Q: The alt-indie rock sound you have is finely-polished. What was your creative process in making “Home”?
NERiMA: Our creative process for Home consisted of weekly sessions for about a month where we’d gather in Alexi’s basement and play together, bouncing ideas and improvements off of each other. We already had Home’s foundation for a while from practices and shows, so most of the time was spent bringing the song to the best it could be. We would do things like adding pauses in places, adding drum fills and timing them with bass, changing strumming patterns, and essentially perfecting it to its full potential. We spent a lot of time on the rhythm section to really tie the whole song together, especially the bassline. Connor basically changed his whole part for the choruses and bridge, and perfecting it was what we focused on for a while. In the end, we managed to create a song we’re all extremely happy with, and there’s nothing we’d go back and change.
Q: What was your experience in recording professionally with Ryan Fitz of Bearings?
NERiMA: We genuinely had an amazing time together, as well as recorded and played as best as we could. It was our first time in a studio and our second time recording a song ever, so it was a super exciting next step! We definitely were anxious because it was also our first time working with a professional musician, but the session ended up being a lot more laid back and relaxed ,which was great for our creativity. Ryan was super kind and welcoming to us too, which was greatly appreciated. He listened to our input and gave us great advice in return that really helped the song reach its peak.
Q: Did any real-life events occur in your life that inspired the song?
NERiMA: Home is more of an abstract idea of a story rather than anything concrete I could describe, but in short, it’s the story of a girl who’s spent her whole life accepting that things are difficult and painful, until she finally realizes that she can fight back. There are definitely a number of things that inspired me to write Home and pick the themes of Heaven and Hell, but what I will say is that the idea of deciding that, if I’m going down, it won’t be without a fight, is something that’s been building in my head for a long time, from a friendships and things like that, and personal fights I always tend to reflect on in my music. The Heaven and Hell themes also explore the idea of right and wrong when you’re in a bad situation – how and if morals still apply when they’re already being broken – an idea I’ve always been compelled to explore.
Q: How is the music scene in Toronto?
NERiMA: The local scene in and around Toronto is honestly one of the coolest and kindest communities we’ve been able to be a part of! Growing up, we’d always seen the traditional image of musicians portrayed by society – the cold, tough people who judge your music taste and frown upon your skills no matter how good you are. But after our first show and all of our online interactions with companies, labels, promoters, and most important other bands, it’s obvious that this image isn’t true. People have been so kind to us as a young, relatively new band, something we were all a little scared about. Their talent and music is also so good and so inspiring, and we’re grateful to be a part of such an awesome scene with bands like Inevitable, Follow The Lemming, and Nightwell.
Q: How did your band members initially come together?
NERiMA: Alexi and Alex grew up together and bonded over their love for music, especially for other bands and artists. It wasn’t until a few years ago that they decided they wanted to actually attempt at forming one themselves, but back then there wasn’t much success, since we knew essentially no one else who was interested. Alexi then met Connor in high school and quickly became friends, and eventually offered to teach him bass in hopes of having him join. From there, the three continued to play together, starting writing together as well, until finally NERiMA was born.
Q: Your style is relatable, yet totally unique to your band. Who are your biggest influences?
NERiMA: The three of us all have pretty different and diverse music preferences from each other, which we think really shows in our own sound. As a band, our main inspirations come from the bands we most admire and who inspire us, especially Paramore, Green Day, Waterparks, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and My Chemical Romance.
Q: What is coming up next for you?
NERiMA: Our plans for this year are to finish writing and hopefully release our debut album. We’re really hoping to get into a studio to record and release our next single, and we’re planning to create much more online content whether that be more covers, livestream concerts, Q&A’s, Twitch streams, or whatever else we can offer! We’re also really excited to say that we just signed with a label, so that’s definitely something that will provide many opportunities for our band to grow and create more content to offer you all; it’s a new chapter to our band’s ‘life’ and it’s the thing we’re most looking forward to for this year.
Q: What would you like to tell your supporters out there?
NERiMA: Honestly, we cannot stress this enough when we say none of this would have been even remotely possible with your support. We’re definitely still such a small band that the few people stopping by whose interest we quickly catch can’t help us much, but the people who repeatedly show support, listen to our stuff, comment and talk to us and all – that’s what makes this all possible! We truly can’t thank you enough, so please keep chatting and hanging out with us and telling us what you think, because those are our favourite moments as a band! Also, stay hydrated, and stay creative.
