by Jesse Davidson
In any music scene, there is an unusual cast of characters that become almost permanent fixtures in our lives. Nick Humphrey is one of them. I recently met with Nick – a friend and the main force behind the electronic rock band, Synthecircuit, and scheduled an interview to discuss their upcoming show. I caught up with Nick at Maxdon’s Bar and Grill in Lancaster to talk with him about the history and re-launch of this local staple in the AV’s electronic music scene.
How did Synthecircuit get its start?
It actually started when I was in high school. I was living in Santa Cruz at the time, where there are a lot of “hippie”-types (if you want to call them that) and a lot of really talented underground hip-hop actually. There were also a lot of classic rock and “grunge-ish” bands, but there wasn’t really any focus on electronic rock music. I was so young at the time that I didn’t really had any tools at my disposal to make the music I wanted to hear, but I had just enough to write at home. And I wrote – looking back on it – what was a really crappy demo that had one song (that we’ll still play live) that was actually worth a damn. Anything else was overdramatic, as any teenager would be I guess, and was written from that perspective of being completely self-centered and really honestly ripping off a lot of influences, like most teenagers trying to find out who they are and how they want themselves to be heard.
Really – it never started as a band. I had friends play with me for a few shows and gave it up for a while because of relocating and different things. Then I kind of gave up on music for a while entirely because of being in a few relationships that weren’t really supportive of pursuing anything musically. Then I started listening to certain songs recorded for a second cd that never happened. Once I started listening to those I said to myself, “Wow, these are really bad recordings but there are actually some good songs on here.” About two or three of those ended up on Strange Behavior, which was the last cd we released. Everything else was freshly done with “Bubonic” Nate Dillon. He helped me a lot because he’s about the only person I know who can be in the studio with me and actually steer me in a direction where I can experiment with trying things a different way that I’m not normally used to. 90% of the time, he’s absolutely right about “this is exactly what the song needs to sound like”. The other 10% percent was me being stubborn or me being right, which is left open to opinion.
Can you talk a bit more about recording at No Exit Records and how that came about?
Sure. After not playing music for almost ten years, I started playing in an 80s cover band with a few good friends called 1 Night Affair. I kind of…put a strain on my relationship but it was worth it because I was having so much fun doing what I loved and it made me a better player because of it. I hadn’t played in a long time and I was learning all these different styles from different artists of previously written material. There’s this kind of stigma that artists, either locally or in general, put on musicians who are in cover bands. But it made me a better player so I don’t regret my involvement with that even currently. If I didn’t enjoy the people I was playing with in those cover bands, I wouldn’t have continued playing.
Anyway, we had the idea to make Strange Behavior and I gave myself a deadline because I work better under pressure. Literally within six months, I wrote and recorded the rest of the songs with Nate. He helped out with a lot of the backing parts, aside from the overall sound. I actually had my niece come in, which was a lot of fun too, and some other people that were really instrumental in making it sound the way it did. For the first time, I was really happy with something I’d made musically. A large part of that falls in Nate’s lap, not just mine.
How did this line up come about and what steps are you looking to take in the future for Synthecircuit?
Well, the lineup that originally happened was made of good people, but they weren’t really interested in spending time learning previously recorded material. In all due credit, people like Alex Dougherty from Litaoa and Erik Orrell – who spent a long time in the Feel Good Music Collective (previously Rhyme and Reason) – found it wasn’t to their full potential or their full interest of where they wanted to go money-wise or skill-wise for what they were really interested in doing, which I understood. I was looking for people who were more in line with the holistic sound and perspective of the overall songs and interested in contributing to songwriting in the future. Luckily when we played the CD release show at Fresco’s, that lead to me being in Tramps in Stereo after Jesse Vasquez became an immediate fan along with Brett Custodio (also from Tramps in Stereo).
I was asked shortly afterward to join that band, which I did, and playing with them, I met Dani White who was paying bass. She listened to my music and she was really into the idea of wanting to contribute to where it was going. Through one of our shows, I also met Ben Minton. Ben was also really talented and eccentric and was one of the only people I knew of who could juggle playing synth, guitar, and doing backing vocals when needed. We had a hard time find drummers for a while so I just focused my energy on work and going back to playing in two bands. The 80’s band died off after a while and Tramps in Stereo is more lax because we really only usually rehearse a few number of times before having shows. But Synthecircuit is getting back on it’s feet with what I think is our best lineup so far with Anthony Scaglione on drums. I think it’s really important to get along with everyone you play in a band with, along with everyone having the same perspective of where it needs to go.
That’s awesome. I’ve only seen the band a couple times but I really enjoy the experience of seeing the band live.
Thank you.
There’s aggressiveness to this band that I don’t see in other bands. Do you think that comes from a meld of everyone’s personality or is that your force in the band?
If you think that it’s there.
(Laughs) I know what you’re talking about and I think there is an aggressive force in the band. I do try to battle between feeling like I’m wasting my time on negative energy and emotion versus really getting so pissed that anger becomes positive motivator. With the situation with the Industry Theater (a former local venue) and “The Icarus Trend” video, we kind of spearheaded that into being a thing where we could get everyone involved who’d been frustrated with what was going on at that venue at the time. But at the same time, it was undeniably shameless self-promotion. I’m slapping myself on the wrist now because we were sort of typecast as the “hipster song” band. But ironically enough, a lot of that energy comes from being a Tupac fan and a fan of rap battles, even down to Epic Rap Battles of History on YouTube. (Laughs)
Anger can be a good energy force to draw from, but the main thing is that I always try to focus on the diversity of different source material in terms of overall subject matter. We can go from being angry with someone politically or about someone locally, but some of my favorite stuff I’ve written about comes from love songs or songs about being brokenhearted.
Yeah it never struck me as aggressiveness for no reason but done in an articulate way. Like classic punk or Tupac.
It’s funny; when I’m pissed, I always try to come from the perspective of “playing dozens” so hard, even when it comes to a medium like electronic music, but trying to do it in a poetic and lyrical way where the other person just drops the mic and walks away. If I can get enough across, I’m satisfied. On the flipside, sometimes that negative energy is like a bad fire and just needs a lack of oxygen to die – which is why I’m staying away from the “locally” part – but, with the previous situation with “The Icarus Trend”, when you can look down at people enjoying it and singing the word “hipster” back to you, it’s fun at the same time. Looking back I don’t regret any perspective I’ve written from…except as a teenager. Because I don’t know that guy now and he didn’t either.
(Laughs) Writing in an electronic style, especially as you do, do you feel that electronic music is a more expressive medium than other forms of music?
That’s a good question. I think electronic music by itself would be just as straight-forward of a medium as let’s say “strictly punk music” or “strictly metal music”. Not to say that those aren’t some great people’s cup of tea, but I like having so many elements of different genres that work well together (at least to my ears). Maybe my music isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and I totally understand that, but I do like having a large palette to draw from when it comes to writing, sampling, or songwriting. I was mistaken for the longest time in thinking the music scene in the AV was strictly punk and metal because – while a lot of stuff is (and hardcore, post-hardcore, apple core or any genre you want to throw the word “core” at the end of) – in the long run, there are so many great acts out here. I do believe this band will be more successful outside the local scene because the reality is that that’s where it would have to go, but I am also very proud to be a part of it. There are some awesome people out here that work their asses off and some awesome people out here that are really talented that I just wish would work their asses off more because I’m waiting for more material from them.
So I think that when electronic music is mixed with a bit of rock and elements of pop, you get something that sticks in your head. At the end of the day, you want something that makes you feel something like a good movie where you say “ Wow, that really sticks with me.” And I try to do that.
So do you have any info on your upcoming show?
Sure. We’re playing with our good friends, Carved Souls. I’ve played with them in Synthecircuit and Tramps in Stereo before and they’re phenomenally fun guys to play with. I’m also stoked about playing with Plastic Jewels because they have a great sound and reputation among local artists in town. We’re playing at the Vu In Newhall, which I feel is a good starting point. We were originally going to do the starting show at MyLounge in Palmdale but I think this is a good opportunity to play in an environment where we’re more comfortable and we can test out before coming home and we feel even more comfortable presenting newer material. I’m very proud to say everyone in the band has pulled their weight and we’re really ready for this show.
Synthecircuit performs June 6th at the Vu in Newhall, California. If you’d like for info on this show or the band, visit www.facebook.com/synthecircuit.