Meet Nahdfox | Musician and Digital Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nahdfox and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nahdfox, is there something you believe many others might not?
Enjoyment is often conflated with success; some people think that to make the most out of something you enjoy, you need to make money from it and be successful. As such, the advice people often give is that if you’re good at something and you enjoy doing it, you should try turning it into a job. The problem is, that mindset ignores the intrinsic emotional value of the activity; if you train someone to think that an activity’s worth is only defined by whether they can get money from it, then they’ll feel unproductive whenever they do it for the sake of enjoyment. In a worst-case scenario, a person may turn their hobby into a job, only to realize they no longer enjoy doing it because now it’s an obligation they must do to make a living, rather than an activity they did to make themselves happy. The aforementioned problem is why I’ve put such a strong focus into creating music for my own enjoyment. If I one day make money from it, or if I get a following, then that’s just an extra bonus; at heart, though, I always want to stay true to the mindset that music is something I do because I just love creating it.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My vulnerability is what sets my music apart. Almost all of my songs—even the most energetic or happy-sounding ones—incorporate some element of an internal cynicism or pessimism I have for many aspects of life, which results in many of my songs being written from the perspective of someone who’s unsure about why they do the things they do, or what it actually means to them. Many people experience that kind of discomfort in life when tackling changes or adjusting to monotony, so I hope people connect with my music in that regard.

Compositionally, though my music falls comfortably within the rock genre, I often experiment from song to song, which results in my catalog ranging from slower, reflective songs with ethereal vocal harmonies, to energetic power-poppy tracks with happy-go-lucky attitudes, to heavier grungy tracks with an emphasis on despondency. While this keeps things entertaining for me (and hopefully for the listener, too), it also allows me to expand my range while ensuring I learn something new about songwriting or audio mixing with each song I make.

I put a lot of love into trying to capture the energy of each track I make from many different angles, including visually, which is why each of my releases have an associated drawing. For my recent debut album, “The Party”, I decided to maintain a continuity through each song’s drawing by making each drawing look like candid flash photo, with all of their grainy, oversaturated, and motion-blurry glory—as if someone had been going around the party taking pictures of all the party-goers to save the memories, though with dubious permission from the actual party-goers themselves. Capturing that feeling is of course a struggle, but like with my music, I enjoy tackling the challenge of trying to make each drawing unique while fitting the vibe of their associated song—as well as the vibe of the album at large.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’ve always been a fan of visiting nature spots or locations that focus on natural history, such as the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum or Mt. Lemmon; even when it’s not snowing, the temperature is usually quite pleasant up in the mountains. I also remember going to the Titan Missile Museum once when I was very young; it’s definitely much further south of Tucson but I wouldn’t mind taking someone there again so they can gawk at the intricacy or sheer size of some of the displays. For restaurants, Brushfire is always a nice excursion—especially if you go to their creamery afterwards for ice cream as a nice treat. Bamboo View also has some great Chinese food, or if you’re interested in Mexican food, then Fito’s Taco Shop (or Nico’s Taco Shop) are good choices, too; they’ve got better tacos than any major chain restaurant I’ve tried.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
An obvious shoutout would be my family. They’ve long been supportive of my music endeavors—especially my dad, who was the one that got me into the rock world by introducing me to the Beatles at a young age. I also have a half-brother who used to be in a rock band, so I definitely look up to him for inspiration.

Regarding musical influences, Weezer and Billy Cobb have mostly defined the sound I try to achieve in my own music, with Weezer’s “Blue Album” being pivotal in defining my love for that power-pop / pop-punk sound. Billy Cobb is an independent musician who writes, performs, records, and releases all of his music himself, so it makes me happy to think I might one day put out the same quality stuff that he does, too.

Website: nahdpencil.tumblr.com

Instagram: instagram.com/nahdpencil

Twitter: twitter.com/nahdpencil

Youtube: youtube.com/@nahdfox

Other: Not a website, just a note: My music is primarily uploaded to the youtube channel I have provided here; I will eventually create a Spotify account for my music once my current album, “The Party”, is finished.

Image Credits
Hasenstab Brothers