ABOUT THE BAND
Nick Powers
I taught myself how to play piano when I was 8 and have been writing songs ever since. I cannot read music, but I figured out the complete instrumentation to the DuckTales theme song when I was 13 and tracked it on my Yamaha PSS-790 (BEST. KEYBOARD. EVER.)
I grew up listening to Ray Charles, Beethoven, and Jimmy Cliff. I also absolutely loved the music in West Side Story and Mary Poppins. I never really listened to that much music in my teens, but, through friends, there were a handful of acts who blew my mind: Jets To Brazil, E-40, Superdrag and The Get Up Kids, in particular. I suppose if you crushed all of the above in a trash compactor you'd hear my band. Or maybe I can't tell what my own band sounds like.
I grew up a Dungeons & Dragons nerd on welfare with a single mom in Crockett, CA. My dad was in prison when I was young. My mom was a cleaning lady and worked at one family's house for a whole summer to buy me a real piano. I live in Richmond, CA with my wife and four year old daughter.
All I think I'm trying to do with my music is tell a story. I grew up in an out-of-the-way, dying factory town. More people than you realize did the same thing. We all do shitty drugs. We all wear the wrong clothes. We all listen to the wrong music. We all feel a little funny at fancy restaurants. And then, in a fucked up twist, we all feel like we have to act disinterested to protect ourselves from ridicule. In my mind, this is the soundtrack to that shit.