Liam Naughton is not one to let things get in his way, and the current pandemic is no different.

After changing his career path at the age of 30 and dedicating his life to becoming a songwriter, Liam Naughton uprooted himself from his home country of Ireland and moved to Australia- where he would find time to work on perfecting the craft of songwriting and guitar playing.

Eventually, through much trial and error, Naughton found his way back to the UK, where he formed Liam Naughton & The Educators- a three piece rock band who have just released their EP Cut on a Cut.

And while 2020 is not turning out how Naughton had hoped for either himself or his band, he isn’t letting that get in the way of his push forward.

You can read our full interview with Naughton below, and be sure to follow the band on social media- linked at the bottom.

Second Society Report: How are you holding up during this insane year that is 2020? Hopefully your friends and families are staying safe and healthy!

Liam Naughton: Hello hello. It’s Liam Naughton here from the multi award winning indie rockers Liam Naughton & The Educators. Thanks for taking the time mate, appreciate it!! Yeah, hope you and all your readers are all doing good during these strange times too. I’m scratching my head like everyone else mate wondering when all this is going to be over. Yeah, it’s a waiting game, we’re all in a state of limbo. What can we do only to try to make the best of it. We’re still alive so push on!

SSR: Did you have any big releases or tours that were put on hold because of the pandemic? How has that affected the band? (could be personally, financially, morale wise, etc.)

LN: Oh I’d great plans for 2020. 2020 was going to be my year. I could feel it. What could possibly go wrong??. I’d taken a year off my day job to go to London and do all these awesome things. Meet all these great musicians and live the life I always wanted even if it was just for a year. Who knows something could come out of it, I’m on the board!! I’d get a record out and I’d all these shows lined up in Ireland and UK. It’s happening, it’s really happening I thought….no, it’s not Liam, suckka…BOOM!!!!

Covid-19 hit the shelves before we did. One in a hundred year event and just so happened that’s the year I chose. In there lies a cruel irony. But fuck it, my plans aren’t the only plans that got binned in 2020. Still got my health. George was struck down by it, had to go to hospital and everything but he got thru it; and he’s a young dude. Serious stuff mate. So with the music scene grinding to a halt, and I held out hope for as long as I could but the writing was on the wall. As much as I didn’t care to read it first, after a while there was no denying it. 5 weeks sitting in my room drinking myself to death, I’d no choice. I had to bail on that idea, grab my parachute and head back to Australia. What a strange time eh. We finished off the record with an international collaboration between Australia and London so the trip wasn’t a dead loss.

SSR: How have you been spending your newfound “downtime” while the world has been essentially shut down? Have you picked up any new hobbies while quarantining that you’d like to share?

LN: So, when I got back to Australia I had to go into a 2 week hotel quarantine which was good cause it gave me a bit of time to reorganise myself. And I walked out into the Perth Lockdown. That was May. So I’d a bit of time on my hands and the Cut On A Cut release date was 19th June. I didn’t have any videos done for the release at that stage and it was impossible to organise groups of people to put anything together. So I bought a new laptop cause the one I had was shit, downloaded some video editing software, went to IKEA and bought 20 finger puppets and put them to work making the video for “Party Words.” Puppets mate, they’re great to work with. They do exactly as they’re told. It took a bit of time but I think it worked really well. It’s B-grade but that’s part of its charm. I also cut a pretty simple lyric video for “Promise Cross Your Heart.” Check’em out on youtube.com/liamnaughtontube.

SSR: Have you worked on any new releases during this time? If already out- what was the inspiration for the release? Have you written any songs specifically about the state of the world right now?

LN: So Panda Eyed Princess is still in the works but my Cut On A Cut EP was released on 19th June and it’s gone down like a spoon of honey…smooth and sweet but not overly so, and like honey, I hope it never gets old. People really dig it eh. “Promise Cross Your Heart” went to No 1 on IT’s Top 40 chart so that was a first for me. I don’t have anything written about the current state of the world. Too many people writing about the same thing makes me yawn a bit.

SSR: How has it been being an artist in a time when you cannot tour? How have you been working to promote your music and expand your reach?

LN: Well yeah, the entire live thing had hit the wall hey. So I’ve been using my Social media FB band page, Instagram, YouTube- all the usual suspects. Currently trying to master the FB business pages to run campaigns for my the Cut On A Cut record. I’m a guitarist, writer, singer, producer, shooter of my own videos, and now running marketing campaigns. Starting to take that more seriously. I’m just looking for someone to go…’sit back mate, just focus on the tunes and we’ll take care of the rest’. Anyway, forward march!!

SSR: Do you have any words of advice for fans that are feeling particularly bummed out about the live music world coming to a halt?

LN: Well you can’t change the things you can’t control I guess. Might be time to learn a musical skill for yourself or any other skill if you’ve got a bit of spare time. Ya know, I always wanted to play the guitar. I started pretty late in life when I was 30. I bull shitted myself for years and then one day I said to myself ‘No More’ get off your ass and do it…so that’s what I did. Every cloud has a silver lining so turn your bummed out feelings into something positive I reckon is good advice – Just do IT!!!

SSR: When the world returns to a safer spot and we are able to (hopefully) attend live shows again- say in 2021- what do you hope to achieve?

LN: Oh I’d great plans for 2020. 2020 was going to be my year. I could feel it. What could possibly go wrong??. I’d taken a year off my day job to go to London and do all these awesome things. Meet all these great musicians and live the life I always wanted even if it was just for a year. Who knows something could come out of it, I’m on the board!! I’d get a record out and I’d all these shows lined up in Ireland and UK. It’s happening, it’s really happening I thought….no, it’s not Liam, suckka…BOOM!!!! Covid-19 hit the shelves before we did. One in a hundred year event and just so happened that’s the year I chose. In there lies a cruel irony. But fuck it, my plans aren’t the only plans that got binned in 2020. So yeah, same plan different year– roll on 2021.

SSR: Is there anything you wish your fans would know about you or about the current state of the music world?

LN: I don’t follow the trends and I always try to do something in my way. I think that’s important if you really consider yourself to be an artist. I’m not looking for fame or anything like that. I want to leave behind something that’s honest and that’s probably why I’ve had zero commercial success to date. Anyway it’s a labour of love and I’m happy to continue doing what I do. I think that covers both parts of the question. 

SSR: Thank you for taking the time to chat with us!

LN: Hey, thanks for taking the time mate and wishing good people good luck and bad people bad luck. Take care y’all.

You can catch up with Liam Naughton & The Educators now via the links below, and be sure to check out Cut on a Cut, out now wherever you stream music.

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