Toronto’s best kept emo-rock secret, Nightwell are ready for the world to hear them. Two years in the making, the band finally released their self-titled, debut full-length album this month, and it was well worth the wait. Filled to the brim with emotive songwriting and incredibly vulnerable lyrics, Nightwell is sure to immediately connect with listeners, both those who are already familiar with the band and many who might be discovering them for the first time. Produced by the bands own Kyle Marchant (Stick To Your Guns) with co-production by Paul- Marc Rousseau (Silverstein) and Sam Guaiana (Like Pacific), the album is the cumulation of years of hard work and it shows.
With their album out now, we caught up with Nightwell to talk about the writing and recording process as well as their plans for the future. Read the full interview and listen to the album now below.
Can you tell us a little bit about Nightwell for anyone who might not be familiar?
We’re an emo-rock band from Toronto, Canada that has been playing together for the last four years. Drummer, Terrence Pettitt and I (Cole Hardy), started jamming these song ideas in 2015 and made this a serious band in 2017. We try to write music that people can dance, cry or laugh to.
You guys just celebrated the release of your debut album this month! What are you most excited for listeners to hear on it?
Cole Hardy (Guitarist): Me personally I’m excited for people to hear medicate. I think it really has all the different elements of our band in one song. Its fast, slow, groovy, and showcases some of Jason’s R&B vibes in some of the melodies. Very happy with that song.
It being your debut full-length and some of the first music that many people would hear from Nightwell, was there anything in particular you wanted to accomplish with the album? Did you have any major goals in mind?
As a group we just want people to connect with the music in a personal way and sing along. Music has always meant so much to us and we really want to create something that means that much to other people.
Lyrically, was there anything you really wanted to touch on with this release?
Jason Emsallem (Vocalist): Writing the lyrics for each song has felt like a deep dive into my subconscious. With this album, the band and I focused on structuring my thoughts and making sense of my ideas, making sure I was evoking the right emotion called for in each track.
The first song, “Confident,” describes my slight paranoia and anxiety about the world and the people around me. Expressing the reasons why I feel like I am the way I am, based on personal experiences. Each song has its lesson to take away from it, moving on, growing up, and how to get over heartbreak, the latter being the central theme of “Drive.”
Ultimately the final song “Ball in a Box” serves as the cathartic finish to “Nightwell” and exposes the thing that I think shapes my ideology and brain more than I’m even aware of, the loss of my Father as a young child. It’s a very personal song for me, lyrically and emotionally, and the rest of the band helped me build a tone for the story I wanted to tell. It felt good to talk about it for me, and the rest of the band was happy knowing I was talking out my problems.
You also worked with Paul-Marc Rousseau and Sam Guaiana on this release – what do you feel they were able to bring to the table? Did you learn anything from them while working together?
Kyle Marchant (Guitarist/Producer): Working with both Paul and Sam was super beneficial. Sometimes working on your own music can cause a sort of “tunnel vision” result. Bringing in a set of unbiased ears can really help shape the song into something bigger and better. Paul is so good at making vocals sound huge! We learned so much about vocal layers working with him! Anyone who knows Sam, knows his work sounds incredible! Having him work on the album took it the next level.
Were there any challenges or obstacles that you needed to overcome when working on the album? What was the most rewarding part of working on the album?
Kyle Marchant (Guitarist/Producer): Oh boy, this is a loaded question. There were a lot of setbacks working on this record. This album is a collection of ideas that we have formed over the past two years. It was so hard to mold these songs into a cohesive product, but I think we achieved that! It was all about the small victories for this record. From hearing melodies for the first time to having production ideas come to life. Its what kept us going and what kept us pushing to try more! We are just so happy to release these songs into the world!
How do you feel you’ve grown as a band with the writing and recording of the album?
We became a unit. Each member really brings something extra to this band. Whether it be writing, scheduling, recording, finances, visuals and social media management. We all find jobs that we take on and things get done. We learned so much with this album and can’t wait to apply what we learned into our next which hopefully will be very soon.
With the album out now, do you have any other big plans for the rest of 2020? Obviously, it’s kind of difficult to plan any shows or tours at the moment, but do you have anything in mind?
We have some small tours/runs that we have planned in late summer/ early fall but who knows what’s going to happen right now. We have new some new music videos still to come out and this summer we have plans to record new music. We’ve been having fun with online live streams, hopefully we’ll do more of those. Either way we are staying positive and aren’t letting anything slow us down.
Thank you for taking the time to chat with us! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you! This is just the start for us, stay tuned for the upcoming music video for “Medicate” and even more music from us later in the year!
STAY CONNECTED WITH NIGHTWELL: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram