Nancy Sheppard 
Hi! Before we dive in—when people put on Nickels & Dirt, they usually expect that warm, sunlit Americana vibe. But Midnight Creeps feels like taking a turn down a dark, empty road at 2 AM. What was happening in your world when this song started showing up?
A: What was happening in your world when this song started showing up? Midnight Creeps is a little different from a lot of the other songs we’ve written. It kind of takes a dark turn, but it’s a dark turn that everyone has been through — that feeling of something’s not right, something you just can’t put your finger on, that creeping feeling that hits you in the middle of the night or the middle of the day and you just can’t shake. For Scott, it came out of a job where he was putting in 48-60 hours a week in a leadership role, knowing the company’s side and the employees’ side, trying to stay positive for the employees while inside it was hard to act without purpose — watching the candle burn on both ends. That’s kind of where the whole song comes from. We’ve all had those experiences.
That shift in tone is super striking—the vocals have this stark, isolated weight to them. Was going into a darker, moodier space something you intentionally set out to do, or did the song just drag you there naturally?
A: Was going darker intentional, or did the song drag you there? Scott brought the lyrics, and Todd read them over and felt instantly where they needed to go. We talked through everything, got the story behind it, and Todd made a few changes along the way. It really needed that kind of dark undertone. As the music was written and the words were put together, the intention is always to serve the song — whether that means make it big, make it small, make it dark, make it light. The purpose is to serve the song, because the song is the story, and that’s our goal: to tell really good stories.
Theme-wise, the track dives into how anxiety can kind of hijack your mind when the world quietens down late at night. How much of this came from real-life 3 AM ceiling-staring sessions?
A: How much came from real-life 3 AM anxiety? All of it, really. These started as Scott’s words, with a few of Todd’s tweaks and a touch of his own anxiety thrown in. Scott was walking the floors all night, and oddly enough, staring at the moon, the melody started to come into his head. But it speaks to everybody — we’ve all had those moments. What was that sound in the middle of the night? Driving down the road — did I forget to turn the oven off? Did I lock the door? When you’re lying in bed at three o’clock in the morning running that back over and over and over again, anxiety will break your mind. And that’s why that’s the last line of the song.
You guys blend acoustic traditions—guitars, ukuleles, roots instrumentation—with these heavier, almost grunge-adjacent atmospheres. How did you dial in that eerie, atmospheric tone in the studio without losing that core acoustic feel?
A: How did you dial in the eerie tone without losing the acoustic core? That’s the actual secret to Nickels & Dirt. We’re both children of the grunge era — whether we grew up in that time or just became huge fans of that style — and it influenced everything: our writing, our playing, our performance. The trick is taking that energy, that aggression, that angst, and dialing it down just a bit onto acoustic instruments. Back in the 90s, MTV Unplugged was a big thing, and some of the highest rated and most watched episodes were Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, just to name a few. And Rancid put out an album that came with a second CD of almost the entire album done acoustically — that was an inspiration to start performing this way. Here’s a punk band doing an almost entirely acoustic second album. It was amazing, and it gave us the spark that this could be done. For Scott, the trick with any song is by feeling: he wants you to feel what he feels, but he needs to paint the picture so you hear the song and put your own movie with it. That’s the goal. Blend that together — Scott’s riffs and songwriting, the storytelling lyrics, and a punk rock kid at heart playing a ukulele — and that’s what makes Nickels & Dirt Nickels & Dirt.
At nearly five minutes long, Midnight Creeps really takes its time to let the room breathe. Was there a moment during recording where you knew, ‘Okay, this section needs to hang in the air just a little bit longer’?
A: Was there a moment a section needed to hang in the air longer? Honestly, with all of our songs it just blends together naturally — most of the time we have the same idea. We don’t know if it was actually intentional that Midnight Creeps hung in the air just a little bit longer. But as we rehearsed it, recorded it, played with it, and got to the point of making a final, this-is-our-go at a release, the song itself led Todd to where that closing piece, that solo work, came in. Todd’s a ukulele player, not a lead guitar player, but he’s created a lot of the solo work on our recordings. Scott did an outstanding job with the mixing, getting everything at the perfect sound, and we tweaked Todd’s tone on the amp to get that sound. People say it’s cinematic, and we agree — it literally takes you on a journey as the song builds and almost climaxes, but it kind of leaves you hanging. It is a high anxiety moment and song, and it all comes together in that recording.
Lyric-wise or arrangement-wise, is there a tiny detail in this track that you’re secretly super proud of—something people might miss on the first listen?
A: A tiny detail you’re secretly proud of? Two things, really. The first is one most people miss on the first listen, especially casual listeners: the lead work is Todd’s, on a ukulele. Scott wrote beautiful music leading into the song — the rhythm, the chorus, the verses, everything — and carried that through to the end. Todd’s spoken to people who listened when it was first released, and even to this day, and when they find out the solo work was him on ukulele, they’re just like, “there’s no way.” Scott pulled something out of Todd that he wasn’t even sure he was capable of, and made him a much better player. The second is a lyric Todd sings: “You can’t believe in your dreams, and how they got you this far, Then you realize just how far you are.” That speaks volumes — maybe sometimes what you think you need to achieve to succeed really isn’t, and it just makes you more miserable. So what did you gain? We’ve all experienced this.
Whenever a duo or band pivots to a heavier emotional space, the studio dynamic usually changes a bit. Did recording Midnight Creeps feel different in the room compared to something lighter like Wasted Day?
A: Did recording feel different from something lighter like “Wasted Day”? In one way, yes — for Scott, it’s a heavy burden compared to Wasted Day. But the room itself doesn’t change. We’ve got our own studio built at Scott’s house, and it’s small — that’s the great part about being a two-man band, we don’t need a lot. We pride ourselves on not going in half-assed to record; we work out the finer details of each song. We keep everything really relaxed and laid back. Same setup from a rehearsal day to a recording day — the only difference is the red lights are on when it’s record day, and we just run through it. They’re just different songs, so they have different feels. For Wasted Day, Todd was probably dancing around a little bit during recording. Midnight Creeps, not so much — it’s a darker song, so not a whole lot of jumping jacks and skipping around for that one. We’ve set the studio up so it feels like home when we get in there, so we don’t have to do anything different or special depending on the track.
For listeners who find themselves putting this track on repeat during late-night drives or quiet hours, what’s the ideal environment or headspace to take this song in?
A: Ideal environment or headspace for the song? That’s a tough one, because the goal every time we write a song is for the listener to make it personal. Our job is to serve the song — we compose the music, compose the words, and blend them together to tell the story that particular piece of work needs to tell. Todd’s been that guy: he’s put this song on repeat in the car late at night, coming home from rehearsal or from a job, and you can feel it when you’re just in tune with a particular song. It will depend on your movie, your moment. Our anxieties are different, but they affect us all very similarly. So we can’t say we know the ideal setting — everyone who listens to what we do is going to find their own ideal spot to enjoy the stories we’re telling.
How has playing Midnight Creeps live felt compared to the rest of your set? Does the energy in the room completely shift when you hit those first few notes?
A: How does playing it live feel vs. the rest of the set? For us, playing live takes a different avenue than you’d generally think. We’ve not been focused on going to this bar, that bar, this club — around here, a lot of wineries and breweries where they want three hours. That hasn’t been our main focus right now. We have busked a few times — there’s footage on our YouTube channel of us busking, with our good friend James Cook playing with us, about an hour performing downtown near where we live, just on the street, Saturday morning around 12 o’clock, a few people walking by. Compared to the rest of our set, Midnight Creeps kind of has a smoky jazz club feel to it — not to say it couldn’t be played in a club. Our main focus has really been writing and releasing the material. Performances are important, they just haven’t been the main focus. And we hope so — we hope we’re taking you to an uncomfortable place, but you know it will be okay, because the main point isn’t the anxiety, it’s knowing we all can get through it. If people come expecting songs like Dreadlock Girl or Luther’s Balloon, with that little light feel, and then we hit Midnight Creeps or The Story of Love and Death, they’re going to realize we’re definitely not a one-dimensional band. There’s a lot of stories to be told, and not all of them have happy endings, and not all of them are the ones you want to tell at bedtime, but they’re all stories that deserve to be told.
Looking back at the whole creation process of this single, what did Midnight Creeps teach you about yourselves as songwriters?
A: What did “Midnight Creeps” teach you as songwriters? That we’re not one trick ponies — we’re able to blend a multitude of genres. It is dark, on the verge of almost a gothic Americana song, but there’s still that hint of where we come from, the grunge era, the alternative punk era. And yet, when you listen to it all together, there’s a jazz flow to it. It’s not straightforward. It’s definitely not a four-four time blast beat kind of thing. There’s life in that song. It has heartbeats. It’s the closest Todd’s personally ever done to a straight jazz type of song. And it taught us to write from feeling. It’s therapeutic.
Now that Midnight Creeps is out in the wild and hitting people’s late-night playlists, does this mark the beginning of a broader dark-Americana chapter for Nickels & Dirt?
A: Does this mark a broader dark-Americana chapter? We wouldn’t say it marks the beginning of a dark chapter for us. That darkness is always going to be there. The name of the band, Nickels & Dirt, refers to the old story of placing coins over the eyes when someone passes away. So there’s darkness in what we do, but there’s also light. We’re not going to say Midnight Creeps started us down a dark musical path, because it’s always been there — maybe just under the surface for some songs, or more out front with a song like that. It’s always been part of the foundation. Whatever Scott’s feeling is the way he’ll write — our song Shetland Ponies is kinda dark also. Once again: serve the music, serve the song. When it’s needed, it’s there, and when not, we can put it away, and stay true to who we are and what we write.
To wrap things up—what is next for Nickels & Dirt for the rest of this year? Are we looking at more singles, a bigger project dropping, or can fans expect to catch you out on the road soon?
A: What’s next for the rest of this year? No road plans right now — that’s not our main focus. Our main goal has been writing, recording, and releasing. We’ve got a project we’re working on: a four-song EP designed as four individual songs blended together, so you, the listener, get the entire EP and listen to it as one continuous track, because it tells a story — love at first sight, and down a rabbit hole to what life brings with it. That’s one of the big things we’re currently working on for one of our next releases, and we’re not putting a timeframe on it, because we want to make sure we’ve served the story. We’re in recording with it right now, probably about halfway done, maybe a little bit further, and we’ll review from there. We’re always writing — Scott’s got some things tucked away for when we’re ready to go into writing mode. The big thing is just getting the music out there. Shows and concerts will come, but it’s not a “we gotta get out and play 50 shows in a month” thing. We want our performances to be meaningful, not only for us, but for those of you who put down your hard-earned money to watch us. The four-song EP will probably be the next release, but we might surprise you and throw something else out there beforehand. As far as being on the road, we’re not sure — our local scene is kinda conservative when it comes to a new sound trying to get in. Get on the socials, use that Google machine, check us out, and that’s how you’ll find out what’s going on with Nickels & Dirt.
Just in closing, we just want to say thank you very much for giving us this opportunity to do this interview, and just kind of get a little bit more of who we are out to those of you who have been wondering, who are interested, who have been checking us out on all the socials and the interwebs and all that stuff. We really appreciate you taking your time to give us an opportunity to tell you these stories and perform for you through your phone or through your computer or whatever listening device you’re using. Thank you very much for this interview. It’s been great. Alright. We’ll see you down the road.
