Getting to Know… Nightbird Casino | Interview 🎤

In the 330^th Q&A in our Getting to Know… series, we get the inside scoop from alternative rock band, Nightbird Casino.

“As far as what makes us unique, well, for starters, we have an ondist – that’s a musician who plays the ondes Martenot.” Say what, 🎙 Nighbird Casino?! 🎙 James Moore, the guitarist and vocalist from the collective, who answers our burning questions,  continues, “As far as I know, there’s only one or two other rock bands who use those.”  How awesome and distinct is that! Another interesting tidbit we get from Nightbird Casino regards it origins: conception at a Taco Bell in Santa Ana, California. Woo! Like our many other Getting to Know Q&As, we get the inside scoop on the band’s genesis, goals, musical influences, and of course, current, and future musical endeavors. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into 🎤 Getting to Know… Nightbird Casino: Interview No. 330!

For those who may not be familiar with Nightbird Casino, what would you say makes you distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

🎤 Hey all, this is James, guitarist/vocalist for Nightbird Casino. As far as what makes us unique, well, for starters, we have an ondist – that’s a musician who plays the ondes Martenot. As far as I know, there’s only one or two other rock bands who use those. They’re generally heard in classical or classical inspired music, and even then, rarely. Radiohead uses one occasionally. We have one on nearly every song.

I think in general we use an interesting variety of instruments and we’re not afraid to explore different genres or fusions of genres. Yeah, at first glance we have your basic arrangement of guitar, bass, drums, and “keyboards,” but our keyboardist is usually playing the ondes, and the rest of us can comfortably swap out instruments. Our drummer  has a glockenspiel next to his kit. Our bassist has a pedalboard that puts most guitarists to shame. We’re definitely an alternative rock band at our core, but our first few albums dabble with folk, classical, electronic, pop, etc… and our third album will be no exception to that rule.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Nightbird Casino form and what were some of the goals or visions you had early on?

🎤 The vision early on was just to have musical freedom, I guess. I was a rhythm guitarist in a band and this other guy, Kelly [Hutchinson], was the drummer. The frontman wrote everything, and we both felt a bit like session musicians – and let me be clear, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but it just wasn’t what we wanted. We’d make suggestions about the songs, and we were always told, no, just play it exactly as I wrote it. One day at rehearsal, we both went to Taco Bell on a break and started discussing the idea of working on music together. So yes, Nightbird Casino was conceived at a Taco Bell in Santa Ana, California. Very apt. After that, we’d meet every weekend and work on the various more avant-garde ideas we had. At the time, there wasn’t really a goal to be a “band”, or even necessarily record anything. It was more like ‘let’s just see where this goes’ … once we had a handful of songs that were coming together, we decided maybe we to make it Facebook official and named the project Nightbird Casino. Of course, it’s greatly evolved since then, but that’s the origin.

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

🎤 Completely changed, yeah. Like I said, at first it was just two of us, just a side project … we didn’t really have any aspirations of playing shows or releasing music. At this point, we’ve released five singles, two EPs, and two albums, with a third in the works … of course we’re playing shows regularly and planning on a tour late this year. The band has expanded from a side project with two people to four members (and at one point, we had five).

I think I speak for everyone that our goal now is to keep creating and putting out music to as wide an audience as possible. “Success” in music could be defined a lot of ways, but I think for us when we reach the point where this is our sole “job”, I’d consider that successful.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Whom would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎤 For me personally, my biggest influence is Radiohead, most especially Thom Yorke. I’m also especially influenced by Daniel Johns, Paul Banks, Matt Talbot, Matt Berninger – I listen to a lot of music, and I can find inspiration in anything, but I find myself influenced by the musicianship, lyricism, and style of those particular people.

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

🎤 I have a few answers to this if that’s okay. 🎵 “Catharsis Train” might be my very favorite in that it blew me away after we recorded it. I laid down about twenty guitar tracks on that song, with a nebulous kind of idea of how it might sound … but actually hearing it all mixed together, it just blew my mind. It’s also incredibly fun to play live.

Also, 🎵 “Cotopaxi”, off our first album. That’s probably one of our most experimental pieces. I wrote twenty-five individual parts for it, for an entire orchestra. I initially recorded it all with MIDI, but actually hearing an orchestra play it was a very emotional experience. For obvious reasons, we’ve yet to play that live.

Currently, we have two new songs we’ve been playing at shows, 🎵 “Radio Anxiety” and 🎵 “Lynx” that are so satisfying to play. The audience reactions to them makes it even more worth it. We’re currently in the studio recording “Radio Anxiety” as our next single, and quite frankly, it’s been difficult to record. I really hope the final product is worth it and comes out with the energy of its live performances. “Lynx” will be on LP3.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?  

🎤 All four of us are at least passable on piano – I not so secretly want to record at least one song with all four of us on piano, but we’ll see. I also want to sneak sleighbells into every song and always get vetoed. You can’t win them all.

Closing out, what is Nightbird Casino currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

🎤 We’ve got a lot in the works … at least two more singles coming out before summer, and LP3 which may or may not have a title yet. We expect that’ll be out in late 2023. We can’t say much about it yet but it’s going to be very exciting. I can tell you we’re working on pieces that involve string quartets and a choir. And maybe if I’m lucky I can sneak those sleighbells in.

Thank you so much for sharing and taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward.  

Thank you! Great talking to you.

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Getting to Know… Nightbird Casino: Interview No. 330 [📷: Brent Faulkner/The Musical Hype; Nightbird Casino; Darkmoon_Art, OpenClipart-Vectors via Pixabay]