Conversations with Nick Summers

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Summers. 

Hi Nick, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My career in the music industry began in my hometown of Ruston, LA where I attended Louisiana Tech University. I started in music performance as a drummer/percussionist and then changed majors many times including finance, business administration, and then back into music. During this time, I regularly performed with many different groups within the college program along with a steady stream of nightly bar gigs, frat parties, and wedding receptions. About halfway into completing an undergraduate degree, I felt the desire to move to a bigger pond and I ended up choosing Austin, TX. This was in 2004 so like they say… it wasn’t the ATX you see today. It was an entirely different city with a different vibe. It had yet to become mini-Dallas or Californiacationed. It wasn’t long before an old musician friend by the name of Bruce Gay put me in contact with the swamp rock jam-band renaissance man known on stage as Papa Mali, who happened to be looking to fill the drummer position at that time. I sent him a message and he replied with an audition time. I showed up and did the audition… I remember him saying “Every time you want to do a fill and hit that crash…Don’t!” I was green and a young over player. It was the experience touring across the nation with this act that I cut my teeth in the business. I got the chance to learn the road life at the ripe age of 22 years old, and I sure did learn. So many great stories that I wouldn’t trade for anything and that are probably not appropriate to tell here.

As time went on, I ended up leaving the band (with members of this touring group) to start a rock band with singer-songwriter Clayton Colvin. Forever a lifelong friend, Clayton is a one-of-a-kind character who hailed from Florence, AL. He was the guy who taught me about Muscle Shoals and all the great music history that came from Fame Studios and the rich culture of the area. We toured regionally for a while before going our own ways. It is at this time that I was feeling like making another move. So, I moved to Colorado, Boulder to be specific. One of my very best friends Hauser, that I had previously played in a band with back in Ruston, had been living in Boulder and easily talked me into making the move up. We started a band that had moderate regional success and ended up going through a few iterations, eventually landing with a group that contained founding member guitarist Zach Robinson, all new players, and myself. A few years went by and the band was starting to have the classic case of creative differences.

We tried to make it last and keep the group together but it had been a journey filled with highs and lows, and the lows were begging to become more common. It was the infamous Covid-19 that was the nail in the coffin for the band. We all had had enough and decided to split ways, which also meant splitting the remaining debt from the last album recording expenses. This is a classic scenario LOL. Covid vacation (quarantine/no gigs) from my bartending job and attending classes at UCD was pretty fun, just basically partied for two months straight in my apartment with my at-the-time gf, but even that got old after a while. Eventually, I started going down to the rehearsal studios in Denver to work on my solo project, mostly out of sheer boredom. I was puffing a fat doobie during a little break session and it must have leaked through the double doors and smelled up the hallway, then enters Jack Jolley. Literally walks into the room and says something along the lines of “You smell friendly, mind if I borrow some drum sticks, I’ll trade you for a bump?” Just like that, we became friends and he showed me some of his newly recorded tracks. They sounded dope and definitely sellable. Over the next year, we put together a band that was a newer rap mixed with rock and EDM type sound. It was awesome, we put together a nice set and I booked us a gig a Lost Lake Lounge in Denver. The show was a success and we actually made a little money but eventually the bass player and guitar player were unable to fully commit to the project in their own respective ways which led to another disbanding.

It was then that the idea had occurred, inspired by my time in the College of Arts and Media at UC Denver, to start a record label in order to house Jack’s deep catalog of songs along, with starting a publishing company with the purpose of licensing the music to prospective customers. A song royalty gets split in half, part going to the owner of the recording and the other to the publisher. But what if you are the song owner and the publisher? Yep, you get the whole thing. Much easier said than done and I’m here to put the twisted system that is the music industry to the test. Now this is not your big record label business plan, which pretty much fronts as a high-interest loan shark, this is a startup independent label that works with the artist splitting expenses and profits right down the middle with the label. As the record label, I copyright and retain master recordings of songs while also working endlessly to grow and market the artist’s career. This involves wearing all the hats while I work to assemble a solid team of individuals that will make up, They Pretend Entertainment. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
If anything, the struggle would be the quick downfall of the live music industry due to the pandemic. The loss of live music has been tough on everyone. On the flip side, all the time off gave way for new projects such as this one. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
They Pretend Entertainment is the parent company that houses They Pretend Records, They Pretend Publishing, and soon to be TP’s comedy and podcast division. 

They Pretend originates from lyrics in a Jack Jolley song that reference how people tend to treat one another differently based on if they want to obtain something of value from that person. But it can be interpreted however as I see it could relate to politics, religion, and a handful of other topics. 

The label currently focuses on the development of new up-and-coming rappers/lyricist and hip-hop production. But that is only the genesis stage of the plan for They Pretend. 

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
You have to get out there and get in the scene in order to be seen and meet people that have similar interest in mind, this involves going out every single night whether you are playing a show or supporting another musician and meeting people, getting to know the others in you community. You can go to school for it nowadays but you are not going to get the real-life experience that you would involving yourself with all the different people who on the daily make up the music industry what it is. As far as a mentor goes find someone who is already doing what you want to do, the person that is ten steps ahead of you, and then help them in any way to make their job easier, in exchange for knowledge and possible opportunities to grow. 

Contact Info:

• Email: Nick@theypretend.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theypretendrecords/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheyPretendRecords
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/TheyPretend
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb-v_-qvvx3oEVqWJ3Blwsw
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-333076315