Nic Brown: Making Peace with his Musical Past

About this episode

Nic Brown discusses his journey from musician to author and educator.

In this week's episode, TW Creative Director John Vogel sits down with drummer and author Nic Brown to talk about his memoir Bang Bang Crash (Counterpoint, 2023). Despite being accepted to Ivy League colleges, Nic opted to pursue his band Athenaeum straight out of high school. They signed to Atlantic Records, landed a few hits, and played extensively before Nic decided to leave to group in 2001 to pursue different styles of music and reclaim his opportunity to go to college. While attending Columbia University, he joined up with the band Skeleton Key, headed by bass player Erik Sanko, who played in John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards. Nic also played in several other bands, including Falcon! and Longwave. This episode is scored with that first Falcon! album, The Early Year . Nic then left NYC for the Iowa's Writer's Workshop, sending him down the writing and teaching path that he's followed over the last almost 20 years.

People in this episode

Host: John Vogel

Guest: Nic Brown

Topics covered

• music
• memoir
• band history
• Ivy League
• writing
• teaching

Keywords

• Nic Brown
• memoir
• music career
• Ivy League
• Columbia University
• Falcon!
• Skeleton Key
• writing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Atlantic Records, Columbia University, Skeleton Key, Falcon!, Longwave

Books & works: Bang Bang Crash, The Early Year

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