Palm Highway: A cruise into the futuristic-retro sounds of Miami ’87.
Nick Leroy’s newest tracks melts faces with October release.
The electronic music genre known as synthwave has close ties with South Florida. Miami, FL was the setting for the hit 80’s television show, Miami Vice. The hard hitting crime drama has had long-lasting impacts on pop culture, with it’s romanticized and realistic stories revolving around the cocaine-importing wars in 1980’s. Modern music, such as synthwave, draws heavily on this unique and highly attractive era in pop culture.
Nick Leroy’s album, “Palm Highway”, soundly falls into the neon pink drenched landscapes of this sub-genere of synthwave. Palm Highway was released October 12th, 2020 on JST Records (JSTR141). Featuring seven all-original tracks of highly listenable synthwave, Palm Highways treats the listener to a serving of aural bliss rife with all the guilty trappings of the Miami nostalgia.
The opening, titular track invites the audience to come along for the ride. It doesn’t take a huge stretch of one’s imagination to envision cruising down the coastal highways of the Atlantic Ocean during the summer of ’86 with the open top of a white luxury vehicle with stunning blonde in the passenger seat next to you. Tasty waves of lush chords swell in and out like the waves lapping the shore, and a rock solid foundation of steady bass lines and drums pulse underneath. You can practically smell the salt in the air and feel the warm breeze. Sun screen optional.
JST Records (Jet Set Trash) Owner, Founder and CEO, Zak Deligiannis, was kind enough to arrange an interview Leroy for Slickster Magazine.
Palm High way is available for purchase at:
Bandcamp: https://jstrecords.bandcamp.com/album/palm-highway-ep
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3lCTj59
Slickster Magazine: Nick, thanks for chatting with Slickster Magazine. You’ve released some EP’s in the past (Police Action, Another World, Ray of Sunshine), but this is your first full length album. How did you approach this process (creating a longer running time), as opposed to working on one single at a time?
Nick Leroy: Composing an album is a long process which is more difficult than creating a single. All tracks in the album have to follow a theme or a story, while a single is an independent track and you are free to choose instruments and sound effects. No matter whether it fits the theme or not, you can release it because it just deserves to be heard.
Slickster Magazine: Miami, FL is well known as the lynchpin of the horribly bloody cocaine importing wars of the 1980’s. Do you feel this fact is overly romanticized or casts a negative shadow on the Synthwave, aka “outrun” genre of music?
Nick Leroy: Many people are not even aware of these facts, the atmosphere that they feel listening to the music and watching the films of that time is more important for them. For me personally, synthwave has nothing to do with these negative associations, synthwave is a pleasant nostalgia for the past.
I also believe that the movie Miami Vice and later the game GTA: Vice City greatly contributed to the development of the Synthwave genre. That’s why some of classic synthwave themes are the sounds of sirens, gunshots, radio stations and the growl of a car engine.
Slickster Magazine: What advice would you like to share with any young musicians who may read this interview and wish to get their start in the music business?
Nick Leroy: Listen to a lot of the music of the genre in which you want to develop, take inspiration from the music you like and don’t be afraid to start creating your own music.
Slickster Magazine: Nick, you are from Russia. Can you briefly describe the local electronic music scene in Moscow. How many acts are there? Do they produce live events/shows?
Nick Leroy: Regarding synthwave, there are not many people who like this kind of music. Techno, House, Drum and bass are more successful in Russia. Almost all of my friends in the music industry make DnB, they also regularly organize parties and shows, which are quite popular in Moscow.
Slickster Magazine: Where do you predict the future of the synthwave genre is heading in the next 3-5 years?
Nick Leroy: I think that synthwave will remain at its present level. Only if synthwave is mixed with other musical genres, it will get a chance to develop in the future and thus attract more fans.
Slickster Magazine: Who are a few of your favorite musicians/artists at the moment?
Nick Leroy: My top 3 musicians at the moment are Apparat, Lifelike, Miami Night 1984. But sometimes I also love to listen to some great artists from the past century: Michael Jackson, Madonna, Phil Collins.
Slickster Magazine: Everyone knows and agrees that Russian woman are very hot and sexy. Please explain how and why this is.
Nick Leroy: Yes, I agree that Russian women are very beautiful. I think that the secret of their hotness lies in their natural beauty.
Slickster Magazine: Are you writing for any other mediums, ie. video games, movies, YouTube videos? If so, which projects can you share with us?
Nick Leroy: Yes, I made some soundtracks for the computer game Shut-Eye, but as far as I know, it never went into production. Also, my music can be heard on the film by Alexey Ilyin, where the famous Russian porn actress Elena Berkova played.
Slickster Magazine: What’s next for Nick Leroy?
Nick Leroy: In the near future I plan to release a new single and also experiment with new genres. Hope you will enjoy it.
Slickster Magazine: Thanks again for taking the time to answer our questions and share your fantastic new album, Palm Highways, with us. Is there anything we didn’t get the chance to talk about that you would like to share?
Nick Leroy: Thank you very much for the interview and for your interest in my music. I am happy that I have fans in the US, thanks again for your support.
