Los Angeles duo, Livingmore are ready to emerge from their cocoon with their debut record, Ok To Land, an ultimate feel good album due out this summer.
The band, comprised of songwriters Alex Moore and Spencer Livingston, who met in Los Angeles in 2014, have already begun to generate buzz from the HypeM blogosphere with the release of their self-titled EP in 2015.
Their first single from their new record, “Cocoon,” is slow-burning, guitar heavy track, with flourishes of western-tinged riffs layers over Moore’s crooning melodies. On the inspiration behind the track, Moore notes: “You realize growing up isn’t just like, you’re a kid and then you’re an adult. There’s all these things in the middle, and it’s easy to get stuck in a phase in your life where you feel cocooned, in a way.”
Check out what Alex and Spencer had to say about how the band came to be, and songs that make up the soundtrack of their lives.
How did the band come together? (Answered by Alex)
Spencer and I were in different projects and kept popping up at each others shows over the course of a few months. We both liked what each other was doing and when we met we vibed well. We decided to try writing together and things kind of just naturally fell into place. We wrote a bunch of songs and started performing them acoustically as a duo under a couple of different names until we finally landed on the name “Livingmore”. We met our drummer Mike Schadel one night at The Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles. We were doing our duo thing and he approached us after our set and asked if we needed a drummer. Mike has definitely become a big part of the band when it comes to arranging things and finalizing what the song should be. We’ve had a few different bass players. Bryan Dobbs played with us and recorded with us for a little over a year. We parted with Bryan about six months ago and Rodrigo Moreno joined the band soon after. Rodrigo has really brought a great energy to the band and we love him dearly.
Who or what has inspired your sound and latest single, “Cocoon?” (Answered by Alex)
I think what has really inspired our sound is just going back to basics as far as what we feel makes a good song. We love melody, lyrics and harmonies reminiscent of the Everly Brother or The Kinks, but also grew up loving alternative bands like Garbage and Modest Mouse. Quite a wide variety of stuff really… Our single, “Cocoon” is inspired by a feeling of looking back at childhood and remembering that “what will I be when I grow up” feeling. From the younger perspective it can feel like life is a story book type process of “start to finish” but in reality there is no ending to growth, just reoccurring re-births of trial and error that often lead you to the next place you need to be.
Is there a story behind your band name? (Answered by Alex)
Spencer’s last name is Livingston and mine is Moore so Livingmore is what came about. It actually surprised us that no one had ever used the name before.
What is your favorite show memory? (Answered by Spencer)
We played a really cool show out at Coachella this year called Vestal Village and there was a huge pool with floaty rafts and stuff right in front of the stage. We played our set during the day under beautiful blue skies with these amazing mountain ranges surrounding the whole valley and then we went and jumped in the pool afterwards and floated around with free drinks all day. It was definitely one of the best band adventures we’ve had so far.
What would be your dream tour and why? (Answered by Spencer)
Honestly just being on tour in general is the dream. I think if there is one band currently that we’d like to open for it would be Wilco. They are one of the greatest live bands in the world right now in my opinion.
Tell us about your writing process; any unusual quirks? (Answered by Spencer)
I drinks a lot of either tea or coffee and Alex paces around a lot.
What’s your favorite song to cover? (Answered by Alex)
We do a nice version of “The Sound Of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel which is really fun to sing. I think that might be my personal favorite song to cover.
If you were to create a “soundtrack to your life,” what songs would be on it?
There are far too many songs to list so we’ll give you 10 songs. 5 from Alex and 5 from Spencer.
1. “Wah Wah” by George Harrison
2. “Shangri La” by The Kinks
3. “Gravity Rides Everything” by Modest Mouse
4. “Spiders” by Wilco
5. “Getting Better” by The Beatles
6. “Autumn Shade” by The Vines
7. “When I Grow Up” by Garbage
8. “Friend Is A Four Letter Word” by Cake
9. “Accidents” by Blondie
10. “Vicious” by Lou Reed
Filed under: Creation Stories Tagged: cocoon, Creation Stories, livingmore
