Nya: Hi, I’m Nya with KCSUFM and I’m here with-

Aidan: Aidan Bissett

Nya: And we are just gonna yap a little bit. I have a couple questions for you. My first question being: “you describe your music style as an alternative pop music that combines guitar and electronica elements. While this is a unique sound, do you find influence from any other artists?”

Aidan: Yeah, I love what the 1975 has done mixing their synths and guitar. That’s really, really cool. Even going back to like Bruce Springsteen and The Strokes and The Killers and stuff like that.

Nya: Do you have a favorite The Strokes album?

Aidan: I think I’m partial to “Room On Fire”. It’s just so good.

Nya: I agree.

Nya: What is your favorite song right now? We’re talking about like albums. What do you think is your favorite album at the moment? Or a favorite song?

Aidan: Oh my god. Anytime anybody puts me on the spot, I’m like, I have no clue. Um, actually, I do, I do. I love, love, love, love what Fontaine’s DC is doing right now. Um, if you don’t know who they are, they are an Irish band from Ireland. But they’re really, really cool. They just put out a record this year, called “Romance”, and, yeah, it’s just like mixing like grunge and alt, um kind of Nirvana-ey in a way, like a darker side. It’s really, really cool. Um, and his voice is just insane.

Nya: I’ve never listened to them before. How would you describe them?

Aidan: Yeah, he has a really thick accent, which is very unique to hear in music, and his instinct when writing is obviously very not pop. He’s not writing pop music, so he’s hitting notes and like sustaining on notes that like scratch my brain in a way that I love, which are more tonic and not necessarily like pleasing to most ears, but, um yeah, he just does it in a way that’s so confident that I think is really cool.

Nya: I love that you love such organic music like that. It sounds different from the, you know, mainstream music we hear today.

Nya: So you have recently released an EP called “Supernova”, I wanna talk a little bit about the process of making that. What’s your favorite part about creating the EP and what made you decide to make songs like “People Pleaser” and “Bloom”?

Aidan: Writing “Supernova”, honestly, was really not difficult. It was it was very eye-opening for me because I’ve never really sat down and thought about something as a project holistically, even like an album. An album was a whole different thing. Supernova was really difficult because I didn’t really know how to do that [write an album] at that time. I was just writing singles and singles and singles, and that’s what, you know, the market was calling for. It [writing an album] sort of forced me to exercise a part of my brain that I hadn’t before. “Bloom” and “People Pleaser” are obviously very vastly different songs, but they showcase two parts of me and my music that I always want to keep moving forward, which is the more like I don’t know, not necessarily validating, but like really heartfelt side, and then a more playful side. One [side] being a little bit more “all being” and the other being a little more Coldplay-ey. I love that sort of stuff. Those are actually my favorite on that record, which is really funny.

Nya: I’m glad that we have the same favorites. When you were writing those songs, did you have a specific person in mind? And if you did, you don’t have to obviously specify, but did you find any influence when you were writing them? When you would meet a person would you then be like “this song needs to be made right now”?

Aidan: Yeah, I have been like, in like a dating phase in my life for like the past few years I haven’t had like a serious relationship for years, um, so I think it was just like a combination of just like a lot of things I was finding throughout, you know, dating and meeting and people. Especially like in LA it’s like a very normal thing for you know, people to be kind of bouncing around and I don’t really love doing that, and I think, I think the lack of commitment and constant need for validation really kind of caught up to me when I was writing that. I wanted to [write] in a way that wasn’t necessarily like, mean, but playful, you know what I mean?

Nya: Totally. I’m so glad you spoke about LA ’cause that’s actually one of my other questions as well. I wanted to talk about how LA has influenced your music. How do you navigate the world in LA?

Aidan: Yeah, um I think what helps is me not growing up there. I think there’s definitely a difference. And with that being said, there are some great people that I know that have grown up there. But I don’t know. I’ve struggled. I’ve struggled a lot socially there. I just don’t necessarily vibe with a lot of the… vibes in LA, for lack of a better word, but I think that learning how to find myself, while being independent has been like a huge growth process for me. When I first moved out there, I was like very codependent, whether it was with like my friends or relationship or whatever, I was just looking for validation through others to make me feel better. Over the years I’ve had to really focus on myself and learn how to be okay like being alone and independent. Now I love it. I love being alone and I think that really helps me write more introspective stuff, like being able to sit with my own thoughts and maybe write more heartfelt, or how you put it… just, things. Does that make sense?

Nya: Yes. Thank you so much. How would you describe your music taste and do you feel that has any influence on your music currently? I know we talked about your music being kind of inspired by The Strokes and other artists of that caliber, but how do you feel like these artists directly impact you? How do you feel like they create this music for you? Or do they not at all?

Aidan: Oh, no, they definitely do. I have a very wide range of people that I listen to. I listen to anything from pop music to rap music to alternative, um I kind of like it all. Like I said earlier; The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, all that stuff, even like oasis-like, this stuff, that feels a little jankier, kind of rough around the edges. I don’t love stuff that’s super clean and stuff for me to write, you know what I mean? I kind of like it to sound like a band got in a room together and like recorded it together. But sometimes I love pop songs. There’s multiple albums or one album I can name this year the Sabrina album and I’m like, “Oh, that’s so great!” You know what I mean? And I like there’s a piece of me that’s like, “now that I’m done writing an album, I can go and write for other people and just write pop songs” just cause it’s fun, you know what I mean?

Nya: Totally. In reading about you, your biography has a lot to do with you during 21. How do you think being 21 has shaped you as a person? Not so much your musical taste, but just, you know, how do you feel like 21 has really shaped you?

Aidan: I think the idea of 21 seemed like a really big thing when I wasn’t 21 and then as soon as you hit it, you’re just like, “oh, okay” just another year of my life. Now, that being said, it made it a lot easier to go out with friends, so socially, it kind of helped, but- I guess there are a couple weird things. I think with relationships, or at least with my experience of relationships, as soon as I turn 21, it did open a lot of doors for women who were older. [Older women] were like, “Oh, you’re 21, you’re fine”, but if you’re not, 21 anyone, if you’re under 21 they’re like, “—- that, dude” you know what I mean? So, like, I think I gained a lot of experience relationship-wise after that and that helps me like write about deeper topics you know, for better or worse.

Nya: That was a good answer. Should we be expecting an album or any new singles anytime soon?

Aidan: Yes, actually pretty soon. I finished writing. I literally just finished writing the album, like before the tour. Um, so, I’m really stoked on that. I got to put it all into mixing and mastering and all that, so we’re getting all creative and locking in all the world building, that’s the fun stuff. you know, you do all the creatives and the video and you know, the color pallets build the world up. I love that. I can’t give like a date, but I am playing three new songs on this tour, so tonight there will be new stuff, as well as all the other shows, which I’m very stoked for, because they’re really fun songs.I chose three of them that were kind of up and kind of keep the set going and people hype, so I’m really stoked.

Nya: Thank you Aidan. Last question. This is your first headline show this touring season. People are focused on Aidan Bissett. What do you want from your fans and people who admire you and look up to you? What do you have to say to those fans?

Aidan: I would say just like whatever, whether it’s musically or not musically, whatever makes you happy, you should 100% do. I think that’s what led me to music was it was just the one thing that in a dark period like COVID, it was the one thing that kind of kept me moving and motivated. Anything truly as possible. If I could come from a place like Tampa, Florida, where there’s really no access to music at all, and somehow make it in some sort of way, it is very possible to do things that you wanna do, so anytime you’re feeling motivated about something, go after it.