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[18 Feb 2010|10:38pm] |
Every instance that Nick Berrios takes the stage, it's like he has opened his eyes for the first time that day. Everything that leads up to that moment where he takes the stage with his band mates and the lights come on is mostly Nick going through the motions; the stage is where he really comes alive. That part used to be what played out only in his dreams, and he's one of the lucky ones whose dreams have become his reality. And Nick knows he's lucky. He's not one to take that for granted. But of course, even when dreams seem to become real, it's never exactly the same. His old dreams never harbored thoughts or considerations of any problems or hard times he could, and ultimately would, face. No matter how many rock 'n' roll roller coaster tales he heard, no matter how many Behind the Music episodes he watched, no matter how much he should and maybe subconsciously did see it coming, his own experiences took him by surprise. They always seem to take people who get into his position by surprise. No one told him the business would be easy. But when he stands on that stage now, he stands there as someone a little bit older, a little bit wiser, and a little more in tune. It's probably a good thing that reality smacked him in the face when he was considerably young, and it's definitely a good thing that he learned from it when it happened, because now the future is looking pretty bright. But what exactly happened in the past?
When we push everything back to the start, we find ourselves in Berkeley, California, with Andrea Russo and Isaias Berrios in 1981. They aren't married and never intend to be, and they have one three-year-old child, Dominic, already. When July 2nd rolls around, Dominic gets a baby brother a couple of weeks earlier than expected when Andrea gives birth to Nicholas Russo-Berrios. Little did his parents know that Nick was setting a precedent for himself in life. Just as he was early to get into this world, he followed up by being early for everything - school, club meetings, games, work, band practice, shows, interviews. But before he has to worry about even half of that, he's just a punctual kid with interests in three main things: surfing, skating, and music.
As he gets older, music pulls into the front, and when his parents surprise him with his first guitar in 1994, any chance of him pursuing a so-called practical career was shot. Evidence of this arises in high school when he and three other students form a hardcore and post-hardcore punk-inspired band they dub Rest in Pieces. Anyone who said that they were bound to fall apart was right, though their reasoning might have been off. Nick plays the guitar and sings - sometimes screams - back-up vocals and he does it because he loves it. He writes more than half of the lyrics, he writes much of the music, he has a lot of drive, and he's mostly in it for making music and sharing it with others. The bassist is a lot like him. The drummer kind of wants to be the punk rock Tommy Lee. The lead vocalist doesn't want to be the punk rock version of anyone else; he wants to be a rock star with a name for himself that future aspiring rockers try to model themselves after, and he wants to make money. It's not that the rest of them of them want to be broke and starve and never be able to afford a place to live or anything, but their singer wants to make a whole lot more than enough to get by. We can see how this will be problematic for the band down the road, but everyone else, including Nick, doesn't quite see it at the time.
After high school, Nick could have gone off to college, and he could have done well for himself. But he doesn't. No one in the band does. Instead, they record an EP together and start going after gigs that aren't at parties or in people's basements, and it's tough but they grit their teeth and deal with it. They release another EP some months later and keep pushing, and a label decides to pick them up. It's not a major label, but Nick and most of his other band mates think it's cool any label wants to take them on. Their lead vocalist sees it as a good stepping stone until the band can manage to get bigger. On the label, they release an album and they get picked up as an opening act for The Cthulhu Oracle, and everyone, especially Nick, is excited. Hell, Nick is honored to be on the same tour and get onto the same stages as them. But it's during that tour that he starts to pick up on the shaky foundation Rest in Pieces stood on. He's starting to understand that not everyone is on the same page. The lead vocalist wants to write more of the material and get more of the credit, and he develops hobbies that include way too much alcohol and skirt chasing. The drummer is still trying to be the punk rock Tommy Lee, and he gets moodier and moodier the more it doesn't work out for him. Nick is getting disheartened.
A way out of the dead end falls into Nick's lap when the rhythm guitarist leaves The Cthulhu Oracle and he's offered the chance to take his place. As much as the thought of abandoning his high school friends sucks, he recognizes that their band isn't going to make it and regards the offer to join The Cthulhu Oracle as an even bigger honor than simply touring with them. He ends up being the one on rhythm guitar on the Tremulant EP. He's only 20 at the time, and he has no idea what he's really getting himself into.
The years he spends with The Cthulhu Oracle take him for the ride of his life in both positive and negative ways. Musically, he's in love with the band and with the music he takes part in making. He loves making concept albums. He loves the progressive rock nature of the band and the jazz and Latin influences. What he doesn't love is what goes on behind the scenes. Ezequiel Davidson-Vasquez has what Nick often refers to as a drug and attitude problem, and the two of them have disputes over it, among other things, often. Nick puts up with it for any and all reasons he can come up with in his head and then some. There are times where he doesn't even bother to say anything to avoid getting into another fight, but of course this does more harm than good because then annoyance and anger is allowed to simply sit there and stew. He puts up with everything long enough to get through Amputechture, but things don't seem to be getting better while the time-bomb ticks away. Finally, Nick and Ezequiel have a blow out. They say plenty of nasty things to one another and considering how talented they both are at holding grudges, those things are most likely unforgivable. Fed up, Nick leaves the band, but publicly it gets spin as a mutual decision that it was Nick's time to take his bow. It's not entirely untruthful because they both agreed that Nick should get the fuck out. God forbid they ever do a Behind the Music: The Cthulhu Oracle, those handful of years would make for an interesting clip for the episode.
Following his departure from The Cthulhu Oracle, Nick decides to spend some quality time with himself. He's been playing for others for so long that he wants to know what it's like to write and play for himself. It's good for him because he finally gets to discover his own voice, and after about a year away from music, he re-emerges with a new band, Soma, except this time, he's the one fronting and he's surrounded himself with all the right people. He already learned his lesson the hard way. It's mostly an experiment but it gets Soma signed to a record label. They fly under the radar of the mainstream for a while, but they gather a dedicated following of mostly neo-hippie eccentrics and that's cool with Nick. But then in 2008, magazines like Spin and NME get their hands on newly released Oracular Spectacular and it's a love affair that drags Soma into the spotlight. Suddenly, Nick finds himself on the stages for festivals across the U.S. and abroad, and they're playing "Time to Pretend" on the radio and "Electric Feel" in American Eagle.
Now we're back on stage with Nick Berrios, and despite the combination of critical acclaim and mainstream attention, the crowd is still largely made up of neo-hippie eccentrics, and hipsters if we're being honest. It's okay because he often gets called a whole list of things, including hippie and hipster alongside nerd, Twiggy (thanks to his, well, twiggy legs), and sometimes even queer or faggot but those two have followed him around since his mid-elementary school days. When he comes back from tours, he now calls New York City home, and he doesn't mind the winters nearly as much as he thought he would. When he goes back on tour, it seems like the crowds get bigger, and Nick can't always understand what draws this many people to this psychedelic pop-rock that is different from everything he's done with any other band. He sometimes attributes it to underestimating how many eccentrics like him actually exist. Whatever the case may be, he feels like he finally found where he's supposed to be in the music scene. The reality still doesn't quite match the old dreams, but at least now he feels like he's really enjoying himself.
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