During Savannah Stopover, it became evident to all who were watching that Nordista Freeze is an act to watch. Every band who knew him or knew of him had nothing but praise to heap upon him and his set on night two was one of the rowdiest, most engaging, and most fun of the whole fest. Here, directly after that very show, he sat down with former SCAD Radio Content Director Alex Holmes for a brief interview, chips in hand and glowing with post-performance joy.
Listen to the audio and read the transcript below
Freeze: Woohoo!
Alex: So really quick, could you introduce yourself and maybe explain the band a little bit?
F: Sure, so I am Nordista Freeze joined by the rabble rousers, the motley crew, my touring band who go by the names of Sma, Bryce Dubray of Future Crib, Trevor Ault “Best Hot Chicken”, and S. Grant Parker (former teacher). We are from Nashville where I was born and raised and we have played 625 shows and we are having fun, we’re gonna be on tour for two months.
A: Great! So just on a personal note, I saw you five years ago in Akron, Ohio–
F: What?! Oh yeah!
A: –and I kinda wanted to know how you’ve grown and changed over those five years.
F: *contemplatively crunches chip* Well, you saw me in June of 2019 I wanna say in that basement house show. So since then I’ve done a very slow album cycle for an album called Big Sky Pipe Dream. Starting a month after I saw you I put out Wysteria, then over the course of COVID I put out 10 more songs, up until September 2021.
A: All as singles?
F: Yeah, it was like 2 years of singles basically, all direct track to tape. Fought through COVID, took a long break from shows but I was basically playing up until the gate closed and right when it re-opened in terms of COVID. How have things changed…? Well I’m older now than I was, so i think my perspectives have changed. But in other ways I remain constant, like I’m very grateful to play and I don’t take it for granted at all. So I have the same secret weapon I’ve had the whole time: 110% juice!
A: yeah, it seems like performance is the whole lifeblood of what you have going on. How do you keep the same energy level year after year?
F: Just kinda approach it like an athlete, take it show by show. Go out there and try to get the W, you know? Focus on your bounce pass and your jump shot and then when you’re in the championship you’re like “I was born for this!”
A: So what do you think of savannah?
F: I like Savannah a lot! So touring for me has always come from a DIY perspective because i didnt have booking or management until covid so it’s kinda just been me figuring out myself. Even though I’m from Nashville I don’t come from a musical family, so playing music started by playing house shows in Nashville, then club shows in Nashville, then house shows in the surrounding Tennessee area. We’ve been all around, like Canada and the west coast, but we tend to stick most with the Southeast and the Carolinas and Georgia. You know, I first went to Charleston and I liked Charleston’s vibe, but then a hop skip and a jump away was Savannah, which is like Charleston but crazier, for better or for worse it’s like Charleston’s rambunctious older sibling. I played El Rocko to eight people and Kyle Brown of Chipper Bones and Dog Days I would say took me under his wing. He helped get me booked at Savannah Stopover 2020 after that show and let me open for Illiterate Light and I played after Reverend Bro Diddley and the Hips, and after that I met all those cats and they helped me play Victory North, that LiveNation venue by the water, returned to El Rocko… You know, like Jalen Reyes became my drummer for a tour, who plays in their band, and that just brought my relationship with them tight. They brought me up on stage at Victory North when they opened for Future Birds and did a Television cover, so yeah we’ve just grown really close. When you tour there’s homes away from home, and I can say with sincerity that savannah is a city that i care about and I feel cares about me. It’s just special hanging out late in Savannah, one of my favorite things to do. RIP Cuban Window Cafe!
A: So what got you into music?
F: Beach Boys and Beatles greatest hits, hippie radio oldies 96.3, my dad who led childrens worship and did a puppet show. So I think I’ve always been interested in performance and entertainment in a general sense, I like music a lot. I did choir from like 4th-10th grade and was in like the best choir in tennessee. It was very strict, so I learned a lot. And I grew up in the church of christ, which is a non instrumental denomination of christinity, so that’s definitely how I got into singing. My older brother got me into electronic music in middle school, like Daft Punk and Black Moth Super Rainbow of Graveface Records, shout out Savannah, GA!
A: What are your greatest influences as far as performance style?
F: Soul Glow Activatur of the band Family Force Five, Daft Punk, The Avett Brothers, Of Montreal, Dawes, hyperpop.
A: What is your goal as a performer?
F: Hard question, I dont know. I guess there are two goals, the internal one to make the art you want to make, which can be dissonant or cooperative with your secondary goal of interacting with a crowd and creating an engagement where people leave with good memories, but I couldn’t say that the latter is the only goal because if that were true I would probably make more of a generic sound. You gotta stick to your artistic inclination as well, so I guess there’s some dissonance there. But it’s definitely the two of those, following your internal artistic spirit and placing it up against a crowd and working them together to try and create an interesting and special and sweet moment.
A: So for my last question, what’s your favorite moment you’ve experienced as an artist.
F: Aaah! I can’t really think of a much better one than two minutes ago [when I just performed at Stopover]. I know it sounds like I’m cheesing but really, can you think of a better thing? It was really fun, you know playing Stopover to a whole new room of people, playing Victory North, LiveNation, El Rocko, then returning to Stopover post-pandemic really felt like a culmination. I don’t think it’s the peak of my career, but it’ll definitely be a mountaintop I’ll look back on.
A: For sure. Thank you for talking with us! We really appreciate it.
F: For sure! Were my answers good?
A: Absolutely.
F: Sweet.
