And then their voices dropped
The Nods grow some balls and prepare to release focused EP
Mike Warkentin



The old name sucks and the new name sucks — but the music is pretty damn good.

That’s 20-something guitar-rock band The Nods in 16 words.

Formerly known by the nut-less handle Castrati, singer Johnny Broeska, guitarist Micah Braun, bassist Isaac Simonson and drummer Jeff Bruce ditched the moniker earlier this year in favour of The Nods.

And Shakespeare did say something about brevity being the soul of wit.

“Everybody, well, most people, know the choir boys sans testicles, and I guess we thought it applied because it was music-related and we were in choir,” Braun says of the old name over morning coffees at The Fyxx. “We had been told about the castrato — and I can scream extremely high.”

“I think the feeling among the band was that we wanted to change it for a while, just to kind of freshen things up and get a new start,” Broeska adds. “We had also been presented to a couple of labels with that name, and lots of them were kinda disgusted by it, too.”

When the boys started brainstorming for a new name, let’s just say some of the suggestions were uninspired.

OK, they actually came up with things like Sinister Esophagus, Creep Water Flush and Arson Club.

“I think The Nods is something that if you don’t like it you aren’t going to think about it anyway because it’s so simple,” Broeska says.

“Band names aren’t super-important anyways,” Braun adds.

That’s all true — what matters is the music. If you think about it, The Beatles actually had a pretty dumb name, too. And don’t even mention the Butthole Surfers, Hoobastank, Stonesour or just about any death metal band.

What’s important is that The Nods seem to have a knack for crafting solid, catchy pop-rock songs with a retro flavour.

That was the MO on last year’s debut full-length Everything You Know Is Wrong, and it’ll no doubt continue on a six-song EP scheduled to appear in September/October.

“We’re really excited about it,” Broeska says of the disc tentatively titled ‘Epic Proportions.’ “It’s much more aggressive than the last material. Not to say that the last material wasn’t as hard, but it’s a lot more dancey, a lot more snappy.

“Castrati, Everything You Know Is Wrong, was sort of written over the course of a year and recorded over the course of a year… The flow, I think, on the new EP is going to be really cool because we recorded them all in the same four days.”

“The dapper stew of royal viscosity!” Braun blurts for absolutely no reason at all. “That made no sense. I just wanted to sound intelligent.”

“This time around we had a little bit stronger of a vision of what we wanted,” Broeksa continues, ignoring Braun, “and just by experience with the last recording sessions we had a better idea with where we wanted to go.”

The guys describe new tracks such as Call Me Superstitious but I Think Was Just Hit by a Bus as a bit darker than previous material, and with any luck — and a little sobriety — the EP should land at just the right time to capitalize on growing popularity on the local and national scene.

Peg City rock station Power 97 featured The Nods on its River City Rawks Class of 2006 CD, and the tune Smart Car is now in rotation at the station. Similarly, Hallmark has been added to about 10 B.C. radio stations, which should help when the band hits the road in mid-October for a two-week jaunt out West.

Returning to B.C. may be a little troubling for some band members (see above sidebar), but at least The Nods got the debut appearance out of the way back in April at the New Music West festival.

They’ve also showcased on the other side of the country at this year’s North by Northeast festival. Both gigs came as a result of the work of manager Glen Willows, who runs Burning Circus Management. The Harlequin guitarist also manages the likes of Tele and ultra-hot buzz band Inward Eye

“I like Glen,” Braun says simply. “He’s got a few guitar solos that hit me right in the pancreas. Like Thinking of You — that’s a tasty-ass solo.”

“We’re on a pretty tight relationship with him, I guess,” Broeska says as Braun sings Willows’ solo with vigour. “Micah and I at least talk a lot about music with him. He’s got good advice with songwriting. He’ll tell us when he thinks an idea is good.”

OK, so Willows did let the band call itself The Nods — but like I said, ignore the name and listen to the music.

You’ll be glad you did.