THE NEXXT The Nexxt Chapter... When did you first get into music? Wake: I think the first time I played guitar I was 12 at church. They were giving free lessons to kids and I went and didn’t stick with it. It wasn’t till a few years later that I got really serious about playing and performing. When we were in high school Aidan and I asked Snacks if he wanted to join our band and he was like “sure? When do you guys start?” And I was like right now, grab your stuff were going to my moms to write songs. Aidan...well when Wake came to me and said that we were gonna start a band I was all in! Of course then it hit me that I didn’t know how to play an instrument. So I went out and bought a bass and a guitar and I learned to play. Next thing I knew, I was hooked! Who or What inspired you to pursue a career in music? Wake: Not to be arrogant; but I was 17 and I watched the guys on the stage at a show an thought “you know what? I can do that better.” So I walked into my dad’s office one day, I sat down and said “Dad we’re going to start a band.” My dad who was on the phone told the guy he’d call him back and he looked at me and said “Son you guys can’t play any instruments. How can you be a band?” And I just said “don’t worry about it, we’ll figure it out later.” We started out wanting so bad to be the chili peppers, man Aidan an I always had our shirts off. Let
me tell ya if you’re ever thinking “is it a good idea to play a show in your underwear”, I can assure you the answer is fucking no mate. We used to try and just be as high energy, balls to the wall intense as possible. But now we have learned that that’s not authentic, not every song needs you to be full insanity. Sometimes you need to back off and get present in the moment. For me I go to a different place during each song, I find the site of the what caused the me to write those words. And the thing is I fearlessly go there no matter what, whether it’s sex, depression, drugs or loneliness, I go there for that moment and relieve it. That’s the only way you can do this is to go there and be honest about it because in this world we want to be superficial but this can’t be. This has to hurt because it’s honesty and people deserve my honesty. Aidan: Well first I want to say, that I have to disagree with my brother here, playing music in your underwear in front of a few hundred people is a great time! For me though music just made so much sense, I started listening to music like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin and I was completely blown away by the sounds they were making. Then I started finding more bands and genres that just were just mind blowing. The first of which was the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who has been the biggest band in my musical journey. I remember listening to the way Flea and John Frusciante played with such passion and love. The blend of so many different styles
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