We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nick Ray. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nick below.
Hi Nick, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
As a teenager, I discovered music through my father. He would play music from the late 50s and 60s like buddy holly and Elvis. That inspired me. Then I heard bands from the 90s like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Soundgarden. That was another wave of inspiration. After hearing these bands I knew I wanted to become a songwriter
Nick, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I got into music from being around music from my father. He bought me my first guitar. Then he taught me a couple chords. Then from there I took over. I taught myself how to play more complex music, then I moved on to songwriting and production. At the age of 15 I was recording my own music at home. Experimenting with 8 track tape and digital recorders. Over years I became more advanced moving to bigger digital consoles and then producing music for others. This also helped me in my own recordings and songwriting.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Freedom. Freedom of expression, freedom of my time and the freedom to choose what I work on. I think we all long to be free in many areas.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
There were times I could afford to rent a studio or pay for a mix or couldn’t afford equipment. So I worked undesirable jobs to make this happen. We all do. There were times I didn’t have recording equipment and I had to pay for studio time. I didn’t make great money. So after paying rent and groceries I would put aside 50 bucks until I could afford to pay for studio time. Then I would record one song, then go back and do it again. No matter how bad it got, I always found a way to do music.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nickrayband.com
- Instagram: https://Www.instagram.com/nickraymusic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nickraymusic
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/nickraynola
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/nickray
- Soundcloud: https://www.SoundCloud.com/nickrausic
Image Credits
Photo by: Kenny Lass