Ask musicians what it takes to make it and one of the answers you’ll keep hearing will be perseverance. The music industry can be a hard thing to crack. Even landing gigs is becoming harder, with grassroots venues closing before our eyes. And with streaming the norm it’s becoming more important than ever for artists to get out there in front of a crowd.
And that’s before we even think about the additional obstacles put in the way of female artists.
One artist who won’t be deterred though is Lissy Taylor. The Stoke native, with strong Manchester connections, took matters in to her own hands when Circa Waves hit the town last week. Having pursued the normal routes to land a support slot to no avail, the singer-songwriter wouldn’t give up. Instead, she launched a last minute social media campaign to get herself added to the bill at Stoke’s Sugarmill.
In Interview: Lissy Taylor takes part in our Lockdown Interview
Appealing to her fans to flood Circa Waves’ socials demanding that Lissy Taylor be given a support slot, and updating throughout the day, she set about her mission. Following the social media push, Lissy Taylor headed down to her hometown Sugarmill venue, confessing that she had no idea how things would pan out. She spoke to the venue manager, the rep and then the tour manager, pitching herself (although anybody who’s seen her before wouldn’t need any convincing at all).
Incredibly it did the trick, with Lissy Taylor opening for Circa Waves later that day, and the Sugarmill venue manager describing the experience as one of the most rock’n’roll days he’d had the pleasure of experiencing.
Oh, and on a personal level -always check out the supports! You may just find your next favourite artist opening – that’s happened to me a few times!
Find out how Lissy Taylor landed her support slot with Circa Waves …
Follow Lissy Taylor at:
Instagram – @lissytayloruk
YouTube – LissyTaylorVEVO
Spotify – Lissy Taylor
Tiktok – @lissytaylor1
Web – lissytaylor.com
