Nep returns to Florida for DIY backyard concerts

Independent music artist NEP is returning to Florida for a slate of some smaller shows starting this weekend, I believe. So this is really cool. That name may sound familiar to you. We've talked about NEP before. We talked to NEP before. She's from Volusia County. She has written some songs that really got a lot of attention that mention growing up in Florida that talk about her upbringing and things like that. So she's been on tour. She's now coming back to Florida with several shows that are essentially being played in really small venues. We're talking, what, people's backyards, things like that. I mean, some really unique places that she's going to be playing. And Fox 35's Johnny Jackson, wave, producer Johnny. I had the chance to speak with NEP about this kind of unique stretch on her tour. So she talks about coming back to Florida, some new music, and what people can expect at some of these small shows. So tell me about this last tour you've been on. Yeah, oh my gosh, it was so fun. I was opening for Cameron Whitcomb and snuck in some headline shows in between, and it was super fun. Hold on. I don't know. I love seeing a bunch of places that I've never seen before. We played in Idaho. We played in Montana, which is really cool. Thank And then I was on the road and I was like, I kind of want to keep touring. So why don't we just set up some really DIY house shows in Florida? And I don't really know how everything came to fruition, but it's happening and I'm really excited to play them. Talk to me about the process of getting these DIY shows set out, you. because you put out a Google form at one point. Yes, yeah, a Google form that my awesome manager, Maisie, set up, and I basically just made a text post on Instagram that was like, hey, I really want to play shows, but it's too short notice to book actual venues in Florida. Anybody have a backyard or a house or like, we don't have basements in Florida, but something like that. Yeah. And the Google form got so many responses. I actually couldn't believe it. It was insane. And. My awesome manager, Maisie, went through each and every Google form response and kind of like was reaching out to people and just seeing what we could make happen. And we ended up booking six shows in like a bunch of different cities all down Florida. I'm so, I actually can't believe that it feels kind of weird because I was like, oh, maybe this won't work. And then we got, I don't know how many responses, but definitely hundreds of responses on the Google sheet. And it was so awesome to see community kind of pull through to have live music back in Florida. And what was your response like to just seeing how much your home state wants to come out and show up for you? Cool. Yeah, I don't know. I guess I moved last year after I graduated college in Miami. So I haven't I've been back for holidays and stuff, but I've really been back in a while. And I'm always seeing people comment, you know, come back to Florida, come back to Florida. And I did play two Florida shows in the spring, but that wasn't enough. It just it just clearly wasn't enough. And I really want to play more shows in Florida. And it's kind of cool to see. This place where I feel like I didn't totally fit in my whole life, now I'm like, I'm really excited to go back in to meet everybody and to meet all the cool, you know, kids, like keeping the alt scene alive, and yeah, it makes me really excited. And, uh, I was able to see you in February, uh, kind of sort of a hometown show for you in Orlando turtle came out like a week or two before that show. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You've got two more songs out now. Uh, tell me about this, this next kind of evolution of that. The artist. Yeah. I feel like I haven't really had a plan or I haven't really been, um, not what you want to hear, but I haven't really had a plan, which is kind of cool. And I think it's kind of... The not having a plan that's making stuff like the Florida house shows so random and fun. And they're really fueling me, I think, just creatively is just, you know, sitting in a tour van and being like, I want to play more shows before the end of the year and just being able to be independent. Thank you. Say to my manager, I want to do this. Like, let's try to do it. If we get zero responses on the Google form, that's fine. But then, like, kind of being proven wrong and being like, okay, wait, this is actually kind of cool. So yeah, I think my, my unplanned plan for now is to keep just doing whatever I want, which is really, really awesome. Like as a creative and as an artist, I think that's kind of the, all that I've ever wanted to do. Um, so hopefully like, I don't know, I hope the house shows go well and I hope I can maybe play them in other States and kind of just, yeah, get back to community and cheaper shows And just really kind of digging into stuff that fuels my career. Creativity. Yeah, it feels way better. What is it about a house show or these smaller shows that really jumps out at you? I feel like it's obviously so cool to play the giant shows and to meet so many people that I've never met before who have no idea who I am and kind of like convince them to like me. But the house shows I feel like are so, I don't know, it just. It reminds me of what I wanted to be doing when I was a kid in school, but I just wasn't, I just wasn't that kid. Like I was, I was going home and I was writing songs and posting them on YouTube. Like I wasn't going to parties. So I feel like it's kind of filling. Some little like hole in my heart that was, you know, I really want to go to parties and I really want to have friends and that kind of thing. And I feel like I'm kind of getting that like showing it's just it's so it's so cool to see everybody's faces and to I don't know, just get to talk for like an actually like. substantial like, I don't know, just an amount of time where you can actually get to know someone. Like, it was so cool to see you at that show in person, and it's, like, actualizing who you are. You know what I mean? I don't know. Maybe that's corny, but I really like it. And your family was also there. Yes. And what was it like to really perform in front of them? It was crazy because my dad had never seen one of my shows before, and I was so... I was so freaking nervous, and then I smashed my guitar over my head, as you know. So yeah, I wanted to make them proud, and it was so cool to just know that they had walked from where they were staying. And just like... I don't know. It was, it was so awesome. It's so cool to be able to give back to the communities I grew up in, I think. And also I found out after the Orlando show in the spring that some people I went to high school with were there and I didn't even know. It's just like, it's so cool. I feel like everything is kind of coming full circle for me. That was definitely a full circle moment to play a venue that I've been to so many times. And what is it like, kind of that full circle moment? Like you said, you had no idea these people were there, but these people supporting you even in some small way. Oh, I feel like it makes me want to cry. It makes me really emotional because I, yeah, I guess I keep talking about it, but I really just left high school feeling like I did not fit in. And like, I just needed to like figure stuff out and move to a different, I moved to Miami and I fit in way better there. But I think it's so, it means something deeper than I know to come back to a place where I was like, yeah, nobody gets me. And then I'm surrounded by people that absolutely 100% get me. Yeah. I cried so much after the Florida shows last time. It was so special. I don't know. I think there was this whole scene there all along that I never really had discovered as a kid that I'm so happy to be part of now. And even going into a little bit more, I mean, some of your bandmates now are people you also went to college with, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's so crazy because I didn't know what to expect out of college. I went to college and I didn't have any friends that were going to the same college as me. So I just showed up. And yeah, I mean, I live with my best friend, Jake, who you saw playing guitar. And he, yeah, he's just really helped with like every part of me. My creative process and we he was on tour this last month with me opening for Cameron and it's just so it's so cool to have friends you know what I mean it's so cool to have friends that um you really like hanging out with and it's so cool to have friends for multiple years because I feel like we've grown up together you know we met when we were 18 and now we just played a bunch of big giant shows for Cameron Whitcomb like that's really awesome.