The third and final installment of our Life is Beautiful interviews with acts on the local showcase is with Eliza Battle frontman, Nick Shelton, a Chicago transplant who has found his ground as a musician here in Las Vegas.
Alongside Tina Dawn on vocals, Chris Bitonti on lead guitar, Sal Giordano on bass, and Chris Berg on drums, Eliza Battle has effortlessly taken Vegas by storm. With that storm consisting of a desire to just have fun. It’s what makes them humble people, and that humbleness translates into their rootsy punk influenced alt-country sound. I managed to garnish some spare time at work to have a phone conversation with Nick. We talked about the band’s fast rise in just a year of being together, how they prepare for LiB, what they love about being part of the local scene, and some changes he’d like to see implemented.
You guys were part of the battle of the bands for a spot on the LiB lineup, that went out the window last-minute. How did you guys take having that shut down, and how did it feel ultimately making it on the showcase anyways?
We’ve been talking to [Life is Beautiful organizers] a little bit. We played a showcase at the Bunkhouse. They had people vote on the website and they said they were gonna announce the winners. They never really said how many winners there were gonna be. To be honest, we’re not really a band that gives a shit about battle of the bands or competing for something. We just wanted to play a free show at the Bunkhouse. Our friends got to party and there’s no cover. Mike Henry and the LiB guys were there, they came up and said we did a good job and that they liked us and stuff. We didn’t really hear anything, and I sent off a couple emails saying, “hey, is there gonna be something?” Finally it just came through with everybody else like a week and a half ago. We didn’t get set times until like last week.
Eliza Battle has had the chance to play Punk Rock Bowling and now Life is Beautiful, how does it feel gaining so much traction in just a year of being a band?
Yeah, you know, it’s definitely a big deal. It’s nice. There’s two major festivals in town and we get to play them both. I kinda wish that we caught a little bit of the marketing push maybe that the national bands got. If you go to lifeisbeautiful.com, you know, none of us are listed. Hopefully booking agents down the road aren’t looking at us like “you guys are full of shit” when we say we played Life is Beautiful. But I mean, whatever, we’re grateful to play. I think we play early so we’re not expecting much of a turnout, but if there is, we’re probably playing to people who’ve never seen us before, and that’s always a really cool thing to do.
How do you prepare to play a festival like this? Is it like any other Eliza Battle show or do you see it as a different beast?
It was a big step for us to gear up for LiB. People that saw us early, you know, we were a three piece. We played probably seven or eight shows as a three piece. Once we got Punk Rock Bowling we thought it was time to get serious. I mean, we got PRB after we’d only played one show. We recorded a demo, we were kinda doing it for fun, and we just submitted to PRB and the Sterns were just so cool and they have us a shot. I enlisted a friend of mine, Tina Dawn, to sing with us. Everybody knows Sal [Giordano], he was gracious enough to agree to join up and play bass for us. We really had to prepare for that one. Big stage, you know, backline, big crowd, all that stuff. I think we did all the preparation then, and we just did a little tour. So, I think we’re pretty tight right now. I think we’re just going into this one like, “hey, we just play a cool show outside in the middle of a big festival.” Hopefully a bunch of smiling faces. We’re just gonna give it the best show that we can.
You mentioned that before Eliza you had quit playing music for a while. Upon returning, did you find the same frustrations that made you wanna stop playing music to begin with still popping up? And now that you’re older, are those easier to deal with?
No, there’s always frustrations. I mean, nobody likes late starts. Or, you know, you get out on a bill and it turns out there’s gonna be six more bands on the show. Stuff like that is just frustrating. It’s still difficult with some promoters who don’t promote. You know, there’s nothing like you busting your ass for a show, and the promoter just sticking something on Facebook. I guess that’s better than back in the day when we were playing when there was no Facebook [laughs]. It’s a little bit easier to market now, but if the bands are gonna work hard, it’s nice when the promoter works hard too. But there’s a lot here now that’s much less frustrating than back in the day.
I played in Chicago forever, everybody’s in a band and there’s just so many, there’s 15 to 20 shows going on a night. Here, people that play local music go to local shows. We all go see each other play. It’s almost like we know that we’re never gonna be playing to an empty house, because there’s always gonna be people there. The local bands are really supportive here. One of my favorite things about the Las Vegas scene is the love that the locals show to the touring act. We don’t go home. You know, sometimes those shows run pretty late, but we don’t go home. If we’re opening for a touring band we encourage our friends and our people to stay for the touring band. It’s not like that everywhere.
When did you get the itch to start playing again, and how do you see the current state of the local scene now that you’re a part of it?
For the first couple years that I lived here I wasn’t a part of the scene, and I just missed it so much. When I finally landed a job that had more normal hours I started going to a ton of shows. I met Chris [Bitonti, lead guitar] at PRB and we just became friends. He just called me one day and said, “hey, I know you have a bunch of songs. I got some friends that are coming to town and are playing, you think we can get something together and open?” I asked him how much time we had and he said two months. We played the show and it was a lot of fun. There’s a lot of joy in it and I missed it. It was my first show in five years or something.
It wasn’t too long after that when we got the confirmation from PRB that we’d be playing at the mainstage, and that’s when the work started. You know, I love rehearsing, I love writing, I love just being with my band and just putting in the work together. You hope that that translates on to the stage or in front of the kids. The kids in town have been so accepting, so kind, and so cool to us. My main group of friends, I met at shows in Las Vegas, they’re guys that play in bands. Just really cool people that have really embraced us and taken us in. We feel really welcome and that’s a really, really cool thing. I don’t know if that exist everywhere, but it exists here and I’m happy to play here because of it.
What would you like to see change about the way shows go here in town?
If you start it early, people are gonna come. We recently got offered a gig to play at The Sayers Club. X107.5 asked us to play. Those shows are cool, it’s free for locals, and they put some great bands on, but doors are at 10pm, man, like on a Wednesday. Not only is it hard to get a draw, but I don’t wanna tax our friends through that. Here’s the deal: in the beginning you don’t have fans, you just have friends. Those friends come out and support you and we really appreciate it. We try to put on a good show for them, but I don’t want them to have to come out, if we’re on a three band bill and we’re going on play third, and we’re not going on until midnight on a Wednesday, I don’t wanna put people through that. All of a sudden is not fun, and it’s suppose to be fun.
Like on a weeknight show, why are we not opening doors at 7pm, with the first band on at 8pm? That’s what is done in other cities. We’ve played several shows where the promoter is like, “hey, there’s not enough people here, you can’t go on.” I get it, the bars have to make money otherwise they can’t have shows, but it makes it less fun for the band and the people that go to the shows. I think that all it’s suppose to be about is having fun together. That’s what punk rock’s about. It’s not about the bands or the crowd, it’s about all of us together.
The second thing I’d like to see in local shows is a more unified effort to maybe play less shows, but better shows. We all tend to play a bit too much locally, and it spreads the crowd pretty thin. There’s no reason Eliza Battle should have to play a show the same night at a bar a few doors down from great local bands like Rayner or Mercy Music. We should be playing that show together. I am really proud of how we do work together, and we all get each other’s backs and really are great friends with the other bands in town. I think that if we work together a little harder, we could probably put on great shows with solid lineups that start on time, and get everyone home safe and at a decent hour.
What is the band hoping to accomplish by playing LiB?
I think that we got it, man. This is our first year, we’re coming up on a calendar year now. This is kind of a nice way to end that year of all the things that we were able to accomplish. So really, just getting on the bill, it means a lot. It feels like we’re doing the right thing, people seem to like what we’re doing. I don’t know if we need to get anything else out of it. We get to go, we get to hangout with our friends, we get to play outside, and we are attached to this festival. It’s a cool thing, so I don’t think that there’s anything else that we need. Hopefully there’s some people in the crowd and we put on a good show.
What’s next on Eliza Battle’s plate? What’s your plan after LiB?
That’s tough, I don’t know. I’m surprised by everything that’s happened so far. We’re all a little older, so we’re all pretty ingrained in our careers. The option of quitting our jobs to do this is unlikely. We want to put out another record with more than two songs on it. Maybe a full-length, maybe an EP. We’ll see, we’re gonna go into the studio this fall. More touring, more regional touring. California, Arizona, New Mexico, that kind of stuff. I’d love to get up to the northwest next year. I think our biggest goal next year, we’re gonna aim at Europe. I think we’d really like to do a short European tour. It’d be kind of a dream come true and I think music is the only thing that’s gonna take me there. That’s our big end game goal; if we could do like ten dates in Europe, next year, that’d be incredible.
I know you said that pretty much everyone is tied to their careers. LiB is a festival that could give a band the right exposure, what would it take for the band to go full time or at least to try and tour more?
That’s a tough one. With stupid grown up expenses like rent, mortgages, student loans, and credit cards, it’s really hard to just walk away from our jobs and careers. Everyone wants to do it, but it would take a one in a million miracle to make it happen. I think the best answer I can give you is that we aren’t concerned about it. We like playing in Las Vegas. We like being so close to LA, San Diego, and Phoenix. We are going to put out a record. Hopefully people like it and it gets a buzz going. Nothing is impossible, but for right now I am doing exactly what I want to be doing with Chris and Chris, Tina, and Sal. No point in worrying about the future ’till it gets here.
Las Vegas is a bomb about to burst. The talent is there for something big and great to happen. More eyes are closing in on Vegas, and the group of people grinding it out for something they are passionate about. Whether or not those things happen, these folks will always be around because at the end of the day, it’s what they live, breathe, and eat. I see them at all the shows, supporting every band. It’s a good time for music in Vegas. No matter what genre you like. It also helps that the people creating that music aren’t assholes. They are the nicest and most welcoming people you can encounter. Thank you to all the bands that spared their time to have a chat with me.
Thanks for taking the time to talk to me, Nick! Eliza Battle play Life is Beautiful’s local showcase in Container Park at 3:00 p.m. tonight.
-Alan Madrigal
Eliza Battle photos by Aaron Mattern
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