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Every Monday we will be bringing you interviews with unsigned UK or Ireland artists for Independent Music Monday. Recently we caught up with unsigned Liverpool based singer Gallia to find out more…

Where are you from and how did you first get into music?
I’m originally from Newcastle Under Lyme, and I’m now based in Liverpool!

My Dad has always loved music but his life just never took him down that path. When I was younger, I loved the musical ‘Annie’ and I used to have a karaoke version CD that I’d take on holiday and sing with my dad. When he knew that I had a musical interest, he booked me some piano lessons and I learned to read music. A few years later I started messing around with some chords on a guitar and writing songs, before deciding that I wanted music to be more than just a hobby!

Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
Growing up, the music in my household was very mixed – my Dad likes country music and Motown and my Mum likes 80’s music and Black Sabbath! This has definitely influenced my music and the stories within my songs. I used to love ABBA when I was younger, Annie was my favourite film and I loved the songs, and I was obsessed with Hannah Montana and loved Miley Cyrus! My music taste has definitely changed now but there are still some similarities! I mostly love pop music – artists such as Dua Lipa, Lizzo, L Devine, are all Queens! I love Hamilton (the musical) – it’s my new Annie! I’m definitely influenced a lot by the music that I listen to now, but I also think that the music I listened to growing up has shaped my sound too! The music that my parents love has shaped the way that I write my songs and how I produce them for sure!

How would you describe your sound?
Pop pop pop!!! It’s super hard hitting pop music with a message. I produce myself so the vision is 100% mine and how I want it to sound.

What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
My latest single is called ‘Don’t Go There’ and it’s a warning song to another woman about an ex-boyfriend. It’s based around a situation that happened to me when I was 17, when I discovered that my boyfriend at the time was cheating when I discovered 2 identical Valentines Day gifts in the boot of his car! It happened when a ring that he’d bought me was too small, so he went out to the car and happened to have a bigger version of the same ring in there. Not only was he cheating, but he had 2 girlfriends and neither of us knew about each other! I of course warned the other woman which is the influence behind this song. Us ladies need to have each other’s back!!

What’s your local music scene like?
Liverpool is such an amazing city for music! I moved here in 2019 for uni and decided to make it my permanent home because I fell in love with the music scene. Things are of course different at the moment, but usually the streets are full of music and there so many small and big venues in this wonderful city! I love it here!

What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
More new music! I’ve got more releases planned for this year, and a lot more of my own production! Fingers crossed the live side of music will be back too and I can announce some gigs! I’m missing the live side of things like crazy and can’t wait to get back out with my band!

Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
Up & coming artists that I’m loving at the moment are L Devine, Emily Burns, Frances – I’d love to collaborate with any of those artists!

Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
Once I was on stage at a celebratory ‘beer hop’ festival in Kent. All of the locals were wearing crowns made out of beer hops on their head so I thought I’d join in and do the same. When I was performing, a wasp started attacking the beer hops that were wrapped around my head, so I pulled it off mid-performance and threw it to the floor in front of hundreds of people!! I’m terrified of wasps so no matter the occasion, the hops had to go, haha! I did feel bad after though as the whole festival was centred around the hops!

What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
Only 5% of music producers are female, and I want to be part of the movement to change that statistic! I produced Don’t Go There myself to show that anybody can do it all, and gender has no impact on your skillset! I’m super proud of Don’t Go There, and it’s my first release to receive national airplay on Radio 1!!

You can find out more about Gallia via Facebook, SoundCloud, Spotify, TikTok or YouTube, and you can find out how to listen to ‘Don’t Go There’ here.