We were lucky to catch up with Nick Diaz recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Nick thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?
I do my best to not let my happiness be dictated by whether or not I’m an artist or creative. I’ve held regular jobs in the past. Waiter, retail, manual labor, data entry, admin assistant, etc. the list is long, and though I thought a lot about being a full time musician during those times, it didn’t dictate whether or not I was happy, I’m pretty happy most of the time, it comes from within. I think it’s possible to have another job, work on art, and still maintain a healthy balance of happiness. Correlating happiness with our job, job status or success is a very American thought process, and a pretty unhealthy one I must say. American culture places too much emphasis on success, fame, wanting more, and thinking that those things will bring us happiness. Be happy with what you’re doing in the moment, if it’s art, it’ll come out in your art which is beautiful. If it’s some day job that’s a means to an end, it’ll come out in that work, and it’s still important to be happy at the end of the day. I often find myself admiring the construction worker eating lunch under a shady tree on break, not because I dream of having a job in construction, but because I’d like to believe that person is truly enjoying their quiet free moment, nourishing their bodies so they can just make it to the end of the day.
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 background and context?
Hi, I’m Nick Diaz, an artist/producer/guitarist/studio owner in Austin, TX. I’ve been playing guitar for over 30 years and have done so as a resident in Houston, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco and Austin. I was originally born in Houston but have been an Austinite for over 10 years now. I lead an all original Texas lo-fi alt pop band called Buenos Diaz and also play guitar for Texas legend Alejandro Escovedo and work live with the Texas Americana songwriter John Baumann as well. I have released 18 singles, two EPs, and four albums under the moniker Buenos Diaz and am always actively recording in my studio The Tone Shack, which is a full on workspace with all the necessary gear to make a record from top to bottom. The most recent release “Cocaine Queen” just dropped this past August, 8/5/22, on Wormhole Records out of Houston, TX. I write about real life experiences and do my best to maintain a genuineness and honestly in my songs. I’m self taught, as a musician and engineer, a road chosen because I could never afford lessons or schooling, but as a result, music has become a lifelong study and I love it! I grew up sneaking into blues clubs in Houston, performed up and down Frenchmen Street in pre Katrina New Orleans, toured the country with an MTV pop punk band in NY while honing my recording chops, and started Buenos Diaz back around 2010 in Brooklyn. I brought the project home to Texas in 2012 so it could realize it’s full potential. I’m most proud of being able to do it full time, having my own full creative work space, and all the chances I get to work with such incredibly talented musicians and songwriters. It has been and will continue to be quite the ride, full of smiles, good times, bad times, love, life, laughter, sadness, travels, friends and music lovers.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I don’t follow what most would think to be a traditional work life. I carry odd hours sometimes staying up super late after a show, and not because of partying, but because it takes time to get home, unload equipment, and wind down after being around loud venues and lots of people. Random sudden large bursts of hard work show up, and sometimes I’m learning 20 songs in a week, or running to the airport at 5 am to catch a flight to the next show. Sources of income can be inconsistent, and I do my best to juggle saving when times are good and being frugal when times are slow. There’s all kinds of back end admin work that goes into running a band, booking shows, communicating with fellow musicians about future shows, rehearsals, and the material we’re going to perform. There can be a lot of down time in the creative world too, but that time is often spent thinking about the next move, or dreaming up the next song and who would be best to play on it. When it comes to making recordings, there’s so much time, energy, and money that goes into finishing songs before they’re consumer ready.
From writing, arranging, recording a demo, getting the right players, rehearsing, recording, mixing the song (making sure each individual instrument is audible as a whole) mastering the song (making sure it’s volume ready when listened to on various systems and across multiple platforms) creating album art, printing CD’s or vinyl, paying for all of it, and then promoting it and trying to get press behind it. It’s a lot, all while trying to maintain a persona life too, hahah!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
When I lived in NY, I was lucky enough to land a gig with a nationally touring pop punk band. I love punk music, and the punk history that New York City witnessed and carries. The band ran it’s full course, top to bottom, beginning with the lead singer writing songs with a producer, they shaped a band around her, I auditioned and got the gig, we started rehearsing, playing small local shows, did some industry showcases, hopped on a national bus tour as the opener, acquired big wig management (Justin Timberlake’s manager at the time), landed a licensing/marketing deal with MTV, made a world class music video, and finally landed a record deal with Universal… all to be immediately dropped because of other conflicting business, involving both MTV and Universal, that had nothing to do with us. It was quite the ride, but as fast as we rose, we burned out just as fast too. The dissolution of the band also coincided with major changes in my personal life and saw me moving/subletting and living in over 9 apartments my last year in New York City, not a fun experience. With those two large changes I knew it was time for something different, which is when I decided to come home back to Texas and try my hand at the music scene down here. It would’ve been easy to hang it all up, and walk away from music. I mean I did what I set out to do in NY, take a ride to the top, whether it lasted forever or not, I accomplished what to some would be a fine music career. But I didn’t stop, I kept going, especially in the face of adversity, and I feel that was the moment when I started to become an honest songwriter, writing with experience. The music biz is a hellish business, I’m always waiting for the bottom to fall out, and it has. But I’m also not afraid of it and know that maybe just changing gears, maybe changing vehicles even, is all you have to do to keep going.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.buenosdiazmusic.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/buenosdiazmusic
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/buenosdiazmusic
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/buenosdiazmusic
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/buenosdiazmusic
Image Credits
Jean Jacket Photos – The Mighty Orq Guitar Photos: Baris Oztimurlenk