NIGHTLY, the Nashville-based alt-pop band, opened up the Tabernacle in Atlanta, GA on January 26th ahead of rapper NF, as part of his latest Perception tour. The band, helmed by cousins Johnathan Capeci and Joey Beretta, has had several big hits after their first single. “XO” ended up on several Spotify playlists in late 2016, racking up millions of play counts, and gaining them an invitation to the YouTube Space in LA to record music videos for “XO” and “Talk to Me” there.
Photo by Christopher Little
NIGHTLY, who’s name is actually text lingo for “Night, Love You,” features an alt-pop sound with a distinct Nashville vibe, highlighted by Johnathan’s clear, bright vocals. It’s a sound that is equal parts gritty alternative lyrics and clean, exuberant pop presentation. These aren’t vapid feel good songs, instead they are littered with realistic emotion and feelings of relationships gone past.
In their first visit to Atlanta, Johnathan and Joey performed an excellent presentation of who they are as a band, and who they are as people, with many new fans surely gained from the sold-out crowd at Tabernacle.
This opener almost didn’t happen on time, however, as on the way to Atlanta, the band’s van broke down, requiring them to get a last minute rental and rush in to town. Luckily they made it, with just enough time to have a quick interview with OpenEars contributors Alisa and Christopher.
Photo by Christopher Little
OE: For someone who doesn’t know what NIGHTLY is, what would you tell them?
Johnathan: “We’re a band from Nashville.”
Joey: “We’re actually cousins, we’ve been best friends since we were born!”
OE: What’s a fun fact about the band?
Joey: “My favorite ice cream is butter pecan!”
Johnathan: “Mine is mint chocolate chip!”
OE: What tour are you on right now?
Johnathan: “So we’re on tour with NF, it’s been fun, getting used to being on a tour this big, it’s probably the biggest one we’ve been on yet. They’ve been great, and he’s really fun to watch!”
Photo by Christopher Little
OE: What do you enjoy about this tour that’s different from others you’ve been on?
Joey: “I think we’ve been very fortunate in the tours we’ve gotten and we’ve exclusively toured with really great people, these shows are much bigger, there’s much more people here, but it’s still a great vibe amongst us and their crew. It’s definitely a little different in terms of we’re playing for more people, so there’s like a little bit of nerves, I think, because we’re playing for twice the amount of people we usually do. Which has it’s ups and downs but overall it’s a pretty similar experience from our end, we’re just super stoked to have the opportunity to be out with NF and doing the thing, y’know?”
Johnathan: “Yeah, each one has a different kind of pros and cons, it’s nice in the smaller shows, ‘cause you see everybody and sometimes in the bigger rooms you can’t. But it’s cool, both are really cool!”
OE: What are you expecting after the tour is over? Any big plans for 2018?
Joey: “Yeah we’re putting out new music, we’re about to announce that soon. And some other things that I can’t really say yet. And more shows, more tours.”
Photo by Christopher Little
OE: What’s your favorite story from the tour?
Johnathan: “Not yet, well our van just broke down today, so we had to get a rental van. But luckily it happened in a way that we were able to get to the show in time, because we thought we weren’t going to be able to.”
Joey: “We’ve put like two-hundred and some odd thousand miles on this van, that we’ve had for like, the last forever.”
Johnathan: “Yeah, from other things, not just from NIGHTLY, but so far that was the least favorite thing about this tour. So a favorite, playing Nashville was cool, hometown show, it was awesome!”
Photo by Alisa Malkova
OE: What’s the best part as a band?
Joey: “Well I think that even in the worst, most hectic days like today, which was super hectic, we’re still so grateful that we’re literally driving around with our best friends in a van and we get to play music for a living. It’s something that we’re trying not to take for granted, it’s something we’ve wanted to do for a really long time. Now that we have the opportunity, were super happy and trying to make the best of everything.”
OE: A lot of your songs are about relationships, is there a particular reason you go this way?
Johnathan: “We just write about what we feel like writing about, and at the time, it just so happens to be relationships, I think we like listening to those kinds of songs, love songs, and sad songs, we just ended up writing them ourselves.”
Photo by Christopher Little
OE: If you were talking directly to your fans, what would you say?
Johnathan: “Thank you for listening to our music, every day has been great on this tour so far, we’re really excited to play, we’re playing some new songs, so thank you guys for listening.”
Joey: “And please come up and say hello to us, we love to meet people in general, and we always want to put a name to faces we’ve interacted with online!”
Look out for new music from NIGHTLY soon, listen to their debut EP, Honest, on Spotify, Apple Music, and iTunes, and check them out on NF’s Perception tour.
Interview conducted by Alisa Malkova.
Photos and write-up by Christopher Little.
Check out more photos from the show:
