We recently connected with Jeff Livingstone and have shared our conversation below.

Jeff, appreciate you joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I’ve always been an artist ever since I was a kid. As a young boy I would always find ways to entertain myself and would always be whistling or tapping as I created. My teachers would tell my mom I had ADHD, and that I needed to be on medication. My mom stuck up for me and said “he whistles and taps when he is feeling creative” and assured them that this is how I kept focus, and got my work done.

One more young boy story and I’ll get to my career. When I was about 7 years old my dad’s body builder friends noticed one of my drawings and asked me “are you going to be an artist?” And I replied in a serious face, “I AM an artist.” I was a pretty brave little boy to correct a big body builder adult like that. Long story short, I’ve always known I wanted to be an artist.

Fast forward to 7th grade (2003) when I formed my first band, the Gem Stones. We had about 4 original tunes in the works and filled in the rest by covering Blink 182, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mötley Crüe, and Sublime. We’d perform for our neighborhood friends in the garage and we even played at my friend Leah’s birthday party once. This is what got me started being a band leader and a songwriter. The other guys didn’t seem to want to stick with it, but we would still jam all the time.

I started taking lessons in high school and I formed a new band, Nature’s Game. We played psychedelic reggae rock (basically a mix between Led Zeppelin and Sublime). We would perform regularly at DiPiazza’s in Long Beach with other local bands by the names of Yeller and The Wild Bunch. These shows were sometimes terrible, but I was doing my best and getting more and more experience being a front man and crafting original music.

After high school I chose to study music at Cypress College where I earned a Jazz Guitar Performance degree, and later went on to study at CSU Fullerton. I switched my focus and decided to get a business degree in Entertainment & Hospitality Management, since I was already getting a ton of work as a music teacher and performing regularly throughout college. I thought “what do I need a music degree for if I’m already out there doing the jobs it might get me?”

In 2017, I put out my first collection of songs on an EP titled “A Matter of Time” with recordings I had made at home. Releasing my own music took me to the next level, I was hooked. I started getting into the recording studio regularly and began putting out more of my original recordings, which I am still doing today. The business degree has actually helped me a lot by understanding marketing, budget, taxes, networking, strategy, and branding. Needless to say, I still have a lot to learn.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

When I was a teenager, I’d ask my mom to drive to Sam Ash music and she’d drop me off and let me stay there for 3-4 hours. I was obsessed with learning everything about guitar pedals, amps, guitars, and microphones. I got a looper pedal one year for my birthday and that changed everything. I learned about recording, guitar layering, harmonizing, and even songwriting because of this looper. I’d sit in my bedroom for hours looping and creating song ideas, which inevitably led me to hours of practicing guitar.

I got pretty decent at playing guitar very quickly. When I had enough money saved up in high school, I bought my self a MacBook Pro and started recording with Garage Band, and then got Logic Pro. This took my songwriting to the next level and I was able to use recording as a songwriting tool.

Another note worth mentioning is that when I was a teenager, there was no YouTube or internet at all.. I had to learn everything by ear or go to a guitar teacher to show me how to play something. I would generally obsess over a song and learn it by playing it over and over again, which sharpened my musicianship and trained my ears to recognize pitch and chord progressions very quickly. Nowadays I can tell you the key of a song within about 3 seconds of listening to it. Give me less than a minute and I’ll be able to tell you the chord progression and have it all charted out. As a young musician, I was very fascinated by music and dedicated to being able to replicate any sound I heard and I’m the same way today.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

For those who are non-creative, artists need people like you as fans, and to support the creative people culture. You are just as important, if not MORE important. Every songwriter is sharing a piece of themselves, expressing a vulnerable side of themselves through music, because this is possibly the only way they know how to get it out… if they can reach any single person and make them feel something, mission accomplished. It’s almost as if creatives need the reassurance of their fans to validate their existence and this is what keeps artists going, even though they will probably still create anyways.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

One of my main goals is to create a discography of music that will live on for generations to follow; To know that I gave it my all to write every good song idea that came to me. Every great experience in my life has been because of music, and I intend to have many more great experiences, travel, bring people together, and reach people’s emotions in the process. Side note: I would also like to perform at Red Rocks Amphitheater one day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Jefflivingstone.com
• Instagram: @jefflivingstonemusic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jslivingstonemusic?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Twitter: @jslivingstone1
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@jefflivingstonemusic?feature=shared
• Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/3qYWWtXSpQxvwf7r7
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@jefflivingstone?_t=8llMc9aFKAx&_r=1https://open.spotify.com/artist/5gwudJKtZcm7DpQl4LkaKF?si=hmETZsA_RymZ5FdfWNA14ghttps://music.apple.com/us/artist/jeff-livingstone/1210640082

Image Credits

Nicholas Greene (@shotsfired118)
Joshua Belida (@ja.photographic)