Meet Liam Fitzgerald | Music Producer & DJ

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

Hi Liam, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
In every way!
I was born and raised in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Paradise for those who don’t know where this is.
Growing up in a jungle beach town hugged by beautiful mountains, surrounded by rivers and waterfalls gave me a lot of freedom to roam in nature since I was young. I believe that that has a lot of influence in the sound I’ve created for myself and that I play. My family being big into music as well gave me an upbringing where I was surrounded by all sorts of genres and artist being played constantly. From mexican regional music being played by my grandmothers neighbors, to UK bands like Pink Floyd and Genesis from my dad being English, Enigma, Modjo, Sade, MJ or Sting just to name a few from the top of my head, was an immersive musical education in my childhood. I have vivid memories when listening to certain songs, from a happy family day, a personal experience in my teens or my parents divorce. Positive or negative, music transports me to instants in my life that I can relive by just listening to these sounds I grew up with. Thats why I make music, with the hopes that it will take others to their happy or not so happy moments when listening to something. How amazing is that? That I can make something and be part of someones memory forever.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m a Mexican music producer and DJ in the Afro/Latin House genre that started playing at home and small parties at the age of 14 then shows around my hometown (Puerto Vallarta) at 15 and took the leap of pursuing it further by studying Music Production at Dubspot LA. Where I come from there isn’t a big scene to grow to the extent of what I envisioned I wanted my career to be, so I had no other choice but to move away to get both the education and growth in the industry I was aiming to be in. Specially since the little opportunity that was available was monopolized and no one had the mindset at the time of sharing knowledge or teaching.
So I had to look somewhere else and both realizing this and taking the decision to move away was a bit hard to grasp and understand but I wouldn’t do it any other way if I had to do it all over again. The hardship of the things I had to endure during this time forged who I am today and made me even more confident of the life path I had chosen. It made me believe in who I am and what I wanted. Life gave me ups, downs and turned me all the ways around but the tenacity and delusional belief in myself and my dreams of performing music in-front of thousands of people was more than enough to get me through and thats something I learned with all of this, to believe in me. I have this insane belief that I am where I need to be at the time being and in myself that nothing and no one can knock me down, I embrace all situation head on without fear.
My passion and sound is so enrooted in me that when you know my background and hear me play you can correlate them and it makes sense. I am always evolving with my sound but it develops from my surroundings, what I’m living and how I’m growing. Constant evolution and growth.

When looking back at the past years I think I’m most proud of the songs I’ve made, the Labels I have signed them with and the shows and tours I’ve performed in. Getting to see the growth in each song I produce and put out is a feeling I wont get tired of. I can see how far I’ve come from making simple beats in school to getting full songs signed to Labels I never thought I would even be recognized by like Anjunadeep! And getting to tour with artist like Monolink in 2022 as a support act was one of those “pinch me” moments that till this day I haven’t fully grasped. I think 2022/23 were my biggest year thus far with the previous Tour mentioned being one of the highlights but also performing at Lightning in a Bottle (2022/23) in the stage that I had envisioned in my College years was also unbelievable. Like I made it to a place I manifested and worked so hard to get to, (this is also the festival I met my Mentor Marques who I mentioned previously), then Coachella (2023) and Burning Man (2022) all in a year from each other. Wild. I’m proud of you Liam, you have lots of things to smile and be thankful for.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Hmmmmmmm …
Let’s start off with some MUST’s and call me cliche but we are hitting some IN-N-OUT after that LAX pickup for sure! Drive thru and heading somewhere like Venice or Santa Monica, even further North to Topanga/Malibu I think is a great sunset combo. Double double? Animal style? Whatever you want, but we’re def not counting our macros and calories. Another local classic for burgers would be Apple Pan on Pico Blvd, IYKYK.
Next day I would suggest a little brunch in OPENAIRE at The Line Hotel both amazing food and a beautiful location. I lived in DTLA for a good share of my time in LA and Kasunori was hands down on of my favorite spots for sushi, more specifically hand-rolls. If we feeling like sushi I would say their sister restauran Sugarfish is also great. To go out I would hit up dinner at Members for some fabulous Mediterranean and music will definitely be on the menu as one of my favorite spots to play in LA and probably one of my favorite DJ booths in an indoor venue. Sound in Hollywood will also pack a great lineup of artist on any given weekend followed by some late night afters in the Art’s District a little bit further East of DTLA and to finish it off a veeeery late night snack from LA Cafe, that lobster grilled cheese just hits different after 3am. I could keep going with places on the West Side like Wallys Wine Bar for some dinner and fantastic drinks and wine selection or Gus’s Fried Chicken. Joan’s on third is also a staple I think with great for lunch or breakfast. Like I said, I can keep going with a huge list but I think this will set you off to a good start.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I think Marques Wyatt has been my biggest mentor, he has paved a way to believing in myself more than anyone else in my career. My big bro, Musical Godfather and now one of my best friends. Marques saw me in the very beginning of my career as just a kid who was finding his way in the music scene. On my last year of Music Production school in LA, I already knew I was going to move back to my hometown where there is no music scene for the genres that I was looking to get into but luckily for me there was a music festival about to take off in the area and Marques being a staple name in the Electronic Music Scene already, was one of the Artist performing in it. I ran into him at another music festival in SoCal and I made him know how grateful I was for him to be coming to play it as I looked up to him enormously from knowing his career and other events I had attended in LA. He didn’t give it too much thought and we went our ways with me letting him know “I’ll see you there”. And I did. I snuck into the main stage of the festival right before he took over and I tapped his shoulder and just said “told you I’d be here”. That was the beginning of our relationship with him becoming a friend and mentor I could reach out to when I didn’t know who else to turn to. The next year of the festival he invited me to play it and everything started to fall into place. I started believing in myself, my music and that I was on track to achieving all of my dreams, thanks to him seeing and acknowledging me, for me and who I am. He knows how grateful I am to him for being my friend and mentor but in case he forgot and you’re reading this, thank you forever and for everything big bro!

Website: https://liamfitzgerald.mx

Instagram: @liamfitzgerald.mx

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/djliamfitzgerald

Twitter: @LiamFitzgeralDj

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liamfitzgerald.mx

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@liamfitzgerald_MX