Nick Reese ~ Joyous Wolf
Briques:
All right, starting out: music. Was there one moment where you're like, I see this video or a concert or something that said "That's what I want to do." Or was it more like it was an itch under your skin like no, this has always...
Nick:
The first time I saw a performance, I saw Forrest Gump and I saw Elvis, who I was a huge fan of as a kid. My parents knew I had loved the movies, Elvis is in it, and I love Elvis. So we all saw the movie. And I love Forrest Gump, one of my favorite movies ever.
Briques:
It's a good one.
Nick:
It's one of the best movies ever.
Briques:
Yeah, it is.
Nick:
Elvis doing his dance and, yeah, that scene ... We had our first computer around that time and I went instantly to the internet, I had to watch the whole thing. I remember that being a big thing, because I was a huge Elvis fan. Man he was the kid and then it just grew from there. And then there was an airing of the Tammy show on TV. Which is 1964 it was The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, James Brown and a couple of others.
Briques:
Heavy hitters.
Nick:
Yeah. But James Brown in particular, changed my entire life.
Briques:
I was going to say, I can see the influence in the live shows.
Nick:
Prince. Michael Jackson. James Brown. Cab Calloway.
Briques:
Right.
Nick:
Oh my goodness. The name... I just talked about him a couple days ago.
Briques:
Don't you hate that when it's right there?
Nick:
No, no, no... Come on. Lonely teardrops.
Anyway, you know who I mean.
Briques:
I'll look it up.(Jackie Wilson)
Nick:
Y'all know what I'm saying.
Briques:
Right. You were signed in 2017? Or you were found in 2017 by Dave Rath.
Nick:
Yeah.
Briques:
They signed you to...
Nick:
They he signed us at Aftershock Festival. One performance.
Briques:
To Road Runner.
Nick:
Yep.
Briques:
In 2018, you guys came off some Blacktop Mojo shows.
Nick:
Yeah.
Briques:
Where you said you were going to record. Now was that, this EP?
Nick:
Yes, it was the beginning...
Briques:
It just takes that long.
Nick:
The beginnings, we did two different sessions and we spent a lot of time writing. That was a big thing. We didn't write a lot of songs. We just really focused on perfecting...
Again, we also wrote some more and when we wrote them we're like this feels like this record and these feel like the next one.
Briques:
The next one.
Nick:
So yeah.
Briques:
They don't quite fit in with what you wanted...
Nick:
Yeah, there was a lot of work done in that time period.
Briques:
Right.
Nick:
Yeah.
Briques:
And also on the Blacktop Mojo you missed a couple days because you went, got called up to Rock...
Nick:
Rocklahoma.
Briques:
Rocklahoma. Yes. On that tour you were supposed to be with Of Limbo and I know your brothers had a major accident.
Nick:
Yeah, they had a really bad accident. But I will gladly say you will see them on the road this summer. They will be joining us on our first headlining tour in September. Yes.
Briques:
I can't wait for that.
Nick:
That's the prophecy being fulfilled for me.
Briques:
Oh good, awesome.
Nick:
My best friends, if you don't know Of Limbo, look them up, their record Nicotine's the best rock record you'd never heard.
Briques:
It is very good. You both are on my playlist. How was it to get that news and to hear that and know that it was... that could happen on tour? I mean that's just part of touring.
Nick:
I think it was like the innocence dying. Like the...
Briques:
Reality.
Nick:
The reality really hit us really hard and I think ever since then it hasn't really recovered in both good and bad ways. There was a real... It was the worst day of my life. I was at Welcome to Rockville. We were woke up in the morning at this place was saying at. The guys were like messing around and I was in tears. I didn't know, I mean at the moment I had a call with Luke, the guitar player and he was sobbing on the phone because he thought that Jake was going to die because he didn't know. It was really... Everyone was, all four of them. The fact that Luke and Herbie were virtually unscathed...
Briques:
Right, it was unbelievable.
Nick:
And then Juan surviving being propelled out of the van.
Briques:
I heard that, I was like, I couldn't believe that all four of them survived. Somebody was watching out for them.
Nick:
I brought Jake back on stage for the first time we had a headlining show at Slidebar and I brought him up.
That was his first time on stage since the accident. It was a good moment.
Briques:
And he looked great.
Nick:
Yeah.
Briques:
I mean you couldn't even tell.
Nick:
The fact he's got a fucking metal rod in his leg. He's iron man now, he's bionic. I had a lot of phone calls with them. I love them to death, they're my best friends in the world. I really do love them. Besides my own band members.
Briques:
I'm looking forward to seeing that show.
Nick:
Oh, it's going to be a great, it'll be a lot of fun.
Briques:
There are certain bands as like; a photographer and even as a fan, that I will jump through hoops to go see or shoot for that matter, because I like the energy. I like the vibe, the energy. Fever 333, Ice Nine Kills. Even if I don't listen to their music every day. Avatar, you know those shows...
Nick:
Avatar is definitely a big statement.
Briques:
Yes. You guys, I absolutely love doing your shows.
Nick:
Oh, but who's the best?
Briques:
Oh, see now that's tough. That is really tough. (Laugh) That's on the spot. Oh, I don't know. I guess maybe it depends on what mood I'm in. But I absolutely love your crowd interaction going into it and all of them do the same thing. You guys got... You might have different styles. But it's the energy and the vibe.
Nick:
Yeah, very much so. I'm just pulling your leg, I'm just fucking around with you. Yeah, I'd say it's definitely... Avatar is fucking insane.
Briques:
Yeah.
Nick:
I've seen some stuff from them. I've never crossed paths with them, I haven't done that yet. I've seen some of them.
Briques:
They are amazing live. I absolutely love them.
Nick:
I've never had the... I met so many other people though.
I think one of my favorite live bands is fucking, He Is Legend. You ever see He Is Legend? Look them up, you will love them. They're about to release a new record in June.
Briques:
Okay.
Nick:
Fucking legit. Killer.
Briques:
How do you keep up the energy to do these shows then? When you're on the road.
Nick:
I go to the gym every day or every other day. Every time I can get in there, I go in there and I run...
I sprint about, I will sprint nine eight nine, 9.5 miles per hour on the treadmill. So I'll sprint for like...
I just continuous sprints. I do a burst, I'll do a sprint for five minutes at nine and then I sprint at 10
and I'll stop and then I'll do nine, then 10. It's very short intervals because it's all about contacts.
It's not about, I don't necessarily need crazy endurance, which I do have anyways.
I train myself anyways in different ways. And then I do a lot of weights and stuff like that and that's...
Briques:
Yeah, because I've seen you climb.
Nick:
I haven't climbed in a long time.
Briques:
In a while. Yeah?
Nick:
I'm never going to climb again. And everyone's like, "Why?" And I'm like, "It'll never be better than that".
I got banned from a festival for life. It's amazing. I got more press from that than anything else I've ever done.
Besides maybe the record.
Briques:
And you've had injuries from it?
Nick:
Yes.
Briques:
Broken nose?
Nick:
Yes.
Briques:
You had an arm injury not too long ago.
Nick:
No.
Briques:
I thought?
Nick:
Not at arm injury.
Briques:
No? Maybe not you?
Nick:
No.
Briques:
Wrist or something?
Nick:
Nope. I don't know.
Briques:
Who was I thinking of then?
Nick:
I don't know. Someone else's.
Briques:
Yeah, I know the nose.
Nick:
Someone else is in pain.
Briques:
Yeah.
Nick:
Check out the new record, have you listened to it?
Briques:
Oh yes. Absolutely.
Nick:
Listen to Place in Time. Listen to Of Limbo. Check out new bands. Chout. It's shout, but C-H-O-U-T. You'll love them. Check them out. Especially if you like kind of grunge rock stuff. Check out a band called The Revel.
Briques:
Sounds familiar.
Nick:
Yeah. And then Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown just released a new record. Good rock record.
Briques:
All right, thank you.
Nick:
Nice to meet you.
For Joyous Wolf concert coverage and tour dates.
Special thanks to Nick Reese and Joyous Wolf for taking the time with us.