LD Systems Live Sessions: Antigoni at the Pioneer Club

Independent artist Antigoni recently graced the stage of Headliner’s live music venue The Pioneer Club to perform her new single Over acoustically, complete with an LD Systems’ MAUI G3 rig and Mon 15 A G3 Stage Monitors. Here, she joins us for a chat after her performance to discuss her career to date, the impact of her time on Love Island, and what she’s been working on this year…

What have you been up to these past few months?

I’ve just been putting the final touches to my EP, which has just come out and is called Hexagon, and the lead single is called Over. It’s probably one of my favourite songs I’ve written and released. We shot a video for it in Mykonos. The song sounds to me like a Greek island, so it was only right that we filmed it on one! And all the other songs on the EP are singles I’ve been releasing recently, so I wanted to bring them together in one cohesive space. That’s been my main focus, as well as getting ready to move to Greece.

Tell us about Over, the lead single and the song you just performed for us.

Over is a song about one of those situations where something ends prematurely and you are left feeling disappointed by somebody, and like you were onto something really good. But it’s not a bitter or angry feeling, it’s that you’re hurt and feel like you had a good thing. I find the song quite melancholy because even though it’s sad there is warmth in it. I think a lot of people can understand that situation.

When did you first get into music?

I don’t remember not being into music. My earliest memories are of people asking me what I want to do when I grow up and saying I want to be a singer. I’ve always loved music and used to tinker around on the guitar or piano as a kid, and when I was 14 I signed a publishing deal which got me into the writing circuit. It’s been a whole roller-coaster of finding my sound as an artist and going through indie labels, major labels, and now I feel like I’m on my path.

Tell us about Love Island and how it has affected your career as a musician.

For me I was always an artist and Love Island came along as an opportunity that would be silly to ignore. I always knew that if you go on a reality TV show a lot of people are going to know you for being on a reality TV show, but I was secure enough in being a musician that if it meant I had to prove to a few people what I can do afterwards, I’d be OK with that.

It gave me the platform to work from and also gave me some financial stability, because being an independent artist, I was at a point where I needed some help, and Love Island allowed me to keep doing what I love.

What are the pros and cons of being an independent artist in today’s music industry?

The advantages are that you get to make all your own decisions. So, if we decide this is the song we want to put out next we can just do it and that’s a massive thing creatively. I love my team - we’re so tight knit, we’re like a family - and it’s such a blessing that we’ve been able to build that. My manager met me through writing together, my producer is the third musketeer, and we get to do a lot within our team and have complete creative control.

The negative is just the marketing side, because you’re competing with the major labels. With a major label there is an infrastructure that takes over on that side of things, so that’s the one thing you miss out on. I’m not one of these independent artists that hates the labels, I just believe in the right thing at the right moment. So, whether or not that means a major label in the future, I don’t know. We’ll just take things as they come.

How did you find using the LD Systems MAUI G3 rig and Mon 15 A G3 Stage Monitors today?

It was great. I’m a narcissistic vocalist and like my vocals super loud! But it’s not a narcissistic reason as to why I liked it [laughs]. It’s because I was able to sit back and relax. I push my voice too much when it feels quiet, so it was nice to have this loud system. And the mics sounded great on the guitar and bouzouki as it gives them a really warm sound, so we really captured that live feeling. I’d recommend this kit it to all my friends, it’s lit!