We were lucky to catch up with Nazz Raidience recently and have shared our conversation below.
Nazz, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
Maker Park Radio Saved My Life
Maker Park Radio is a DIY community streaming radio station based in Staten Island New York established in 2017. Created in conjunction and housed in Maker Space by Kristin Wallace and Tom Ferrie they saw ways that they felt Staten Island was lacking in terms of culture and community and instead of using their resources to create one project or platform for themselves they decided to instead create a platform and serve a sector of the community that didn’t have pathways or easy access to the expensive equipment or technical expertise that goes into developing a show or working in media,
One of my very close friends and mentors Magie Serpica had heard about Maker Park Radio’s open call before the station had gone live, procured a show for herself and pretty much forced me on the spot to apply one day after stopping by her tattoo shop on my way to work. Now at this point in early 2017 I’ve fallen on some tough times, struggling to find steady work (was working part time and freelance with a few different places but nothing was really cutting it), had recently parted ways with 2 bands, and a difficult break up that just over all left me feeling directionless and depressed, I had already by this point given up completely on illustration and fine arts after my portfolio (which I had put over a decade of work into) had been thrown out and with the recent separation from bands I was getting pretty close to giving up on music as well, I was so frustrated and hurt it just wasn’t working, wasn’t paying and I needed to get my shit together.
Despite having an interest in radio since my early teens and being gifted an old radio receiver my grandfather restored, radio seemed inaccessible, I didn’t have any of the experience I needed to get in the door and the only other radio station on Staten Island was the college of Staten Island’s radio station, a college i had been kicked out of a few years prior, it just didn’t seem feasible, until BOOM all the sudden this crazy project is starting to come together IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD. in utter disbelief I did as Magie had instructed sent an email to the owners and stopped by the space that would become the studio every single day after work or errands to try and put a face to the name and offer any help I could. After about two weeks of skulking around Maker Space I got a phone interview with Kristin and my idea for Channels&Winds was approved and set to go live on July 16th 2017. My first show was nothing special (i was beyond nervous) but in no time at all I fell in love with music, journalism and events all over again, by virtue of this incredible project and the skills they taught me about broadcast, marketing, networking and music, I was booking guests for interviews, hosting live gaming, doing concert photography, and started accepting my first few DJ gigs. It was a remarkable feeling, I had confidence, purpose and a sense of clarity for the first time in my life that was energizing.
Since the start of my involvement with MPR I have had the honor of planning the 40th Richmond County Fair, attended a Grammy nomination party for Robert Randolph and the Family Band, DJ’d the annual NYC pride parade on the Gods Love We Deliver Float in 2022 and 23, and got to DJ the McKittrick Hotels massive Halloween party (with fellow maker park radio family). The experience has been surreal and I am so so so so so so so grateful for everything I’ve learned in the past 6 years and every door that MPR has been able to open for me, but beyond all of that being a part of this crazy dream machine feels amazing, I get to give back to a community that has been very good to me while teaching people with similar interests about alternative paths and skills, as well as using my platform to elevate art and extraordinary people has been amazing. Maker Park Radio made me feel like I belong and beyond that has supported me in so many personal and professional. I am eternally grateful hosting Snug Harbors BIG PICNIC summer event, became a recurring judge for Flagship Brewery’s Battle of the Bands, and help with curation and execution of all of MPR’s summer events.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Ok so music has been a huge part of my life since i was very young, despite neither of my parents being musicians music has always been a big and exciting part of growing up, my mom was really into classic rock (and would quiz me about artists on the radio often), my dad really being into R&B and Funk, every weekend we would watch VH1’s music video roundup and we always listened to either the radio or CD’s at high volumes when chores had to get done.
I think because of that influence early on it pushed me to want to learn guitar at an early age, I took lessons for maybe a year or less when I was 8 (I just didn’t have the focus and discipline at that age), and then picked it back up at about 12 or 13 teaching myself with the assistance of friends and the internet. Soon into my freshman year of high school my cousin and I joined our friend Joe’s noise punk band “Glass”. Being exposed to Avant Garde sounds (Sonic Youth, John Cage, Ravi Shankar, Acid Mothers Temple) and performances (Alice Cooper, The Bindlestiff Family Circus) that challenged the conventions of what I thought I knew about music and performances completely changing the way I started to perceive music FOREVER. being in that band was in a lot of ways a spiritual awakening and in the first few years before the band dissolved and became a different band I was very focused on learning how to network and book us on shows, starting with local open mics working our way up to actually getting booked by local bars and on bills with local bands we admired.
Glass lasted a few years, and the freeform nature of how we approached songwriting and performance taught us all a lot about all kinds of DIY approaches to recording, filming music videos and of course making noise, we all jumped around and explored playing different instruments and just trying anything and everything, which in turn lead me to a desire to learn the bass, I bought a bass from a coworkers husband and he offered to teach me everything about it from technique, to maintenance, to gigging. It was an incredible experience and even though Will (Bass Teacher) was super tough on me it was all very much appreciated the pressure pushed me to get better and made me VORACIOUS to learn more about all genres and styles of music, which I without a doubt think set me on the path to a radio program and an interest in DJ-ing.
Fast forward a few years to my early 20’s and by this point I’ve played in a HANDFUL of bands, played in all 5 boroughs (some of the most notable being ABC No Rio, and Grammercy Theatre) and to my surprise a bunch of shows out of state in NJ, Philly, and Massachusetts. Here’s a list of the bands I played in genres and what I played are as follows:
Glass-Experimental Noise, Psychidelic, Performance Art, Punk (Guitar, Bass, Keyboard, Percussion)
Chronic Cowboy- Hardcore/Punk, Crust, Speed Metal (Guitars, Backing Vocals)
Davey Crockett. (became Common Sage) – Indie/Pop, Emo (Bass, Keyboard)
Breaking Even – Pop Punk (Bass, Backing Vocals)
VantaBlack (Became Strega Nona) – Black Metal, Shoe Gaze (Bass)
through all of this craziness I come to make a home for myself at Maker Park Radio (see the full story in the last slide).
Finding myself as an asset to a bigger project is one of the biggest things for me, my show Channels&Winds is a creative expression in its own ways and a passion project I’m VERY proud of, but being able to share my platform and build the type of events and programs that I’ve been wanting to see since i was younger really fills my cup. As well I believe my myriad of experience, and desire to learn in so many different roles and be involved in my community is what sets me apart from others, that thorough knowledge of any scene is hard to come by (in my professional experience with non for profits).
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Universal basic income would be super dope, its kind of not cool how seemingly trust fund babies and AI are the only people making a living doing art.
i get that’s a pretty big ask lol, so outside of that I think focusing more on general infrastructure would go a long way as far as alleviating some of the insurmountable stresses in society. or even if there was a way we could tweak our understanding of what “success” or careers in the arts look like, the burden of being “IT” or a central figure in “YOUR “creative practice hurts a lot of artists in ways of expectation, every role is important in the arts, from songwriters to producers to people that just run cables and so on. if your scene or community is winning so are you!
also CUT THE MIDDLE MAN OUT support local as much as you can, find out what local crafts people and creators are making in your area and support them.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
my whole story as it pertains to creativity is about pivoting, changing careers, learning new skills etc.
Life is crazy, I think it’s very important to be open minded and able to roll with the punches, there is so little we have control over and so much we can’t change on our own, and life will ALWAYS prove you wrong or show you stuff in new ways, be ready to adapt.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/nazz_raidience?fbclid=PAAaZGKHm494zU6c70-GQQitSelj9L_u4J0r9v1xast8Jcb5zEfm-ES-U-_0Y
- Instagram: Channelsandwinds
- Facebook: Channelsandwinds
- Linkedin: Ray Herrera
- Twitter: @raidience
- Other: Tik Tok – Nazz_raidiates
Image Credits
Jeans Gallo Annette Pierce Kim DeSantis Zoe Tirado