Exposed Vocals Interviews Nick Detonate

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

Nick Detonate:I grew up in a small district in Yokohama city Japan.

My Father was Canadian and my Mother was Japanese so I was raised in both countries when I was little, but eventually settled in Japan.

My first exposure to music was through my Dad,he used to listen to Earth Wind and Fire on the car radio in Vancouver, once we moved back to Japan, my main source of music was through movie soundtracks.

Some of the soundtracks I’ve owned had Metal music track from Rob Zombie and Drowning Pool etc, but I learned to appreciate those heavier music much later, when I went in to High school, one of my classmates introduced me to Slipknot’s “My Plague”, then it started to really sink in my head.

My career as a musician started as a drummer for a local punk band I formed with some of my local friends in 2006.

But I didn’t consider myself to be an active artist(more like an angry mob) until 2010.

Music in Japan is based on pop music with very positive lyrics,

I don’t think its necessarily a bad thing, but when the majority of artists sing about the same thing, to me it feels kind of a forced trend.

Almost nobody likes to focus on “real” topics like negative events that happen in the more darker side of our society.

Things we consider a problem need dealt with,but ignore it because its “more peaceful to leave it”.

I thought we can appreciate an artist who is daring enough to write music about those topics,

and able to deliver that music as a Metal music.

No one like that was around, and it didn’t feel like anybody like that was about to show up any time soon.

So I thought “Heck,mind as well try to do it myself.”

And that’s how Nick Detonate started out.

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

Nick Detonate: Nick(my nickname) + some word that resembles sh*t being blown up = Nick Detonate

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

Nick Detonate:I bet a lot of people have both positive and negative opinions about it, but I like to think online music sharing can be a positive introduction between the artists and the fans.

Giving away your music for free is a possible strategy to spreading your music to a larger audience,but the decision of doing so should be the artist’s choice, and not the retailers or the label.

 

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

Nick Detonate: Research,is method-101. None of the shows or opportunities will magically show up in front of you so searching for it online is vital especially nowadays.

Local live houses are usually enlisting bands for shows all the time, so simply search for “local live house” or keywords related to it, should give you a hint of where to start your career. It will help if you enter your band’s genre as a keyword as well.

When you start performing live,you should try to come up with a schedule to perform at least 1~2 times a month.

Finding and setting a “home house”  for your band in your local area can be a way to keep your shows constant and keep you fans pumped up.

If you do any social network, keep the connection spreading.

Following back people who connected to you is a good way to start.

And try not to feel too shy to connect to your fans,other artists, and even labels and producers.

Whether they follow you back is not that important, what’s important is by doing so you are spreading your branch of connections to other people who are connected to the same account, and if you be consistent in your career, people will start to take notice, and eventually start reaching out to you.

Building up your connection and your fan-base can take a lot of time and effort,but in the long run it WILL pay off. Good luck.

 

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

 

Nick Detonate:I mostly get my inspiration from research about certain topics, usually political or religious issues being neglected or dismissed.

When I write a song, I usually start from making the instrument track before the vocals.

When I start writing, I create a TAB score so I don’t forget what I just wrote.

The tool that I use gives me feed back in midi track, so I further develop the song until its complete.

Once the midi track is complete, I start editing the Drum-track on my DaW software, and start recording the Guitar and the Bass.

They are not necessarily in order, but I try to finish recording the Bass before the Guitars so the rhythm track is secure.

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

 

Nick Detonate:I don’t have a independent website, but I use my ReverbNation band page for my primary page.

I use Facebook and Twitter to keep in touch with my fans and use Myspace,SoundCloud,and Spotlight Zone alongside RevebNation to share my music.

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

 

Nick Detonate: Buy a house,Upgrade my music gear,and spend the rest on beer.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

 

Nick Detonate:Its hard to say,Most of the time I use promotion services on my SNS,and I’m still exploring what works best.

But I can say the best way of promoting so far is keep giving feedback to your fans by simply posting new stats on a regular bases.

 

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

 

Nick Detonate:

I’m really looking forward to get back on the road and start performing live again for starters.

And I’m also planning a release of our 1st Album in the near future.

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

 

Nick Detonate:Working a steady job

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

 

Nick Detonate:I’ve always found it difficult trying to balance both my personal life and my music career.

I don’t have an accurate answer to how I manage to keep both of them together, but I guess that moment when all the hard work

finally pays off is whats keeping me going.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?

 

Nick Detonate: More gig,more action, more Metal!!