Spotlight: Indie Jazz-Rock Band Nuclear Monkey Talks “Tiny Dorm Series,” Touring, and Latest Album ‘Hello Again’
EMERGING ON THE MUSIC SCENE IN SUNNY MIAMI, FLORIDA— indie jazz-rock band Nuclear Monkey has been making waves. Finishing off the summer with their sophomore album Hello Again, their first-ever tour across the East Coast and reaching a million streams on their first album, What Wild Ecstasy!, the band is cementing their place in the new generation of indie-rock, folk and jazz fusion.
Nate Neuwirth, the 20-year-old frontman of the band, formed Nuclear Monkey in 2021 in Richmond, Virginia with friend David Becker. After self-producing and releasing What Wild Escasty! their senior year of high school in 2022, the band split after the two moved away for college.
“It took my whole senior year,” said Neuwirth. “When I finished and I graduated, I was like, ‘Okay, I'm done. That took so much out of me.’”
This changed when Neuwirth started his freshman year at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, and met his roommate and future Nuclear Monkey drummer, Tyler Pons, who encouraged Neuwirth to re-form the band. With the addition of pianist Eli Katz, vocalist and shaker Giuli Machado, bassist Max Melo, trumpeter Joel Newell and saxophonist Andreas Kellepouris, the group gained a social media following for their live performances in Neuwirth and Pons’ dorm room, dubbed the “Nuclear Monkey Tiny Dorm Series.”
“There’s not a lot of places to rehearse [at the school], so we were just rehearsing in our room. Then people on our floor of the dorm would come in and sit and watch, and Tyler had the idea to make it a thing.”
Originally intended as a pitching tool for labels and other bands, the series, recorded and mixed by friends and fellow students, is intimate, personable and full of chemistry. The full video showcases their setlist, including tracks from their first album, a cover of Mac DeMarco’s “Chamber of Reflection” and “No Way!!,” a sneak peak into Hello Again at the time. Aided by the camera work, warm string lights and the band’s playful banter between songs, the series feels like you are sitting on the bedroom floor with them, jamming out with your closest friends.
Speaking on the incredible soloing at the end of their “Chamber of Reflection” cover, Neuwirth shared that the band no longer rehearses together, and instead likes to give the audience something new every time.
“We play together just as musicians, so we all know our ‘isms’ and stuff, and we can lock in and do cool stuff like that just on the fly. I think people really like when we do that live.”
Shortly after the series' success, the band released their sophomore album. Entirely recorded on cassette, Hello Again is sonically easy-going, summery and full of Lo-Fi influence. With notable tracks like “Caroline,” “You Make Me Groove” and “On My Mind,” Neuwirth’s laid-back vocals and the band’s mesmerizing instrumental skills create a relaxing and pleasurable soundscape for its listeners. “Deliver” is especially a standout, bringing Machado’s smooth and delicate background vocals to the forefront.
When gearing up to release Hello Again, Neuwirth initially felt a lot of pressure to release the album before the end of the band’s freshman year and his 19th birthday, feeling as though he had to be “young and prolific.” “But it's not a good idea, because there's really no pressure,” he reflected. “I was putting that pressure on myself, and it didn't end up helping at all.”
The group would eventually release the album in May, and embark on their first-ever tour shortly after. Performing in Richmond, Washington D.C., Boston and New York City, the band, minus Newell and Kellepouris who left the band to focus on their own endeavors, flew out to Richmond and toured around the Northeast in Neuwirth’s mom’s mini-van, crashing at friends’ and families’ homes in-between shows.
“It was just a taste of that life. What it’s like to be a band that’s gigging and touring on the road, like, hopefully, where we'll be in a few years, and I think what a lot of us want to do as a career.”
The band, having had a great experience touring, is now back in Miami for their fall semester. With reaching over a million streams on their first album, nearly 22,000 followers on Instagram and gaining thousands of views on their Reels, the band is looking forward to building up their social media presence even more and securing a label in time for the release of their third album. Aiming for their college graduation in 2026, the band wants to take their time on what Neuwirth believes will be their strongest project yet.
“There’s like a bunch of cards you can play, you don't just want to play them at the wrong time,” he said. “You got to hold on to them and wait until the time is right.”
“It’s always worth the wait.”
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