Interview by Jeriah Fredericks

Photography courtest of Nik Dawson and LABLE

Time really is flying past us. It felt like just yesterday that I first chatted to Nik Dawson via video call - a conversation which is probably still one of my favourite interviews.

But the world keeps spinning away, the years fly by, and the artist known as nexa reached out to us again, this time to let us know about their upcoming debut album, upcoming nobody.

After listening to the project a couple thousand times I jumped on a call with nexa to catch up on life, and discuss the new phase in their artistry

Catch me up, how's the past year been?

Actually no lemme be real - It's been a little crazy because there's been so much change happening over and over again that it's just a little bit difficult to say it's been good because I haven't been, like, present enough, but...yeah, it's been crazy I guess.

From ‘Picnic’ until now, what's happened that has culminated in this body of work?

I think the fact that I'm lowkey taking myself seriously. Like I've taken my music seriously and I've taken my art seriously…in separate spheres. But recently I’ve been holistically coming into my creativity. And so to take that seriously I’ve had to allocate time every day to be creative, even if it's just writing something or painting or like fixing vocals. I even learned how to mix my own vocals. So that too has changed.

I just think I'm wanting to be part of the process more, and not to say that I wasn't part of the process of Picnic, but I was very much like lax about giving specific things to other people. So for example, Chaylon did my mixing for Picnic and contributed some of the instrumentation, Vriety did the same thing.

But for Upcoming Nobody, it was solely just me and Vriety, like that was it. Putting the music together, writing, also mixing and mastering - the first time I sat in the mastering session and I want to leave so bad

I think that's what's changed. It’s that I'm way more involved and I take this shit seriously now, because I understand how much time it takes now.

So would you say it's more of a curated album?

No…not even. I think it's more of not curating an idea per se, but curating the artist that I know that I am. Because also I feel like on Picnic there was a sound that was clear, but I was trying different things.

With Upcoming Nobody there's a very thorough, consistent feeling that I feel is very me. So I'm kind of maybe curating myself more as an artist, yes, but ideas and concepts as a whole, I don't really think so.

I’ve been listening to Upcoming Nobody and I love it. It made me go back to Picnic to compare the two. On Picnic, there was a darker sound, and there was almost a yearning, it was more you wanting something but there was a conflict. On Upcoming Nobody, it gives me the vibe of a release- not exactly affirmation, but more an acceptance of what is and whatever may come. What do you think, did I hit the mark?

Oof, okay. This is gonna be a long story cut very short.

At the beginning of this year, I was still working my 9 to 5 and I was deeply unhappy, to the point where I didn't feel like I had time to be nexa. I didn't have time to even just pick up a pen and just draw. I felt like a lot of who I was was being taken away by adding to, unfortunately, other people's musical careers and making money for a corporate place, and it was just very difficult.

I think there was a moment where I was like ‘I can't keep doing this because if I keep doing this, I'm low-key going to lose my mind and then I'm not going to be able to come back to music and I'm not going to be able to come back to art’. That's how I felt.

And then I did The Artist’s Way and I started going on hikes with my friends and I started distancing myself a lot from what work was making me do versus like who I knew I was. There was a very defined moment where I was like ‘Actually, no, on the realest shit, I'm waking up every day, pretending to be something that I'm not’ in the sense of work making me angry and unproductive and unfocused, and I'm not that type of person.

And so I kind of just locked myself into putting time aside, the same way I had time for work, I put time aside for my art. And then the time became increasingly for my art. When I realised that I feel so much more comfortable just doing that, then I resigned.

I think it was just accepting that if work is not working, but everything around it is and everything around it is moving me into spaces that I want to be in, helping me meet people that I want to work with and also just giving me random opportunities, I'm gonna follow that.

So when I started making the decision to leave corporate, everything just started moving so fast. And also around this time, Vriety and I started doing this thing where like every Wednesday, he would come to mine and we were just gonna make music. It didn’t matter if it was good or not. It's just about practising, you know, just being able to be in the moment, just listen really attentively, and then just make something. That got really, really easy. Every Wednesday there was something, until this album was made, and I was like ‘Oh, would you look at that!’

I think because of how easy it came, the only point of it was, to be in my own energy creating things. Like, the only premise was that I wanted to be comfortable being able to create again. And I think that's where the acceptance is because all of this music that is in this album was me going, ‘I'm low-key a fucking great artist, and I have stories to tell, and wow, look how, much my voice has grown, look how much my bass playing has grown, and I can mix my own vocals!’

Let’s talk about art for art’s sake - you mentioned it in your press kit and it’s been somewhat prevalent in my sphere these days. How do you remind yourself of why you started doing this and how do you get back to that spark, in this world of pushing for engagement on socials and trying to sell yourself as an artist?

I remind myself that all of this shit is fickle, and seeing a post doing really well is only gonna make me feel happy for that day that I posted it. And then I have to think about the next thing that I have to post to keep that engagement up. And that run of the mill, that chase, makes me think of how I used to feel when I'm at work and I don't ever want to be in that building or in that space again.

So I constantly remind myself, every time something like that kind of eats at me, I remember that that's what I've chosen not to feel, you know?

Someone asked me, ‘How do you make time to be an artist if you're doing a 9 to 5?’

You just make it. You just do. The same way you could not do it and nothing could change, it's the same way you could do it and possibly something could work out, or something could fix it for the better.

You remind yourself that that's not who you want to be, and that's not the goal, you know? The goal is to be in people's playlist, and the goal is to be an access point to also be creative.

Being popular and having likes on a story which is helping the promo is cool, but it's not part of the steps I'm trying to take which I'm gonna celebrate.

So then what is the goal for yourself as a musician?

The goal is to firstly just make sure that what I love doing is able to sustain me - and that doesn't have to be luxury. I just want to be able to wake up in the morning and say that ‘I'm performing tonight, and I sold a painting, and I'm chilled for this month’, and not have to think about anything past that. I really want just that to be my life. I don't want this up and down shit.

I mean it would be cool. I would love to do more gigs, I’d love to be a little bit more well known, but it's because I want to share my music - that's actually the goal.

I know that it's good. I know that it makes me feel like I'm not alone, and that there's a little bit more beauty than all the shit that I'm hearing and seeing in other places that I don't want to be in, you know? So, yeah, that's the goal.

And also, I acknowledge that the people that listen and gravitate towards my music, towards Chaylon's music, towards Vriety’s music - All of us really appreciate the effort it takes to not only make things, but to be present in making those things. So, again, the goal is to just be around more people like that. And then grow those spaces, you know?

That's something that you, that LABLE does really well - the music that you guys make, it just, I don't know, it just makes you present.Let’s actually chat more about that - we spoke about the family last time, but what has changed in the past year for LABLE?

It's almost always this question of ‘Is LABLE a band or like, what is LABLE?’ And then we always have to remind people that, LABLE is a label - and not even in the traditional sense of a music label. We've just decided because all of us are really good at music, but all of us are really good at other things too, that it just becomes this hub of creative exchange.

So for example, I know that when it comes to promotional aspects and advertising and all this admin, I'm usually the one that will be willing to show up for everyone. I'm the one that reminds everyone ‘Please go register your music, please give me your latest logo’, you know, all of these things. and then Chaylon is obviously the more technical aspect because he's deep in that shit and Vriety with videography and editing and all of that.

It's one of those things where we've all decided that LABLE is one of those things where we’re committed to growing each other's art.

Also because we understand how important it is when we create things together, when it comes to thinking of bringing other people to collaborate is something we want to do, but we want to make sure that, again, it's part of the feeling. We would love to bring people and have people be a part of LABLE in that sense that also wanting to be very present, but also wanting to participate and like collectively like help, you know? Because we're not like an artist team, we are a team of artists.

With our generation of creatives there’s definitely a struggle to live comfortably off of our creative pursuits. How do you think we can get to the point at which we can just be okay? Without having to sell our soul for 8 hours of the day and then scraping to find the motivation to get back to the things we actually enjoy?

That's such a loaded question but such a fair one. The only thing that comes to mind is this conversation I keep having with Vriety, that there's a clear separation between us at the bottom level, and then there's an elevator, and then there's everyone at the top, right?

They're the ones that make money, they're the ones that dictate how much money goes where, whatever, whatever. And I feel like the only way to get those people's attention or for them to even want to send down an elevator is for all of us to get our bearings together and work together.

It'll be in those spaces with all of us who are working together where they’ll have to send someone down because then they're like ‘What are they doing over there?’

I think I think it's just a matter of, one, creatives and artists need to genuinely understand

that all of us are trying to make a bag, but if we try to make a bag like that, we need to, firstly, work together and not run off favours. I'm gonna put my 100% in for an exchange of 100%.

So I feel like the only way that that's gonna happen is if all of us collectively put our pride aside, and do the things we say we are good at. Because, again, I feel like it's the ego thing. It's the thing of ‘I know that I'm great, but if I work with you, if I share my resources with you, what's gonna happen to you? Are you gonna take my opportunity? Are you gonna make me look bad?’ It's all of these, like, extra things and I get you, fair, but take the chance. I think people need to be more open and then they need to show up more for other people, you know?

Can you tell me about your art? You mentioned that you’ve been painting a lot more - how long have you been at it for?

I mean, I think I've been making art for longer than I've been making music to be honest.

I was that little kid in preschool and creche doing art class, in primary school I was doing art class, I was in high school doing art until matric. So yeah, I’ve been doing this.

How does making art inform your making of music? And if you hit a creative block in one sphere, can you tap into the other to release that block?

I think the way that my music in general, not just mine, but music in general informs my art is that it kind of brings me above what my feelings make me feel like. If my feelings are gravity, I'm able to put that aside and just listen and kind of feel through the paint or whatever I'm using.

But I think the reason why the symbiosis between my music and my art works is because both times I'm just listening and being present. I don't think that at the beginning of any song or painting that I'm doing that I'm consciously aware of what I'm going to do. It's only up until the point where I'm kind of free to do my own thing, then I'm like, okay, this is what it is.

I don't think that my art informs my music a lot. I think that I can represent my music a lot in my art because of colour and like shape and whatever, but I haven't been able to do the converse where I look at something and I can hear it.

I would love to figure that out. I wanna do that reverse synesthesia, because I feel like I have the one way, but not the other way. I think that’s how they kind of work together a lot of the time.

So then what colour or landscape does your music evoke?

I think that my music in general gives, like, dark emerald green. Because there's a large essence of, I'm not gonna say morbidness, but there is this very deep darkness that comes from my music.

But then there's this thing that green feels like it does, where it kind of gives you a sense of comfort that things are happening. Green gives uncomfortable growth, but you know it's happening, so it's fine.

And then I think that Upcoming Nobody gives like sky blue, like this misty gray blue, where we’re kind of coming into an open space where things are brighter again. But we're working through it, you know, we're walking through the mist. We’re hopeful, but we like doing this. Bright, but it's subdued.

How did you go about curating the tracklist of the album? Okei as an introduction to the album set the mood for the project, and then I thought MHM felt like the outro, only to surprise us with a sweeter end as the last track, which tied everything together so perfectly. Can you tell us more about the process?

Like I said earlier the process of making all of this music was pretty much that every Wednesday Vriety and I would just make music - it wasn't chronological, it just kind of happened.

a sweeter end, I've had for maybe a year and a half. It's a voice note on my phone that we just kind of like EQed. And even then, that song is - that original song will never see the light of day, because the practice that we did, I think we were rehearsing for like a gig or something.

The original song was cool but while we were trying to rehearse it I was like ‘I don't think I like this anymore, but I'm just gonna record it just so that I can like see how I feel about it’

And I was actually gonna end upcoming nobody with MHM, but I think in true nexa fashion I went with a sweeter end. Ugli Days ended in a voice note, and Picnic starts with the voice note song. So I'm kind of just trying to, you know, keep a little bit of magic.

okei and Save The Day were the last 2 songs that I ended up doing. okei was made the day that I handed in my resignation! I just was like ‘Fuck it, there's nothing, there's nothing left to lose!’.

My favourite line in okei is ‘pray tell a sense of purpose with nothing to prove’.

I've come to terms with the fact that this is what I'm meant to do, and so I don't need to prove it to anyone. I'm just gonna do it and figure it out.

I agree in the sense that it sets the tone for what I'm trying to say with upcoming nobody. Even with the title I'm telling you ‘I don't care if you think I'm no one. But I'm still gonna do this thing’

I think it was just how I wanted it to start, in the sense of what do I want this album to feel like? That's why okei was the 1st one. I think, um, Nevermine and Nik No Pain was a call back to what I know people are used to hearing me sing. I think that nevermine is Picnic’s younger sister, and Nik No Pain is Ugli Days’ older brother.

I tried to kind of see what I was going for, but also trying to be authentic in where I am now, and trying to carry that forward. And then I think the transition after upcoming nobody into late stay, into sombre is very much like my own personal journey with art in general.

Sometimes I wake up and I'm ‘this is fucking horrible. The world feels like it's ending, but I still need to keep going’. And then some days it feels like ‘I really want to keep painting. I really want to keep making the song, but like it's getting late.’ And kind of like hang this shit up right now, but I don't want to do that because we're almost there. save the day is where you wake up and you're like, ‘Fuck, thank God I get to do this every day!’ It's very much that cycle of being an artist

So then what can we expect from the rollout? What can we expect from everything?

From the thesis of art for art’s sake and falling in love with the process, a lot of the content that's gonna come after the album is out is going to be like real-time performance art.

Also in tandem with the album I'm just gonna be sharing a lot more of my visual artistry this time. I feel like I never had the opportunity to show this part of myself, and ironically, it's such a big part of myself. Like I said, I feel like it's even bigger than music sometimes.

So I'm just excited to see how people relate to not only what they see from what I can make, but now, what they can feel from what I make, you know?

So you’re giving us a full view into the world of Nexa, and contextualising it for us?

Yeah. Because on some real shit, I'm so over this mysterious, blasé, nonchalant schtick. I care very, very deeply about the work that I make, and I'm going to be that person that's like ‘look, I painted this! And the song that you're hearing now while you’re looking at my art, I did that too!’

I'm embracing the fact that if I'm gonna be or do anything, I'm gonna have to show the fuck up. Even if somebody thinks I'm a nobody - I’m an upcoming nobody.

I can't wait to experience other artists not giving a fuck about the outside noise, and putting more into who they are, because, again, we can say we can separate the art from the artists - but the art comes from somewhere. And I think it means more when you understand the context.

We always try and end our conversations with artists off by telling them that “this isn’t just an interview,its the start of a relationship”, and it was so rewarding to see that come full circle, in a conversation that felt less like an interview and more like a catch up with an old friend.

This is the first ‘follow up’ interview I’ve conducted, but I sincerely hope it isn’t the last. As with LABLE, we’re just trying to grow each other’s art, while building a family of creatives who are in it for the same reasons we are.

And that family keeps growing every day. So if you want to be a part of it, all you have to do is reach out. Because at the end of the day we’re all just upcoming nobodies, making art for art’s sake.

The upcoming nobody that is nexa

The VERVE Roundup Vol. 9