April 16, 2021 • 29 mins
This week Matika sits down with Neil Johnson aka Louis Libran to talk about the power of music as a form of expression for Queer and Indigenous creative's.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Coming Out Black is recorded on unseated Aboriginal Land. We
wish to acknowledge and pay our respects to our elders
past present, and extend that respect to mob listening today.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
My name's Matigue a Little and my name's Courtney Hagen,
and we're two queer Indigenous women passionate about representation for
our community.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
We've created this podcast to share our stories and we
want you to join us on the journey. You're listening
to Coming Out Black.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Thank you so much for coming on the podcast, Neil.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. Yay.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
For those of you who listened to episode one of
season two, we were obviously so excited that we had
a new intro sound and I said that my friends
slash cousin slash girlfriend's roommate Neil made the intro And
now we finally get to have you on the podcast,
which is really exciting.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yeah, now I'm here yay.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
So before we even jump into anything, I would love
for you to introduce yourself in your own words. Tell
us a bit about yourself, where you grew up, how
you identify, and a little bit about your music.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Sure thing, my name is Neil Johnson aka Louis Librin.
I am a queer werraderisis male from Sydney. I grew
up mainly out in Sydney's West so like du inside
Blacktown was where I grew up. But my people, our
(01:27):
people are from down Wagga Wagga and Loriandra. So shout
out to any of the mob listening in on this podcast. Yay.
I am a singer, songwriter, slash producer and I make
alternative pop slash like electronic pop. So artists like Charlie XCX,
(01:52):
Lady Gaga, those are huge names, and I don't know.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
I'm exactly like her basically, I am.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah lady, but they're yeah, that's that's pretty much it.
That's what I do. That's that's me.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yay, that's awesome. The amount of times, I mean, maybe
over sharing. I can edit this out if you want to.
I've been at your house slash Tigan's house, and you're like, oh,
I'm gonna have a shower everyone, and then I just
hear Lady Gaga like blasting.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yeah, that's that's my whole whole thing. So if anyone
listens to my music and it's like, why does it
sound like this, Well, it's pretty much like Gaga and
those are the influencers. Yeah, so what's the word I've
an't guard electronic stuff like Aka and Cevdaliza if anyone
(02:45):
knows of them. They're really great artists too who have
inspired me. And yeah, and my music cool awesome. And
you do a little bit of modeling, don't sell? Yes,
I did, Yes, I do modeling, I do. Do you
what else? I'm in a band as well. We have
two albums out. We're called The Violet Stones. I play
(03:08):
bass and I do backing vocals. Have been with them
for like four or going into five years now. So yeah,
it's been great. So just been trying to put it
out as much music as a solo independent artist as
of the past two years. Yeah, and it's going great.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
You're doing so many things. That's so cool. Okay, then cool.
So obviously you've done so many things, which is really cool,
very talented because we're for Emily. But the reason I
wanted to have you on an episode of the podcast
today was I've been wanting for a while actually to
do an episode that kind of focuses around creativity and
(03:50):
self expression and identity as explored through music or art
or whatever a medium that an artist might be using,
obviously in your case music and I guess explore the
elements that come with that. So we know, of course,
our culture, our community have utilized music, dance, art for
(04:11):
thousands and thousands and thousands of years to share knowledge,
to share stories, all of those things. And that's something
that people in our community continue to use today to
tell stories, even though those stories might have changed. Of course,
I'm sure as someone who is creative like yourself, music
(04:33):
has been probably a huge part of you exploring different
elements of your life or processing different things, or even
just telling stories that you're wanting to tell. Can you
talk to us a little bit about sort of what
got you into music and how you utilize that to
tell stories and I guess get your voice out there.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Yeah. Sure, So music for me has changed over time
in I guess what it means to me. So starting
out very early, for I know, since I can remember,
which is me being a maybe like a four or
(05:13):
five year old going to church with.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I thought you were raiding yourself and you're like, I
was like a four and now I'm a ten.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Yeah, So since I was young going to church was
something that exposed me to music really early. I grew
up in a Catholic household, so my dad's side is
Aboriginal and on my mom's side she's Maltese, so very Catholic.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
European, nice Catholic, not nice Catholic.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
It was good. My experience was good. Yeah, I really
enjoyed the Latin masses. I had no idea at all
what I was singing or saying, but the music was
great and I loved the music, and I love singing
with a bunch of people I don't know, And the
whole church experience is is kind of where music started
(06:11):
for me. But as music progressed throughout my life, it
kind of became like a statement or like a form
of getting your voice out there or rioting against the
norm through music. So I've been pretty drawn to political music,
I guess. So my mum pretty much raised me on
(06:33):
kiss like ac DC or like old classic rock, and
then that branched off into for me was like metal
and like, ah, you know, teen angsty, still have my
teen angst. Like my band plays grunge music, so like
still all about that and the message that that type
(06:55):
of music has and now I'm kind of expressing it
in a different way with a different sound and exploring
my own personal experiences through music as well as trying
to push like some politics as well. Yeah, so music
for me is forever changing. And I don't know what
(07:17):
else thing about in like a year's time, so I yeah,
music's just forever changing.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
It's interesting that you say your music can sometimes have
like a key sort of like political message, because I
find that like a lot of queer or I guess
minority musicians, a lot of their music can have that
really strong political message backing or a really strong emotional
message more so than sometimes I see and just sort
(07:44):
of like average mainstream media that's from non minority groups. Yeah,
why do you think that is?
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I think because for me personally, I mean I can
only speak on my own experiences and what in my
own opinions. But I guess we just have more to say,
like in that people who don't experience what minorities experience
can't really sing about it or talk about it, true,
(08:12):
and nor should they ever speak on your own experiences
like ah, But I think, yeah, I think we're more
political because there's more injustices that happens to minorities, and
I guess music is our way of expressing that and
letting other minorities out there like us, that these unjusts
(08:38):
are there and it's okay, we're aware of them and
we're going to speak up about it.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Do you think that's more what's the word I'm thinking of,
like more tangible of a way for people outside these
communities to sort of be introduced to some of these
injustices or palatable I should say, then maybe like sitting
down and having that really still is conversation about this
issue or that issue. Do you think music is something
that can sort of like reach beyond that and start
(09:07):
to have people thinking like, oh, okay, the lyrics of
this are actually quite strong, and now maybe I want
to go google this.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah, definitely, I think I think art is a great
way to express like politics and opinions through like music
and melody. I guess music is kind of the distraction
or if someone likes a melody, they're not really thinking
about what that melody means. And let's you're a big
(09:36):
like music theory neve myself, and it's like, oh what
does that interval? Mean? But yeah, I guess it's a
it's a it's a good way to start talking about
topics like this and for people to to I guess,
have a look into other people's lives through other people's
(09:59):
experience is through music, So I think it's yeah, definitely
a more palatable way. I guess people like if you
hear a song versus a speech, like what's grabbing their attention?
There's more so the music and then later if they
enjoy the song, like who's really listening to the lyrics?
(10:20):
Until like you really like a song?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
The amount of songs that we would have listened to
as kids and you're like, damn, I don't know why
someone let me sing those.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Lyrics like three by Britney Speech, Yeah, like why are
we singing this? Yeah it's a bop, but it's highly
inappropriate for like six year.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Olds absolutely to say the choreography. Yeah, okay, cool. So,
speaking from your own experience, what are some of the
issues or topics that you personally have tried to explore
in your music, either through your band or personally as well.
And I guess, obviously being a gay male, have you
(10:59):
experienced sort of back ash for wanting to explore those
things or tell your own unique stories.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
I guess what I've spoken about in previous music has
been trying to like think back to what I first wrote,
and it was called cycles, very political sixteen year old
me writing about cycles that I noticed in media and
(11:24):
in like advertisements, and it was talking about ah, the
whole going home watching TV after work and wanting an
unachievable like look or so it was a I guess
it was a song about beauty standards.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Have you ever been like afraid to say something like
you're writing a song on your whole Damn, I shouldn't
say it.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Definitely not except for swearing. I don't have any swear
words in my music, and that's because I would picture
my nan listening to it, her very catholic self genius.
This is not a bar, no, Little Neil just swore.
But I guess that comes to And then on the
(12:10):
flip side, I've just wanted to release like a song
that honestly just drops the F bomb like twenty times
in a row, just to like get it all out,
because I'm kind of sick of censoring myself. And that's
that's not anyone else holding me back, that's me holding
me back. But I haven't received any backlash from that's
good from any yeah, political statements made or me expressing
(12:34):
my queer self. And yeah, I don't think I've fully
blossomed either in terms of like my queer expression. I've
only recently come to like dying my hair blue.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Or you're like very fashionable is the thing? Thanks, And
I'm very jealous. Like every time I see you, I'm
just like, man, that outfit, I've a whole outfit.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
I don't know if that comes from like OCD, my
suck's gonna match my shirt, everything always is. It's yeah,
I don't know what that says about me or if
I'm fashionable or if I'm trying to.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I think you have, like it seems from from being
someone that knows you, like you have a strong sense
of self and like you're not afraid to express that
through fashion, which is really cool for someone like me,
who has probably no sense of fashion. And I'm always like,
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
What I think people need to do is take risks,
take risks, And I'm just not afraid to take risks
when it comes to my physical appearance because people are
gonna judge no matter what, and I'm just gonna live
my life the fullest and dim a hair blue if
I want or wear makeup on a certain day, if
I want to like wear trying.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
To think of like I remember, like what was it
your birthday party or something? And it was what's the
Halloween theme? And you and I were the only people
who like bloody.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Super sludy. What was I? I was like a dead
I was a dead bride. So I totally like gender bended.
Is that the Yeah, yeah, I was drag basically, yeah,
pretty much. And we went to the store and bought alcohol,
and like I could feel the eyes on me, but
like it doesn't bother me. In fact, it empowers me,
(14:24):
like keep looking. But at the same time, I hate stairs.
But it's weird. Don't take my photo. Yeah, it's very
libra energy. That's where my stage name comes from because
I'm just just a libra down to the team. Anyone
who understands astrology would kind of get that that I'm
just this indecisive, split kind of person.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Okay, so talking, I guess more about being a creative
person who's also a part of the minority community. Have
you you've been able to sort of connect with other
people who are from similar lived experiences from you and
does that help you sort of feel like you belong
in this. I guess you're paving a space out for
(15:13):
yourself with other artists like yourself.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Yeah, I'm someone who's quite to themselves, Like I can
be an extrovert as well as an introvert, and I
am definitely on the cusp of like extrovert in that
when it's kind of hard for me to network or
speak out or make friends with people like myself because
(15:35):
I don't really get out there or I'm someone who
keeps to themselves. But as of recent, like we went
to the to the First Nations Marti Gras. That was
so eye opening for me because I've kind of held
my culture and my sexuality as separate and I've always
(16:00):
is well, being a queer male has made me feel
like I can't be indigenous at the same time or indigenous.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Like you separate those things.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yeah. Absolutely not something that I would normally put together
and not like consciously, I'm like, oh I I am
different to Indigenous than Yeah, it's it's just like a
subconscious thing. And but yeah, as of recent it's been great.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Yeh, that's so funny that that you had that experience
that linked in sort of with coming to Mighty Gras
because I also had that experience if I'd always experienced
my aboriginality and my indigenous community and then my queer
community engaging with my sexuality, and Mighty Gras was also
(16:49):
that moment for me the first time I went in
the parade of like these two communities coming together and
me seeing how much incredible overlap there is both. I
guess if if we're going with the theme of music,
our culture has been utilizing music for thousands of years,
as I've already said, but also the queer community, music
and art and creativity and fashion has also been such
(17:12):
a massive part of expression and identity and sharing stories
in our community through music. So there's so much overlap,
and I think sort of like probably as an artist,
that's something that's really fun to play with.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Yeah, and going back on what you were saying, like
there isn't really a space. I mean, there's no one
that like I look up to who is queer indigenous. Yeah,
so I'm trying to pave that way. I'm trying to
make like a little sub sub category for myself and
just show like whatever percentage it is out there that
(17:49):
queer people of color, indigenous people.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Like First nations in general, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Can can make something of themselves and can express themselves freely.
And yeah, that's that's kind of my goal and one
of the reasons why I do music, apart from obviously
enjoying it and expressing myself, is one day hopefully being
able to inspire a younger version of me in the future. Yeah. Awesome.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
That actually leads really well into my next question, which
is really about do you think that there is enough
representation of people like yourselves or minority people in general
in the music space.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Yea, how you say the music's the music industry? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
both are correct. No, definitely not. I don't think that
there's Yeah, there could definitely be a lot more representation.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
The how do we get that?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Do you know what I mean? I'm not sure.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Is it creating our own spaces or is it allies
sort of standing up and saying, actually, I do you
want to highlight this?
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Yeah? I guess it's I'm not sure. It's could be support,
could be support from community or support from I mean,
music is is a hard like industry, Like it's not
not a piece of cake, and I don't do it
for like the money or the fame or like all
(19:10):
of that. But I think it's a it's a hard
industry to get into, and if you're not a commercial
kind of image, then there's not going to be as
much of you, Like there's no market out there for
a queer indigenous Like I'm.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Not yet, not yet, right, but I think it's starting.
Like it's just we're seeing it come more and more
and more, like with how mainstream like for example, Baker Boy,
it's like as an indigenous artist who sings in language
like electric fields. Yeah, like queer and indigenous, Like we're
seeing it in bits and pieces making its way into
(19:51):
mainstream media. And I think like you're a continuation of that.
And you're right, so many other people are going to
be seeing people like yourself putting out music and being
creative and and start doing more about themselves as well.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Yeah, yeah, those are two really good examples. Thanks, Like
oh yeah, oh my god, did right?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
But you're I mean, you're right to be, Like I
can't think of anyone because like that's two examples out
of like there's not a lot, do you know what
I mean? Like yeah, and they've really only gained popularity
in the last two years.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Yeah, yeah, that's right, and they'd probably be doing music forever.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
It's definitely the Iceberg diagram. I don't know if you've
seen it, Like you see the Iceberg Organ and there's
like so much underneath the water. That's what like anyone's
music career is. And the fact that like I couldn't
think of one and you can only think of two
says enough about the industry. But I agree when you
say that there's a change coming, and I'm sure people
(20:49):
are bored of seeing the same old story, the same
old love song, the same old.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Isn't your new song coming out of love songs?
Speaker 3 (20:56):
It is, but it's different. So yeah, I think there
definitely needs to be more representation, whether it's indigenous music
and queer indigenous music. But it's good to see that.
I think I saw TikTok like was posting there was
(21:19):
like an indigenous No, it was Apple Music. Sorry, Apple
Music did like an indigenous playlist and it was kind
of like the front page of like Australian music.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yeah, it's like, oh my god, I was in the
podcast list of that. Well I'm coming out black Ones. Yeah,
someone sent me a screenshot of like, oh, here is
some indigenous podcasts you should listen to and coming out
black was honest, that.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Was really awesome. Wow, that's so cool. Do you pitch
for that or like, how do you get on?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
I didn't.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I don't use Apple stuff. So someone just sent it
to me. It's pretty good.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Well, changes coming and we're a part of it.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
So yeah, okay, so changes coming. Yeah, we're a part
of it. You have your music coming out, tell us
all about it.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
So my new single coming out it's called so in Love.
Originally I didn't want to put out like a love song,
just because love songs are predictable, like they're just there's
so much music out there that's about love and love
is everything. I mean, like love is all you need.
(22:29):
That was not scripted, No, it's yeah, so it's hard
for me not to write about love when I'm such
a sucker for love.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Again, just name other songs that are about love.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Yeah, it's I don't know, it was so it came
about I wrote the song of coming off a date
with the person that I'm still very much in love
with love love. Yeah, I remember just coming home and
like there was this sense of blissness and I just
(23:08):
got on the piano and this is a first date. No,
it was like yeah, it was just it was just
a date, and it was just me like really reflecting
on my life and like the feeling of love. Anyone's
felt it, then they can understand what I'm talking about.
And even though I wrote it, So I'll write it
(23:28):
on piano and I'll sing it and then I'll leave
it in my phone like for some months, and then
I'll when I was producing, I came across the song
and it was hesitant to record it because like, like
I said, lovey dovey cans, but then I thought it
was But then I thought it was really important to
(23:53):
put forth a queer love song. And even though it
doesn't maybe sound queer at face value, I mean, like
what is queer? Like what what does?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
But I hate it when there's a beautiful love song
and then someone goes ahead and ruins it with a
pronoun like why.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Why do that? That's great?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I don't hate listening to a beautiful song and then
it's like he and I'm like, man, no, why didn't
you just say? They just keep it so everyone can
sing it, like.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Yeah, that's funny. I didn't even think about that, but
mine has no pronouns, so it is. It is a
queer friendly love song. Thank you for that. Yeah, there'll
be a music video coming out with it that makes
it obviously more gay. And yeah, I just wanted to
put that in the in the foreground of what's to come,
(24:43):
because I've been teasing on my Instagram that a new
error is coming and okay, Taylor, I was thinking more.
I think I think every artist has kind of like
a chapters, chapters, because what really irritates me is when
fans are like, I like their old music, Like, no
(25:03):
artist is going to be the same throughout because people
change and life changes and growth, yeah, growth all that.
If someone sounds the same for like their entire career,
there's some mainstream people I can think of that name,
but yeah, if you're going to sound the same, like, what's.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
What's the I'm excited to grow it too, Like I've
obviously seen snippets of it and the photos and that
sort of thing that it looks like incredible.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Looks thank you, fantastic, thank you. I put a lot
into it, and it's me being like really vulnerable and
that when I talk normally about like politics or like
or even experiences that I've been through, the normally hidden
in metaphor or there's there's some English technique that like
(25:52):
really hides my feelings that you're going to go digging for.
But this is like me being me talking about love
feelings and yeah, capturing a moment in time where I
was just like really high and didn't feel like I
can could come down yea.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Alsome? Okay, so tell us well, I mean spoiler like,
by the time this episode goes up, your music will
be out.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yeah, so you could listen to it on Spotify, Apple Music,
all the major streaming platforms. I'll be releasing a music
video on YouTube, so you'll be able to find me
on all My socials are Louis Libren. That's l wait
no l O U I S l I b R
(26:42):
A M good word. Wow. Yeah. So many people have
pronounced my name wrong, like even on radio, Like someone
played my song I think They're from Victoria or something
on the radio and they said, Louis Lebron, that's not me,
that's not how you pronounce it, and you put well.
(27:03):
I added it to my Instagram actually, where it has
like lou wii ye and then Librin like the how
you would pronounce it? Yeah, I need to put that
in with my press releases so people know how to
say my name.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Look at you press releases, new music video coming. Can
you have someone just the other day who started a
fan account?
Speaker 3 (27:26):
I totally forgot. I don't know how that. Yeah, I
don't know, I just.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yeah, I think it's nice when you have people from well,
I guess my experience of this is through obviously coming
out black and people in boxing us or meeting people
face to face and then being like, hey, like what
you're doing, I really enjoy it, like this makes me
happy or this helped me this way, And it's cool
to see that people are obviously seeing that in you
as well as an up and coming musician. And you know,
(27:53):
there probably are people out there who see a minority
person creating and thinking, fuck, that's awesome, that's really cool,
and then other people who just like, no, it's really
cool and it's not about them, and I already expected
for some people that is and it's really important.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Yeah, yeah, that's it's it's super cool. I think with
the new music coming out, like I hate to talk
about twenty twenty, like it's triggering for anyone, but really,
really the year lid a fire under my arm was like,
get to work, because the world could any better work? Bitch, Yeah,
right as the good old Britney spears.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Saying you are about to say beyond.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Yeah, they both start would be okay, thenk yeah, you
better work. And I just really wanted to try my hardest,
like with the music coming out that you'll be seeing
and hearing, and yeah, the photo shoot that I arranged
for it, and then like seeing the photos, I was like,
I just really want to push my music so people
(28:53):
can see these folks right because they're sounding But.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
You got honey in your eyes? Did you?
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Oh my god? It's so funny cool.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Okay, Well, I think that just about wraps up our
conversation today, which is a bummer because how fun has
it been?
Speaker 3 (29:08):
So great? Coming up? Yay?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Okay, So we're going to be tagging Neil in all
of obviously the post that's come out along with this episode,
so you can go follow him, check out the music
which is out right now. Hurry up, as soon you
stop listening, go go.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Go finish the episode first and then and then come
over to my page. Yeah, come listen.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Okay, thanks for listening everyone, and thank you Neil, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Bye.
Coming Out Black is recorded on unseated Aboriginal Land. We
wish to acknowledge and pay our respects to our elders
past present, and extend that respect to mob listening today.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
My name's Matigue a Little and my name's Courtney Hagen,
and we're two queer Indigenous women passionate about representation for
our community.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
We've created this podcast to share our stories and we
want you to join us on the journey. You're listening
to Coming Out Black.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Thank you so much for coming on the podcast, Neil.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. Yay.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
For those of you who listened to episode one of
season two, we were obviously so excited that we had
a new intro sound and I said that my friends
slash cousin slash girlfriend's roommate Neil made the intro And
now we finally get to have you on the podcast,
which is really exciting.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yeah, now I'm here yay.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
So before we even jump into anything, I would love
for you to introduce yourself in your own words. Tell
us a bit about yourself, where you grew up, how
you identify, and a little bit about your music.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Sure thing, my name is Neil Johnson aka Louis Librin.
I am a queer werraderisis male from Sydney. I grew
up mainly out in Sydney's West so like du inside
Blacktown was where I grew up. But my people, our
(01:27):
people are from down Wagga Wagga and Loriandra. So shout
out to any of the mob listening in on this podcast. Yay.
I am a singer, songwriter, slash producer and I make
alternative pop slash like electronic pop. So artists like Charlie XCX,
(01:52):
Lady Gaga, those are huge names, and I don't know.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
I'm exactly like her basically, I am.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah lady, but they're yeah, that's that's pretty much it.
That's what I do. That's that's me.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yay, that's awesome. The amount of times, I mean, maybe
over sharing. I can edit this out if you want to.
I've been at your house slash Tigan's house, and you're like, oh,
I'm gonna have a shower everyone, and then I just
hear Lady Gaga like blasting.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yeah, that's that's my whole whole thing. So if anyone
listens to my music and it's like, why does it
sound like this, Well, it's pretty much like Gaga and
those are the influencers. Yeah, so what's the word I've
an't guard electronic stuff like Aka and Cevdaliza if anyone
(02:45):
knows of them. They're really great artists too who have
inspired me. And yeah, and my music cool awesome. And
you do a little bit of modeling, don't sell? Yes,
I did, Yes, I do modeling, I do. Do you
what else? I'm in a band as well. We have
two albums out. We're called The Violet Stones. I play
(03:08):
bass and I do backing vocals. Have been with them
for like four or going into five years now. So yeah,
it's been great. So just been trying to put it
out as much music as a solo independent artist as
of the past two years. Yeah, and it's going great.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
You're doing so many things. That's so cool. Okay, then cool.
So obviously you've done so many things, which is really cool,
very talented because we're for Emily. But the reason I
wanted to have you on an episode of the podcast
today was I've been wanting for a while actually to
do an episode that kind of focuses around creativity and
(03:50):
self expression and identity as explored through music or art
or whatever a medium that an artist might be using,
obviously in your case music and I guess explore the
elements that come with that. So we know, of course,
our culture, our community have utilized music, dance, art for
(04:11):
thousands and thousands and thousands of years to share knowledge,
to share stories, all of those things. And that's something
that people in our community continue to use today to
tell stories, even though those stories might have changed. Of course,
I'm sure as someone who is creative like yourself, music
(04:33):
has been probably a huge part of you exploring different
elements of your life or processing different things, or even
just telling stories that you're wanting to tell. Can you
talk to us a little bit about sort of what
got you into music and how you utilize that to
tell stories and I guess get your voice out there.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Yeah. Sure, So music for me has changed over time
in I guess what it means to me. So starting
out very early, for I know, since I can remember,
which is me being a maybe like a four or
(05:13):
five year old going to church with.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I thought you were raiding yourself and you're like, I
was like a four and now I'm a ten.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Yeah, So since I was young going to church was
something that exposed me to music really early. I grew
up in a Catholic household, so my dad's side is
Aboriginal and on my mom's side she's Maltese, so very Catholic.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
European, nice Catholic, not nice Catholic.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
It was good. My experience was good. Yeah, I really
enjoyed the Latin masses. I had no idea at all
what I was singing or saying, but the music was
great and I loved the music, and I love singing
with a bunch of people I don't know, And the
whole church experience is is kind of where music started
(06:11):
for me. But as music progressed throughout my life, it
kind of became like a statement or like a form
of getting your voice out there or rioting against the
norm through music. So I've been pretty drawn to political music,
I guess. So my mum pretty much raised me on
(06:33):
kiss like ac DC or like old classic rock, and
then that branched off into for me was like metal
and like, ah, you know, teen angsty, still have my
teen angst. Like my band plays grunge music, so like
still all about that and the message that that type
(06:55):
of music has and now I'm kind of expressing it
in a different way with a different sound and exploring
my own personal experiences through music as well as trying
to push like some politics as well. Yeah, so music
for me is forever changing. And I don't know what
(07:17):
else thing about in like a year's time, so I yeah,
music's just forever changing.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
It's interesting that you say your music can sometimes have
like a key sort of like political message, because I
find that like a lot of queer or I guess
minority musicians, a lot of their music can have that
really strong political message backing or a really strong emotional
message more so than sometimes I see and just sort
(07:44):
of like average mainstream media that's from non minority groups. Yeah,
why do you think that is?
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I think because for me personally, I mean I can
only speak on my own experiences and what in my
own opinions. But I guess we just have more to say,
like in that people who don't experience what minorities experience
can't really sing about it or talk about it, true,
(08:12):
and nor should they ever speak on your own experiences
like ah, But I think, yeah, I think we're more
political because there's more injustices that happens to minorities, and
I guess music is our way of expressing that and
letting other minorities out there like us, that these unjusts
(08:38):
are there and it's okay, we're aware of them and
we're going to speak up about it.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Do you think that's more what's the word I'm thinking of,
like more tangible of a way for people outside these
communities to sort of be introduced to some of these
injustices or palatable I should say, then maybe like sitting
down and having that really still is conversation about this
issue or that issue. Do you think music is something
that can sort of like reach beyond that and start
(09:07):
to have people thinking like, oh, okay, the lyrics of
this are actually quite strong, and now maybe I want
to go google this.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah, definitely, I think I think art is a great
way to express like politics and opinions through like music
and melody. I guess music is kind of the distraction
or if someone likes a melody, they're not really thinking
about what that melody means. And let's you're a big
(09:36):
like music theory neve myself, and it's like, oh what
does that interval? Mean? But yeah, I guess it's a
it's a it's a good way to start talking about
topics like this and for people to to I guess,
have a look into other people's lives through other people's
(09:59):
experience is through music, So I think it's yeah, definitely
a more palatable way. I guess people like if you
hear a song versus a speech, like what's grabbing their attention?
There's more so the music and then later if they
enjoy the song, like who's really listening to the lyrics?
(10:20):
Until like you really like a song?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
The amount of songs that we would have listened to
as kids and you're like, damn, I don't know why
someone let me sing those.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Lyrics like three by Britney Speech, Yeah, like why are
we singing this? Yeah it's a bop, but it's highly
inappropriate for like six year.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Olds absolutely to say the choreography. Yeah, okay, cool. So,
speaking from your own experience, what are some of the
issues or topics that you personally have tried to explore
in your music, either through your band or personally as well.
And I guess, obviously being a gay male, have you
(10:59):
experienced sort of back ash for wanting to explore those
things or tell your own unique stories.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
I guess what I've spoken about in previous music has
been trying to like think back to what I first wrote,
and it was called cycles, very political sixteen year old
me writing about cycles that I noticed in media and
(11:24):
in like advertisements, and it was talking about ah, the
whole going home watching TV after work and wanting an
unachievable like look or so it was a I guess
it was a song about beauty standards.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Have you ever been like afraid to say something like
you're writing a song on your whole Damn, I shouldn't
say it.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Definitely not except for swearing. I don't have any swear
words in my music, and that's because I would picture
my nan listening to it, her very catholic self genius.
This is not a bar, no, Little Neil just swore.
But I guess that comes to And then on the
(12:10):
flip side, I've just wanted to release like a song
that honestly just drops the F bomb like twenty times
in a row, just to like get it all out,
because I'm kind of sick of censoring myself. And that's
that's not anyone else holding me back, that's me holding
me back. But I haven't received any backlash from that's
good from any yeah, political statements made or me expressing
(12:34):
my queer self. And yeah, I don't think I've fully
blossomed either in terms of like my queer expression. I've
only recently come to like dying my hair blue.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Or you're like very fashionable is the thing? Thanks, And
I'm very jealous. Like every time I see you, I'm
just like, man, that outfit, I've a whole outfit.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
I don't know if that comes from like OCD, my
suck's gonna match my shirt, everything always is. It's yeah,
I don't know what that says about me or if
I'm fashionable or if I'm trying to.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I think you have, like it seems from from being
someone that knows you, like you have a strong sense
of self and like you're not afraid to express that
through fashion, which is really cool for someone like me,
who has probably no sense of fashion. And I'm always like,
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
What I think people need to do is take risks,
take risks, And I'm just not afraid to take risks
when it comes to my physical appearance because people are
gonna judge no matter what, and I'm just gonna live
my life the fullest and dim a hair blue if
I want or wear makeup on a certain day, if
I want to like wear trying.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
To think of like I remember, like what was it
your birthday party or something? And it was what's the
Halloween theme? And you and I were the only people
who like bloody.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Super sludy. What was I? I was like a dead
I was a dead bride. So I totally like gender bended.
Is that the Yeah, yeah, I was drag basically, yeah,
pretty much. And we went to the store and bought alcohol,
and like I could feel the eyes on me, but
like it doesn't bother me. In fact, it empowers me,
(14:24):
like keep looking. But at the same time, I hate stairs.
But it's weird. Don't take my photo. Yeah, it's very
libra energy. That's where my stage name comes from because
I'm just just a libra down to the team. Anyone
who understands astrology would kind of get that that I'm
just this indecisive, split kind of person.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Okay, so talking, I guess more about being a creative
person who's also a part of the minority community. Have
you you've been able to sort of connect with other
people who are from similar lived experiences from you and
does that help you sort of feel like you belong
in this. I guess you're paving a space out for
(15:13):
yourself with other artists like yourself.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Yeah, I'm someone who's quite to themselves, Like I can
be an extrovert as well as an introvert, and I
am definitely on the cusp of like extrovert in that
when it's kind of hard for me to network or
speak out or make friends with people like myself because
(15:35):
I don't really get out there or I'm someone who
keeps to themselves. But as of recent, like we went
to the to the First Nations Marti Gras. That was
so eye opening for me because I've kind of held
my culture and my sexuality as separate and I've always
(16:00):
is well, being a queer male has made me feel
like I can't be indigenous at the same time or indigenous.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Like you separate those things.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yeah. Absolutely not something that I would normally put together
and not like consciously, I'm like, oh I I am
different to Indigenous than Yeah, it's it's just like a
subconscious thing. And but yeah, as of recent it's been great.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Yeh, that's so funny that that you had that experience
that linked in sort of with coming to Mighty Gras
because I also had that experience if I'd always experienced
my aboriginality and my indigenous community and then my queer
community engaging with my sexuality, and Mighty Gras was also
(16:49):
that moment for me the first time I went in
the parade of like these two communities coming together and
me seeing how much incredible overlap there is both. I
guess if if we're going with the theme of music,
our culture has been utilizing music for thousands of years,
as I've already said, but also the queer community, music
and art and creativity and fashion has also been such
(17:12):
a massive part of expression and identity and sharing stories
in our community through music. So there's so much overlap,
and I think sort of like probably as an artist,
that's something that's really fun to play with.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Yeah, and going back on what you were saying, like
there isn't really a space. I mean, there's no one
that like I look up to who is queer indigenous. Yeah,
so I'm trying to pave that way. I'm trying to
make like a little sub sub category for myself and
just show like whatever percentage it is out there that
(17:49):
queer people of color, indigenous people.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Like First nations in general, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Can can make something of themselves and can express themselves freely.
And yeah, that's that's kind of my goal and one
of the reasons why I do music, apart from obviously
enjoying it and expressing myself, is one day hopefully being
able to inspire a younger version of me in the future. Yeah. Awesome.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
That actually leads really well into my next question, which
is really about do you think that there is enough
representation of people like yourselves or minority people in general
in the music space.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Yea, how you say the music's the music industry? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
both are correct. No, definitely not. I don't think that
there's Yeah, there could definitely be a lot more representation.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
The how do we get that?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Do you know what I mean? I'm not sure.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Is it creating our own spaces or is it allies
sort of standing up and saying, actually, I do you
want to highlight this?
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Yeah? I guess it's I'm not sure. It's could be support,
could be support from community or support from I mean,
music is is a hard like industry, Like it's not
not a piece of cake, and I don't do it
for like the money or the fame or like all
(19:10):
of that. But I think it's a it's a hard
industry to get into, and if you're not a commercial
kind of image, then there's not going to be as
much of you, Like there's no market out there for
a queer indigenous Like I'm.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Not yet, not yet, right, but I think it's starting.
Like it's just we're seeing it come more and more
and more, like with how mainstream like for example, Baker Boy,
it's like as an indigenous artist who sings in language
like electric fields. Yeah, like queer and indigenous, Like we're
seeing it in bits and pieces making its way into
(19:51):
mainstream media. And I think like you're a continuation of that.
And you're right, so many other people are going to
be seeing people like yourself putting out music and being
creative and and start doing more about themselves as well.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Yeah, yeah, those are two really good examples. Thanks, Like
oh yeah, oh my god, did right?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
But you're I mean, you're right to be, Like I
can't think of anyone because like that's two examples out
of like there's not a lot, do you know what
I mean? Like yeah, and they've really only gained popularity
in the last two years.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Yeah, yeah, that's right, and they'd probably be doing music forever.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
It's definitely the Iceberg diagram. I don't know if you've
seen it, Like you see the Iceberg Organ and there's
like so much underneath the water. That's what like anyone's
music career is. And the fact that like I couldn't
think of one and you can only think of two
says enough about the industry. But I agree when you
say that there's a change coming, and I'm sure people
(20:49):
are bored of seeing the same old story, the same
old love song, the same old.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Isn't your new song coming out of love songs?
Speaker 3 (20:56):
It is, but it's different. So yeah, I think there
definitely needs to be more representation, whether it's indigenous music
and queer indigenous music. But it's good to see that.
I think I saw TikTok like was posting there was
(21:19):
like an indigenous No, it was Apple Music. Sorry, Apple
Music did like an indigenous playlist and it was kind
of like the front page of like Australian music.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yeah, it's like, oh my god, I was in the
podcast list of that. Well I'm coming out black Ones. Yeah,
someone sent me a screenshot of like, oh, here is
some indigenous podcasts you should listen to and coming out
black was honest, that.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Was really awesome. Wow, that's so cool. Do you pitch
for that or like, how do you get on?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
I didn't.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I don't use Apple stuff. So someone just sent it
to me. It's pretty good.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Well, changes coming and we're a part of it.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
So yeah, okay, so changes coming. Yeah, we're a part
of it. You have your music coming out, tell us
all about it.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
So my new single coming out it's called so in Love.
Originally I didn't want to put out like a love song,
just because love songs are predictable, like they're just there's
so much music out there that's about love and love
is everything. I mean, like love is all you need.
(22:29):
That was not scripted, No, it's yeah, so it's hard
for me not to write about love when I'm such
a sucker for love.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Again, just name other songs that are about love.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Yeah, it's I don't know, it was so it came
about I wrote the song of coming off a date
with the person that I'm still very much in love
with love love. Yeah, I remember just coming home and
like there was this sense of blissness and I just
(23:08):
got on the piano and this is a first date. No,
it was like yeah, it was just it was just
a date, and it was just me like really reflecting
on my life and like the feeling of love. Anyone's
felt it, then they can understand what I'm talking about.
And even though I wrote it, So I'll write it
(23:28):
on piano and I'll sing it and then I'll leave
it in my phone like for some months, and then
I'll when I was producing, I came across the song
and it was hesitant to record it because like, like
I said, lovey dovey cans, but then I thought it
was But then I thought it was really important to
(23:53):
put forth a queer love song. And even though it
doesn't maybe sound queer at face value, I mean, like
what is queer? Like what what does?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
But I hate it when there's a beautiful love song
and then someone goes ahead and ruins it with a
pronoun like why.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Why do that? That's great?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I don't hate listening to a beautiful song and then
it's like he and I'm like, man, no, why didn't
you just say? They just keep it so everyone can
sing it, like.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Yeah, that's funny. I didn't even think about that, but
mine has no pronouns, so it is. It is a
queer friendly love song. Thank you for that. Yeah, there'll
be a music video coming out with it that makes
it obviously more gay. And yeah, I just wanted to
put that in the in the foreground of what's to come,
(24:43):
because I've been teasing on my Instagram that a new
error is coming and okay, Taylor, I was thinking more.
I think I think every artist has kind of like
a chapters, chapters, because what really irritates me is when
fans are like, I like their old music, Like, no
(25:03):
artist is going to be the same throughout because people
change and life changes and growth, yeah, growth all that.
If someone sounds the same for like their entire career,
there's some mainstream people I can think of that name,
but yeah, if you're going to sound the same, like, what's.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
What's the I'm excited to grow it too, Like I've
obviously seen snippets of it and the photos and that
sort of thing that it looks like incredible.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Looks thank you, fantastic, thank you. I put a lot
into it, and it's me being like really vulnerable and
that when I talk normally about like politics or like
or even experiences that I've been through, the normally hidden
in metaphor or there's there's some English technique that like
(25:52):
really hides my feelings that you're going to go digging for.
But this is like me being me talking about love
feelings and yeah, capturing a moment in time where I
was just like really high and didn't feel like I
can could come down yea.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Alsome? Okay, so tell us well, I mean spoiler like,
by the time this episode goes up, your music will
be out.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yeah, so you could listen to it on Spotify, Apple Music,
all the major streaming platforms. I'll be releasing a music
video on YouTube, so you'll be able to find me
on all My socials are Louis Libren. That's l wait
no l O U I S l I b R
(26:42):
A M good word. Wow. Yeah. So many people have
pronounced my name wrong, like even on radio, Like someone
played my song I think They're from Victoria or something
on the radio and they said, Louis Lebron, that's not me,
that's not how you pronounce it, and you put well.
(27:03):
I added it to my Instagram actually, where it has
like lou wii ye and then Librin like the how
you would pronounce it? Yeah, I need to put that
in with my press releases so people know how to
say my name.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Look at you press releases, new music video coming. Can
you have someone just the other day who started a
fan account?
Speaker 3 (27:26):
I totally forgot. I don't know how that. Yeah, I
don't know, I just.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yeah, I think it's nice when you have people from well,
I guess my experience of this is through obviously coming
out black and people in boxing us or meeting people
face to face and then being like, hey, like what
you're doing, I really enjoy it, like this makes me
happy or this helped me this way, And it's cool
to see that people are obviously seeing that in you
as well as an up and coming musician. And you know,
(27:53):
there probably are people out there who see a minority
person creating and thinking, fuck, that's awesome, that's really cool,
and then other people who just like, no, it's really
cool and it's not about them, and I already expected
for some people that is and it's really important.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Yeah, yeah, that's it's it's super cool. I think with
the new music coming out, like I hate to talk
about twenty twenty, like it's triggering for anyone, but really,
really the year lid a fire under my arm was like,
get to work, because the world could any better work? Bitch, Yeah,
right as the good old Britney spears.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Saying you are about to say beyond.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Yeah, they both start would be okay, thenk yeah, you
better work. And I just really wanted to try my hardest,
like with the music coming out that you'll be seeing
and hearing, and yeah, the photo shoot that I arranged
for it, and then like seeing the photos, I was like,
I just really want to push my music so people
(28:53):
can see these folks right because they're sounding But.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
You got honey in your eyes? Did you?
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Oh my god? It's so funny cool.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Okay, Well, I think that just about wraps up our
conversation today, which is a bummer because how fun has
it been?
Speaker 3 (29:08):
So great? Coming up? Yay?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Okay, So we're going to be tagging Neil in all
of obviously the post that's come out along with this episode,
so you can go follow him, check out the music
which is out right now. Hurry up, as soon you
stop listening, go go.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Go finish the episode first and then and then come
over to my page. Yeah, come listen.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Okay, thanks for listening everyone, and thank you Neil, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Bye.
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