Nicky Nine Doors: A bassline can make you h*rny in a way words can't
Musician Nick Mantle on perfecting your craft, Lil Peep’s legacy, and 'i don't want anyone else'
Every few weeks, an interview grabs me by the shoulders and shakes some life back into me. Such was the case Tuesday, as I chatted with musician Nick Mantle. Initially, we had planned to discuss one song on his new album, idgaf (demos), as part of a shorter feature. As we spoke, however, I realized that plan, like so many, was stupid. Nick embodies much of the creative spirit championed in this newsletter. He had a lot of interesting things to say. Why not give him the full Pursuits experience?
Originally from Toronto, Nick now lives in Los Angeles, where he works a normal job and produces music on the side as Nicky Nine Doors. Our edited and condensed conversation touched on the differences between Canadian and U.S. creatives, his love of Lil Peep and The O.C., why musicians have the upper hand, as well as his song ‘i don’t want anyone else’, which is a Proper Chune.
As friend of the newsletter noted recently, sometimes conversations find you at the right time. When Nick said “I don’t really give a fuck about success. I just want to get better at what I do” it reminded me that achievement is in the eye of the beholder. Success is so much more than an open rate or a subscriber list. It’s a good Chune, a great conversation, a gentle dose of clarity.
ES: So you’re Canadian, but you live in Los Angeles. How did that come about?
NM: Being Canadian has been a difficult part of my life. I went to school in the United States, and everyone I know is in the States, in either New York or L.A. So I’ve kind of been going back and forth. I've actually lived in both countries for the same amount of time. I don’t feel Canadian or American. It’s a strange existence.
ES: Is one of your parents American then?
NM: No, I’m fully Canadian. I work as a graphic designer, and I managed to secure a TN visa, which was created for the NAFTA agreement back in the Eighties. They created a list of jobs that America needed. It’s very outdated now, but graphic designer is still on it. I was able to take advantage because a lot of my schooling and professional career has been in graphic design.
ES: Who are your graphic design idols then? You a big Saul Bass guy?
NM: I’m not gonna lie, I fucking hate graphic design. I’m over it.
ES: That explains the music, I guess.
NM: Exactly. It’s just a thing I’ve always been good at. I still like aspects of it. I like doing art direction for my own projects and for other people. I have a passion for color theory and typography and things like that, but I have no passion when it comes to being a designer.
ES: It’s cool that it’s opened doors for you, though. I feel like Canadians are often at a disadvantage when it comes to finding work in those sorts of middle-class creative fields.
NM: There's a glass ceiling for creatives in Canada. I feel like there isn’t enough risk-taking there for me. I think risk-taking is engrained in American society. You even see it in the art they produce.
ES: Yeah, I think government funding in the arts is generally a good thing, but I have wondered whether it leads to a level of self-censorship. Like, things that are controversial or provocative are not necessarily going to win government grants.
NM: I completely agree.
ES: So you’re using music as an outlet because you hate your career? Laughs.
NM: 100%. I originally went to school for writing, and that felt like a really good way to express myself. I didn’t start making music until I was 23, which is a bit later than other musicians. It unearthed this new form of expression for me because I could still use words, but I could also use sounds, textures, and melodies to form ideas. It was a way to get across things that were inside of me that I hadn’t been able to before.
Craft is what’s most important to me with music. I don’t really give a fuck about success. I just want to get better at… interpreting what’s going on inside myself, and expressing that.
ES: As a writer, I’m always so jealous of musicians because they have those tools you just described. You can accentuate your words and emphasize things in a way that is impossible when relying solely on text.
NM: A kick drum can say so much more than words can sometimes. A sick bassline can make you horny in a way words can’t.
ES: That is so true. How did you find music so late in life?
NM: I never thought I could be a musician because, growing up, I had really bad music teachers. One piano teacher made me sit on my hands because he didn’t like the way I played scales and, unfortunately, that informed a lot of my perspective.
When I was figuring out my U.S. visa, I was supposed to get sponsored by my then-employer. They spent a year promising me they would do it, but then decided they wouldn’t, so I had to move home to Toronto for 10 months. It felt like fucking forever. I was there and I felt super depleted. I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I started trying a bunch of different art forms. I painted a lot. But then I found Garageband on my iPad and started playing around with it. Eventually, I moved those files over to an actual computer. That’s when all hell broke loose. I went to Best Buy and bought a microphone, bigger headphones, a bunch of shit. I would sit in my parent’s basement and take Midi tracks that were made for karaoke, reproduce them from scratch and then sing over them. I did that over 100 times.
ES: That’s an insane way to learn music production. Were you just rocking the QWERTY drum set? Playing things on the computer keyboard?
NM: Exactly. I wound up buying this awful Midi keyboard from some guy on Kijiji for like $40. I made my boyfriend drive me to the middle of fucking nowhere to get it.
ES: When did you realize that this project was something you wanted to share with people?
NM: Well, I made two albums under a different name, called Two Front Teeth. I hate the name now. But it took a long time for that to take shape. I made a bunch of singles and loosies that ended up on my SoundCloud, but it took two more years to realize I had enough material for an album. And I hate that album now!
ES: Isn’t that how it always goes?
NM: I feel like some people nail their first album and then chase that for the rest of their career, which is bad. I would rather build my craft. Craft is what’s most important to me with music. I don’t really give a fuck about success. I just want to get better at what I do. Not just in terms of production, but getting better at interpreting what’s going on inside myself, and expressing that.
ES: Let’s talk about ‘i don’t want anyone else’. It was an immediate stand-out from the album.
NM: Thank you.
ES: I was texting friend of the newsletter and I told her it reminds me of the mid-2000s. It’s a song that could’ve been played at American Apparel, or in the background of a show on the WB Network.
NM: I love WB dramas. Veronica Mars is basically the reason I went into writing. But I would also love to have had that song in The OC.
ES: My man!
NM: I love all that shit. It’s in my DNA. I think it comes across in the music subconsciously.
We’re losing our ability to interpret ambivalent art. It makes me so pissed off.
ES: You don’t have the lyrics to your songs posted anywhere, but there’s one line about “My dark competes with all my light.” This seems to be a bit of a recurring theme on the album, but it’s buried in these poppy songs.
NM: I’m constantly masking myself with a more positive, happier persona. I can be quite sad, and I constantly feel like my dark is competing with my light. Sometimes I just can’t get it together even though I try my best to look like it on the outside. That’s the space I always exist within.
ES: I love songs like that. It’s got this catchy chorus but it explores some pretty complex feelings. More art needs to do that.
NM: I completely agree. We’re losing our ability to interpret ambivalent art. It makes me so pissed off. Everyone wants everything to be so straightforward and with a bow on top. One of my biggest pet peeves is when artists go on TikTok and say “This song is about X”. Let the people interact with the music! I didn’t know what Death Cab for Cutie was saying when I first started listening to them but I was obsessed with their records and listening to them over and over again. I attached my own feeling to it. And I would rather someone do that with my music as well.
ES: You mentioned SoundCloud earlier. Is Lil Peep an influence?
NM: I love Lil Peep. I love him. RIP. I was so sad when he died.
I downloaded a sample pack from Reddit to make music with, and one of the samples was from a Lil Peep song. I was obsessed with it. That’s how I discovered him. I wish I could remember what song it was from.
ES: I think ‘Gym Class’ was my entry point. Talk about a perfect song. One verse. Repeat.
NM: Yeah he broke a lot of rules. I think we’re missing someone like him in the culture right now. No one was making music like him at the time… I think he was a precursor to hyper-pop, which not enough people talk about.
Nick Mantle is a graphic designer and musician. He lives in Los Angeles. You can stream his new album, idgaf (demos), HERE.