Musician and producer, Liam Gubbins has relished the opportunity of lockdown, which has allowed him the time to stop and focus on creating his own music. Between his part-time commitments doing multimedia work with Mercy Hub and sound tech with Caulfield Grammar, and supporting award-winning musician (and Mum) Marcia Howard (Class of 1978), lockdown allowed Liam to focus and finish his debut EP, a project that was 3 years in the making.
Under the name Gub, Liam creates and plays all the music and vocals in his songs, with his favourite instruments being the guitar and bass. “I actually picked up the bass guitar for my last year of VCE at Emmanuel. That was a really rigorous program, but it started my love for bass.” Liam highlights.
While he can’t deny that his earliest and largest musical influences are his family, as a solo producer he feels he draws inspiration from American-based musicians. Particularly those like him that do it on their own from their home studio. His favourites being Mk.gee, Tom Misch, and Toro y moi. And while his music is constantly evolving, ultimately he describes his music as a mix of genres, featuring alternative, indie and electronica.
There’s a lot of scope within the school to do what you want to do, and be who you want to be. You just have to keep at it.
Released in October last year, his EP features six original songs. He particularly highlights Changes and Ghost Dancing, due to their contrasting styles, and the backing vocals supplied by Marcia. The songs are about love and relationships, and the change and experience you go through after a relationship has ended. “As I grow as a person, I can see myself writing about bigger political issues and stuff like that.” He comments.
While expressing his feelings about bigger issues is not a part of his current music creations, he is already acting and advocating on issues he believes in. A percentage of profits from the sale of his EP are being forwarded to Pay the Rent Grassroots Collective. A group of people looking for better equality for First Nations people, with the approach that by “Paying the Rent” you are recognising that the wealth that is generated in Australia is disproportionately distributed. “I think Pay the Rent is really cool, because the money goes back to grassroots initiatives. But it’s about the recognition – that’s the most important thing.” Liam explains.
Following school, Liam completed a degree in Digital Media at Australian Catholic University in Fitzroy. While his degree has assisted him in a number of the tasks a music producer needs to complete, his goal is to transition into working fulltime as a professional musician. “[Making music] is the ultimate choice. It’s the thing I love to do most in the world. It brings me the most happiness.”
Liam fondly remembers his formative years at Emmanuel, and band Bonney Ranch. “That was an amazing journey through school because we did Kool Skools. We won the JB HiFi award and got to record an EP through Studio 52 in Collingwood.”
Liam’s message to students is to cast your fears aside and to pursue what’s in you. “There’s a lot of scope within the school to do what you want to do, and be who you want to be. You just have to keep at it.”
Photo credit: Phil Nitchie
