Snowcuffs

Cuffing season ends in March, but the Chicago-based band Snowcuffs is warming up to a spring music season. Known for several other groups like Lightfoils and Astrobrite, guitarist Neil Yodnane built the band in 2022 to include vocalist Stephanie Nikolas, bassist Sarah Sterling and Mike Hoyt on drums.

The budgeoning band has released two EPs, Sink Down and Sweet Gravity. Their latest single, “Burst” features a moody video that matches their atmospheric sound.

Neil and Stephanie talked backstage at Beat Kitchen on the day of Sweet Gravity’s release.

JN: (Jerry Nunn) How did you meet?

SN: (Stephanie Nikolas) We met through Reddit and our first meeting was here at the Beat Kitchen.

JN: How does Reddit work to find band members?

NY: (Neil Yodnane) It’s like the classifieds and there is a Chicago music scene section in the subreddit. I just posted that I was looking for a singer. Stephanie was the last piece of the puzzle.

I had met Sarah Sterling before when we played together in a band, Astrobrite and we played together in my other band, Lightfoils.

Our drummer, Mike Hoyt, I met through a website called BandMix.com, which is kind of like match.com for bands.

JN: Seems like a very modern way to find a band instead of a newspaper ad.

NY: We looked for at least six months before we found Stephanie.

SN: I was in a different project and we broke up. That day, I was on Reddit and posted that I was looking for a new group. Neil contacted me and it worked out.

JN: Are you from Chicago?

SN: I grew up in the Chicago suburbs.

NY: I am from Pittsburgh originally, but I moved to Chicago more than 20 years ago.

JN: Did you always want to be musicians?

NY: Yes, I have been in bands since forever.

SN: I wanted to when I was growing up. I started playing after school.

JN: How long have you been together as a group?

SN: I have been with the band for two years.

JN: When did you start releasing music together?

NY: The first EP was released almost exactly a year ago. We were releasing singles before that in the fall.

Now we have eight songs out. We have another one that we are debating whether to release it as a single soon.

JN: Today is the big day with the release of the Sweet Gravity EP. What was your vision behind it?

NY: We had a bunch of songs and we wanted to get them out. [laughs] We did have more of a vision for this one. The first EP Sink Down was more of my ideas overall and this one is more of a collaboration effort with everyone in the band.

JN: Are the tracks “Sunless” and “Cold Memories” based on living in Chicago’s weather?

SN: I didn’t even think of that, but it’s a good point! We were just saying the same thing about Snowcuffs being our band name and we have all of these cold references.

I didn’t consciously think about it, but Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD is affecting our songs.

JN: Where did the name Snowcuffs come from?

NY: We were throwing around a bunch of names and many of them were taken. We didn’t want to make a weird spelling.

Sarah Sterling threw it out there and we thought it was beautiful.

SN: We all have our own interpretations of what it means to all of us.

JN: It sounds personal. It could refer to cuffing season when it is snowing.

SN: Yes. We also like the contrast of snow and handcuffs. The handcuffs represent something hard mixed with soft snow.

JN: In terms of branding, there are all kinds of things the marketing team could do with that.

NY: We haven’t got anyone to settle on a logo yet or how literal we want to be with it.

JN: Do you have merchandise to sell?

NY: Yes, we have t-shirts, CDs and cassettes.

JN: Cassettes have come back in style, haven’t they?

NY: Yeah and we have sold more compact discs than cassettes. The problem is they might have a CD player, but they might have trouble playing cassettes.

SN: I know a handful of folks who have bought our cassettes and don’t have any way to play them.

JN: What musicians have influenced you?

NY: I usually like psychedelic bands with heavier, longer songs, but it influenced me to start making songs that were shorter and more poppier. I wanted to make dream pop music and keep things short and sweet instead of meandering around.

When COVID happened, I had nothing but time. After work, I would just make music for three hours.

SN: I have always listened to a lot of ‘90s rock like Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana and My Bloody Valentine. Lyrically, I am inspired by all of them.

JN: I hear The Sundays in your sound and The Innocence Mission. Was your video for “Burst” filmed on a sound stage?

SN: I was outside and they were filmed inside, so it was half and half.

NY: We had one scene with her inside. We cut it and didn’t use it in the end. She was standing on a little pedestal outdoors.

SN: It was filmed in Humboldt Park.

JN: I am always interviewing bands that come through the Windy City, but it’s great to talk to a Chicago band. Is the goal to play Lollapalooza and Riot Fest here in the city?

NY: We are just taking it one step at a time. We would love to play festivals, but right now we are playing live as much as possible and we will see where we go.

JN: How do you describe your sound to people who haven’t heard your music yet?

NY: We use the term dreampop usually, so dreamy, spacy and emotional. We try to limit our songs to being short and sweet. We don’t want to make it all guitars with six-minute outros.

SN: We tend to do that, so we have to cut it before the song goes too long.

JN: Neil, do you worry about overpowering Stephanie’s voice with your guitar?

NY: All the time. The good thing is she just got an ear monitor that she’s been using for the past few shows and that has been helping.

SN: The thing is, I am such a whisper singer that it is hard to project at shows, but I have gotten better.

NY: We are okay with the volume, but depending on the venue, we have to play louder. I just want her to shine and I can be in the background.

JN: That’s sweet of you. With the band Cocteau Twins, sometimes Robin Guthrie overpowered Elizabeth Fraser’s voice with his guitar. I met him once at the Metro and he said they would never get back together.

NY: It’s a sad story. They were a couple who broke up and couldn’t get the band back together because they hated each other so much. I understand how that would be hard.

JN: Are there any LGBTQ+ identifying members in the band?

NY: Our bassist, Sarah Sterling, is. She’s here and upstairs somewhere. Usually, just the two of us do the interviews.

SN: Neil is the creative force musically and I am lyrically, so we are two halves of the whole.

NY: A two-headed monster if you will…

JN: How do you promote the band, Neil?

NY: In the beginning, it was hard to get anyone’s attention. Having been in Lightfoils with some connections in radio, I would send in music.

I don’t know if you know Philly Peroxide, a gay DJ who plays Shimmer and Nocturna with goth nights. He has crazy, bleached blonde hair, that’s why he’s called Peroxide. I sent him music to play.

JN: I do know him a little bit.

NY: It’s a slow process, but it has been picking up.

JN: Chicago has a wonderful music scene.

NY: We really do and everyone is supportive.

JN: Are you playing more gigs around town?

NY: We don’t have anything for Chicago yet and we are setting things up. We have some out-of-town shows in the books, like Milwaukee, Indianapolis and St. Louis. We played Kalamashoegazer in Kalamazoo, Michigan, last year, so we are going to play that again.

It has been a challenge. Maybe after this release, we will have more press.

We struggled sometimes to promote the music when we were working on releases and studio stuff. I spent half the time emailing people to get the word out and book venues.

JN: Well, “Burst” is a strong single to help you stand out from the crowd.

SN: Thank you!