NICK THAYER - Interview!

When you listen to Nick Thayer’s music, you will realize how much he is not confined into one genre. You can truly hear this in his newest EP “LIKE BOOM” which was released on OWSLA last week. All the tracks rock but my personal favourites are “Haters Gonna Hate” and “Face Palm” I am dancing around in my chair as I listen and I’m sure you will do the same! I found out about Nick Thayer’s music after seeing several friends talk about him so I thought I better check it out!

Read on for our little interview!

Tell us about how got started in making electronic music!

I’ve always been a musician. When I was four I started on the violin and then the piano when I was five. I was in a bunch of bands in high school until one day I went to see the Chemical Brothers and pretty much converted to electronic music overnight. I’d been into hip hop and the like for a little while before that, but until I saw the Chems I had no idea electronic music could have so much force. And so much musicality.

Where did you draw some of your inspiration from for the Like Boom EP?

I like to think that you should let yourself be inspired by whatever music you like, and whatever you’re listening to. The most recently added things on my iPod include the Nero album, the new Tom Waits album, Radiohead’s ‘King Of Limbs’, Muse’s ‘The Resistance’ and new version of Rachmaninov’s piano Concertos 1-3. I guess that’s a broad spread, but I think if you’re only listening to music from one scene, or one genre, then where are you going to get inspiration from? Almost without exception, my favourite music is made by people who take elements from everywhere and throw it all together.

How do you get yourself out of a writer’s block funk?

To be honest I don’t have time for writer’s block. I spend a lot of time on the road or whatever, and so I’m always coming up with ideas for tunes, or sections in tunes or turnarounds or switch ups. If I get stuck I check my phone and there’s a list of ideas and melodies and the like that I’ve chucked in there to try out.

I saw somewhere that you liked Shambhala! What were some of the sets you really enjoyed?

I’ve been lucky enough to have been invited to play at Shambhala twice, and both times have been crazy. It is such a unique place with a unique group of people. Last year I caught The Gaff from Saskatoon who was amazing. It was also the first time I saw Doctor P and Flux Pavilion who smashed it.

What artists are you loving right now?

There are so many people making some killer music right now. There’s this jam called Vibrate by Long Jawns and Billy The Gent that I can’t stop playing. KOAN Sound are amazing me with pretty much everything they touch. And Kill The Noise. And A.Skillz. And Dillon Francis. And Torro Torro. There’s so much.

I also saw that you will be making music for a ballet! Are you able to tell us what the ballet is about?

It’s all in the very embryonic stages at the moment, but it is certainly something I’m very excited about. My mum asked me the other day if I’d started writing for it and I said that I’d written two chords. But they really are VERY nice chords.

Why did the dinosaurs die?