For many artists, tragedy and pain bring forth some of their best and most heartfelt work. Nic Nassuet is no exception. His latest single, “Goodbye, Goodnight” started as a tribute to an unborn child of a miscarriage and morphed into much darker thoughts.
The song has touched many people and we are happy to have had a chance to interview the indie artist for our Music Spotlight Series to learn more about his artistic process and upcoming projects. He definitely has a very creative perspective so take a listen and watch the video to “Goodbye, Goodnight” above and get to know Nic Nassuet through our Q&A below.
Describe your music for those who have never heard it.
The Huffington Post has referred to his signature style as “Gothic Folk”, a moniker echoed in a June 2015 review by Guardian Liberty Voice. The Global Music Awards gave Nassuet a gold medal for “Alternative Rock Gothic Folk”, Review Fix said that Nassuet “put a definable face on the gothic rock genre.” Blogcritics compared his style to the Celtic music, Operatic Rock, and Grunge genres. and Big Sky State Buzz said that Eleutherios contained “hints of rock and roll.” Nassuet’s music has been compared to Jim Morrison, Jeff Buckley, Nick Drake, Richie Havens, Lindsay Buckingham, and Danny Elfman, Meanwhile, his singing has garnered comparisons to singers like Lindsey Buckingham, Axl Rose, and Kate Bush.
Tell us about your new single “Goodnight, Goodbye”:
“Goodnight, Goodbye” was written as a lullabye to a child who didn’t survive long enough to hear it, but quickly became a suicide note. I was in a very dark place following a miscarriage. I tried my best to show the outside world how strong I could be, and to be stoic and dependable, but inside I was a wreck dealing with the immediacy of the miscarriage, as well as the restimulation of the deaths of my brothers, and other friends, that I had never taken the time to truly heal from.
It was around then that the music came.
I would hear it in my dreams, then wake up and pluck the songs out on a guitar. I can’t read music and don’t even know the notes of my guitar, but the songs created from these sessions have lead to many great musical experiences around the world.
The first draft of this video came on on the night that Chris Cornell took his own life, so it was dedicated to him and the number for the national suicide prevention lifeline is given at the closing of the video.
What inspired you to pursue music?
The Ghost. She sings the songs and makes the notes come in my sleep, or she grabs me during the day and plays the notes or lyrics in my head. If I choose not to listen, everything goes wrong. When all is dark and seems hopeless she points the way with song, and sometimes with images as well. I am just her vessel.
Sometimes the ghost speaks in the sound of instruments I do not yet possess, so I will have to buy a new instrument. Other times she becomes excited at the first touch of a new instrument and a new song will emerge immediately.
What has been your greatest career accomplishment so far?
Carrying my Emmy statue around a sex ranch at 2am with a girl I had a crush on since I was about 11 while a man named “Dirty Bob” gave us a guided tour of a teepee and kind strangers supplied us with wine coolers and shots of something sweet that burned going down.
What has been your biggest challenge?
DNA. DNA is a prison.
Which leads to the more personal challenge of this Earth environment and restrictions placed upon any being who must dwell within a human mind/body.
This body is in pain 24/7/365. The doctors cannot fix it, and it requires the use of a wheelchair in large venues. The mind is also dysfunctional and cannot organize. Sometimes it cannot happy. It is also subject to irrational rituals due to exceptionally high levels of unnecessary anxiety.
These things cause many challenges.
What is your music goal for the year?
I would like to combine my successful experimental film career with my music career and design audio/visual hellscapes that deconstruct reality and force the subjective nature of reality to peel away all socially constructed and genetic concepts from the viewer/listener/initiate’s mind. Destroying social conditioning is the easy part. Deconstructing genetics will be the more difficult aspect of such a project. Ideally, the co-participant/initiate will leave the experience with a blank slate from upon which they may paint according to their True Will.
I would also like to cast Dirty Bob as a princess in a music video.
Those are my two musical goals this year: Use images and sounds to break open the psyche in order to spill the will on the blank canvas of the mind, and cast Dirty Bob as a princess. Hopefully, they can combine in the same project.
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