DJ Interviews: Mark Nichols

 

How'd you get started in music?

I started making music back in 2011 when I picked up my brother's second-hand guitar. I learned some simple chords and tried to play songs by artists like johnny cash, green day, and fleet foxes. After I got bored making covers, I inevitably tried writing my own songs and recorded 2 folk/pop albums between 2012 and 2016. I had always liked rap music but it wasn't until 2017 where I really tried to make my own and in the years after that it became my main (and eventually only) focus.

Who are your inspirations or influences?

Early into making music, some of my main influences were the other musicians in the small online community around me that would encourage me whenever I made something new (despite it being kind of awful). I really looked up to Dan Bull, Dopey Ziegler, and Rustage as I was trying to make rap work seriously - if they made it work then so can I, right? Musically, my biggest influences right now are Run the Jewels, Kanye West, Denzel Curry, Kenny Beats, and a handful of the smaller artists that I'm lucky enough to work with.

What advice would offer aspiring performers?

Whatever creative field it is that you want to become skilled in, you cannot make progress unless you START CREATING. I get the question "how should I start writing anime raps" all the time in my comment section, twitter replies, and twitch chat and the advice is always the same - START WRITING! Look at what the artists you like are doing, recognise what it is you like about them, and figure out how you could do something like that too.

How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?

One thing that people often tell me is that I have a wide variety in my tracks. I bounce between a lot of different genres week-to-week and pull from different inspirations, so my tracks are difficult to predict stylistically. I'm always aiming to evolve every time I put pen to paper (metaphorically speaking, I write lyrics on my PC...).

Any new gigs or albums in the future?

I'm hoping to do some live shows at conventions in the near future as soon as lockdown restrictions begin lifting and it feels safe to do so. In the meantime, I have a brand new album available just about everywhere called Were-Bear Part 1 (Day). It's a light-hearted slightly comedic and slightly serious 8-track album I've been working on for a long time now. Part 2 (Night) will be coming out April 30th and serves as a darker counterpoint to this first album. I hope there's something on there you'll enjoy!