Meet Liam Slater

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Liam Slater. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Liam below.

Liam, so good to have you with us today. We’ve got so much planned, so let’s jump right into it. We live in such a diverse world, and in many ways the world is getting better and more understanding but it’s far from perfect. There are so many times where folks find themselves in rooms or situations where they are the only ones that look like them – that might mean being the only woman of color in the room or the only person who grew up in a certain environment etc. Can you talk to us about how you’ve managed to thrive even in situations where you were the only one in the room?

For a long time I really struggled to fit in. Especially in Nashville, there is a look, a sound, a way of writing a song, that people expect. There are plenty of people who fit the expected image of a Nashville artist, and for a long time I tried to fit into that box myself. I changed the way I dressed, I wrote songs I thought people wanted to hear, I acted. I played a part that wasn’t me, and it drained me. I surrounded myself with people who fit this role I was trying to play because I wanted to be accepted. But, it didn’t work. Everyone could see through the act I was putting on. It got to a point where I didn’t know if I wanted to make music anymore because I wasn’t authentically myself. What was worse is that the people I was trying to impress didn’t even accept me. I felt alone, and fake. Eventually I had to stop and reassess what I was doing and why. I stopped writing with the people I was writing, stopped going to the bars I usually went to network, I even canceled gigs I normally played. I wanted to start completely over, and I wanted to be myself. I realized that part of the reason that I wasn’t being authentic is because it’s scary to be yourself. If someone rejects a persona you put on, there’s a detachment. You think to yourself “they’re not rejecting me, they’re rejecting the persona.” But I didn’t move to Nashville to be someone else, I moved here to be myself. So I decided I was not going to act anymore, I was going to be myself, and if people didn’t like me then at least I was authentic. It took a long time to learn how to be myself, and unlearn the bad inauthentic habits I had. But eventually I learned how to be me on stage and off stage. I learned how to be me in my songs, and how to sing like myself. It took some time, and a lot of trial and error. I had to write by myself a lot before I could bring other people into the room to write with me. But now I am much happier, and the people I found because of my authenticity are some of my favorite people I have ever met. My newest single Black Sheep talks a lot about my journey of figuring out how to be myself, check it out if you’d like. If I could go back, I would tell myself to just be myself, even though it’s hard, and even though some people won’t like it. You’ll get farther being you, than you will being someone else.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

My name is Liam Slater, I write country music. I call it “Yallternative” because it’s honestly not completely country, it’s a little bit of everything. I, as a person, am not fully “country”. I am a little country, rock, indie, folk, and americana, and my music reflects that. I believe in honest writing, which is why I love country music, I also love heavy guitars and melodies. My music combines a little bit of everything to form my sound. It’s taken a while to find myself in my music, and it started after I wrote my single Boogeyman. I didn’t like the songs I was writing because they didn’t feel like me and they didn’t feel honest. I was tired of writing the same things over and over again. A guy with a broken hard, a truck and blue jeans, a dog and whiskey. It all felt fake. Especially for a genre that prides itself on being “three chords and the truth”, I was listening to all the songs coming out and they didn’t feel like the truth. No one was talking about things actually happening in the world, and that frustrated me. I wrote Boogeyman in order to talk about the truth. I think country music needs more of that, and I’m here to write the songs that need to be sung.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I think the most important skill you need in order to be an artist is authenticity. I say it’s a skill because it takes work to learn how to be authentic on stage and in your music. It also takes practice to learn how to handle the rejection that comes from music, and how to navigate when someone rejects your authenticity. It’s difficult but being authentic is the only way to find success, because it’s the only way to cut through all the noise. There is truly only one you, and if you try to fit in and sound like everyone else, you’ll just get lost in the noise you’re blending in with. In order to stand out, you have to stand out.

Hard work ethic is another skill you need to be an artist. There is a lot of behind the scenes work the goes into being an artist. You have to schedule shows, book writes, write the songs, plan your studio time, plan your rehearsal time, plan your releases, make social media content, and on top of all of that make money to pay for it all. It’s not easy, but with a hard work ethic it can be done.

Finally, you need thick skin. Being in the music industry is hard, and you face rejection nearly every day. It’s easy to get discouraged when you are rejected, but if you really want to make it in the music industry you need to have thick skin.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

The number one obstacle I face every day is myself. Every day I battle the side of my brain who says I’m not good enough, or I don’t do enough, or I won’t make it. Not everyday I get that guy to shut up, but most days I do, and I have people that help me through the days I can’t. My goal every day is to not let that side of my brain win. On the really hard days, I start by making small tasks, simple things like taking the trash out or just going outside. I make a big list and start checking things off, it helps to have something to show that side of my brain that it’s wrong. I think it’s an issue everyone faces, and I talk about it in my new song Bad Roommate, which comes out later this year.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tiktok.com/@LiamSlaterMusic
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/LiamSlaterMusic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LiamSlaterMusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYnAN128sdSdQmCLovVvzQA

Image Credits

Chris Lee