Ryan Nichols - DJ/Producer

Ryan Nichols is a local DJ/Producer who loves mixing and producing big house beats. Intelligent, and talented, Ryan's goal is to soon catapult out of the Boston scene and into the clubs of Europe. See more about Ryan Nichols in the interview below.

One of the newest additions to our, "Boston is..." segment

The following interview with Ryan Nichols was conducted by Phil Fazioli on April 8th, 2017 at the Worcester Palladium. The event was called the "Worcester White Out," and it was presented by Sonex DJ Co.

Phil: The first thing I noticed about you was your genre listed on Facebook, "All things House," so you're obviously a House guy. I've even heard people refer to you as "Mr. All Things House." Can you tell me why you love House music so much?

Ryan: Growing up, my older brother Jonnie was a DJ. Back then, he produced what was called, "Hard House" music. That was like your DJ Icey and older, kind of trance influenced DJs. Those were my roots. I do love all genres of music..from Doo-Wop to Mo-Town, Rock N Roll, and everything. But House is just what makes me feel at home I guess.

Phil: And you produce as well, correct?

Ryan: Yes, I do.

Phil: I saw you have an original track online, "Running (Original Mix)". So is that yours from from nothing to completed track?

Ryan: Yup. That's all me from start to finish.

Phil: I really like that track. Can you talk about the production of it? Have you played it live yet?

Ryan: It's very "UK" influenced, organ-heavy track. The vocals you might recognize - they're from an old Whitney Houston track, "It's Not Right." I pitched down the vocals a bit, and then I got the green light from the label to use it.

Phil: How did you reach out to the label?

Ryan: Email. I had some connections, and I got the okay in an email.

Phil: It's all about the connections.

Phil: So how do the crowds react to your tracks? How do they react to different House beats, can you give a few examples of the crowd vibes and how you choose what to play next?

Ryan: Yeah, I mean it depends on where I am; that's a big part of it. The Boston club scene right now is kind of on the hip-hop-trap explosion if you will. Your Big Room House stuff always works - your Martin Garrix, your MAKJ, your Tiesto, and the radio stuff will add a little "UMMPH" to your stuff. My personal favorite is to just let stuff groove. To me, when you can get yourself in a groove and you can bridge that gap between you and the audience to be on the same level, the ball's in your court, everyone's in sync, and it's showtime. You can drop a lot of different things and you can experiment when this happens. I'm big on experimenting with my sets - sometimes it goes awesome and sometimes..not so much.

Phil: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Ryan: Not in the US. My 5 year plan is to be DJing and producing in London..getting my feet wet over there..I need some different sights.

Phil: If you could pick any DJs brain and learn about their production techniques and personal experiences, who would that DJ be?

Ryan: A guy named, James Hype. He's somewhat new to the scene and just sort of on the rise. He does a lot of Deep-Tech-House-Garage influences.

Phil: Where is he from? Have you reached out to him yet?

Ryan: He's originally from Liverpool but he's in London now. And yeah, actually we linked up in Miami and we got to hang out together. I picked his brain a bit, but I would love to sit down in the studio with him some time and watch the workflow. He's got fresh ideas, and he's the epitome of someone who just doesn't care, and he just does what he wants. The results of that are hits or misses, but there are usually more hits with him.

Phil: So you brought up Miami, what do you do there?

Ryan: So every year they have a Winter Music Conference, aka Miami Music Week. It's a week long party with different events including ULTRA. Plus it's a little vacation for me too. I go every year.

Phil: Well I wish you the best, thank you so much for your time.

Ryan: I appreciate it man, thank you.

Link to Ryan Nichols' Soundcloud Page, here.

#boston #europe #ryannichols #house