Nicole Atkins has been keeping busy this summer and has a few surprises for her fans today, including a live performance video premiere of her latest single “Mind Eraser” with American Songwriter, which you can watch here now.
Videos by American Songwriter
Atkins also continues her weekly “Live From The Steel Porch” live stream series today on Amazon Music’s Twitch channel at 7 pm ET with performances from Elle King, Cut Worms and “Therapy Time with Dr. Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist” from The Hives. Next week’s episode features Hiss Golden Messenger and Whitney.
The Nashville-based powerhouse singer spent the summer in her home state in New Jersey, filming episodes of the Twitch show from her parent’s home and in several Asbury Park locales. Atkins took inspiration for the live stream series from the early MTV days. “I love early MTV, the campy shows they had like Just Say Julie and stuff like Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. On our show, we take comments from the audience, have contests. You never know what’s going to happen!”
The “Mind Eraser” video was shot in Asbury Park’s famed Carousel, an abandoned old amusement building, giving it a spooky vibe. Atkins is backed by two of her band members, Danny Banks and Spencer Duncan, and two of her longtime Jersey friends, Matt Wade and Liam Maroney.
“Mind Eraser” was written with Carl Broemel of My Morning Jacket. “He was one of the only people I knew when I first moved to Nashville. We got together to write a song and I had this piece that I thought was kind of a Roy Orbison-type melodramatic chorus and then Carl started playing Radiohead chords underneath it and I just started free styling and it became this whole song that was just so far out and reminded me of so many different things like the Beatles and Blur and the Beta Band all rolled into one. I was having some crazy dreams (as usual) and we wrote the lyrics based off of that. Dreams that are just so intense that even if they’re bad, they’re exciting and there’s nothing like it, until you go to sleep again. Those lines between reality and dreaming are really blurred for me sometimes.”
Today’s “Live From The Steel Porch” episode finds Atkins returning to Nashville, broadcasting live from the Dive Motel, an old bar in town that has a classic 1970’s feel. Elle King shot her performance from her farm, and the pre-recorded performance features “her mini goats and mini donkeys.”
Shooting the four episodes was a silver lining to Atkins’ summer, as she was able to keep her fans entertained and her band busy in the ‘quarantine clubhouse.’ “It’s a little bright spot to look forward to, with a touch of social awareness and madcap fun,” she said.
“Watch “Live From the Steel Porch tonight at 7pm ET here
