A charismatic indie-pop band from Pittsburgh, Nevada Color are making a triumphant return to the music scene with their brilliant new EP, Rosewater! I recently chatted with Nevada Color’s Adam Valen and Max Kovalchuk about the talented band’s origins, their writing and recording process, and their fantastic new EP, Rosewater!
Q: In 2012, you guys joined forces to create what is now known as the great Nevada Color. Can you tell us the story of how you met and decided to embark on this musical journey together?
A: Adam – Yeah! So myself, Max Kovalchuk, Quinn Wirth, and Chris Cichra all went to college together. Max and Chris had played in a folk band prior to Nevada Color and started writing music that geared more towards the indie-rock realm of music. They recruited myself and Quinn to front the band. Our previous drummer Jeremy was childhood friends with Chris and playing with other friends’ bands and we asked him to join and he was all for it.
Q: Pittsburgh has seen the successful emergence of several established artists like Christina Aguilera, Wiz Khalifa, and Anti-Flag. How has the local music scene affected how you approach your craft?
A: Adam – There’s so much talent in the Pittsburgh music scene. Pittsburgh still has its rock niches and roots, but recently yeah it’s been kind of a hub that has bred some seriously great talent for so many different sides of the music spectrum. Now you have a large hip-hop community, an EDM community, a jam community. We gravitated more towards the pop/rock side and have just really tried to stay very close with everyone in the scene, while continuing to make that indie-pop sound. Everyone is very supportive of one another. Our new drummer on the EP, Dhruva Krishna, was someone we met through the scene and he came from a jazz/blues band.
Q: You guys have considered rock bands like The Smiths and The Killers as heavy influences of your signature sound. For those who have never heard of Nevada Color before, how would you describe your musical style?
A: Adam – Indie-pop with a lot of heart and soul.
Q: It’s been a few years since you’ve released your debut full-length album, Adventures (LP 2014). How have Nevada Color grown since then?
A: Adam – We’ve grown a lot. We spent the last four years writing non-stop. [We] wrote probably over 300 songs, to be honest, in that time span. Recording a full EP and album in Nashville and back home in Pittsburgh, signed a record deal in 2014 and just recently left that label (very amicably), [and] went through a change in drummers. Max and Quinn had the opportunity to write with a lot of producers/songwriters in Nashville and Los Angeles. I think it really made us grow as individuals to go through writing and recording so much. [It] helped us realize the sound we want [and] helped us grow as songwriters and musicians.
Q: Your forthcoming EP, Rosewater represents Nevada Color’s rebirth as you guys have gone through a commendable process of evolution. What does this release mean to you?
A: Max – After years of working on new material, we’re thrilled to finally be able to share some new music with folks. This particular release feels like a closing chapter on the past few years and the beginning of the next step—whatever that may be.
Q: An impressive collection of three empowering tracks, Rosewater will be the first taste of Nevada Color that the music community will be receiving in quite some time. How do you expect your devoted fans to respond to this EP? What message do you hope they’ll take away from this release?
A: Max – As with any music we release, we hope that people enjoy it. We don’t have specific expectations for how it’s received by fans, but we hope that they get something out of it. For some listeners, they’ll enjoy putting the songs on and bopping around to them, while others may dig deeper into the lyrics and that may help them discover something about themselves. Either way, if folks are listening and it’s affecting them in one way or another, that’s the goal of writing songs and that is what we hope for.
Q: ‘Outsiders,’ a thrilling anthem off the new EP, reflects on the realities of self- realization and self-acceptance. Which song of Rosewater was the most difficult to write? Do you have a particular favorite?
A: Max – I don’t think any songs on the EP were particularly difficult to write; we just do what comes naturally and assess the songs from there. Sometimes we do have to dig a little deeper because something isn’t flowing quite right, but that’s the beauty of having four other guys to bounce ideas off of. The more difficult decisions come when it’s time to record and we are choosing arrangements. We worked with the incredibly talented producer, Jared Gulden, who helped us through those arrangement decisions. I don’t have a particular favorite song from the EP, [as] each one represents a different aspect of a bigger picture, but I do think that ‘Outsiders’ may resonate with people the most.
Q: Rumor has it you guys have been hard at work on new material for years now. What was the writing and recording process like for Rosewater?
A: Adam – I mean, we wrote 200-300+ songs in the span of four years. Most times, Max would present the band a piece of something he’s been writing and the rest of the band would pick up the pieces. For the EP, we started writing more songs after recording the EP & full-length. I think ‘Outsiders’ was the first one we wrote. Max and I were sitting in our practice space and playing around with some ideas and latched onto that intro progression and built the song around that. Our friend Jared Guiden, who was demoing a lot of earlier songs, pre-Rosewater, ended up being the person who co-produced, edited and mixed the EP. We were recording everything out our living rooms, bedrooms, and Jared’s house.
Q: Over the years, Nevada Color have shared the stage with plenty of well-known artists—including Cold War Kids and Jesse McCartney. If you guys could headline a show anywhere in the world, where would you pick? Who would be your openers?
A: Adam – Hmmmmm… Red Rocks would certainly be the dream. Walk the Moon or Young the Giant would be really rad!
Q: With your highly-anticipated release of Rosewater, Nevada Color are definitely ending 2018 on a very high note! What would you like to accomplish in the next year?
A: Adam – Just continue to keep writing [and] possibly follow up with a full-length release soon. We want to get our music into the hands of everyone who wants to listen to it and beyond.
Nevada Color’s dynamic new EP, Rosewater is now available worldwide, so give it a listen and let me know what you think! Feel free to leave your thoughts on Rosewater in the comments section below, and follow my blog for more music posts!
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Aliiissa 