Biography
From an early age Luke McQuillan knew he had to pursue music, "I'll never forget the
first time I heard my grandmother play the piano. It's one of my earliest memories and
I wanted nothing more than to make those exact sounds come out of the piano. I made
it my goal to do that." While possessing a keen ear and an innate ability to pick out
melodies on the keyboard, he had a long way to go to match the talents of his
concert-pianist, Grandmother. Singing came more naturally to Luke. "I was singing or
dancing constantly as a child. There was always music in the house and I have fond
memories of my Mom playing Four Tops records and all of us dancing madly around
the family room."
Luke's grandmother gave him a quick tutorial on note-names and chords and with that,
Luke was off and running. By six years old Luke had composed his first piano
instrumental. "It was a very simple song; a melody and chord structure in the right
hand and the root of each chord in the left hand. Of course I didn't know any of that
then. I was just making music. If I had to classify it now, I would call it a dirge in A
minor. Haha!" Luke began to focus more on his singing at the age of 10 when he was
cast in a local theatrical production of The Music Man. This led to a string of on-stage
appearances (almost all musicals) including title roles in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
and James and the Giant Peach. Luke was still composing but by 13, Luke had reached the
limits of his knowledge. "A one or two day explanation from my Grandmother gave me
enough knowledge to go off of for almost ten years, but by 13, I needed another push."
He didn't know how badly he would need it until a major change within his family
occurred that sent Luke spiraling into a deep depression. "I saw a counsellor who
suggested I write a journal or poetry to express the hurt I was experiencing. So I
started writing poetry. I had never once thought about writing lyrics but one day it hit
me that I had been writing music for years so why not try to combine the new medium
with the old." This was the true genesis of Luke's songwriting. Luke asked, friend of the
family, Ken Bradbury (playwright and songwriter extraordinaire) if he could help him
with his songwriting. After a few meetings of Ken teaching Luke the basics of chord
progressions, harmony, and structure, Luke was once again off and running.
By the age of 15, Luke had written more than enough material to record an album, so
with the generous help of his father, Luke went into local recording studio, Cox
Productions to begin productions on what would become, Transition, Luke's debut
album. While expert studio engineer Jamie Cox handled the technical aspects, Luke
was able to flex a new muscle as an arranger in the studio setting. "While the lyrics and
melodies were rather strong (especially for a 15 year old), the piano parts were not
strong enough at the time to do an album of just me singing to my piano arrangements.
So almost from day one I began composing additional instrumental parts (also played
at the keyboard) to be layered on top of my piano parts to give a fuller sound."
The album, despite mainly sad subject matter, sounds upbeat musically. Driving
rhythms and piano flourishes all in one track, an odd combination that somehow works,
perhaps hearkening back to the days where Luke would hear the Beatles and
Beethoven within hours of one another and love both of them. Luke played all of the
parts on the album, except for drums on a few tracks, played by John McCord. The end
result, while clearly showing a songwriter with lots of work ahead of him, is never the
less an astonishing debut for a 15 year old. Luke continued writing throughout high
school and had hoped to release a second album before college, "I had more than
enough material for a second album but I was still searching for an identity as both a
songwriter, and a human-being and it just didn't come together."
By the end of his freshman year in college, Luke had setup a home-studio and had
written directed his first full length musical, The Bus Club Kids for local non-profit, The
Imagine Foundation but the identity struggle continued. "Writing musicals was great
for me because it was a chance to put projects out there that had their own identity and
existed in their own world, so I didn't need to know fully who I was or what my sound
was, because in that world, the world of the musical, the sound could be anything and it
could change." By his senior year in college, Luke had written and put on a total of four
musical productions for The Imagine Foundation, (including the popular Haunted
Adventures), but still no second album. "By this point I had written well over 150 songs. I
had notebooks full of them. I would record 3 or 4 songs in a certain style and think that I
would do a whole album that way but then change my mind, scrap all of it and start
over from scratch in a new genre. I did that at least four times."
In the end, it would take another period of personal upheaval that would strip
everything away for Luke to find his identity. "In a period of less than two years, and
quite unexpectedly, all of my rocks, all of my epic relationships were over. My
grandmother, the biggest influence of my life and the most amazing woman I've ever
known died, a young woman broke my heart, and my cat and best friend of over ten
years died of cancer. I very quickly realized that these 3 beings made up my identity
and without them I was lost. My touchstones were all gone and I just sort of retreated
into myself to see if there was any inner strength left, to see if there was an identity for
me apart from these outside influences."
Luckily, there was and Luke found it in music. Going back to basics, Luke spent hours at
the piano every day honing his songs and composing new ones. "Since my last album I
had taken a couple of semesters of classical piano in college. I wanted to put that
knowledge to use. My initial idea was to record an album of just me and the piano and
some of the tracks will be that, but I just have too much fun arranging not to add more
instruments. I'll be playing the guitar on a few tracks as well." Luke is planning to finish
and release the album in late summer/early fall 2010.
From an early age Luke McQuillan knew he had to pursue music, "I'll never forget the
first time I heard my grandmother play the piano. It's one of my earliest memories and
I wanted nothing more than to make those exact sounds come out of the piano. I made
it my goal to do that." While possessing a keen ear and an innate ability to pick out
melodies on the keyboard, he had a long way to go to match the talents of his
concert-pianist, Grandmother. Singing came more naturally to Luke. "I was singing or
dancing constantly as a child. There was always music in the house and I have fond
memories of my Mom playing Four Tops records and all of us dancing madly around
the family room."
Luke's grandmother gave him a quick tutorial on note-names and chords and with that,
Luke was off and running. By six years old Luke had composed his first piano
instrumental. "It was a very simple song; a melody and chord structure in the right
hand and the root of each chord in the left hand. Of course I didn't know any of that
then. I was just making music. If I had to classify it now, I would call it a dirge in A
minor. Haha!" Luke began to focus more on his singing at the age of 10 when he was
cast in a local theatrical production of The Music Man. This led to a string of on-stage
appearances (almost all musicals) including title roles in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
and James and the Giant Peach. Luke was still composing but by 13, Luke had reached the
limits of his knowledge. "A one or two day explanation from my Grandmother gave me
enough knowledge to go off of for almost ten years, but by 13, I needed another push."
He didn't know how badly he would need it until a major change within his family
occurred that sent Luke spiraling into a deep depression. "I saw a counsellor who
suggested I write a journal or poetry to express the hurt I was experiencing. So I
started writing poetry. I had never once thought about writing lyrics but one day it hit
me that I had been writing music for years so why not try to combine the new medium
with the old." This was the true genesis of Luke's songwriting. Luke asked, friend of the
family, Ken Bradbury (playwright and songwriter extraordinaire) if he could help him
with his songwriting. After a few meetings of Ken teaching Luke the basics of chord
progressions, harmony, and structure, Luke was once again off and running.
By the age of 15, Luke had written more than enough material to record an album, so
with the generous help of his father, Luke went into local recording studio, Cox
Productions to begin productions on what would become, Transition, Luke's debut
album. While expert studio engineer Jamie Cox handled the technical aspects, Luke
was able to flex a new muscle as an arranger in the studio setting. "While the lyrics and
melodies were rather strong (especially for a 15 year old), the piano parts were not
strong enough at the time to do an album of just me singing to my piano arrangements.
So almost from day one I began composing additional instrumental parts (also played
at the keyboard) to be layered on top of my piano parts to give a fuller sound."
The album, despite mainly sad subject matter, sounds upbeat musically. Driving
rhythms and piano flourishes all in one track, an odd combination that somehow works,
perhaps hearkening back to the days where Luke would hear the Beatles and
Beethoven within hours of one another and love both of them. Luke played all of the
parts on the album, except for drums on a few tracks, played by John McCord. The end
result, while clearly showing a songwriter with lots of work ahead of him, is never the
less an astonishing debut for a 15 year old. Luke continued writing throughout high
school and had hoped to release a second album before college, "I had more than
enough material for a second album but I was still searching for an identity as both a
songwriter, and a human-being and it just didn't come together."
By the end of his freshman year in college, Luke had setup a home-studio and had
written directed his first full length musical, The Bus Club Kids for local non-profit, The
Imagine Foundation but the identity struggle continued. "Writing musicals was great
for me because it was a chance to put projects out there that had their own identity and
existed in their own world, so I didn't need to know fully who I was or what my sound
was, because in that world, the world of the musical, the sound could be anything and it
could change." By his senior year in college, Luke had written and put on a total of four
musical productions for The Imagine Foundation, (including the popular Haunted
Adventures), but still no second album. "By this point I had written well over 150 songs. I
had notebooks full of them. I would record 3 or 4 songs in a certain style and think that I
would do a whole album that way but then change my mind, scrap all of it and start
over from scratch in a new genre. I did that at least four times."
In the end, it would take another period of personal upheaval that would strip
everything away for Luke to find his identity. "In a period of less than two years, and
quite unexpectedly, all of my rocks, all of my epic relationships were over. My
grandmother, the biggest influence of my life and the most amazing woman I've ever
known died, a young woman broke my heart, and my cat and best friend of over ten
years died of cancer. I very quickly realized that these 3 beings made up my identity
and without them I was lost. My touchstones were all gone and I just sort of retreated
into myself to see if there was any inner strength left, to see if there was an identity for
me apart from these outside influences."
Luckily, there was and Luke found it in music. Going back to basics, Luke spent hours at
the piano every day honing his songs and composing new ones. "Since my last album I
had taken a couple of semesters of classical piano in college. I wanted to put that
knowledge to use. My initial idea was to record an album of just me and the piano and
some of the tracks will be that, but I just have too much fun arranging not to add more
instruments. I'll be playing the guitar on a few tracks as well." Luke is planning to finish
and release the album in late summer/early fall 2010.
