Iya Terra’s Nick Sefakis recently released debut solo album, Foundation; EP with Elliot Martin from John Brown’s Body coming in early December

Courtesy of Nick Sefakis.

Dailyreggae.com interviewed Nick Sefakis from Iya Terra about his recent solo album titled, Foundation.

Tell me about your album, Foundation. When did you release the album?

Yeah, that was my first solo album. I had a couple songs that I was featured on before that, but Foundation is my first debut release as a solo artist. It was released February 21, 2020. I’ve had a handful of releases this year. I’ve had Foundation, some features, and the Elliot single with John Brown’s Body, Underwater. I just announced the EP release with Elliot coming out on December 4th.

What inspired you to make the album, Foundation, and how was making the album different than recording music with Iya Terra?

When we record with Iya Terra it’s a very communal effort. When you’re working with a group of people, you’re mixing ideas around and it comes out as a group effort, which is always dope. But there is a whole other realm of music in mind and how I feel. When I’m at home, maybe there are some things that don’t translate so well to the Iya Terra sound, and I can do that at home in my free time. That’s where I put my energy into the solo work. I’m always writing music. There are definitely a few songs I’ve written like Hold Ah Vibes on the last album, but we’ve been in the studio during this whole quarantine. I have another song where I’m taking vocal leads on it for the next Iya Terra record, which will be cool.

Foundation was a compilation of my free time and the tunes I made outside of Iya Terra. After that I was like, I have this sound I want to build on, and tried to keep pushing it. That’s all I do is write music, so I put energy into Iya Terra and my solo work, and balance that.

What does Foundation mean as the theme for your album? What was your inspiration?

I called the album Foundation, because it embodies my first work and foundation as a solo artist. That’s going to be the foundation I build upon, because the way I look at it, every release has a mission to be a little better than the last, so that was me setting my standard and sound. The message in the song Foundation has a political undertone. If you build your house on a shaky foundation, it’s eventually going to crumble. You can apply that how you will to your own life.

Tell me about the recording process on the Foundation album? What instruments did you play?

Another cool part of my solo work that differs from Iya Terra is that the music is all self-produced. When I’m releasing my own music, I have the freedom to actually produce from the production, to mixing, to the mastering. Everything on Foundation was recorded in my home studio. There were different players of instruments on the record. There are some songs with just me on all of the instruments, and there are other songs where my friends collaborated. Ryan Kordich from Eureka Sound played some keys and organ. I also had David Yun the guitarist from Eureka Sound on guitar on a couple of songs. I’d have them come over to the house, would show them the new tunes, and they were big contributors.

I wrote all of the songs and had some cool features like Rik Jam from Jamaica. He’s a young kid from Jamaica, but I think he has a bright future. He’s on the song Don’t Want Conscious and the song Lion Order features Elliot Martin. That was the beginning of Elliot and my link. I hit him up to be on the record and from there we formed this relationship and decided to make a whole record together. I’m thankful for that. Up and up from there!

You just released the single Underwater and announced a new EP. Is Underwater going to be on the EP?

Underwater is the first and only single that will be featured on the EP. Most of the EP is myself and Elliot doing a lot of the instrumentation and producing, but Underwater is different, because the song has almost whole John Brown’s Body band playing. Their drummer, keyboardist, guitarist and Elliot on vocals. It was almost like the whole John Brown’s Body band was playing behind me and I got to sing. It’s unique in that sense, where the song is featuring a lot of musicians, on that song behind the scenes. We wanted to release that one as single to showcase John Brown’s Body as a whole.

Has Iya Terra toured with John Brown’s Body before?

Iya has always been huge fans of John Brown’s Body. They’ve been around for 20 plus years as a band on the east coast. When we first started playing reggae music, they were one of those bands that we looked up to. They helped keep that roots style alive, a huge horn section, great bass lines, and Elliot’s vocals are so unique and different than anything we’ve ever heard.

We’ve never got the chance to tour with them. Unfortunately, they stopped touring a couple of years ago. Elliot has been putting out some new music recently. I was just a big fan and hit Elliott up. I knew this music had to keep going. What’s cool about my solo music is that I always try to feature artists that would differ from Iya feature artists. Ones that I personally like, which is cool.

I’m excited to share the EP with everyone. It’s kind of like a generational thing. He’s almost 50 years old and I’m 26 years old. It’s been a huge learning experience and I’m stoked he was so willing to collaborate. The fact that the full John Brown’s Body band was on Underwater was really cool.

How did you release your album?

I released my solo project album completely independent. Iya Terra is also not technically on a label. We are also an independent artist, but our management company is Ineffable Music. They do so much for reggae music, and we are blessed to be a part of the that company. All the streams and shares of the music really helps. I appreciate the fan’s support.

Is Iya Terra working on any new music?

We’ve been tracking our new record with E.N Young at Imperial Sound Recording Studio in San Diego. I think it’s our best work yet. We’ve been on tour straight for five or six years nonstop. Quarantine has given us time to dive into our next record, so we can make it the best record we can. That’s what we’ve been doing. We have some real dope features on there. There should be some new singles in the near future.

Where are some good places where fans can support your music?

Social is a great place. We’re on Instagram and Facebook for both Iya Terra and my solo work. Stream our music on places like Spotify. Liking our music and saving it to your playlists really helps support us. Iya Terra has a store with a lot of cool merch. You can find Iya Terra and Foundation all digital streaming outlets like iTunes and I have some merch on nicksefakismusic.com.