiences, and everybody, in my opinion, has something to say. Everybody's got a story. I haven't lived the craziest life ever. there's been things that have happened to me that definitely haven't happened to other people. But that's the case with anybody. I kind of live my life in a way that's like, always find a song to sing, you know, if nothing inspiring is going on, make it up. Sometimes that's what I got to do with my songwriting is, I don't feel like anything poetic is happening to me, so why don't I pretend like something is, and I'll write about that instead? And then the idea of you writing that can turn into the poetic thing, you know? Because it's cliche, but life is what you make it, you know? And so, the boredom is, like, part of the journey. It's like, what's that one vocal fry video of Miley Cyrus where she's like, the journey is usually the part that you remember anyway.You know what I'm talking about?
Liv: No, I don't know.
Øllie: It was like, a year ago, but she said that, and people made fun of the way her voice when she said it, but she's right. Like, I think, she has that song, The Climb. I heard that song today, which is a great song.
Liv: It's such a good song. I was just thinking about The Climb.
Øllie: But the lyrics are so true. It's like, the creative process is awesome at the end because you're like, look at my finished product. But when you look back on what you were doing, I'm sure if you look back on your whole experience with your instagram and building your audience to what you have, a lot of it probably wasn't so great. And like you said, you made it because you were bored. In that way, I think you've answered your own question. Sometimes that's where the biggest breaths of creativity come from, is from those sparks of boredom. And so, yes, I do think it's important to feel that way, because sometimes it's what gets your mind racing in the first place.
Liv: Yeah.
Øllie: Yeah.
Liv: Wow. That was, like, beautiful.
Øllie: Thank you.
Liv: That was all my questions, and I had a really fun time talking with you.
Øllie: I did, as well. This was so cool.
Liv: Yeah. I love this podcast. I was wanting to do it for years, but, like, we were talking about in the beginning, like, I was just in my head about it.
Øllie: I feel like if you like doing it and it's what you want to do and you're not hurting anybody and you enjoy doing it, don't listen to anybody else.
Liv: Yeah,
Øllie: That's what I'll say.
Liv: It's not even like there is anybody else.
Øllie: Exactly.
Liv: It’s my own fear.
Øllie: Just do it. And at the bare minimum, you learn a lot about yourself and maybe some about other people, too, which is always a good thing, you know?
Liv: Yeah. Yeah. Like, every person I've had on, I've learned something from or gotten a new perspective, and it just makes us so much more fun.
Øllie: Love it.
Liv: Yeah.
new song?
Chained To A Stranger
Do you want to talk about your new song?
Øllie: What do you mean? Like a little promo song?
Liv: Yeah, like a little, preview or something.
Øllie: Well, my artist name is Øllie. it's spelled in all caps with the O, with a little slash through it. The second single is called Chained To A Stranger. I have these little handcuffs my friend gave me the other day, but Chained To A Stranger, it's about me, like all my songs are, but it's about, having an identity where you feel like you're kind of attached to somebody that you don't know, whether that's a real person or a different version of yourself, and kind of just how it feels to struggle, fighting for what the true version of yourself is, if that makes sense. So, yeah, I'm very, very excited.
Liv: I'm very excited.
Øllie: I can't wait to hear what you think. Well, it was nice to meet you Liv.
Liv: Yeah, I look forward to editing this.
Øllie: I look forward to hearing the podcast. This was so cool.
Listen to our full conversation on Spotify here or watch on Youtube here.
Listen to Øllie’s music here: https://snd.click/qgnx
Listen to Basement Recess here: open.spotify.com/artist/7LPBdQwcjcQ5n1WhiaqrOu?si=hvh3IcyGR5SjqKsLQScnnw
