Nicholas enters new surroundings with ‘A Journey Through Song’ EP

By ROB DUGUAY

Being in a new place can spawn creative sparks that haven’t been harnessed before. This terrain that has just begun to be experienced has an effect both mentally and physically, with the artistic result being something that retains the songwriter’s roots while embracing change. Seekonk native Kyle Nicholas has been undergoing this ever since he moved to Seattle a couple years ago. His new EP, A Journey Through Song, that came out on September 25 is a musical testament to him and his girlfriend, Michaela Hadley, heading out west and ending up finding a new home in “The Emerald City.” It also exhibits a variety of styles and melds them all together to create a fluid sound.

Nicholas and I recently had a talk about the making with the EP, Seattle’s vibrant music scene, a couple venues that gave him a chance out there, how the road trip he took influenced his songwriting and beginning work on his debut full-length album.

Rob Duguay: Where was A Journey Through Song Made and did you produce it yourself or did you work with someone on it?

Kyle Nicholas: It was recorded at Peel Studios in Seattle. Michael Springer was the engineer and he mixed & mastered it while I produced it with him. I had a friend of mine, Levi Watson, who helped with producing as well towards the tail end of it. He also played drums on the record.

RD: Musically, the songs in the EP are a mix of folk, blues, country and reggae with an acoustic foundation. Did you have any specific musicians or bands in mind when it came to influencing your songwriting for the record?

KN: Yeah, behind the songwriting I had been listening to a lot of Xavier Rudd and Jamestown Revival. Those two acts had a very big influence on me at the time when I was writing the songs. A lot of the music was influenced by a road trip I went on in 2018, I went across the country with my girlfriend and that’s how I ended up moving to Seattle. I was in Arizona for about three weeks while camping outside and being in that environment within Native American tribal lands and the song of the same name on the EP came from that experience.

There’s a lot of influences, not only by artists, but from also experiencing the natural beauty of this country. That’s where the name of the record came from, it was a journey across the United States along with a lot of nostalgia, experiences and different things coming into my life.

RD: Being from Seekonk, how has it been living in Seattle?

KN: I’ve adjusted really well, the music scene is very diverse and it’s very big. There’s a lot of great artists out here and it was really tough trying to break through that. I’ve had a few venues out here that have really opened their arms for me, including Tim’s Tavern and the A1 Hop Shop. Before COVID-19 of course, I did a lot of open mics and that’s how I got my feet wet in the area. There’s so many different genres and so many great musicians, it’s hard to really pinpoint myself.

I play reggae, I play folk, I play rock and I play country so in Seattle there aren’t a lot of acts who are messing with those genres like I am. I found it kind of hard to find my niche out here but I kind of fell into this little community at Tim’s Tavern with the host there introducing me to Michael Springer and I met Levi Watson through my audio/visual job out here. Things have kind of fallen into place a little bit.

RD: To ring in the release of A Journey Through Song, you did a livestream performance on the day it came out while in an outdoor setting. How was the experience like for you and what are your opinions on livestreaming?

KN: I definitely miss the in-person engagement with a live audience. It’s not the same, to be totally honest. It felt great to still showcase my music to people, but before this whole livestreaming thing started happening you were playing in person and the audience is in front of you. With livestreaming you’re able to engage with people all over the world, there were people on the stream that I’d never met before from California and I had family in Florida that were able to watch. I even had a relative in Australia and friends in the United Kingdom tuning in.

RD: Wow, that’s awesome.

KN: Yeah, so it brought all of them together even though it wasn’t in person. People were even doing virtual hugs and all of that stuff. That part of it was fun, but I’d rather be on a stage performing in front of people and feel that energy. It has its good and its bad qualities.

RD: Nothing will ever replace live music in the genuine sense of it but livestreaming is the perfect alternative for this time we’re in and it’s interesting to see how the medium works and where it can go forward. What are your plans for the rest of the year? Do you plan on taking it easy or do you plan on utilizing different ways to promote and market the EP in the absence of live music because of COVID-19?

KN: There’s a few publications in Seattle I’ve reached out to but I do as much as I can on social media even though I can’t physically promote the EP. I even had CDs made and I sent it to certain people that wanted a copy of it. They’re mostly family and friends that I’ve known for a long time. For the rest of the year, I’m actually starting to move on to my next release and start to work on a full-length album. I’ve arranged all of the writing for it and Levi is helping me with structuring out the songs for that, hopefully I’ll be able to release a single off of the album sometime next year.

I’ve already started planning for the next thing and I’m also looking into making t-shirts as well. I’m trying to do the best I can as an independent artist to promote the EP, but sometimes I hit a plateau with that. It’s tough, I feel like I can only do so much without having a label supporting me. I do plan on getting back into the studio in maybe January or February to lay some tracks down for the upcoming album, so that’s coming up.