Sit Down With An Artist: Nickon Faith

Journey into Music

1. Can you share a bit about your musical background and how you first got into producing and DJing?

Hey Scarlett, many thanks for having me do this interview, right I’ll get straight to it. So in terms of musical background it goes pretty far back, I dabbled in a few instruments when I was younger. Played a bit of Cello when I was super young (although that didn’t last too long). I think there was a lot of music around the house also as my dad would be into Pink Floyd and Jean Michel Jarre and stuff, so it kind of etched into me subconsciously. 

But it really clicked for me when I started drumming, got very obsessed over it, and made me want to explore more/piano/guitar etc… and subsequently making my own tracks. I did loads of projects over my teens, being a singer songwriter, forming bands, dabbling with electronic music in ableton as well. 

I think the production stuff clicked and resonated with me a lot, I made quite a few alias’s before I landed on Nickon Faith. Probably my best one being “Sakurabeatniks” where I made loads of emotional synthwave kind of lofi tunes mixed with guitar noodling. I was doing these two alias’ at the same time, but then Nickon Faith took a life of its own and I absolutely ran with it. It’s been a  great journey so far, but I do miss my old alias’ from time to time, it’s hard to find the time to focus on so many different projects.

Distinct Sound

2. Your sound is described as lush etheric soundscapes coupled with energetic grooves. How did you develop this unique sonic identity?

I think this sound comes from a lot of the stuff I listen to, or used to listen to when I was younger. A lot of these really ambient sound-scapey rock tracks and electronica. Coupled with me kind of being quite an emotional & hyper sensitive person internally, and also getting into the dance music scene where it’s big energy and beats. It’s like a bit of a synergy that resonated with me and how I like to approach making music as I was moving through my life. I love ethereal emotional ambient sounds as it’s just something you can get lost in and feels very expressive, and I feel there’s a lot in my brain to express that I’m not sure how to in normal life circumstances, so I guess I naturally gravitate towards that.

3. Who are some of your biggest influences in the scene?

I’ve had so many people I would say have influenced me in the electronic/dance sphere, especially as I have moved through different phases of my life and sonic explorations. In school days I was super into Four Tet, Bonobo, Floating Points and the likes and they were like my main source of inspo. But now there’s just so many amazing artists I’ve discovered as I’ve moved along. I even find a lot of my mates who produce inspiring as there’s so many absurdly talented more under the radar artists too.

Career Highlights

4. Your debut album, Circumambient, was heralded as a beaming success by Mixmag. How did it feel to receive such recognition?

I think having that article was really nice and a bit of an affirmation for me that maybe I’m on the right path and my music has some sort of value in this world aha! So big love to Niamh Ingram for writing that article. I think it helped me a lot and gave me a lot of confidence to keep pushing through and try and improve my music and stuff. As before things like that say having an article on Mixmag about your music felt like some really super elusive thing that only happens to people who’ve “made it”, and it’s sort of thing you fantasise about when you’re younger. Seeing that actualised broke down some of the walls that hold this paradigm of “I can’t do this thing”, or “I’m not good enough” I kind of had in my mind. So yeah you know what that was a great moment. The album itself could have been better in my personal opinion, but it’s still a body of work I’m pretty proud of, especially at the time, and helped me express a lot of things I was feeling back then.

5. You've performed at festivals and venues like El Dorado,Boomtown, and EGG. What has been your most memorable performance to date? And do you prefer a day or night time slot? 

I’ve had a lot of memorable gigs, Boomtown was super special to me as it’s a place I’ve always dreamed of playing, having been there twice when I was in my uni days, and made some lifelong friendships there. 

A special mention to my first performance at Deevstock (who actually went on to run the stage at Boomtown years later). I actually have so much love for those guys and what they have is super special and being a part of their crew has really made me feel fulfilled in so many ways.

I did a gig recently for Warmup supporting Just Her that got me super emotional, that was one of the best experiences of my life, everyone was super locked in for the entire 2 hours absolutely loving it, and had the smoke machine button at hand so spammed it almost every drop which was fun. I’m super grateful to Aidan and Amy for giving me that opportunity. I don't think I’ll ever forget that one!

I think it’s apples and oranges with the day time vs night time slots as they both allow you to bring a different energy, but I’d say day time slots have been a bit more enjoyable for me recently!

Industry Support

6. You've gained support from artists like John Digweed and HAAi, and had a milestone guest mix on Digweed's Transitions radio show. And labels like Mess Express, Manual Smiles and Troubleshoot Recordings. How has this impacted your journey?

Massively to put it frank, I think getting invited to do a guest mix on digweed’s transitions was actually something kind of life changing in a lot of ways. It also plays into the validation you are on the right path and breaking your limiting beliefs thing that I mentioned re the Mixmag article. I think it opened up a world of people to my music and so many have been so receptive as a result. Getting recognition from people you genuinely respect who’ve been through the trials and tribulations and understand the feelings associated with this journey is very nice and re-assuring.

In terms of the labels, I think every release, especially the more recent ones, have a bit of a story to them, and taken on a life of their own, and super happy with the labels that have taken them on board, because they’re all like puzzle pieces of the whole picture.

Events

7. You co-run the event “Acid Faith” with Acid James. What inspired you to start this event, and what sets it apart from other events in the scene?

I think Acid Faith came about as me and my friend Acid James kind of wanted a space to be able to play the music that we love and share that eclecticness and just love for general arty ravey psychedelic weirdness. It’s a combo of our artist names. We don’t really have too strict genre bounds, I’d say we’re just doing it purely for the love, and it’s a space for us to sort of express our artistic ideas, as we’re slowly turning it into a label also, and get people on board who we resonate with who play great music.

8. What has been the most rewarding part of organising and hosting Acid Faith events?

I think we have made a lot of really cool connections from Acid Faith, hosted some really cool parties and collaborations with other collectives and had this really cool opportunity in which we played El Dorado as our Acid Faith collective. We have been on a little hiatus at the moment as we’ve been discussing ideas and focusing on other projects, but we will be back soon!

Upcoming Performances

9. Congratulations on being booked to play at BoomTown Festival! How did the set go?

It was a great set I think, quite a trippy one. Loved the Garden Centre stage, always amazing vibes there. I kind of felt a lot of freedom in that set and just ended up playing a load of my unreleased tunes towards the end and seeing how people would feel to those, whereas other sets are a bit more methodical this one felt more artsy, slap paint on the wall and see sort of thing.

Future Projects

10. What can we expect from Nickon Faith in the coming months?

Working on a lot right now to be honest, I’ve not really discussed this before but creating my own label currently, most of the graphics are there just need to do a bunch of admin aha. But yes my 2nd album will be on that label, as well as other releases I have in mind from other artists too. Super excited to get that all up and running, that might be next year's big project though really!

11. Are there any new releases that you’re particularly excited about?

I've recently released a collaboration with a very good friend of mine who’s artist name is “Incupa97”. Extremely passionate music lover and talented artist. Which is out now on NANCY live’s new label section 63. It’s super experimental and trippy, literally one of my favourite things I’ve ever worked on. Really tried to push the envelope with sound design and production techniques and make the wackiest thing possible and it ended up sounding amazing. Super proud of it, and feel very happy to have found such a cool label for it.

Smile High Club