The Nico Blues are quintet who are heavily influenced by 90’s rock (Blind Melon, Smashing Pumpkins), yet also include hints of 80’s punk, 90’s post-hardcore and some of the folk-rock that came after, in their music. Their debut effort showed that they actually challenged themselves by delving into new territories both musically and lyrically. 
For Fans Of: 90’s alternative rock, Modest Mouse

How did the band come together? How have you grown since you guys started?
The band came together when Ev, Reed, and I graduated college. Reed and I played in a band called Moment of Zen and I decided to dissolve the group. Ev played in band called the Trend and they broke up. We decided a month before we graduated that we’d start a band together called the Nico Blues. We’ve grown as musicians and songwriters. It’s a craft to make a song sound right with a full band and we’ve been working on getting really good at that.

What do you have to offer that other bands don’t? What sets you apart from a lot of the other newer bands out there today?
For one thing, we’ll never write the same song twice. We’re a band that’s never going to run out of songs because we write them in such different ways. We also rock really hard live. We’re definitely not one of those shoe gazer bands who are too cool to be emotional about the music they play. I think that what sets us apart from a lot of other bands today is that we write songs with good melodies. A lot of bands out there today are all style and no substance. They’re going for a certain sound but their songs aren’t any good. A lot of the big name blogs love bands like that. Unfortunately, a band is only as good as the songs they write.

How is the live show compared to the general sound of material that’s been released?
Actually, we’ve been told by a lot of people that we sound exactly the same live as we do on the album. In fact at a show last weekend, this kid was outside smoking a cigarette and he heard us start playing the first song of our set, which also happens to the be the first song of the album, “Three’s A Crowd”. He thought that the bar was playing our CD while we were setting up only to find out that it was actually us playing the song live. Kind of funny.

More times than not, influences tend to bleed through. What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
We’re inspired by all rock, folk, and punk bands from the 1950’s to 2010. We listen to all kinds of rock music. I’d say bands that inspire us the most are the White Stripes, Modest Mouse, Nirvana, Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr., McLusky, Television, Bob Dylan, Fugazi, At the Drive In, the Hold Steady, and the War on Drugs to name several. We’re all avid music fans and I’m a huge fan of punk rock and punk inspired rock music. There’s nothing more exciting to me than listening to something new for the first time and seeing how it’s going to affect your perception of what’s possible from a rock and roll band.

What would you say the band has already accomplished and what do you have your eyes set on next?
We made a great album, “Blame the Boredom, Blame the Basements”, completely by ourselves and have gotten over a thousand people (and counting) to download it. That’s pretty good for a band that is complete DIY. We also made a really cool music video for the song “Living Proof”. Our friend Jacob LaMendola directed it and a lot of our friends helped make it. The video was recently accepted by MTVU but we don’t yet know what they’re going to do with it. We have our eyes set on getting a label and getting on some real tours as openers or support. Our main goal is to keep winning over fans and if we can play in front of a bunch of people every night then, we’ll be winning over a lot more people.

Thus far, what’s a favorite memory or something quirky that’s taken place with the band (in-studio, onstage, or elsewhere)?
One of our favorite memories is this insane bar that we played at two summers ago called B&G Lounge. It was on our first tour in South Windsor, CT. It wasn’t a success because there weren’t a lot of people there but this deaf guy really like us. Another guy there gave us $50 for a CD and another guy gave us half a pound of weed for a CD. It was a wacky night.

Is there anything in particular that you’d like people to take away from listening to your music?
I’d like people to walk away thinking that they really like our songs. Also, I’d like people to check out the bands that inspire us if they’re not familiar with them.

Check out The Nico Blues on Facebook, Twitter, and Bandcamp. 

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