Obviously with the global pandemic, we can’t feature bands from overseas as then we’d all be at risk of the lurgy. Or something. Actually, that’s bollocks but it’s a topical way to introduce today’s UK-based Band of the Day…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We are based in London.
How did you meet?
We all met working together at the same company. It started off as just me (James) and Rob, but we added the others when they were in earshot of our amazing office YouTube DJ’ing skills and it turned out they liked the same music as us. We added Mac a few months later to the line up.
How long have you been playing as a band?
We’ve been playing together for nearly 2 years now, but we added our rhythm guitarist Mac to the line up about a year ago and from then on we have had our heads down writing music and taking things more seriously.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Livonia is the ancient Greek word for Soul Destroyer… It’s not really, we all worked at the same company, which was on a road called Livonia Street in Soho. We thought it would make a nice temporary band name, and it has really stuck!
What are your influences?
Massive idol band influences would be Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Blink 182, Incubus and those kind of bands that have a very distinct sound.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Our music is a very new era pop punk sound, imagine Don Broco crossed with You Me At Six crossed with A Day To Remember.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
We write all our songs so that they are relatable to our audience, so of course there are lyrics about life about bad relationships all the usual suspects In our songs. Our latest song Talking is about mental health, and how it’s important to lean on your friends a bit and be there to talk to each other. This song really means a lot to us, and is so important in current society we live in.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
We try and keep it as honest organic as possible, 5 dudes playing their instruments and we try and exert as much energy as we can. To summarise – lots of jumping and head banging until our necks are sore.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Rob our guitarist played a show with a broken foot once that was pretty hilarious. Imagine Dave Grohl when he did that tour in the Throne. Imagine that amount of energy but without the throne, he was just smashing every song and hopping about on one leg occasionally wincing when he pushed his luck too far!
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Guitar-wise we’re both using Fender telecasters – one with humbuckers and one with single coils. It’s nice to have a different sound for rhythm and lead but nothing beats that classic tele-shape!! We also both use Orange Dark Terrors, so easy to carry around but with a huge heavy sound to them which works perfectly. Tom rocks an Epiphone Thunderbird bass with Gibson pickups for extra beef and the Chris smashes about a Mapex Black Widow drum kit with a Meinl Benny Greb set of cymbals.
What are your plans for 2020?
We have a 4 track EP just out on March 13th called Hate. Relate. Regenerate. so we’re super stoked about that. We already have about 6 shows lined up for the start of this year and we’re only just getting warmed up.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
Hands down it would have to be Boston Manor for the headline slot, those guys are crazy good live and are just smashing every release they do at the moment.
To open the night I’d say the dudes in Like Giants would do an amazing job, we played a show with them at the end of last year and they were class off and on the stage. They’re probably too big now, maybe they would out play us? Who cares they are awesome.
