EQUATE Introducing Lea G
"I just threw myself into gigging when I arrived in London, I would play up to four shows a week and go to networking events or other artist´s shows every night. That way I quickly got to know lots of people."
Born and raised in the Austrian mountains, up-and-coming singer-songwriter Lea G has embarked on her musical journey from a young age already - when she was only six years old, she would sing in her school choir and be exposed to a variety of music at home. But it wasn’t until she spent a year in the UK during high school when she discovered her true passion and talent for performing and song-writing. After returning to Austria, she then released her debut single ‘Tired of Your Talking’ which swiftly gained her a Top 40 position in the Austrian iTunes charts. Fast forward, Lea has now settled down in London to take her career to the next level - from studying at the renowned Notting Hill Academy of Music to playing over 30 gigs across the city to collaborating with exciting producers, the songstress is one to watch. Just recently she’s dropped her new single ‘MISSING OUT’ - a track which discusses the very relatable FOMO in our generation. She tells us all about it!
Read the full interview below..
EQ: How did you first get started in music?
L: Music was kind of always a big part of my life but I first got started when I was 6 years old and started singing at my school choir. My singing teacher saw my potential and started giving me solo lessons. Later I played the violin and was very interested in classical music, I wouldn’t listen to anything else. This changed at 12 years old I discovered Ed Sheeran. I had previously dropped the violin and started playing guitar to be able to accompany myself singing and thought I could do what Ed does - write my own songs on an acoustic guitar.
So I started writing just for fun. When I had just turned 16 I then did an exchange year in the south of England and was able to take a Music Performance course which got me into the live side of things. After 10 months of living in the UK I went back to Austria to finish my A-Levels and started busking and playing small shows around the country. I quickly realised I wanted to do music for the rest of my life and started co-writing and going to writing camps. In 2019 at the age of 18 I then released my debut single “Tired Of Your Talking“. After I was done with school in Summer 2019 it was clear to me that I had to move to London to make music full time. The rest is history.
EQ: Did you have any musical idols growing up? Did they change over the years?
L: My biggest musical Idol when I was young was Mozart. Until he got replaced by Ed Sheeran. My mum would play me lots of classical music as well as Bowie, Barbara Streisand, Adele Jack Johnson and Nirvana but I never realised that they inspired me until now really. It is funny how you don’t really realise what music inspired you because you got exposed to at a young age until you are an adult yourself. 🙂
EQ: Growing up, what was the music scene like in Austria?
L: It is very small and thrives on German pop or more traditional Austrian music. Vienna has developed a small underground scene of singers and songwriters who do pop with English lyrics and it is slowly getting more popular I think. The reason why I moved to London was because the industry is a lot bigger over here so there are more opportunities and more people to collaborate with. And I have always felt more like myself in the UK than at home in Austria so I just had to come here.
EQ: Did you find it difficult to get into the scene when you moved to London?
L: London’s music scene is easily accessible to everyone. There is live music every night in most pubs, clubs and venues. I just threw myself into gigging when I arrived in London, I would play up to 4 shows a week and go to networking events or other artist´s shows every night. That way I quickly got to know lots of people. It was hard at first to get used to being out all the time and putting myself in front of people at first but I quickly got used to it.
EQ: Let’s talk about your new single! What was the inspiration for the lyrics?
L: ‘MISSING OUT’ was released on on the 29th of July. I wrote it when I had just moved to London and was working my fingers to the bone playing lots of shows and being out and about all the time. In the meantime my friends back home were enjoying going to uni, party-ing on weekends and hanging out with other people their age. That made me feel like I was missing out on what I should be doing in my youth because I chose to work on my dream. All the songs I am releasing this year are part of my debut EP YOU(TH) and talk about growing up and all the feelings that come with it, FOMO (the fear of missing out) for me is a major part of what it feels like to be young.
“After I was done with school in Summer 2019 it was clear to me that I had to move to London to make music full time. The rest is history. “
- Lea G
EQ: Generally, what’s your creative process when writing a new song?
L: I take inspiration from everything happening in and around me. That’s usually where the idea for a new song comes from and then once I know what I want to write about I sit down with my guitar and find chords, melodies and lyrics for it. Most the songs I write have been written on my acoustic guitar by myself. But I recently started working on new music to release next year and have been enough to have my producer Brookfield and my songwriter friends Gemma Burr and Blake Densmore on my side and playing a big role in my creative process.
EQ: Who would you love to collaborate with one day and why?
L: I would love to meet Ed Sheeran and write with him just to be able to see how his genius mind works and see if I can learn from the way he writes songs. I would also love to go back in time to meet Mozart or Bach or any of those big composers just to pick up on how they composed those masterpieces of music I find so extremely fascinatingly beautiful and complex just to see how it is different from writing songs nowadays.
EQ: Finally, what else have you got planned musically for the remainder of the year?
L: I have got the release of my debut EP ‘YOU(TH)‘ coming up and I am working on my next big musical project. On top of that I will be playing a big headline show in October. Dates to be announced.
Listen to ‘MISSING OUT’ below!