ifitbeyourwill Podcast
“ifitbeyourwill" Podcasts is on a mission to talk to amazing indie artists from around the world! Join us for cozy, conversational episodes where you'll hear from talented and charismatic singer-songwriters, bands from all walks of life talk about their musical process & journey. Let's celebrate being music lovers!
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ifitbeyourwill Podcast
ifitbeyourwill S05E20 • Nick Bendzsa
Nick Bendzsa sits down with us to peel back the layers of his musical metamorphosis from synth-pop architect to folk-trap innovator. The Newfoundland native, now based in Montreal, candidly reveals how his sound has evolved alongside his personal journey.
Growing up with a music professor father who specialized in experimental and improvised compositions, Nick absorbed the spirit of musical freedom from an early age. While his teenage years found him playing bass in a blues band and performing for crowds of 2,000 at just 17, his true artistic voice was still developing. Nick reflects on how these formative experiences shaped his approach to music-making: "I think it was very much like being around him and going to his concerts and picking up this spirit of freedom through music and the joy of creation."
The conversation delves into the fascinating transition from his previous project Hello—characterized by densely layered electronic soundscapes—to his current solo work under his own name. This shift wasn't just stylistic but represented a deeper change in creative philosophy. "I'm not trying to add frivolous stuff," Nick explains. "I want to just communicate a bit more directly." His self-described "trap folk" sound merges fingerpicked guitars with trap beats and ambient textures, creating something uniquely authentic that flows from genuine emotional experiences rather than genre conventions.
Particularly illuminating is Nick's discussion of how producing for other artists has informed his own work, teaching him to consider what elements truly serve the emotional core of a song. This perspective has helped him embrace minimalism and authenticity over the pressure to create attention-grabbing pop songs in today's saturated music landscape. With his album "Very Soft Glow" set to release on May 24th, Nick Bendzsa invites us to witness the next chapter in his evolving musical story—one that promises to continue blurring boundaries while remaining firmly rooted in emotional truth.
Subscribe to hear more conversations with boundary-pushing indie artists who are redefining genres and creating deeply personal music on their own terms.
Sometimes when I tinker you, gentle red meets baby blue Saturday night without a crew. Year in space brings something new. Young leaves on the trees like a canopy.
Nick Bendzsa:Wish I could still keep up with your family. So here we are, another episode of Beer Will Podcast, bringing you indie artists across the globe, I hope. I mean we've touched on many continents, so I'm very happy to come back home, though.
colleyc:Today we're going to be talking with a Newfoundlander, currently in Montreal, but still his heart is on the island. I'm sure we have Nick Benza, who is a native of St John living in Montreal, and you might have also heard of his other groups called Hello, and also I found Stompbox as well, nick, which I want to talk about. So Hello was very much of a synth poppy, but Nick's kind of started putting out stuff in his own name which is a little bit more indie, stringy singer-songwriting. We have some beautiful songs that he's put out this year and we'll talk about those and so much more. So, nick, thanks so much for joining me today on the cast.
Nick Bendzsa:Thank you so much for having me, Chris. I'm really happy to be here.
colleyc:Excellent, well, lots to talk about. I know that creativity has been a part of your life, it seems. From a very young age I found Jesus Christ Superstar. What do they call those? The pamphlet, I guess, of the show. What do they call those ticket? The pamphlet, I guess of the show? Um, so I know that that this process has been you've been going through it for a long, long time and I believe you're still. Are you at McGill? It was said that you were doing and musical sound engineering at McGill? Is that still ongoing?
Nick Bendzsa:yeah, I just. I just finished my master's last April, so I guess a year ago now, uh, at McGill, but yeah so I mean creativity, young age.
colleyc:What are your, what are your poignant moments that you can recall of those earliest encounters with creativity and and and what were those experiences like? And and what kind of sparked or started to spark the musical um journey that you started?
Nick Bendzsa:That's an interesting question because I was really close with my dad and both my parents are very musical. My dad was actually a professor of music in Newfoundland and he really well in classical, but he really focused on a lot of experimental and improvised music. So I think my early memories with it was just a lot of fun, like I didn't really I don't know as a kid, I don't know if I was like specifically musical, but I think we had like a lot of play around music um. And then I think when it really started kind of clicking for me when I was a teenager and I started taking piano lessons and I was just getting I loved ed sheeraneran and Jason Mraz, kind of these like famous singer, songwriters and just like I just couldn't stop singing and playing. And then I got into synthesizers and my, my dad had a couple of cool synthesizers, so we would like I don't know he taught me a bit of it and I just sit in my basement on my cork, micro cork for a long time.
colleyc:That's really great, and was was your dad. You said that they your mom and dad both kind of dabbled in music and you had that around you all the time. So I'm surely that, inspired and having access to instruments as well allowed you to kind of start exploring this side that you were interested in.
Nick Bendzsa:Yeah, definitely. Well, I think it's kind of interesting because my dad was he's a very like deeply like, like feeling and um musical person, but I don't know how much kind of like direct mentorship in some way. I think it was very much like kind of being around him and going to his concerts and like picking up this spirit of freedom through music and like the, the, the, the joy of creation. And yeah, it was kind of like like those magic moments. He did a lot of improvisation, so it's kind of like those magic moments of like, I don't know like things that only happen once.
colleyc:They're just capturing something really magical, right, right, you capture that, that, that essence of something, or the moment of. And what were your? I know that in high school you had a band. You guys hadn't released anything but you were. It seemed to be that you were quite popular around the island anyway, like can you tell us about those first experiences with stompbox, kind of like? What was that, that initial style that you guys started to play with?
Nick Bendzsa:that's funny. It's funny you found that because it's it was like such a big part of my, of my life in high school. But we were completely a blues band. I joined, kind of like last minute. I didn't know, I didn't play any blues ever, that wasn't kind of my world at all. But they were just looking for a bass bass player and my my bass teacher at the time like I saw an adam kajiji for like teenagers looking for a bass player and one of the guys was like in my class, which was really funny. Um, so yeah, uh, I don't know, but I think that was a great experience because it kind of got me into the world of like playing shows.
Nick Bendzsa:I played in a couple other kind of indie bands at the time but that was the kind of group we played a lot of shows with. We like toured around newfoundland a couple times. I went to the winnipeg Folk Fest and like. So it's like really cool for being like 14 and 15 and still my couple of my biggest shows to date. I remember when I was 17 I think we played this big like New Year's, like Canada New Year's party and like 2,000 people there and like I was like I don't know if I'll play a show like that ever again at the time right amazing exposure at a young age, though like to feel that intensity of you know 2 000 people looking at you listening to what you're doing.
colleyc:What an experience so once that evolved, like when did you start kind of thinking the other side of the hat too, like you wanted to kind of play around with the audio and and record and and layer and mix? Like when did that aspect come into your, into your creative process?
Nick Bendzsa:yeah, I think it really started. I again like I was inspired by Ed Sheeran when I was a kid and he had this like loop pedal and I got a loop pedal and I started making kind of like like using this like Elisa's keyboard I had in my microchord to like do drum beats and and kind of play around. I was really inspired by kind of all of that like bedroom pop stuff that was coming out of like the 2015 to 2020 era. So I think it was that I was maybe like 16 and I'd always written songs, but I think I started kind of like narrowing in on a bit of more of the style from the hello era, this kind of dream pop sound um around then. Yeah, so it's mostly kind of like I don't know a couple keyboards in the loop pedal. And then I think when I went to university I was 17 I started like learning how to use logic and getting into that whole world of that um.
Nick Bendzsa:But yeah it was always kind of for myself. And then when I went to, I think, university finally, like I started for my master's and coming to montreal and started kind of having a bit a lot more of an ear for, I guess, sculpting sound through mixing and like the whole production through the mixing lens a little bit more, and like working with other people kind of helped throw back a lot of like what I didn't understand and like what I didn't know about creating music and um, I think, uh, just before the podcast we were talking about the kind of acoustic and electronic stuff and like kind of seeing this whole acoustic world really opened up my eyes of because I was before it was all kind of on the computer and just like knowing how to think about how to blend those worlds a lot yeah, for sure.
colleyc:I was gonna ask you about that too. Like in your in your writing process, um, when you were doing hello stuff, um more of the synth, poppy, um genre, how would you build a song like, how did it start, how did that process start for you? And when you were building it as kind of a singer, songwriter, are you always looking through the end of of the sound engineer or you know that production part? Is that always present? Or are you able to separate the two and say like, okay, I'm focusing on the song here, I'm not going to think about all the layers I can put. And then, once you have something that you're on to you, you like, how do you what's? What's your process in in regard to that?
Nick Bendzsa:well, yeah, when I was younger, with the hello stuff, it would be a lot more kind of like I'm sitting down on my computer and I'm just like hammering away, trying to like put parts in and think, find things I think sound cool, um, and I remember finally feeling like I would.
Nick Bendzsa:I would feel like there were emotional songs for me in some way, but I would kind of start the writing process with maybe like there'd be some emotional triggers and like that, or I'd even just be messing around like making beats, but I think pretty soon like the emotional element would completely fade away and I was trying to piece together little parts of the song, um, so that's a big difference, I think. With with this material I started off it was just kind of like, uh, kind of same before too, like I don't want to put anything into the music that doesn't kind of come from this emotional place. Like it like, yeah, like I guess thinking minimalism, like I've always had like a very like maximalist approach to production, um, but yeah, I just kind of been like well, what needs to be here, like what augments the message, and like I don't want to put filler stuff in right.
colleyc:Right. Did you feel that when you were playing around with hello, that, like you would have have lots of layers? Let's geek out a little bit. How would you build a song with Hello, because it does sound very full and there's a lot of stuff that's going on there. What was your approach to building that? So you had the song structure basically ready to go, you had your chords, you had your lyrics. How did you go about building on that and what was your kind of like? I don't like. What was your style or your formula that you like to follow that created that sound of hello?
Nick Bendzsa:I think, well, maybe I guess in the vein of improvisation in some ways, it's like I don't. I think I approach it's not really improvised, but I approach each song and kind of forget that I've done songs before in some way where I go in and like, especially with Hello, and I'm like, okay, I'm starting completely from scratch. I don't have like kind of like a drum kit I go to or like a whatever sound like. It's just like it's free for all a little bit. I think with that I would kind of I would always kind of have these like bass, chords and drums and bass. There's a lot of baseline focused stuff, cause that's what I was into when I was younger, but then I would just start because I didn't know how to mix. So I would try to find the like intensity and the sound through layering, which I think maybe is how it comes. It's like, okay, like I need to have some transition. I need to have like these things need to feel big. I'm just going to add a bunch of sounds and add a bunch of different lines and textures. Um, so it was kind of that.
Nick Bendzsa:It was like I never felt like I guess maybe it's like I didn't understand things as well. I never felt like I was able to, um, actually finish a song on my own, so I was always kind of just going away at it until at some point I was like I can't go any farther of this. I need to kind of go and record with someone else and like, maybe do it better. It would usually be the same things I'd recorded before, but just I don't know. I think having someone else's confidence in me helped me to finish it for sure.
colleyc:I think collaborations are super. We realize they become super important because they kind of shed a light on what we might have overlooked or not seen at the time. Right it's, it's good to always have that second set of ears. So when you transitioned from hello into your self-titled stuff, I mean the transition was very short, it was a year or two. Right that that you started kind of changing over to your self-titled stuff yeah, I guess I guess.
Nick Bendzsa:So like I think I kind of stopped writing the music for hello very regularly, maybe like two or three years ago.
Nick Bendzsa:I was really like into it with school and like um, right but I think, yeah, I just started feeling less and less like motivation.
Nick Bendzsa:It's like, well, I don't know if there's like I, I like the music still, but I was just I don't know how this if this is how I want to express myself and I wasn't, I don't know.
Nick Bendzsa:I was kind of unsure where it was going and I had this, I guess, big cut in my life where I had this big breakup and like there's all this stuff happening and I just started being like well, I want to have more fun with it, I want to just like. I never made any trap music before and I was like it'd be funny to just sit in my room and make trap beats and stuff like that. So I think and I didn't kind of intend to take a new direction or go under my name, but then I was just thinking, well, you don't be kind of funny to have this new direction? That's kind of like trap influence, all these things I've never done before, which is something I really like, where it's kind of you go into a style I don't listen to trap music and uh, kind of go into a style and just kind of know about it off of your like imagined references as opposed to the like oh, I can copy this or can copy that.
colleyc:There's like um did you expand on that nick? Like what trap folk like you say that right traps folk inspired as your describer? Can you like I've never heard of that? Like yeah, I was curious to ask you about what that trap, that trap reference to you, what it, what it meant, means to you.
Nick Bendzsa:I don't totally know. I think it's the funny thing. So with this I was kind of like I don't know, I've been producing for other people. I've been producing some kind of pretty folk like indie folk stuff, like fingerpick guitars, and I don't really know anyone who's been making like mixed beats in the same way. So I was just kind of thinking like you know, I want to go for it.
Nick Bendzsa:I started listening to like some young, lean stuff which is very kind of I don't know like classic internet trap, and I knew like a few songs and I just kind of was like well, I'm going to try it myself, I'll try to go for it. And I was kind of mixing that with this like sort of fingerpicked guitar style that I was doing for a lot of, a lot of the music, which ended up kind of into these interesting results because I had that. And then I also like I make a lot of ambient music and it's kind of like trying to take this sort of like textural wash element and like put it with these trap drums and then the fingerpick guitars, um and yeah, and I don't know if it's even a style I'm gonna kind of keep going with, but it's just so it's really liberating in some way to just try something new yeah, and was emotional cream pie that first.
colleyc:Like I know, it's the first single you put out on bandcamp under your name. Was that the first track that you're talking about?
Nick Bendzsa:no, the emotional cream pie was uh, I I wrote this song I went home for to back to Newfoundland for Christmas One year, like one and a bit years ago, and I, I don't know, like I just had this breakup. My mom was getting married and I was like it'd be really funny to just like be in my room like making trap beats and so I just I mean this really like dramatic song called can't hold back my tears. So that was kind of the first one. I kind of like this, like let me keep going with it. But Emotional Cream Pie, I think came from I don't know. My ex-girlfriend was kind of like hey, I thought of the song title, like I don't write music, like you should try something with it. So I did, I went back and I think she'd been kind of thinking it would be kind of I don't know, like a bit more like fun and upbeat.
colleyc:And I was just just like. This is really sad. It's a really sad feeling and I just had to get that out. Cool, cool, I think you're. You're right on to something too, like these emotions sometimes. You've got to find a, an exit point for it so that you can kind of like move on with life and like. Putting it down on tape seems to be a very big remedy for musicians, um, I'm sure you know poets put right poems and the hockey players go and take slab shots. I don't know that creative. You gotta let, you gotta have an outlet.
colleyc:And I think that you tapped into something here, because it it's a total shift from hello, in the sense that when we were talking about this before, where it was very electronic and synth based, your earlier stuff and this stuff is very string and folky and I'll throw trap in there, even though I'm a little bit wild on the term still but what was that transition like? Was that you wanted to reinvent yourself? Is that? Because I I mean, even your vocals are like. You can get a sense that it's the same person, but you've lowered your register a little bit and it seems a little bit more like down in your heart area that you're singing from is that. Can you expand on that a bit?
Nick Bendzsa:yeah, oh, thank you for saying that. It's I. It was very unconscious, to be honest, like I. I think it was just because I hadn't really been writing that much music for maybe like 18 months. And then, uh, I think it was just kind of coming from this, like I was just having fun with it and a lot of the influence of kind of being a producer and working with other people, just kind of getting that like like being into their music and then having that kind of come back to me and with the voice I think I don't know.
Nick Bendzsa:I guess I was younger when I was writing a lot of the hello music and I, I guess I mean like 17 to 22. And I think I was really trying to explore myself in different ways and I think that that's kind of always been like who I am, like how I'm singing. Now in in some way, I'm just like it's kind of like trying to just sink more into myself and be like well, I'm the music's a lot more genuine. The like is it saying I'm not trying to like kind of add frivolous stuff, like I want to just communicate the kind of a bit more directly maybe?
colleyc:right. Yeah, I find that everything has its purpose, everything has its intention, like it's very well crafted and it's able to connect the listener to your feelings.
colleyc:I find this is a human feeling we're having in this human connection happening, which I really um, it's hard to achieve that you know a singer, songwriter, to their audience and make those emotions like real for another person. Um, who, who was? Who are your inspirations that you were recording? Or or, um, you know, like that, that you would record their music, mix it all and like something like was left with you, like you took something away from that. Can you describe some of those experiences where an artist might've like like, awoken something in you?
Nick Bendzsa:Yeah, I think a big one is my friend, alex, so his project's called Microwave Tower.
Nick Bendzsa:It's really beautiful music, no-transcript, I guess, like me seeing like a more like fantastical or narrative arc behind everything. This is kind of I like the whole element of like reality interspersed with this, this sort of like that's a big part of the album, like some of it's dramatized and all these things. And I remember kind of sitting and sitting with him and he was kind of playing me some of his songs and I just see the visuals of exactly how I'd imagined the scene in my head from that music and then I'd because it's pretty folk in some ways, and I just be okay, let's, let's try to make this without like, without superfluous elements, and with just like kind of recreate that, that scene as well as possible and not and think about what, what fits the music narratively as opposed to what fits musically into the song. Um, like, we have to have a guitar here, we have to have this more like. Okay, what would happen in this moment? Like, is it getting like almost like the sort of vertical size of the song?
Nick Bendzsa:That's a great awareness, though yeah, sorry, I said it's a great awareness to come to that like realization, like let's pare back or let's, you know, minimize things so that we can get to the essence of it almost yeah, yeah, because just I don't know, there's just so much music kind of coming out and I'm like like you have to do it for yourself in some ways, like what's what's authentic and what's like there's no point in kind of building it up because everyone's got a huge pop song. So if you want to be honest with it, you gotta um. But yeah, I think that that was a big influence. Then another one is my. My friend, nick barkman, is music's nicholas lb, um, I think, was in contact with you about setting this up because he's been managing for me, which has been awesome but cool, I think yeah, we just talk a lot about.
Nick Bendzsa:I don't know what it means to be an artist and what, um, and just I think, just seeing his process and just just I think, having people like kind of open their hearts to me and like this is what I do and this is what, um, yeah, it's just very inspiring for me. It's like you can kind of aspire to something bigger than the, the, the thing in front of you. You like the song on your computer. It's like you can create a whole, a whole world in your head around music and I think that was a big thing and kind of transitioning away from this sort of like band-based hello music to, yeah, the new stuff it seems like a great transition, like you learned a ton doing you know the synth pop, and it's really informed what you're doing now, which is really great.
colleyc:I wanted to ask you kind of just to bring things to a close here Nick, what does the future look like? What are you looking for in 2025 with your music and the production, and is there anything you can share with us about maybe shows or recordings or what we can anticipate?
Nick Bendzsa:So I'm putting out an album with these singles on it in May on May 24th I haven't released that yet, but 23rd and that's called Very Soft Glow and it's kind of in this vein and I'm really excited about that. And outside of that've been, uh, because I've been starting the next album, I've had another album which is kind of taking a bit of a different direction. It's a bit I guess I have a piano ballad on it. I have a kind of it's like a little bit more like drums and bass and acoustic guitar and some weird sounds so that's cool, sounds fun.
Nick Bendzsa:Yeah, that's kind of it.
colleyc:Are you going to be collaborating with other people with the production side of things as well?
Nick Bendzsa:Yeah, I'm producing for a few people. Right now I'm going to be producing an album for my friend Nick. I mentioned my friend Alex at Microwave Tower, his sister at Fine Food Market and there's a few other people here and there. Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
colleyc:I learn a lot through it, oh absolutely, I would almost see that as like your inspiration, almost like as you were mentioning, where you, you know, you take that, all that back with you and, you know, start to analyze your own stuff through some of that lens, which is amazing. I love that.
Nick Bendzsa:Yeah, it's like you're forced to kind of like dig into someone else's perspective and like really try to take it on Totally, totally, yeah, it helps you see yourself a bit better.
colleyc:Absolutely. Holding mirrors up are good sometimes, because it allows you to empty what you don't need anymore. Well, well, uh, nick, thanks so much. This has been really fun to talk with you. Um, I'm really excited about what's to come as well.
colleyc:Um, I'll be looking for your produce stuff too, I want to check some out of how you assemble other people's music, because this stuff that you've been put out you got three singles out now and an album coming. Um, I hope too that you do a show or a launch. Uh, you're in montreal for the first time I could actually come and see somebody I cast with. That would be that would be incredible.
Nick Bendzsa:Well, we're, I think I'm going to be doing. I had a show this past week, uh a few days ago, at. It was like a at a sports bar and it's the first show ever there and it was kind of like we had tvs all over the walls like, and I've made a bunch of videos kind of for the different tvs. We're like live streaming onto the tvs. Those are a lot of fun. I'm thinking, thinking about, I'm trying to figure out what what the show will be, but either a house show or, uh, I don't know, one of these more like diy shows. But I will send you an invite and it's been really wonderful to have you.
colleyc:I'd love to be there and support you. Um. All the best with that too. All the best with your music. Um, it's been really great to uh, to find you and start to to dig into your, into your creative music, your process. This has been a lot of fun and when your next release comes out, definitely I would love to have you back and talk about it. Um I'm sure we can talk for another half hour, no problem yeah, I'm feeling very grateful to be here.
Nick Bendzsa:So thank you so much, chris. Like it was a lot of fun I really appreciate it.
colleyc:And now you are not a podcast beginner, you have one experience under your belt, so I hope that uh people um catch your attention, catch your groove and uh onward so thanks so much, thank you, so much, thank you and yeah take care, thank you way to the world in the hand on my back, sack on my shoulder, got a hole in the side, sitting on the bed at the edge of your room.
Nick Bendzsa:No, I gotta, it's gotta be soon. Emotional cream pie, we cry. I fill you with my love, you keep it inside. We are now at Upper Session Road. It all went wrong. It all went wrong. Emotional cream that, we cry. I fill you with my love, you keep it inside. Emotional cream pie, we cry. If it is forever, a kiss is goodbye, thank you.
