Surrounded by plants and the smell of burning toast, I sit down with Sophia Nadia, of Cold Beaches, on her living room couch in her first floor apartment in the Humboldt Park district of Chicago. She is sprawled out across her sofa, having just woken up on the first morning back from her tour, waiting for Chris (her tour drummer) to finish up with breakfast, and looking utterly exhausted. Typically more of a high-energy extrovert, it’s almost jarring to see Sophia so laid back, but a six week, cross-country tour will suck that energy out of anyone.
I had the awesome opportunity to accompany Cold Beaches as her bassist for this tour, and can certainly attest to that exhaustion. And, I can wholeheartedly attest to the courage, confidence, and unending zeal that the touring life demands, which Sophia continuously exemplified throughout the entirety of the six week tour. I don’t mean to sound surprised, however: Sophia has been touring like this since she was 16, cross-country with caution to the wind. Additionally, over the few years I’ve known her, Sophia has time and time again proven herself to be a vocal and ardent feminist, a veracious reader, a gregarious socialite, and an unapologetic do-er – someone who makes their mind up about what they want to do and just does it – so, in a sense, the demands of tour are already what she demands of the world, making it no surprise that she would thrive on the road.
But now she is back in her apartment, and the burnt toast has set off the fire alarm while we try to have a professional interview between two people who lived within ten feet of each other for six weeks. At this point, conversation between the three of us (Sophia, Chris, and I) devolves into obscure inside jokes, accents that aren’t even from anywhere, and, if the people around us our lucky, the occasional pop culture reference that we probably extracted from the last podcast we listened to in the car. Eventually, we manage to get our heads straight long enough to talk about the tour, releases, recording, influences, social media, and the fire alarm going off in the kitchen.
So I’m here with Sophia Nadia, of Cold Beaches. How are you feeling today?
I feel like a million dollars. I just got in town yesterday afternoon after six weeks of touring throughout the United States of America to promote my new EP, “Stay Hungry”.
When did that come out?
I think April 8th, 2018…? (laughs)
How long have you been working on that?
I have been working on “Stay Hungry” since the end of the last tour in 2017, so from August 2017 to… probably April 7th, 2018 I’ve been working on this compilation of songs.
And this is the first of three EPs you’re releasing this year?
Yep!
Do you have names for the other two EPs yet, or any plans for anymore tours?
It’s all super-secret for now, but I’m planning smaller tours for these releases. Probably not as long and big tours, but I do plan on going on the road a bit more with some friends of mine.
(Here, the fire alarm in the kitchen goes off, and Sophia’s drummer comes in to get a broom, the general welfare of our breakfast anxiously distracting us)
Anyways, you’ve been touring a lot, right?
Since I was around 16 years old.
Would you say they’ve gotten better? And that tours are still beneficial in this internet age?
Fucking yes. Yes, one million percent beneficial. I think the more I tour and go to the same places, it’s great because I can see old friends and meet new ones. And I think social media actually has a very important role in touring life now, because a lot of people who I’ve never met but love my music will follow me on Instagram or add me on Snapchat, so they ask me about my life. They know who my friends are, what I’ve been up to, they ask me about my cat, and I think it forms a connection between my listeners and me, in that we’re more friends than not. It’s very intimate and low-key grounding.
So now you’re back from tour, back home in Chicago. But you only just moved here within the past year or so. How has that transition been for you, coming from Richmond, Virginia?
Oh, I got frostbite and pneumonia my first winter (laughs) but, it was great actually. It was really rough at the beginning, because I was homesick and felt like I didn’t really know anybody. But, I made a lot of friends in Chicago to help facilitate that transition in really cute ways. Like, my roommates took me roller skating, stuff like that.
So, you overall feel like Chicago is a pretty welcoming city?
Oh, yes. This is home. When we rolled in yesterday and I saw the skyline, I immediately said “Home!” (laughs) Even though I’ve only been living here for a little bit, I’ve already got my favorite chicken spot right across Hermitage there – Parson’s Chicken & Fish.
Parson’s is pretty amazing (laughs). Now, to wrap things up, what words would you use to describe tour? Both this one specifically, but also touring in general.
For this tour, it’s “funny”. I think I would use that word to describe the whole thing, because my bandmates were very funny guys, and we were all very tired and delusional throughout the entire tour, we would just laugh at anything stupid or silly. From inside jokes, like the Tennessee Ticklers, to the random noises we’d make, really anything to lighten the mood was welcome. But for tours overall, I’d use the word “grounding”, because being in a car for hours on end, you… You’re kind of forced to reflect on yourself, and reflect on your life and what you want to do when you get back. And you meet really kind people, and you get inspired everyday by different artists and bands… You learn a lot about yourself.
Awesome! Well, thanks for sitting down with me, hope to see you again soon!
Sophia: Same to you!
Cold Beaches’ EP “Stay Hungry” is out now on all popular streaming platforms. Give it a listen and be on the lookout for Cold Beaches coming through your hometown sometime this fall!
words by eric
