We were lucky to catch up with Spencer Bailey recently and have shared our conversation below.

Spencer, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Our most meaningful project is the one we have been currently working on for the past year and a half , writing and recording our new extended play (E.P).

In December 2022 we connected with one of our producers on this E.P, Jordan Hastings (Alexisonfire), through an online campaign of donating the proceeds from one of our previous singles “13“ to the Alexisonfire Indigenous Music Bursary, supported through Inspire. Inspire is a charity that invests in education of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities of Canada. The Alexisonfire Bursary supports the funding of music education Indigenous students pursuing post-secondary education. As this is a cause we dearly support, we found this a great opportunity to connect our music with what we believe in. Through promoting our campaign on social media, we connected with Jordan.

Showing excitement and interest in our music, Jordan connected us with his production partner Adam Michael (Walk Off the Earth) and the conversation evolved into recording a 5 song E.P of new music together. For us this was surreal, working not only with professionals in the Canadian music industry but also the enormous level of admiration as fans we have for the bands and music they both create.

During the summer of 2023, we entered Halo Music Studio out of Hamilton Ontario to begin recording these songs. The experience we shared in the studio was one none of us have ever had. The professionalism of the entire team we worked with and the creativity involved really pushed us to deliver our absolute best both in writing and performing these songs in the studio to capture the vision we had for this project.

Currently, we are strategizing our plan for releasing the music. As independent artists, we have found the learning curve to be more than just music creators but to also develop our ability to adapt and learn other facets involved in the music industry to successfully share our work.

The lessons we have taken from this experience and the pride we share in this music has made this a project that truly means everything to us.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Live Animals are a 4-piece Canadian grunge, alternative rock band hailing from Toronto, Canada. The band formed in 2021, composed of members: Andrew Healy, Spencer Bailey, Benjamin Challet, and Dave Schattmann. Personifying sonic grit, their unique heavy melodic songwriting fuses dark etherial guitars with powerful soaring vocals that will make you bang your head while singing every word back. Live Animals project a raw onstage energy to deliver an unforgettable live show.

As trailblazers of the grunge resurgence, we draw influence from bands such as Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Deftones, and Alexisonfire–to compose a signature vintage-modern sound.

Live Animals have been an active part of the Southern Ontario music scene, having the pleasure to share the stage with great bands such as Monster Truck, Organ Thieves, and Vicious Beast. Also, having played at some of Toronto’s most acclaimed venues like The El Mocambo, The Horseshoe Tavern, The Rivoli, Lee’s Palace, and more! Live Animals have had the success of two E.P releases, “(ep)iphany” (2021) and “Into the Wild” (2022), which can be found on all streaming platforms.

We found our way in the Toronto music community through actively going to local shows and creating those connections with other artists in our scene. Building our presence through performing club venues around Southern Ontario to build our fan base.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding part is to share your creation. As a musician, you are able to experience this through recording music and performing live, each being a very different feeling. The recording process goes through many stages, the pay off really comes during the mixing and mastering stage. Here you get to really experience all the pieces come together, the blend of dynamics and nuance in each instrument and how everything sits sonically is very exciting. The excitement almost comes from the anticipation of how you’re imagining the audience will interpret the song, it is truly rewarding hearing that final product. Playing live is a completely different side where you are feeding off the energy of what is in the moment. Watching people get into the music and watching someone feel connected to something you have created is an invincible feeling as an artist.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think the resilience to continue to push yourself as an artist is something that does not come across to many people. As much as making music looks like a great time, which it is, there is a lot of challenges, disappointment, and stress that comes along with trying to build a band.

Putting out new music and watching it bomb is never an easy feeling, something I guarantee all local artists have experienced. The effort you put into creating the songs and the money and time spent in recording can be extensive, releasing that music and having no one listening is a very disappointing feeling. The ability to shrug that off and continue becomes a learned skill in an effort to build that thicker skin necessary to put yourself out as an artist. The challenge is to learn from your failures and become better. Taking the time to gain a knowledge of strategies to support a music release, building a social media presence, and navigating the industry can really draw someone out of their comfort zone, but is the only thing that will help you grow as an artist. I don’t know if that is something that everyone is able to see or is conscious of.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hyperfollow.com/LiveAnimalsBand
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liveanimalsto/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LiveAnimalsTO/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@liveanimalsband1154
• Soundcloud: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6M8CYFkS6Q2xkKLisgDMNL?si=fULePlvSSBuyHPRwvwYcFw

Image Credits

– Carly Boomer
– Lucky Seven Photography
– Kirstie Schattmann