Nick Santino never could have imagined that his small music project, which started out on the computer in his bedroom, would blow up and become what is now the band A Rocket To The Moon. Nick and his buddies Justin Richardson, Eric Halvorsen, and Andrew Cook make up the accomplished band which has three acclaimed EPs, a debut album, ‘On Your Side’, and a large fan base which includes celebrities like Debby Ryan, Jesse Giddings and Demi Lovato.
THE MAGAZINE spoke to frontman Nick about the band’s upcoming sophomore album, ‘Wild & Free’, going out, new songs and covers, and his love for Toronto.
A Rocket To The Moon’s new album, ‘Wild & Free’, drops March 26. What messages do the songs on this album send?
There’s a little bit of everything. Some of the songs are about going through hard times like break-ups, and then there’s stuff about life, love, growing up, friends, and reassuring the person that you’re with that you are going to love them forever. We like to write relatable songs.
Tell me about some of the events that inspired the songs on this album.
Touring, personal life, and family matters. There’s a song on there called “Going Out” that’s just about going out and having a good time with your friends. Also, the title track, “Wild & Free”, is kinda cool because it has two different stories about a girl and a guy and they’re both just following their dreams, but people are telling them that they are stupid for following their dreams.
How would you describe your sound?
We’re pop-rock. If Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Taylor Swift were to create music together, I think we’d come out sounding something like that. It’s totally different and weird but it somehow works.
The new single, “Ever Enough”, is great and the amazing video features JESSIE’s Debby Ryan. How did you two meet?
We met three years ago at one of our shows in Los Angeles. A mutual friend of ours introduced us and she was a big fan of our music. Debby came out to a show and we ended up hanging out and talking and we got close over the years. She went to New York City in December last year and I said, “You should go to our label. Hang out with them and say hi. They’re really nice.” She went by and then they were joking around and one of them said, “You should be in the new A Rocket To The Moon video,” and she was like, “Totally!” One thing led to another and she was.
The video tells a great, but kind of sad story. Can you tell us about this story?
The director, Mark Staubach, was going through some personal stuff on his own and when he heard the song, there’s a line that says, “Everything inside of me is living in your heartbeat.” He based the whole story around that line and told the story of the girl who is sick and dying and dealing with that. She wants to go out and live her life – what’s left of it. My character comes in and takes her away from hearing all the negativity and I show her a whole new positive outlook on her last few days. We go off to Vegas and take a big long road trip. We didn’t want it to be too sad so there are some bittersweet parts where we’re laughing and throwing snow at each other, but we wanted to have that undertone that it’s still kind of a sad story.
What is your favourite song off ‘Wild & Free’?
“Wherever You Go”.
What does the album’s name mean to you? How are you wild and free?
Wild and free can mean something to anybody that hears the title. It doesn’t mean we are Lynyrd Skynyrd wild and free, like we’re going to run around and drink Jack Daniels all night and party. To me, it’s emotionally wild and free. I think all of the songs on the album are very emotionally wild and free. We touch on stuff that we’ve never done before and it was a very freeing feeling to be able to write those songs and not really care or worry about how people were going to take them.
You do a lot of covers! What have you covered lately?
I was hanging out with Debby a couple of weeks ago. I was staying at her house for two weeks writing music and they have three grand pianos in their living room. Every day I would sit at the piano and play some chords and sing random songs over it, and we ended up singing “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry. It came across really cool and I recorded it, but I haven’t released it yet.
Is there an artist that you are dreaming of collaborating with?
I would love to get together with Tom Petty and make some music.
With the new music, will we be seeing you out here in Toronto or in Canada soon?
We love coming to Toronto! We’re there just about every tour. We’re definitely coming back this summer. We just confirmed the tour a couple of days ago but I can’t say anything yet because we’re waiting for the headlining band to announce it before we do. Those Toronto shows are always incredible. We played at the Kool Haus in 2009 and I just remember it being the best first experience ever because the van was mobbed by fans asking for pictures.
Thank you Nick! Pick up ‘Wild & Free’ on March 26!