Meet Liv DeJonghe

We were lucky to catch up with Liv DeJonghe recently and have shared our conversation below.

Liv, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
I like to quote my own lyrics from time to time to remind myself and loved ones – “Simply living is creating something new.” We are a living reminder that our existence in itself is nature expressing itself. Sometimes creativity becomes stagnant and that’s okay. It’s all apart of the process, even our creativity needs breaks. There are certain things I have found that fills the creativity bucket. Acceptance is a huge one. Maybe right now it’s accepting that creative magic isn’t coming to you. From there I like to shift gears rather than forcing something. Whether that be stopping, focusing on a different song or moving to a different creative act. Cooking, photography, or writing to name a few. Sometimes I burn myself out with music and I need breaks from it but the urge to create never goes away. If I need more inspiration then I consume art while finding presence and meaning in my own life.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’m Liv (They, She) I am a queer artist/business owner residing in Michigan. I live with my wife and step-son, with a child on the way that my wife is carrying. I have always had an affinity for music for as long as I can remember. It was energy medicine for me growing up. I listened to it to validate and soothe the intense feelings I had as a child. I grew up in a home where addiction was present. I felt like I had to grow up fast and understand things a lot quicker as well as my own queerness. I think as a defense mechanism, I held onto my childlike nature. I isolated myself and found comfort in pretend worlds and eventually found guitar. I poured myself into the art of songwriting almost immediately after finding my stepfather’s old acoustic guitar in the basement of my mother’s home. I was 14. Music was an escape and It helped me find myself. I was in many different bands throughout high school and in my early 20’s. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to go to art school for photography since that is another passion of mine. I ultimately stayed in my home town and attended community college to be close to my mother who was becoming sick. I had many day jobs to sustain myself but they took the life from me. One of which helped me buy my first home. I am proud to have been a home owner in my 20’s. My dad helped by letting me live with him for a few years to save for a down payment. I couldn’t have done it without him. It wasn’t until I met my wife that I took my passions a lot more seriously. I moved to Lansing after meeting her. She is a lawyer and has a way with words and can often times see the bigger picture better than I can. She said I had nothing to lose basically and to try to give music my all. Imposter-syndrome still has it’s grip on me occassionally so her loving pushes are helpful, haha. I sold my home and used that money to fund a music studio. I intended to use the studio to record myself and my own band because my band wasn’t able to play live shows to fund musical recordings. Throughout the beginning of the pandemic I dedicated myself fully to learning music production and engineering. Since I had all this equipment and was furthering my knowledge I figured it made sense I’d use the space to record other local artists and bands. This unlocked a new passion, helping other’s with capturing their art. Since having this studio, my band, LVRS has released a full length album called “Joy Compass”. I’ve recorded and mixed a handful of other local artists in my studio, Pixel Dream Studios since 2022. I brand this business as a photography and music studio. I am accepting new recording clients, and I still do freelance photography for concert photography and portraiture. I am very grateful I am able to do what I love. I know there is an amount of privilege, luck and having a great support system that has helped to get me where I am at (not to discount the hard work and dedication). I am passionate about giving a safe space to LGBTQ and the black community as well as gender non-conforming folks, and people who identify as female.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Curiosity is a huge one. It shows up as the fuel for my dedication to learn and grow as a person and to acquire more knowledge. We are in the Information Age. There’s always more to learn. I always follow my curiosity to different energy because it is information. I use most of my free time to learn something new or to expand my knowledge base in one of my interests. I know If I focus hard enough on becoming the best version of myself it can only go up from here. I look at people and everything in life as an opportunities to learn. I think this openness is one of my best traits. I feel most creative too when I’m open.
Adaptability is a skill I’ve learned over time which relates to openness. Life has a way of throwing curve balls and I’m always adapting to fit who I am in this society. A simple example of this is I’ve written many different songs that work in different environments. I am able to play acoustic sets, loud rock sets or play instrumental/loop sets. This allows for different performance opportunities because my music doesn’t fit all in one box.
Lastly, Love and passion are traits that are super impactful. I think life is all about intention. I am always thinking, “Why am I doing this?”. Helping others is a huge passion of mine and it’s a broad goal that I have. I love thinking about how art has the power to help others. It’s helpful perspective in the form of a song, it’s energy captured. Music connects us. I used to get very down on myself about how emotional I am and at times in my past I felt I had no control over my emotions. I’ve always known my ability to feel is my power but it was still hard to understand and use that power I have within. I love music so much that I obsess over it.
Some advice I have is to try to understand yourself the best you can.
Surround yourself with like-minded people and let go of people who don’t align.
Don’t be afraid to feel and process your feelings.
Distraction can sometimes be good but don’t abuse it.
Follow what lights you up.

Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
Anyone a part of the LGBTQ community, black, gender non-conforming or anyone who was assigned female at birth. Music studios can be intimidating and they are mostly straight white men dominated. They are also very expensive and they aren’t as accessible for most musicians, myself included at one point. I want to focus this year on bringing in more queer clients and clients of minorities. I often work within budgets because I want people to have access to this. Art should be heard, especially by minorities. Anyone who is passionate about their art is an ideal client for me.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Emily Paski, LVRS & Liv DeJonghe

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