6 minute read
Nightly
Nightly is a part of this new generation of bands that keeps you hooked from the very first song. Made up of cousins Jonathan Capeci and Joey Beretta along with Nick Sainato, Nightly have released a steady stream of music since their 2016 debut “Honest EP”. The emerging alt-pop band seems to be on its path to success, selling out venues around the US on their own after supporting artists like The Night Game, K.Flay and The Struts. Let’s sit for a moment for a nice chat with Jonathan and Nick.
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On The Move: Hey guys! We’re happy to have you here! For those who don’t know the band yet, could you tell us more about yourself and how you started making music together?
Jonathan Capeci: We’re 2/3 of the band Nightly. My name is John, this is Nick here, Joey is somewhere else right now. Joey and I are cousins so we’ve been making music together our whole life. We met Nick in Nashville about 3 years ago, while Joey and I were looking for a drummer. We met Nick at church actually. As soon as we heard him play, we knew we wanted this guy in the band. We had to beg him for a few months and he finally gave in and joined us!
Nick Sainato: It’s a lie! (laugh) I was just playing drums around town before meeting them and I was looking to get more involved.
On The Move: Jonathan, you mentioned Joey and you being cousins. What are the pros and cons of working with your family?
Jonathan Capeci: It’s really the only thing I know. It seems normal to me. We communicate on a level that is really familiar and we instantly know what we talk about. We have a specific vocabulary. That’s the pros. I don’t think there’s any cons. Because we’re family, even though we fight, we get over it very quickly and move on.
On The Move: Why did you choose the name “Nightly”?
Jonathan Capeci: We were trying to think of band names, which is kind of hard, and one of the first songs we’ve ever wrote was called “The Night”. So we were trying to find a band name with night and then we thought about “night loves you” and we liked that phrase, so we shortened in Night.LY and then it became Nightly. The two available names were either Nightly or Mustard Nuggets so…(laugh)
On The Move: You released a new EP called “The Sound Of Your Voice” which is the follow-up of “Honest”. Can you tell us more about this new project? And what do you think is the biggest difference between those two?
Jonathan Capeci: For “Honest”, everything was done in the bedroom and from there, we’ve been growing so we step out of the bedroom to a slightly bigger studio. So we were able to experiment and expend our sound a little bit more. I think it’s a journey of where we’re going to and I think this is where this new music is going. I think the biggest difference is maybe the sonics and finding out what we like and what we don’t like through experimentation. Thematically, it’s pretty similar. The way of writing is pretty much the same. We did a circle, we started here and then tried a lot of experiments then we discovered that the way we love to do things is kind of how we started. That’s what I am most excited about with this new music, that is a concise clear vision of us and our sound. Sometimes you have to take a journey to find out you had something special where you started. “The Sound Of Your Voice” has only 5 songs but there were 25 songs that nobody has heard, that was us experimenting.
On The Move: Is there a song that you particularly feel connected to in this new EP?
Jonathan Capeci: I really love “Holding On”. There was something special about that song from the second I wrote it. I had a really rough voice memo on my phone, Joey and I wrote. I knew that it could be something special and it took a lot of time to get it to where it is now, but I remember sending it to my manager, to Nick and saying that I think it’s something sick. I probably have written 100 songs so when you have moments like that, it feels special. “Miss You Like Hell” is another one and still probably my favorite song to play live.
Nick Sainato: I think “S.T.A.Y” is my favorite song to play live. John gives me like a 3-second drum solo so …(laugh)
On The Move: You all moved to Nashville. Do you feel like moving there affected your craft and the way you create music?
Jonathan Capeci: Everybody is really talented in Nashville. Almost everyone I mean (laugh). It’s like the A-game. You can go to any bar and the band playing would probably be better than 90% of any band you’ve ever seen - and it’s just a country cover band. And those guys would play so professionally and it sounds crazy but there are some of the best musicians in the world there. It makes you step up your game. People are really accustomed to the music lifestyle and going to shows and you have to really stand out in order to make a mark there. There are shows everyday, every night. For that reason, everybody’s expectation is so much higher. It takes something truly great to make an impact. In a way, it’s like training with people that are better than you, so it makes you better.
Nick Sainato: There are more like-minded, younger people. I’m from Ohio and before I moved there were not many people my age who wanted to make music. It just helps to push you, grow a community, build relationships, get advice and try to be better.
On The Move: How different do you think the Nashville music scene is compared to the one in LA?
Jonathan Capeci: The way I perceive it, I find that Nashville is super professional in their musicianship and technical abilities and skill levels. They have some of the best players I feel. It’s hard to explain but in their songwriting, like they have colleges where you can get a degree in songwriting. It’s weird in a way because it’s almost taught to you in a textbook way, like this is the chorus, this is how you write… they are very skilled but to me - and I mean it as both positive and negative - but LA has a lot less of technical playing skills. Or music knowledge of theory, and all the rules. People can go to school for jazz and know all these chords but people in LA don’t have that - as much as in Nashville - but they have more creativity because they don’t know the rules. I feel like when you know the rules you play with them and you don’t do weird things that might turn out cool. You should never put a guitar through a tape recorder and then play it back, it sounds crappy... stuff like that where people are more free. So, people in LA are more free and experimental. The marriage of the two worlds would be perfect. You want to be able to play well but also have a free spirit. It’s a massive generalization but it’s how I see the difference.
Nick Sainato: There are a lot of LA guys who are moving to Nashville and a tons of Nashville people who are moving to LA because they’re getting sick of where they’ve been for the past 10 years.
Jonathan Capeci: I think you need that balance. You need somebody in the room that is not afraid to break the rules but you also need somebody that knows sometimes when a creative person write a 8-minute long song, how to be like “throw this garbage away”.
On The Move: Do you have artists that inspire you in terms of live shows?
Jonathan Capeci: Personally, I love going to shows. Joey doesn’t (laugh). I remember early on, there was a band back in the day called Mutemath, I saw them in 2004 and they put on an insane show. There are a couple of bands that do a great job like twenty one pilots, they are insane. It’s nuts and so fun. Then two years ago, we played at a festival and the headliner was U2 and for me it was really amazing! Those are my favorite songs of all time.
Nick Sainato: To me, it’s Coldplay. I’ve never seen them live but I saw the videos (laugh). Anytime they play somewhere, we are somewhere else and it’s never lined up. I am waiting for the day I’ll finally be able to see them!
On The Move: Who are the artists you are listening to at the moment?
Jonathan Capeci: I think in the van there has been a lot of Kacey Musgraves, Maggie Rogers, and a lot of Coldplay.
Nick Sainato: Our tour manager runs the playlists in the van (laugh)
INTERVIEW BY PAM charbit PHOTOS by catie laffoon
