Nim Vin headlines House Of Blues Sunset May 19
Solo artist Chris Kirkham, aka Nim Vind, returning to Southern California and will be headlining two show. One show will be on May 18 at Saint Rocke and another on May 19 at House Of Blues Sunset.
“I’ll do what I always do for a show, show up with a plan of being deployed to destroy — I assume that’s what everyone does,” he said. “I’m just going to try to cause as much of a commotion as I possibly can for the time before a hook comes out and pulls me off.”
Nim Vind doesn’t aim to fit any specific genre, but instead labels it “electric guitar music for the 20th Century.”
“Genres were made for cataloging records in stores, so now that there’s pretty much no CD stores anymore, genres are just a waste of time. My music is very bipolar, has a lot of ups and downs, and nothing really adheres to anything sensible. I’m kind of just out there having a nervous breakdown in front of people to a musical soundtrack.”
Although predominately a solo artist, Kirkham will be performing side-by-side with Tony Kirkham, aka Anthony Kilz, on drums and Robbie Kirkham on guitar at the Octrober Flame Festival.
“The whole band thing — I don’t really buy into that sort of idea anymore. That whole gang sort of thing was a kind of 80s idea and I think it kind of died with the 80s. Every band interchanges personalities … I think David Bowie has it right, find all the people that you think are cool at that time and go on stages with them and put on a great show under your name.”
Nim Vind’s name, although seemingly meaningless, stands for “freedom by insanity,” Nim being the acronym for the National Institute of Mental Health, nixing the “H” because he doesn’t view himself as mentally healthy, and Vin standing for vindication.
“Most people would say ‘Chris you should probably be a janitor, you shouldn’t be on stage,’ and I say, ‘Fuck you, that’s your idea.’ I wanna live my idea. That’s why I have that weird name. I wanted to make two words that would have a meaning out of nothing, because I don’t want to have to accept someone’s idea.”
Previous to this symbollic name, Nim Vind was playing under the name Mr. Underhill, a band that featured the three Kirkham brothers.
“It’s the same thing. Mr. Underhill — Nim Vind — whatever it’s called — it’s me doing my kind of music. Which fits in nowhere, and, industry-wise, seems to be accepted nowhere, but fan-wise has always been accepted. There’s a ton of displaced people in the world that are looking to gravitate to something like what I’m doing. It’s special for me. It’s a beacon for weirdos like me. I wanna associate with weirdo, pushed-out loners like me. That’s my beacon for a family.”
Nim Vind has been under Panacea Entertainment USA management, run by Lynn Robbnett and Eric Gardner, for less than a year. This newfound management arose after a fan sent Nim Vind’s music to Panacea claiming it was “a different kind of action.”
“It just kind of happened out of the blue. Usually I would kind of fly my own flag — I would manage myself, pay for everything myself, and I really didn’t give a fucking shit what happened. I’d kind of just travel around flying that flag, like ‘freaks have a right to exist and a place to play’…”
Kirkham, although satisfied with Panacea and their treatment of Nim Vind, aims for the pursuit of music rather than raking in money. He views the music industry as a money-based market that focuses on how “big your operation is.”
“I always thought it was cool to be on those big shows and we’d be dragging our amps on the stage ourselves, and people would realize we clawed our way on to that ourselves. We got on those shows ourselves because of the merit of our performance and our music, so to me those are the best moments,” he said. “That’s the victory for me, everytime I get on one of those big shows, I won something.”