We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nick Cline. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nick below.

Nick , appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

At the beginning of this year (2024), I hit a certain stride with my band that I started to gig consistently with in June of last year. I worked tirelessly to make it into the bigger city with my band, Phantum Sun, and it had finally paid off. Once I saw the success that I could have with a certain level of work, I took one of the biggest risks of my life. I ended up starting up and creating an entire music festival from the bottom up, almost completely, by myself. I did this with the goal of creating something new with my new found opportunities in music and the scene in Louisiana. This was a massive risk with the odds stacked against me, but I saw through it and started something. I had no prior experience to planning festivals or events in general. Even though I had no experience, I booked and planned almost all details in little over a month. A lot of the promotion was done through myself, which, eventually built into networking with the scene to create opportunities in the magazine, radio, other bands, and a variety of other things. Overall, this risk proved to be a very beneficial and upstanding event in my life. It is doing very well and is, finally, happening on June 15th, 2024. It is projected to have over 200 people in attendance. At the end of the day, the reason I took the risk was to prove to myself and others that I could make my dreams come true one small step at a time. I’m glad it all worked in making me more successful in my dreams and overall goals I will continue to work at everyday.

Nick , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I got into my craft because of a deep love of writing and music that spawned when I was young. It has been the product of endless hard work and practice that has spanned many years.

I think that my writing style and musicianship is set apart from others because every artist/writer is founded on a variety of different ideas and practices. My music is set apart because of our want to stick to a bulk of sounds that are outside of the rock norm, while still finding a home in the rock world. My writing is always narrative because I want all my writings to be compared to intense conversations that build off each other to teach, learn, etc…

I am most proud of the progress I have made as a musician and writer. The reason for this is because I have taken every opportunity in this short amount of time, and I have built it more and more everyday. Hard work and inspiration are in the front of my life when it comes to constantly evolving. Progress and any step closer to my dream of being seen and recognized for my work in both music and writing is getting closer and closer everyday. I want to be able to share my love of art and the world with everyone I can.

The most important ideas and core values that I want people to know about my brand/work is the important idea that I am a person who wants to be able to give as much as I can through art and music. Art and music are, in terms of passion, the most important ideas and concepts in my life. They are tied with my love of sharing knowledge, life stories, etc…, which is all felt through my love of writing, music, and art in general. My music is written with the love of 90s grunge and rock, and it is layered with lyricism tied to mental health, life, and so much more.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the ability to share my love of writing and music with everyone that I can. It gives me the opportunity to share my opinion, shine light on a variety of topics, tell my life story, and, most importantly, make a feeling of understanding to the audience that hears/reads my art.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My biggest goal driving my creative journey is to branch out my audience more and more everyday. I want to do this so I can share my love of the arts and my art with as many people as I can. My other biggest goal driving me is the baseline thought that I want to make a positive mark on the world, and the want become able to connect to everyone in some kind of way.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phantumsunband?igsh=cGlld2twdGFqOTc0
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/nSJU52zaNvnuCSFC/?mibextid=qi2Omg
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5PdjxAClNtSIyvvnj2vgsU?si=HZRSPOUoQbWeyv0RY5Tm8A

  [email protected]

  Personal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nick.cline.5283?mibextid=ZbWKwL

Image Credits

Photos taken by Margaret LeBlanc

Logos made by Nick Cline