Today we’d like to introduce you to Niko Rosy.
Hi Niko, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started making music around age nine — my brother got me in to it. I played a lot of Nintendo as a kid and I remember he showed me how to play a song from The Legend of Zelda on this casio keyboard we had and it kinda blew my mind. I was hooked pretty quickly, and started jamming more songs from these games I loved on piano. I picked up guitar later around 14 after one of my aunties showed me Django Reinhardt, this cool gypsy-jazz guitarist from the 30s. It’s funny, my favorite artists were like Green Day, Black Sabbath, The Beatles, Paramore, Dance Gavin Dance — a wide mix of guitar driven classic rock and pop/post punk. But it took jazz guys like Django, Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery to really get me playing. It was just different, and fun to study. My appetite for jazz led me to its evolutions, and I started getting into hip-hop too with artists like Tribe Called Quest, Nujabes and MF Doom. I’ve always just wanted to learn more and more, so with a cracked version of FL Studio I started beat-making. I did that for a while throughout high-school and college, and really honed in on recording and production.
After a 3 years in a Frank Zappa cover orchestra (a whole era in itself), I moved out to San Diego post-pandemic with musical ambitions and quickly linked up with local artists Verde and Amon the MC. They needed a guitarist for a live hip-hop punk fusion project called The Neighborhood Kids. So we did our first show in Chula Vista in 2021, and I’ve been playing and producing with them alongside the rest of the band ever since. We’ve had some recent success with some viral tracks, 2 San Diego Music Awards, and an east-coast tour with Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, so it’s been exciting to see it all come together and, with new albums in the pipeline, where it will continue to take us.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Yes and no. I’ve been surrounded by good people with high motivation, which has taken me to some awesome places. It’s taken over a decade of grinding on art through personal hardship with little to no return to get here — and there’s still sooo much work to be done. But a good creative community has been such a blessing, and it’s been satisfying to see all that effort start to fruit for all involved.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m an artist, guitarist and producer. My genres are fluid and my specialty is concept — I live for world building with artists who have serious vision and I offer a unique taste and ethic to serve the highest quality version of that ambition. A lot of the role as a producer is to address the pain points of the creative process, and as an artist, I have an understanding of how to help others manage things like aesthetic focus and confidence while having a deep understanding of the tools I work with to make that process painless (and fun, usually).
I’d like to think I’m known for a distinct heavy-but-smooth sound in supporting music for social good. I’ve worked with artists like The Neighborhood Kids, Indigenous Cats, Bambu, DAMAG3, SaRoc, Raina Simone, Gavin Prophet and have shared lineups with some really honorable artists like Tom Morello, Cypress Hill, Pussy Riot, K Flay, Living Color, Gogol Bordello, Dweezil Zappa, and more. I am really proud, and often humbled, to have shared spaces with all these awesome talented people.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Tell your friends you love them, talk to your neighbors, vote, stay informed, take care of one another.
Pricing:
- Contact for production work
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/niko.rosy/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nikorosy
- Other: https://nikorosy.bandcamp.com/music
Image Credits
Isabella Milne, Cierra Breeze, Max Gottesman
