Q&A: For The Wrecks’ Nick Anderson, It’s All About Intention
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY GIGI KANG ☆
WHOLEHEARTED ACCEPTANCE — defines a connection. Whether it’s a romance, a friendship, or family, understanding and being understood is liberating. In their latest single “Always, Everytime,” The Wrecks express showing up for the people who make you, and all your quirks, feel seen.
“Always, Everytime” is a lively song mirroring the jolt of energy we get from spending time with those who are like-minded. Lyrically, the first verse is flirty, relaying dialogue with someone who recognizes your humor and plays along. Nick Anderson (vocals, guitar, production) sings, “Didn’t mean to make her laugh / She said, ‘Where’d you learn to talk like that?’”
It’s characteristic of Anderson to incorporate humor in his lyrics, sharing an aspect of his personality and the rapport of the band. Previously released songs like “Out Of Style” and “Freaking Out,” and multiple music videos showcase this.
The song also acknowledges nuances of understanding. Relationships aren’t always perfect and perspectives can conflict, but the ultimate message is continued commitment. Anderson sings, “Didn’t mean to make her sad / She said, ‘No one really talks like that.’”
The Wrecks are Anderson, Nick “Schmizz” Schmidt (lead guitar), Aaron Kelley (bass), and Billy Nally (drums). “Always, Everytime” is the first single off their upcoming album, and is their first release since their album Sonder in 2022.
I spoke with Anderson about the consuming process of completing the upcoming album. From our time together, it’s clear that he doesn’t just complete his work—he breathes it. It’s not lost on him that the invaluable purpose of music is connection, whether that’s with the listeners who choose to support you, or with yourself.
“We don’t bring a lot of production on the road because for me, it’s about the energy of being present,” he tells me. “I don’t want a bunch of lights behind us and we’re silhouetted and you can’t see our faces. I want to be able to see the person. It’s about connection and being present with the audience. That’s why I’m always at the edge of the stage singing to people. I get that feeling right back from them, and it’s the best thing in the world.”
LUNA: You made 19 different arrangements for “Always, Everytime.” Considering the bits and pieces that eventually made the final song, what are details or sounds you included that someone might not pick up on at first listen?
ANDERSON: That’s an interesting question. The reason for the different versions was because I kept disagreeing with myself. I think it’s a healthy part of the creative process, disagreeing with yourself. It’s how you challenge yourself. You can’t really have pride or ego around your own ideas. It just wasn’t feeling right. Sometimes in production, I’ll record myself stomping on leaves or something to get a cool texture. There are a lot of times when I’ll do something organic, or I’ll record something weird and make it sound like something else. But I don’t think this song has a lot of secrets. It’s very much what you hear is what you get.
LUNA: I like the way the song builds up. That energy matches the message of the song. It’s the same kind of energy you get from being around people who understand you and you don’t have to overthink around them.
ANDERSON: I think that comes with writing music and lyrics at the same time. The melody informs the lyrics and vice versa for me. Typically, the words that I’m singing match the emotion of the melody because they usually are written at the same time and I want to say it a certain way.
LUNA: The music video for “Always, Everytime” isn’t out yet, but from the visuals we’ve seen so far, there’s a domestic feeling to it with window blinds as the cover, an alarm clock, and the band animated on the cover of a record in the corner of someone’s room. Tell me about the visuals and what you’ve been working on to give the music shape.
ANDERSON: I’ve been talking a lot about intention when working on the art for this new project and the new album. The first thing I thought was, “What’s more intentional than taking a photo that recognizes it is within the confines of a photo?” For instance, if Instagram crops our profile picture to be a circle, let’s shoot a photo where we’re within that circle. Same for a vinyl or a square image. It’s like, “Let’s put ourselves in an actual square environment so we have to fill the space exactly and not be cropped.”
Then, I was tasked with doing a visualizer for the song. When we took those press photos of us in the square, in the circle, or those different environments, we swapped the camera out with a video camera and just hit record. So we had the same setup, but then I’m singing the song. I was able to swap out the static image of my face with the video, kind of blur the edges, and make it look real. A lot of people think it’s AI, but it’s not. It’s just a lot of After Effects, DaVinci, YouTube tutorials, and late nights for me (laughs).
It sparked from one idea and then it turned into another. I’m not very good at figuring out the whole concept at once. I figure it out as we go. So that’s how we got to those visuals of [the band] in other things. I saw that alarm clock at HomeGoods, and I was like, “What if we were in that thing?” So I shot it on my iPhone, tested it out on my laptop, and it looked awesome.
It’s an ongoing concept, but I know that it’s about intention. It’s about being a bit trapped, thematically. It’s being stuck in these environments but also being surrounded by it. Whether that be stuck with the memory of someone and you keep seeing them in places, and they’re kind of trapped in your everyday appliances or in things around you. Or, if you feel that way yourself, like you’re still stuck in all those different places.
LUNA: “Always, Everytime” is the first single off of the upcoming album you’ve been working on for a while. Where in that timeline did the song come about?
ANDERSON: Last. It was the last song written. The nugget of the idea came quickly, and it kind of goes like that sometimes. I’ve also been working on the new music for a very long time and a lot of the songs are spread out by months and months. But “Always, Everytime” was the most recent one, and I probably started it last spring. So there’s quite a bit of time in between.
LUNA: Working on bigger projects, I always find it helpful to work on smaller things along the way. It’s like productive procrastination to keep the momentum going and refresh my brain. Working on the album, do you find you’re like that too, or are you more of a head down, blood, sweat, and tears as needed type of person?
ANDERSON: I’m definitely both. I don’t have the self-discipline to pull myself away from it. And I don’t have the gift of knowing when to walk away either. So for me, it’s very much head down, blood, sweat, and tears. Get it done. Do 1,000 versions. Work for 19 hours and it doesn’t feel like you did anything. Throw it away and try again. But also, I find that I work best when I’m able to fill all my cups creatively. So I love making videos. I love making visuals. I love working in other programs, whether it’s After Effects or Premiere or Photoshop. That’s been really fun.
Also, being creative with our social media and replying to people online, like turning their comments into a narrative. It’s like doing games with our fans online and building fake narratives on our Instagram stories—things like that are a really fun creative outlet.
Touring is another one. By the time I go on tour, I sleep a ton because I’m so exhausted. Touring is actually my time to relax. That’s when the other guys step up in a big way and they run the show. I get to sleep, heal my voice, perform, and go to bed. So that’s its own version of stepping away from it, getting a break, but still being productive. I’m happiest when I’m being productive, but sometimes that productivity can be toxic if there isn’t enough of those other cups being filled.
LUNA: I feel like your subconscious does a lot of the work when you step away from something and focus on another thing. The wheels are still turning. When you come back, things are a bit more clear.
ANDERSON: Certainly. It’s almost like cleansing any bad energy around self-loathing or hating an idea. When you walk away, you cleanse all those thoughts—maybe you’re seeing it in a certain unhealthy, negative way. You listen to it a couple of weeks later and you’re like, “Actually, I like this. This isn’t as bad as I thought it was. I was just in a really bad headspace. I was just feeling negative and I was projecting that negativity onto this art.”
That can make for good art. It can also make for 19 versions of the same song (laughs). There’s a balance, but I agree. The subconscious, at the very least, goes, “We’ll take this and we’re going to put this away. We’re going to dissipate these negative connotations you have attached to the song.” There’s an impatience to negativity and I think there’s patience to excitement. Granted, excitement can make you want to rush into things. But when you’re in a negative headspace, you’re not going to be as charitable with your own ideas. You’re quick to go, “No, this sucks. I hate it.” I think giving yourself time to cleanse those thoughts—becoming more willing to accept the things you don’t like about it, coming up with a plan to fix or make it what you want it to be and be excited about it—that’s the healthiest part of walking away from it.
LUNA: Now that you’re approaching album release and the first single is out, do you feel like you’re able to celebrate more and leave that grueling work behind?
ANDERSON: I have not mastered the art of stopping or resting on my laurels. We do make a note to celebrate releases and celebrate milestones, like the tour being announced. We take a moment because it never ends. You keep going. When you’re in school, the report card tells you whether or not you did well. There’s a definitive threshold. And that doesn’t really happen as much [in music]. Like, if a post does really well online, no one shows up with a ribbon. The best thing you can do, whether you sell 5,000 records or 50,000 records, is celebrate that. Announcing the tour is a moment to celebrate, or releasing a song. It’s not about a certain amount of views. It’s more about seeking out to do something, and here it is—let’s celebrate that.
LUNA: One thing I like in your songwriting is that you’ll say something gut wrenching very casually. Like in “Unrequited” where you say, “I brought your earrings back to your house.” The image of that whole scene is simple enough, but it’s hurtful. While “Always, Everytime” is more of a fun song, I feel the same about the lyric, “She said, ‘No one really talks like that.’” Are there any songwriting techniques you play around with or is it more intuitive for you?
ANDERSON: It’s entirely intuitive. Breaking it down almost would break the magic of it. I think that I could do the intellectual work of why certain instincts come up, but sometimes it’s not helpful to know. Once you peel the curtain back, you start to recognize your own moves which is not always helpful. It’s a really intuitive thing. If it’s a good lyric, I typically will chuckle to myself, for whatever reason. I think it feels like getting away with something, like turning a phrase or writing something that resonates with me. If it makes me laugh or it makes me smile, that’s usually a sign that I’m onto something.
LUNA: Speaking of “Unrequited” and previously released songs, I’m sure they’ll make an appearance in the live shows coming up soon. Have you guys started prepping?
ANDERSON: We have rehearsals starting. We’re trying to vote within our band what old songs we’re going to play. We had fans vote on Instagram and the consensus was all over the place, so we’re going through those. We’re going to play two new songs. We’re so excited.
The Super Half-Marathon is such a fun event because everyone plays into the bit and shows up in running gear. We only did it one time last year and people immediately got it. It’s great to play those clubs again and be in small rooms and kind of reward those fans who get tickets that quickly. It’s going to be a lot of running for us because we’re doing the whole country this time. So mainly, it’s not a lot of rehearsing this week. It’s a lot of cardio. Maybe at some point we’ll squeeze in some actual rehearsal playing together, but I’ll be on the treadmill while singing.
For the INSIDE: OUTSIDE tour, it’s hard for me to even picture it because it’s bigger than I imagined. Our last tour in 2022, that was the size I thought the band was going to be. I never saw us bigger than that. Not that I didn’t want it, but I never envisioned it. All my favorite bands growing up were that size. I didn’t like any bands who could play bigger rooms than that. It was like too many people knew about it and I preferred a community that was smaller. So if I knew someone else who liked that artist, I had an instant connection with them. I could feel like, “They’ll get me.”
I didn’t realize that my creative DNA or goal DNA was built on that size. I had no idea until we reached it. And then I went, “I don’t see it anymore.” I had this clear thing that I saw—I was like, “That’s what we’re going to do.” Then when we reached it, I had to recalibrate. It’s been a hard process because you only make the right decision when you see it. So it has been a moment of forcing it, like, “Alright, let’s just book the big rooms, start selling tickets, let the pressure come from the expectation, and let me prove myself.” And now suddenly I’m seeing it again.
LUNA: Live shows are what makes it all worth it on both ends. The artist and the listeners both get to make memories with the music that they feel understands them.
ANDERSON: I didn’t get to go to a lot of shows growing up, but I did go to three or four when I was 18 or 19. I remember the feeling of [being] in a crowd and everyone’s singing along to a song with you. There’s a term for that, it’s really beautiful—collective effervescence. It’s where you’re in a crowd and everyone’s singing along but for you, it was such a singular experience; then to be in a room with a bunch of people who get it, there’s no better feeling. That’s why I always loved bands that size. Now to be able to provide that feeling for other people—we see it.
