Nick Flessa opened up the Rocknite showcase at Zebulon on a recent Tuesday night. I first crossed paths with him back in 2019. Then again in 2021 when he fronted his band Dayton Swim Club. Back in 2019, he responded to an interview inquiry, which you can read part of the response below:
How would you like your music to impact people who listen to your music or see you play live? As a performer I want to amaze and surprise people. I want to challenge assumptions in a way that’s entertaining and engaging. Musically, I want to build worlds that audiences and listeners can travel through. I want to combine seemingly disparate styles, genres and musical personalities in ways that haven’t existed yet. I want to move people while also making them think.
Nick Flessa at Zebulon
I was in for a pleasant surprise in my 2026 meet up with him. Earlier in the year, he had released his third studio album A Different Kind of Energy and his setlist played various songs from the album. The surprise was the fact that the album is entirely instrumental. When the band started off, I was wondering when he would start to sing. It eventually dawned on me that the whole set was going to be instrumental.
Flessa was on guitar while his backing band included a steel guitar, bass, viola, and drums. There was also a song where he played the saxophone. Everyone on stage wore cowboy hats, making sure that one should imagine a western scene while listening to the music.
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| Nick Flessa at Zebulon |
Noticed: when it was time for him to pick up the saxophone, he carefully took off his cowboy hat, laid down his guitar, walked over to stage right where the saxophone was, and replaced the hat. Reverence for the hat.
During the set, my imagination took me to the wide open space where cattle roam and ranchers bounce along in a jeep. Per his bandcamp page, here is the official description of the album, "Tormented outbursts nod to moments of tranquility with a thinly veiled disgust, and both keep trucking alongside one another."
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| Nick Flessa at Zebulon |
The song spotlight goes to "Medicine Hat City Slogan." Why select this song out of all the instrumentals? I like how the steel guitar glides through the musical notes. The song title also has a historical bent with "Medicine Hat." Medicine Hat is a Canadian city (it is called a city, but honestly I'd say it is a town based on the population), which you can read about here on Wikipedia. Medicine Hat also is the English translation of the Blackfoot word Saamis. There appears to be two stories behind the legend of the medicine hat in Blackfoot lore. The Wikipedia version is a bit gruesome, while the city's version is more adventurous. Meanwhile "City Slogan" gives you a rah rah modern city pride.
As you can tell below, all the songs on the setlist have interesting song titles.
Setlist: Death of a Natural Wine Salesman. Medicine Hat City Slogan. Rise of John Wayne Babbitt. The Terror, The Traitor and The Tastemaker. The Karma Vigilante, For Zoe Koke.
On June 29th, he'll have album release party at Club Tee Gee.
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