Read our interview with bassist and vocalist – Nikki Stevens. You may know her from her time in Paradise Kitty or more recently from her L.A.-based punk band Teenage Ritual.
Shannon Wilk – When did you start playing bass?
Nikki Stevens – “It’s been about 12 years for me, for bass. Actually, I’ve been playing guitar since I was 11, so that’s my main instrument but a lot of folks know me as a bass player because of the lot of performance I’ve done with the bass on stage. It’s really exciting for me and with my original project I do bass and lead vocals. It just opens up all of these other opportunities for songwriting and live performance and I really enjoy it.”
Shannon – When did you start singing?
Nikki – “I’ve always really enjoyed singing but when I was about 20 years old, I started to take lessons and learn a lot more about doing proper warm-ups and taking care of your voice as best you can.”
Shannon – Who are some of your biggest musical inspirations?
Nikki – “It varies. For example, vocally, I would say Cyndi Lauper is one of my biggest influences. Bass, of course, Duff McKagan. And with guitar I’m just all over the place. A lot of my female guitar heroes when I was young– The Bangles, I love Veruca Salt, you should check them out if you haven’t, they’re really cool. I love tons of 80’s rock music. A lot of indie rock, and more electronic stuff like Fever Ray.
Shannon – How did you acquire the nickname Nikki Nacho?
Nikki – “It’s a funny story, basically whenever I go to The Rainbow I always get the nachos, I really like the nachos there. Rachael Rine actually started calling me Nacho a couple years ago and it just turned into a thing. She has some funny nicknames for me that she came up with on tour.”
Shannon – When you started playing music, what was your goal?
Nikki – “I’ve always really wanted to make a living with music and teaching is a huge part of that for me, it’s very satisfying and rewarding. I really enjoy helping beginners and intermediate players figure out what their goals are and I really enjoy doing what I can to keep that instrument in their hands. Unfortunately, a lot of players out there, whether it’s intentional or not, they kind of make it intimidating and throw some shade to the newcomers and I’m all about demystifying that. I really enjoy being a part of Fender Play too– online guitar, bass, and ukulele lessons aimed at beginner and intermediate players. I have a ball filming lessons with them and I write lesson scripts and I do other things on the curriculum team. It’s a nice piece of the puzzle to make it as a musician”
Shannon – When did you start Teenage Ritual?
Nikki – “It really all began when I owned a music store in Montana, about 2010-2015. It was one of those things where 20 somethings run off to start a new adventure in Portland or Seattle or something — but for me is was just south of Missoula. Running a music store was extremely hard work, but it afforded me the opportunity to fully immerse myself in my songwriting goals. We found our first drummer because of Jason Newsted (formely of Metallica) and he has some property up there and he loves to jam with locals. He came into the music store one day and invited me and my guitar player over to jam. So for a while I was a part of the “Chophouse” Montana chapter. That was such an amazing experience, really good times. So then when I moved back home to Southern California to be in Paradise Kitty, I had a really nice group of songs in my back pocket. I’m so excited”
Shannon – How did you decide on the name Teenage Ritual?
Nikki – “It really just popped into my head randomly and it just stuck really well. I like all the different feelings it evokes. Maybe it’s taking you back to that special place, like a nostalgic thing, or connects with you in the present tense. Whatever it is, it just has this intensity that I think matches the energy of the sound. And it also has that supernatural feel to it as well and a lot of the lyric content in the music has a supernatural theme to it.
Shannon – Were you already skilled in playing bass and fronting the band, or was that something you had to develop and work on?
Nikki – “It was a very pleasant surprise. The whole bass thing really came about because of Jason Newsted. Jason likes to mix it up during jam sessions, so he’ll ask you if you play any other instruments, do you play drums, do you sing, what else do you got in your bag of tricks. So I said I play bass, but it wasn’t really something I did outside of the lesson room or for worship bands and student recitals. He kept asking me to play bass and then he would ask me to sing some of my lyrics over the jams we were working on. I became very connected with singing while playing the bass. It meant a lot to me that he was giving me so much feedback and he basically said to me, yeah you can play bass, this is something you should look in to. One of the reasons why he suggested this is because in Montana there aren’t as many people the small town we were in, so having just one guitar player and me on bass and vocals meant we could be a power trio with drums and we wouldn’t have to worry about finding another guitar player. We could move forward and get onstage already. That’s why I decided to put down my guitar and pick up the bass on stage. I still write the songs on guitar most of the time and I get to enjoy all that but I have this whole different world I get to experience when I’m on stage with the bass and it’s really liberating.”
Shannon – What was playing the Whisky like for you?
Nikki – “That’s a good question. There’s definitely something about the energy of that stage, knowing that so many rock n’ roll icons have played there, and just the history behind it, so it’s definitely a rush to get up there and play on that stage and it’s been a few times for me. It doesn’t matter, it could be the millionth time you’ve been on that stage and you still get that rush before you go on stage. That’s how it is, it just absolutely floors you.”
Shannon – What made you decide to dye your hair purple?
Nikki – “I do a lot of things with my hair, I love playing with it. I had it platinum blonde for several years before I did the purple and probably around 2012 I started doing little pieces of purple and it would just kinda spread. I would do lavender and let it fade and have fun with that. I even did silver for a minute. I also had one side shaved for a while, that was also really fun. The last few years I decided to just go straight purple and people dig it and I dig it. This might as well be my natural hair color now. The more purple the better.”
Shannon – What is your favorite song to cover on stage?
Nikki – “With Teenage Ritual we do Ghouls Night Out by The Misfits with a riot grrrl twist. With Paradise Kitty — It’s So Easy, You Could Be Mine, and Rocket Queen.”
Shannon – What was your favorite part of touring with Paradise Kitty?
Nikki – “I would have to say the Monsters Of Rock cruises are definitely some of my favorite moments. Getting to meet all of the other gunners that are so passionate, it’s just so fun being able to interact with people that love Guns N’ Roses just as much as you do or even more so. I just love being on stage with all the ladies that I’ve ever played with in that band and it’s just so fun. That was the first tribute band I’d ever played in and I wasn’t sure if I would dig it. But playing Duff McKagan basslines is exactly the style of bass I like to play and when the opportunity came up I thought, ‘wow, this will be pretty fun, I think I could try this.’ But I have a lot of respect for cover song gigs becoming another piece to the puzzle to make a living, just like music instruction.”
Shannon – What do you think the music industry has to improve on these days?
Nikki – “One thing that I’m very excited about is that it seems to be actually be improving in some respects. That women in the industry are starting to have more recognition in a way that’s more balanced and really reflects what fans want to see and hear, so it seems that happens in waves. When I was a little girl, there was a lot more female fronted music on MTV from the 80’s and 90’s and then it seemed to drop off a little bit because the trends change here and there. So traditionally it’s come in waves with pop culture. But as a musician and as a student growing up, it felt really awkward because the industry didn’t reflect what was going on in guitar stores. I would say in the last 20 years, this hasn’t been news to anyone that’s worked in a music store or has been teaching guitar lessons, there’s been more and more girls wanting to play guitar and it’s awesome but in the past few years, the guitar companies started doing research and realized that half the market is female. So that’s really exciting to me. There are a lot of folks who might be real disappointed or not see much future in the music industry but it’s just that it’s always changing and you just have to evolve with it.”
Shannon – What is it like to record an album that is your own?
Nikki – “It’s one of the most exciting feelings I’ve ever felt. I’m almost done with my recording right now and I’m gonna finish up the vocals here in a week. In the next few months, you guys will be able to hear some Teenage Ritual, some legit recordings, not just live videos. I’m so excited, we’ve got some good songs, people are responding really well. Right now we’ve just been working on getting a really good, organic fan base. The reactions we’ve been getting from the crowd have been awesome so there’s a lot of good things in the works with Teenage Ritual.”
Shannon – What is your favorite guitar you have?
Nikki – “It’s an 89’ Charvel Fusion with magenta finish and I put a brand new Floyd Rose Pro and swapped out the pickups to Seymour Duncans, had fret work done, so it just plays like a dream. It’s a real versatile guitar. I can do some twangy surf-rock and some old school rock n roll and funk with the middle pickup with the Vintage Rails. The bridge pickup is the Full Shred, so that’s good for the 80’s stuff and all the palm muted thrashy stuff. I have a little ’59 in the neck, so that’s cool if you wanna get a muddy, kinda creamy sound. If you like the Gibson neck pickup sound, like the Sweet Child riff and stuff, that’s what the neck pickup is good for. It’s definitely my favorite guitar. I was a little kid when this guitar was made, I love it.”
Shannon – What’s your favorite horror movie?
Nikki – “Pet Semetary. I’m usually the one that makes funny jokes during the movie, maybe because I’m creeped out and I wanna lighten the mood. I really like comedies, I like horror movies too, don’t get me wrong. I just can’t stay in that drama mode too long in my head where I freak out. The first Insidious was pretty scary too, all of them. I like Nightmare on Elm Street too. I’m fascinated by dreams and nightmares, so I just realized I guess that would make sense that some of my favorite scary movies revolve around that kind of thing.”