On March 6, 2012 we conducted an interview with NEST, a four-piece alternative rock band from Nashville, Tennessee.
Back in January we hosted the premiere of their new track. Here’s a chance to meet the band and find out more.
Hello. Whatโs up, guys?
Nothing much at the moment. Just getting ready for school to be out. Evan and I (Pete) are taking the coming year off for Nest so weโre pretty excited. We have some big plans for the coming year. Also, weโd like to welcome our most recent addition to the band, Danny Gosciniak, who also plays in a local hardcore band, CHAINED.
Howโs Nashville? Whatโs on top these days?
Nashville is pretty cool right now. We have some awesome up-and-coming bands as well some studios and labels that are starting to surface. Guys like:
โข TSG Studios (Quinn Redmond)
โข NO REGRETS COYOTE
โข THE OXFORD CIRCUS
โข JULIAN
โข IN FIDELITY
โข EMPATHY
โข FRIENDS
โข COURTESY DROP
… and many more, there are too many to count!
How do you participate in your local music scene? Whatโs the scene like?
We try to go to shows and promote our friends projects as much as possible. But between school, work, and other projects things can get pretty hectic. We have a hard enough time getting in multiple practices in a week [laughs]. The local music scene is going in a different direction than it has been for the past few years, which is pretty cool to see (having started doing this when the local scene looked completely different). Different bands keep on popping up and we keep on getting support through social media and word of mouth from people that we donโt even know. When things like that happen, it inspires you to do the same thing.
We love the feeling in your music. What sort of feedback are you getting from the recent EP?
Thank you so much, Karol. Well, people seem to like it. Weโve been getting positive feedback over the past few months and that is always extremely encouraging to hear. We just like making music that we enjoy. The fact that others are enjoying it with us means so much.
Is your writing process democratic, or is there a core composer involved?
We have acoustic demos for just about everything we do. Usually Evan or I (Kyle) write the structure of a song and we jam it with Pete. Everything after that is a collective effort. The structure is always there before hand, but there is a lot of room for creativity during practice.
Any gigs planned for the future? What are the chances of seeing you in Europe this year?
Weโre actually working on a month-long tour in June with one of our friendโs bands COURTESY DROP. Other than that, weโre playing a few local shows here and there. Weโre playing with XERXES and FRIENDS on April 26th at the Little Hamilton in Nashville. Europe may be a little ways off [laughs]. Though it is definitely a goal that we have set for ourselves. Weโll see what the coming year brings!
The cover art for your EP looks like an alternative version of RADIOHEADโs โKid Aโ artwork [laughs]. Whatโs the story behind it?
Evan:
Being that the EP was a self-titled, we wanted it to have some correlation to the theme or motif of nesting. This came out in a drawing of this somewhat distraught, anthropomorphic crow-man. Ultimately though we just thought it looked nice!
What releases of yours can we expect soon?
Weโre getting our EP pressed to cassette through our good friends at SPAGHETTI SPAGHETTI Records in the next few months. We have a few more new songs that weโre looking to record as well as a possible vinyl release in the Fall/Winter.
What are some bands youโve been into lately?
Kyle:
Iโve been listening to BOARDS OF CANADA, PHANTOGRAM, OWEN, MODEST MOUSE, MESHUGGAH, MEW, FENCES, UGLY CASSANOVA, JAMES MERCER, GOOD OLD WAR, CRAIG DโANDREA, and as always COHEED AND CAMBRIA.
Danny:
THE CURE, DEFTONES, NIRVANA, SUBURBAN SCUM, DISENGAGE, and CANNIBAL CORPSE.
Pete:
TRASH TALK and BALANCE AND COMPOSURE’s โSeparationโ at least two or three times through on a weekly basis. Itโs probably my favorite release since COHEED AND CAMBRIAโs โGood Apollo, Volume 1โ. Also, UNDEROATHโs โDisambiguationโ.
Evan:
Iโve been jamming DIE ANTWOORD, PERFUME GENIUS, DARKTHRONE, BADBADNOTGOOD, and HOW TO DRESS WELL !
There are so many great bands back on the road again. Any thoughts about recent reunions?
AS CITIES BURN and VERSE are the two at the top of our heads right now. We all love those groups so it was really cool to hear about them getting back together. Our drummer, Pete, was especially excited to hear about MISERY SIGNALS though, thatโs his favorite metal group.
Thank you so much. Feel free to shout out anything that comes to mind.
Thanks again for doing this interview! One more shout out to TSG Studios for helping us out with recording and make sure to check out all the local bands that Nashville has to offer!
