An Artist Finding His Voice

Written by: Jennifer Ward

Nick Spataro, also known as Nickspat, is joining the music scene in a new solo career, although he’s not new in the world.

Born and raised in Suffren, New York, Nickspat got into music at a young age, learning a lot from his dad, who was self-taught. One of his earliest memories is watching his dad constantly playing the drums and his guitar. Nickspat recalled messing with his dad’s guitar after his dad left it out, which led to his dad getting Niskspat his own guitar at the age of 6.

In college after meeting his freshman-year roommate, Matt Castello, he helped start the band Sunday Dinner along with Joe Novello and Vincent Guiliano. The band has since released nine singles and one Extended Play (EP).

After years with the band, Nickspat wasn’t sure what he sounded like as an individual performer. “I was dealing with, not an identity crisis, but I was questioning my identity,” said Nickspat. So, senior year of college, Nickspat began a challenge to himself to write one song a day.

This led to him slowly enjoying having full control of the song and getting to explore himself as an artist. “The thing that drove me towards creating a solo project was the desire to go deeper into myself,” said Nickspat. “I feel like it’s cool because it allows me to do things that are super intimate to my personality.”

Niskspat found himself leaning towards the indie-pop genre, drawing inspiration from his bandmates and artists like Post Malone. His artist name comes from a nickname in high school everyone used to call him. “It was never just Nick, it was either Spat or Nickspat,” he said. So when it came to figuring out what to call himself, it was a no-brainer.

Nickspat released his first single, “Fashn” in March of 2023. The song was part of his one-song-a-day challenge and helped him solidify his idea to be a solo artist. “I think really that whole process of not only creating music but also world-building, doing visuals and all that really made me fall in love with being a solo artist,” Nickspat said. “It was really fun and went so much better than I could have ever anticipated.”

Since then, Nickspat released his debut EP “t.v.!” in September of 2024 containing five songs, “t.v.!”, “wontgo”, “nightswithyou”, “somethingtolose”, “takemeaway” and “birds”. “That music is really close to my heart, and I feel a really cool representation of who I am as a person,” said Nickspat. The inspiration for the EP heavily drew from graduating college and moving back home with his parents. The album contains a nostalgic feel that goes back to the full-circle moment of returning to where it all began.

“All of the songs on ‘t.v.!’ kind of have this nostalgic undertone to it,” said Nickspat. “For me, when I get the visualization of a nostalgic memory, it almost has the grain, the fuzz and the low-fi-ness to it, of an old retro TV. So I feel like that song personified perfectly the feeling of the album.”

When asked what his favorite song from the EP was, the answer came quickly to Nickspat. “I love them all equally. Like you’re supposed to love your children equally, but everyone secretly has a favorite and I feel like ‘nightswithyou’ is my secret favorite,” said Nickspat. The song particularly brings him back to the time the song was made, and the emotions behind it. Along with the song sonically being a standing out to him. “It’s almost like you can feel that nostalgia, I can touch it.”

Although Nickspat loves working with Sunday Dinner, he notes there are a lot of differences between working with a band and making music solo. A pro of this is having full control over the music and exploring all ideas. “I wanted it to be like a mirror reflecting directly to the people who I am. That was kind of difficult to do,” said Nickspat. A con he faces, however, is not having somebody to help guide him in the right direction when he needs it.

Nickspats favorite part of releasing music is performing live. No matter where the venue or how many people are in the audience, Nickspat can’t wait to get on stage. “Live music is the best and it doesn’t matter if it’s in front of 1,000 people or 10,” said Nickspat.

Photo by: Tyler Thompson

“Being on stage is my favorite place to be in the entire world. There’s nothing like it. There’s no closer feeling to your true essence as a person than when you’re on stage, for me at least,” he continued. “I just think everything goes back to that flow state like I was talking about. You’re just there, you’re one million percent present, you’re connected to the people on stage you’re playing with, you’re connected to the audience. You guys are all sharing this moment and this music together.”

Nickspat has performed at many venues, one even being the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to an almost sold-out crowd. House of Blues is home to Live Nation and has seen many notable artists such as Puddle of Mudd, Pierce the Veil, Warren Zieders and more.

However, the performance that sticks out to Nickspat goes back to his college days performing at an apartment on campus. “The fucking room had maybe 50 people, nobody could move because of how packed it was, it was like 115 degrees in there,” Nickspat recalled. “When everyone was jumping up and down dancing to the music we were almost positive the floor was going to cave in. That was probably one of my favorite shows if my favorite.”

Nickspat is still with Sunday Dinner, with them even forming a record label, as well as a podcast. “We wanted to find a way to platform our voice and platform our perspective, kind of create a community at the same time,” Nickspat said.

Photo: Maelis Tomassone

Currently, Nickspat is living in Valencia, Spain, after falling in love with it while traveling Europe after college. He continues to work on his music internationally while taking life slow and enjoying the little things. Although, he does plan to return to the States one day.

“It’s beautiful and I love it here but also still, the energy of New York is irreplaceable and despite how amazing it is to be in Europe and to be in Spain, I still know that my roots and my life is meant to be in New York,” said Nickspat. “I’m by no means in a rush to leave here but I’m excited to come back to New York as well and feel the energy.”

Nickspat is nowhere near done creating and producing and is still learning who he is one day at a time, although he is happy where he is now. When asked what’s next, he said, “Just know that ‘t.v.!’ is just the beginning. The world of Nickspat is only going to get bigger.”

You can find Nickspat’s music on all streaming platforms and @nickspatmusic on Instagram.

Link to Nickspat’s music

Nickspat

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