Music has been, is, and always will be a very large and important aspect of my life. My parents brought me up in a musical household (Mum is trained classically in singing and piano playing; Dad taught himself, by ear, how to play piano and guitar), so it is something that resonates deep into my core. When I was younger, I would put on “plays” for my family, singing silly tunes I made up as I waltzed down the large hill in our backyard. As I grew up (and, of course, more self-conscious), I stifled my creativity, and instead began to find solace in bands that seemed to speak to my inner dialogue. Going to shows tended to be the highlight of my entire month, because it felt as if they were the one place I “belonged”. I have often pondered on what has led me to where I am today, and I firmly believe the former band, letlive., was one of the biggest catalysts. I discovered them back in 2011, when they were opening up for Pierce the Veil in Chicago. Immediately, I fell in love with the emotional lyrics and powerful voice of the singer, Jason Butler. I was also blown away by their guitarist’s, Jeff Sahyoun, pedal board and his ingenuity when playing guitar. What struck me most, though, was Jason’s stage presence. He was jumping around, swinging the mic everywhere, crawling around on the ground, and even called people up to the stage during their final song. He had so much energy and passion, and every single show I saw him at afterwords (seven, to be exact) got crazier. I started to realize that when he got up on stage, he was letting the music take him over completely, allowing it to control his movements. I wanted that, needed that. A small spark erupted within me, and I began to crave being back on stage.

I am an extroverted introvert. I work a job that is heavily committed to top-tier customer service, so that drains a lot of my “extroversion”; I find myself wanting to stay home a lot. I am also INCREDIBLY socially awkward; I avoid eye contact at all costs and unless you come up and talk to me first, I guarantee I am assuming you either don’t remember me or secretly hate me and won’t talk to you (did I mention I also suffer from severe anxiety?). Why in the world, then, would I ever want to get up on stage in front of people and bare my soul? The “normal Olivia” would respond by saying that you’re right, I am absolutely crazy, and that I still get scared to the point of almost throwing up before all of our shows. “Stage Olivia”, however, would reply that when I am on stage, every single worry, care, stress…every thing falls away. It is truly the best feeling in the world: losing all inhibitions, allowing the music to take control, knowing there is at least one person in the room locking their attention onto your band, experiencing this emotion with you. I know this is something a lot of my fellow musicians experience, but it can be hard to get your foot in the door. St. Louis has such a wonderful music scene, yet I have begun to feel like a lot of the fantastic bands we have to offer have been stifled, silenced, or just plain ignored. I am only one person and I know that I alone cannot change the world. However, I can at least try to make a small impact on our little DIY community we have here. Hence, this blog.

My main goal for “Olive Your Music” will be to help others discover local music or places that heavily support local music. I will provide short, sweet, and fairly simple reviews for bands in our community, with links to their social media and music. This will be an all-inclusive blog, and I will be featuring music from all genres and people from all walks of life. It is extremely important to me that this is a hate-free, negativity-free, and safe forum. I want to bring positivity into the community and, with that, build camaraderie and partnerships among musicians. Starting in the new year, my hope is to write a review every week, along with eventually providing a Spotify playlist with my favorite songs from each band featured. I am definitely not well-versed in actual writing, despite being part of the Catholic school system K-8th grade, but I promise to try my best to remove any errors before publishing. If you’re interested in your band/music/place being featured, shoot me a message on Facebook or email me at: oliviaschulte6@gmail.com. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for listening to me rambling about myself, and I hope you enjoy the content I start releasing!!!