Script by Sylvia Cunningham; Interview by Shemona Singh
It’s been close to two years since the members of the American rock band “A Rocket to the Moon” announced they would be parting ways. Since the band’s break up, the lead vocalist Nick Santino has been performing solo.
“When I was writing songs with the band, it was kind of hard to tell your side of the story on things. You could, but it was a little…sometimes difficult when you would come up to three other guys that you were writing the song with and be like ‘hey, I went through this and this and this. Like, we should write this story because it’s my life and I went through it.’ It’s hard to do that and explain those details of what happened and the story that you want to write to two or three other guys,” Santino said. “But when you’re solo, you just rack your brain of ideas and things that have happened to you.”
We're starting theme nights at the Roadshow. Tonight is Sunglass night in Hamden CT at @thespacect. Don't forget em.. pic.twitter.com/t22hfdDAtX
— Nick Santino (@NickSantino) November 6, 2014
WHUS Radio sent correspondent Shemona Singh to a concert at “The Space” in Hamden, Connecticut and she had the chance to catch up with the musician before the show.
Santino says that now, as a solo artist, the process of songwriting has changed.
“For me, sometimes I would just get really self-conscious about spitting out ideas for songs, because they would shoot them down or I’d be like ‘no, that’s too dumb, I’m not going to even bring it the table.’ So I don’t have to worry about that being solo, I just have to kind of know my limits.”
“Big Skies” is the name of his 2014 debut album.
It's finally here. #BigSkies is now available so head on over to iTunes and get it for only $7.99!… http://t.co/5XrTdFHhWV
— Nick Santino (@NickSantino) May 27, 2014
“I feel like a lot of people were like ‘oh what’s he going to do without the band? He probably sucks without the band’ that thing. And I was trying to shoot that down. And maybe I’m not as good without the band, or maybe I’m better. You know, everyone has their own opinion on it, I guess,” Santino said. “My thing was I wanted people to hear the stuff and be like, ‘alright, he can do this.'”
So what’s next for Santino? Well, he says it’s hard to know. In middle school, he listened to Limp Bizkit and Blink 182. Now in his 20s, he’s gotten in touch with the music his dad raised him on.
“I’ve been listening to nothing but the classics – Tom Petty and Jackson Brown, those kind of singer/songwriters. You know, I could hear a band that changes my mind on everything tomorrow and want to write a record that fits around that sound. And I think that’s part of growing musically. You don’t really now what’s going to happen next with what you sound like. It’s kind of just whatever you take influence from.”
You can keep up to date with the artist on Twitter or Instagram.