Having just dropped his debut EP, LAST NYTE is an artist still finding his feet. But, if these first three tracks are anything to go by then the North Londoner will soon be walking tall in the UK Underground. His vibe meets somewhere at the cross section of ethereal indie and alternative R&B, it’s a unique sound that’s hard to put into a neat box.
Discover his music and find out more about this burgeoning new artist below, in LAST NYTE’s first ever interview…
First off tell us who you are and where you come from?
I’m LAST NYTE, a producer/songwriter from North London.
How would you describe your sound?
Depends on the song really. The EP I released a couple of months ago was described as if Bon Iver and The 1975 had a baby. But then I’ve also got a lot of upcoming releases that fuse Nu-Metal guitar riffs with Trap Drums and the dark pads of OVO Sound and The Weeknd. It just depends on how I’m feeling at the time.
Give us a little insight into what got you started in music and when you decided to take it seriously.
Funnily enough, what started it all was probably a mixture of School of Rock and Guitar Hero. These two introduced me to Rock and Metal music, and the various sub genres within. After this, I was hooked, I wanted to be just like Slash or Kirk Hammett, I grew my hair long and immediately began to get guitar lessons at 10 years old. As the years went by however, I began to appreciate the sounds of RnB, Hip-Hop, and Pop.
When I began producing at 17, I wanted to create a sound that brings elements of all these genres together, and now I have the sound we got today. I would say that I started taking it seriously when I first got Logic Pro at 17. This allowed me to start making full songs instead of making the odd riff here and there on a loop pedal. Also, I just finished A-Levels, and it was the first time that I allowed myself to consider what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I chose pretty quickly.
Who do you look up to that’s making music now – are there any other underground artists we should be following?
My friends will roll their eyes when I say this, but Aries. I can’t stop going on about him. Whenever someone asks to recommend an artist, he is always the first that I’ll mention. He has got such a unique sound – I can’t think of anyone that comes close to sounding like him. Which is annoying because he barely releases music. Nowadays his content is exclusively resigned to teasers on his Insta Lives, so I’m never able to find my fill. Other than that, Brakence deserves way more attention than he’s getting. Crazy good deep voice over mad guitar based instrumentals. Checkout his song ‘Dropout’. I don’t know if you can class Nothing, Nowhere as underground anymore, but he is a must-listen. He has banger after banger. A mix of powerful screams, trap drums, and Post-Rock guitar fingerpicking.
Also, I have to mention Raleigh Ritchie, who was actually the guy who played Grey Worm from Game of Thrones. Turns out he’s also insanely musically talented. A lot more RnB and hip hop influences with him rather than the rock-oriented artists I listed before. However, I gotta mention him because he was the first musician to make me expand my thinking on songwriting. Before, I only considered my instrumentation around the guitar. How can I make this guitar part heavier? How much distortion should I use? But his use of synthesisers and vocal melodies got me thinking about the other instruments and how they are just as important. Which is saying a lot as I was originally a very closed-minded rock purist. Now I couldn’t be anything further away from that. You find me pursuing more electronic instruments because I just love their versatility – you can create any sound you want.
How have you been dealing with this pandemic?
It’s been difficult, I just graduated and the initial plan was to push music 100%. But now that it has become impossible to gig and network with other performers in person, it’s put a dampener on it all. Whilst it is still incredibly effective to market your music and network on social media, it is just nowhere near as rewarding. Whilst online, it feels like you’re a needle in a haystack. I think because of the ease of creating music nowadays and COVID forcing people to stay inside, there is a influx of musicians trying to push their art everywhere.
Personally, I start to become paralysed by it all because I’m so consumed by sounding different to the competition that I’m constantly second-guessing what I put out. And because of that, it feels more of a grind rather than something I love doing. And once you start seeing something as a grind, you unknowingly do it less because you’re not getting the enjoyment out of it like you used to. But whenever I start thinking like that I ask myself what’s the alternative? Work in an office trying to market the next holiday greeting card? Become a teacher? For me, these won’t provide anywhere near the same amount of fulfilment that creating music does, so I have no choice but to do music. Although there have definitely been silver linings to this all. I’ve come into contact with like-minded musicians and blog-writers from all over the world – who I never would have if quarantine has pushed me to reach out via social media. So I’m incredibly grateful for that.
Finally, what’s your plans for the rest of 2020 (if everything goes back to normal soon…)?
Gig like crazy, collab like crazy, release as much of the stupid amount of songs that I have in my backlog. Just make as much noise as I possibly can really. Should be fun.
RIDE MUSIC 