Nick Hyacinth
Album Credits:
Worth the Weight
Flying Petals
Tell us about yourself as an artist/musician. What do you do?
I’m a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, bass, piano, drums, learning saxophone, analog synths, clarinet, and ukulele), singer-songwriter, producer, and rapper, and I try to do it all, so I can be the best version of myself as an artist. I make soul, rap, and jazz rap.
How long have you been making music, and what sparked your interest in music?
Ever since I was probably four years old, I would sit down at the piano at my grandparent’s house. I would hear something on the TV, and play one note at a time to try to figure out the melody. Apart from that, I’ve always been so mesmerized by music. I have a mild form of Tourettes where I get tics. Growing up, it was really bad, and the only time when it wouldn’t be present was when I was playing instruments. Music is like a meditation to me, but I couldn’t even tell you when I started playing it.
When you were playing those notes on the piano when you were four, did you ever develop a form of perfect pitch from that experience? I’ve read about a few kids, who ended up having perfect pitch by being exposed to playing music at such a young age.
I do, but it’s not at a point where I could hear a bird chirp and tell you what note it is. However, if someone plays a note on the piano, I could tell you what that note is.
Tell us about your time at NOMU so far. Do you have a favorite memory or experience during your time here?
Honestly, it kind of feels like a family here. It’s been a nice experience. Brady is a great teacher. I haven’t had a teacher that supports me in my passions as much as he has. It’s just cool being in a professional studio in a professional environment doing what I love. I think one of my favorite memories is recording “Flying Petals” because it was a mess, but I learned a lot from it. Ever since then, I’ve kind of had a nice workflow.
What were any lessons that you learned from that session?
I was just really underprepared, and I came in and I demonstrated that a little bit.
Well, a great song came out of that experience!! When you're writing or playing music, what influences constantly inspire you as a musician/artist (specific artist, film, art piece, etc.)?
Mostly, I’d say my musical inspirations come from old 70s soul music as well as some city pop artists like Makoto Matsushita, who makes some cool music. The modern influences on my music are Tyler, The Creator, Anderson .Paak, Erykah Badu, and Childish Gambino.
What are your plans or goals in your life now concerning school, music, or just personally, any other pursuits?
Mostly, I’m using an audio engineering degree as a stepping stone into the music industry a little more, just so I can test the waters. However, I’m going headfirst into the music thing. I want to make as much art as possible. I don’t want to limit myself to music, so I dabble in creative writing and visual art. I just like to expand on that in the future.
Are there any hobbies outside of music that you're interested in?
Probably fashion would be the next one. After that, writing since I already write a lot of lyrics and root myself in lyricism. However, I would like to write some books.
What kind of books are you interested in writing?
A lot of the time, I just zone out and picture a lot of stuff. It’d be cool to write down some of the better ideas that I get. Apart from that, maybe when I’m older and wiser, I could write some emotional intelligence books.
Is there anything you’d like to add, anything you want to tell whoever might be reading this interview, or anything you want people to know about you?
I hope in one way or another, any form of my art can catch your eye, or inspire you to be a better artist yourself.
I decided to do something interesting for the website where the last artist I interviewed can ask you a question. The last person I interviewed was Alex Rodgers and the question was, "If you could change anything about your life, what would it be? Would it help with the dream you're pursuing now, or would it be a different dream?”
Alex was profound for that one!! I feel like the only thing that I would change is that I would avoid negativity, but not ignore it so I still have the opportunity to learn lessons and gain insight from it. So it wouldn’t necessarily change my path or goals, but it would probably do the opposite more likely and help my trajectory.
Keep in mind; you also get to ask the next artist a question, so what would you like to ask the next artist that I interview?
I feel like there are a lot of little things in life that people take for granted, so my question would be, what is a positive or negative thing in your life (whether grand or not) that you take for granted? (See Irvin Galan’s interview for the answer to Nick’s question)