The life of a musician can be a serious hustle at the best of times. For Nikodimos this has involved him making his own merchandise, as it saves money. But it’s also a fun process, he claims. When we spoke, he was at Spotlight buying paint in preparation to do just that, frugal and creative fun.
Authentic and unique, exploring creative pursuits within and outside of music seem to come naturally to him. The experimental multi-instrumentalist has a confirmed upcoming residency at Baby Snakes in Footscray. It’s set to run every Sunday throughout the month of April, starting at 7 pm and going until late.
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The residency will assume a distinct form, with one set being played by the house band curated by Nikodimos on any given Sunday. There will then be space for another set whereby members of the audience are invited to join in, improvise and jam.
“I think this is the first time I’ve done it like this,” says Nikodimos. “Last year I did some shows here and there, but this is the first residency I’ve done.”
For Nikodimos most of his musical production and creation is informed and inspired by improvisation and jamming – so hosting, curating and sharing a space for people to be involved with a similar process is an apt extension of his fast-growing repertoire.
“A lot of my production style is informed by improvisation and jamming with myself on loops until the beat starts to mean something,” he says. “It is also influenced by jamming with other people. I find inspiration being surrounded by the idea of not thinking too much.
“In that way you are doing more soul searching than thinking. It’s feeling rather than thinking which informs a bit more of a human sound which people can relate to a bit more. I try not to focus on thinking about how something should sound or how something has been done before.”
It’s not surprising that Nikodimos has explored the creation of instruments himself. However, with a recent invention, it wasn’t just the musical output that proved worthy of the experiment. Rather, the remarkable design has made it a big talking point for those having witnessed it being played.
“The baby is a synthesiser that is built into a baby doll,” he says. “It has a distortion circuit and has a bunch of parameters that you can control, like two oscillators. You can generate noise, notes, and tones out of it. It’s great through all the pedals as it works as an effects kind of thing.
“It’s a good thing because you plug it in and the eyes light up and people always ask questions about it and it helps people remember the gigs and me. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. It’s a helpful promotional tool as much as it is a great instrument.
“I designed it, but I had a guy in Lithuania build it. His name was Kevin Jones which I found suspicious. Definitely not a cop. Definitely not a cop Jones.”
Although Nikodimos has an innate jocular approach, he places a lot of emphasis on his Greek heritage. One fateful day he decided to venture into the notable Volaris Music Store on Sydney Road. Upon bonding over Greek familial ties, the store owners happen to be from the same village in Tsimandria, Lemnos that he is. He eventually got offered to try playing a bouzouki.
“I sat in [Volaris music] and was talking to them,” says Nikodimos. “We worked out we were sort of family and they let me try one of the bouzoukis in there. I couldn’t stop playing it, so I sat down for a couple of hours playing it, and it was creating such a beautiful sound.”
This has led to his experimentation with a smaller, Greek guitar – the Tsoras that his partner bought him for a birthday.
“I’m learning a new instrument at the moment. My partner bought it for me for my birthday, it’s called a Tsoras. It’s like a Bouzouki, but a three stringed version.
“It’s a Greek instrument so it’s from my culture and I feel quite connected to it which is cool. I am really enjoying the learning process and understanding the harmonic structure of it.”
For someone who has been playing instruments for 20 years, Nikodimos’ inquisitive and curious approach is as formidable as it has ever been in the short 24 years he has been alive.
When he isn’t learning new instruments or making his own, he is working on his Nikodimos project, with Proto Moro or with Nikodimos and his Orchestra. If that wasn’t enough – he has so much else he is working on too.
Him and his orchestra have a gig upcoming at the Nightcat supporting local soul-jazz outfit The Rookies.
“The idea behind the project Nikodimos and His Orchestra is I write music for different spaces outside of a typical venue. We also have a gig on April 22 supporting the Rookies at the Nightcat where I will design the score for the club. It’s a big, kind of windy, spiritual and free space. These are all buzz words. It’s orchestral jazz music.”
Stacked to the brim with shows, April will also see the release of Nikodimos’ new EP NIKODIMOS GOES TO SPACE. It will be released on April 17 and is centred around sampling records into a type of beat tape.
“I have an EP coming out on April 17,” he says. “It’s a 16 minute long beat that I’ve split up into 10 sections/songs (so I guess you could call it a beat tape) and was made entirely out of sampling records whilst in lock down nearly a year ago. All the records were purchased from Northside Records on Gertrude St.”
Nikodimos’ arsenal of creative projects is abundantly equipped and only growing larger. Make the most of the April offerings and catch one of his performances.
You can find all the information about his Baby Snakes residency on the venue’s Instagram.
