Meet Liam Manley | Artist & Influencer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Liam Manley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Liam, why did you pursue a creative career?
As long as I can remember, Ive always wanted to do something creative and I always have. From building forts in the woods trying to start my own YouTube channel, to creating skateboarding videos, gaming videos, music videos. Always trying to create something special to me. Something special enough to share with the world and as I travel further into the underground music scene, its shown me all the possible avenues for creativity. I guess if I could explain it simply I would say it like this, if creativity is all around me then why not create myself.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
If there were anything that sets me apart is my stage presence. In the Colorado underground so far, most artists I see perform have amazing music but they dont have very much energy while performing, if any at all. The way i learned to grab the crowds attention. Move. On. Stage. Its not just showcasing your music, its putting on a show. Essentially an act for the night. While most people put up a guard when going on stage, I like to drop mine. Allow myself to be un-apologetically, me. Show them who FRVCTVRE actually is. It also allows emotion to be felt through movement. Standing there performing a song they might hear the lyrics. But adding movement, crowd interaction, and enticing the crowd to move with you. Thats what will set someone apart to me and shows me “okay they want this.”

Obstacles are something that are inevitable in the music scene. Its just a matter of time, and how severe said obstacle can be. Everyone is different when it comes to facing conflict. Some hide, some use it as fuel, some ignore it entirely and allow it to build up. I personally struggle with finding motivation, or overcoming a writers block. Burnout Ive never entirely experienced. I always want to make music but sometimes I cannot get my brain to find the words I want to use. Ill have a melody and an idea for a hook but after the hook, nothing. Brain shuts off. A way I work around this is I deep dive into new music, new artists, genres, songs from artists that I do listen to just ones Ive never seen before, and just surround myself with music. It opens my mind and helps me latch onto what I was once doing well. When it comes to songs I release those songs are the ones I write and record base vocals within an hour, The songs I keep are ones I go back to multiple days later because I finally thought of something that goes with it. The best songs for me are the ones that just flow perfectly. Lyrics come like nothing, the beat speaks to me and I just completely focus on one thing. Creating.

My biggest accomplishments would have to be this list:
1: First solo show in front of 200 people
2: My favorite song Ive ever made “No More Love” becoming my top streamed song at 1k streams across all platforms
3: Having people come up to me at shows saying theyve seen a few shows and love my music
4: Having loyal out of state listeners who have listened to every song ive released

One major lesson Ive learned is you have to careful on who you do business with. DirtBagClique was originally under different ownership. Myself, Empath, and out of respect for the other he will not be named. The whole idea was. None of us feel as if we fit in anywhere and excluded from everything. So we made a group where we all must agree on something that way we feel included. If one of us didn’t want to do it. Well then, we arnt doing it. It was working for Empath and I but the 3rd member decided he wanted the control. We had told him that if he keeps trying to control what Empath and I invited him to be apart of then we would be forced to remove him from DBC. He understood, apologized for his behavior and explained that we would still be friends and do music together but we couldn’t run a business together because we had different views on how we wanted to do it. We all agreed and he separated from us to create his own team. Where did WhiteWayne come from? Well all 4 of us knew each other, and the original 3 from DBC encouraged him to create music before DBC was even started. When we started DBC WhiteWayne finally started creating music of his own. Few months go by the 3rd member separates and we come to WhiteWayne with the idea of joining DBC as the main 3rd member and 3rd co-owner of DBC. He agreed to join us and about 6 months to a year later “DBC Records” was born. WhiteWayne in all honesty is the backbone to DBC and basically forced Empath and I to be better. There are 4 members of DBC so far. EMPATH (founder/co-founder of DBC Records) FRVCTVRE (founder/co-founder of DBC Records) and WhiteWayne (founder of DirtBagClique Records/co-founder) the 4th member is our good friend/photographer Bobby Smith. Amazing photos and is always down to go shoot.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Id first take them to pick up all the DBC boys, then we would go to almancitas and get carne asada fries and a cherry coke. We would then go to the Funplex where there is mini golf, swimming, basketball, a gym. Another place is the skatepark. Its always interesting there. Mainly Centennial Skatepark somethings always going down there. Ice Haus. To be honest activities in the city are pretty slim. Most things you can do is shop or go eat. There is one place that just opened up downtown thats a climbing gym which ive heard is very worth the 30 dollar entry fee.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Out of everybody who has helped me along my music career so far the biggest shout-out i can give is to Empath555, that man is a brother to me and is the soul reason I got back into making music in the first place. We essentially started our careers together and I couldnt ask for a better business partner. Other than of course, our good friend WhiteWayne. Us 3 started Dirtbagclique and without them I wouldnt be where Im at. Another couple people who are always going to be close to me are Slim Hollow, All of the boys over at Category Rejects, Aden Prieto, KYSJai, A$HE$, Isaiah Carter. I love each and every one of those people and I appreciate every bit of support theyve shown to me.

Website: https://dirtbagclique.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frvctvre/

Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1UaUJtQsOi3EwD8PYg0G3I?si=b662a13bcd77409e

Image Credits
Allison Lynch
Bobby Smith
Sanchez Studio
Premium Pixels
Slim Hollow