Interview with Adrienne Nye

What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?

• My mum definitely gets the credit for introducing me to the world of music. I grew up going to concerts, mostly classical and opera, some ballet, but she often took me in Montreal. She also used to tape operas on VHS and I would rewind my favorite parts and learned how to sing that way. I was 4 when she heard me learning the soprano solos and rewinding them to sing them over and over again. By the age of 9 I auditioned for my first real Broadway show. And the rest as they say is history. If I hadn’t gotten into music, I’d probably be a university professor or something in the sciences like training to be an astronaut.

What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?

• When I’m not playing music, I work in the film industry doing background and stand in. I love the world of film making and it gives me an opportunity to be social and make some money which helps fund my music projects. I also love to lift weights, make yummy food and read. A healthy body and mind feeds my creativity by keeping me in the best space I can be in. When I am healthy, I am happy. When I am happy I create well.

How long have you been making music?

• For as long as I can remember! I started singing when I was a child, at 4 years old. I learned to play guitar at age 10. Trumpet and Bassoon in High School. Songwriting started at 14 when I composed a 4-part mass in 3-part harmony for my choir. I started really digging into writing pop music in my late 20s.

Where are you based out of and how did that influence your music?

• I was born in Montreal and now live in Vancouver. Living in Montreal in the 80s was a very special time. No cell phones, no Netflix. Life was simpler. I remember having so much idle time to create and keep myself busy. Also being in close proximity to Toronto and New York brought many opportunities to see theatre and music from some of the best in the world. I would say now living in Vancouver, nature really influences my songwriting. We have such a rich outdoor life here and there is much to draw from that spiritually and lyrically.

Tell me about your most memorable shows, if you haven’t played live what is your vision for a live show?

• Being in the bilingual production of Les Miz when I was 9, I would say had to be my most memorable shows hands down. I still get emotional when I hear that intro play. It was an incredible peak experience that would be hard to rival. Even 32 years later. As for recently, I had a wonderful band called Fallow State, for 3 years from 2017-2020. We played all around Vancouver and even up in Whistler. I would say my most memorable shows have been here at Guilt and Co. and playing at the Harmony Arts Festival in West Vancouver.

What is your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you have not already?

• Harmony Arts Festival is a beautiful venue to play with the picturesque Lion’s Gate Bridge in the background. I love open stages at festivals and the whole vibe that it creates with all the vendors and artist booths around. I haven’t played at the Commodore yet, or the Orpheum would be incredible.

If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?

• Oh my, how do you narrow it down?!! I would imagine some kind of Lilith Fair like event with Bjork, Imogen Heap, Lights, Caroline Polachek, Christine and the Queens, Tori Amos and The Cranberries (if we could bring back Dolores of course) just to name a few of my faves.

What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into making music and some advice that you would give to your younger self?

• Don’t be afraid to get it wrong. Music making is a process and a lifelong one. I used to judge myself so hard on if something was good or not or if I would be judged if it’s good or not. Art is art. People will judge it but who cares. The only thing that matters is that what is within needs to come out. That is our job as an artist. Every creation will come with lessons and growth and it gets better and better over time. It grows you and grows with you. So let it.

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?

• The one I haven’t written yet. Because it exists out there in the ether waiting for me to reach out for it. To invite it in. It means the most because it’s a constant reminder that I have work to do. That I have purpose, that those songs give my life meaning in the way nothing else does and that I have to keep showing up for it. It’s why I am here.

Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?

• I Need The Light probably gets requested the most. Port In A Storm is my favourite to play though.

What is your creative process, and what inspires you to write your music?

• I like to get into Ableton Live and find some chord progressions I like based on my mood. It kind of cascades from there. I usually go find sounds I like and then it goes from there. Once I have my mood or back track I then let the music tell me what it’s about. I let the lyrics come out of what I’m hearing in the music. I often get inspired by something I’m experiencing in my own life or something in life that I can relate to larger universal truths about the human condition. I love learning and experimenting so I like to be an explorer of frequencies and modulation. An alchemist of sound and vibration. It’s like sonic sculpture. You listen and shape and reshape what you hear until you reach a place where you feel the work is the best it can be for where you are in that moment in time and space.

Do you have messages that you like to get across in your music, if so please tell me about them?

• I like to think the overall messages are ones of hope and compassionate understanding that life is a journey from dark to light and back again into darkness. Life is cyclical. So I like to find the patterns in that. The themes that recur over and over again in a person’s life. It’s what ties us all together. It’s what makes us human.

What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up?

• My first solo studio album is set to release in May 2023. It’s a 5-song EP called These Winter Skies that I’m very excited to finally share. 2 years in the making I wrote most of it while in school for Music Production and then teamed up with producer Cody Taylor to get it where it needed to go from there. It’s the first time I have written and co-produced an electronic pop album and I couldn’t be more satisfied with the result. Now that this album is done I look forward to doing some more writing, some live shows and growing my new indie label, Yaletown Records.

How can your fans best keep up to date with you, any socials you want people to check out?

• You can follow me on instagram @adriennejnye, YouTube or Spotify and then there’s always my websites adriennenye.com or yaletownrecords.