Musician Earns the Hype with New CD

By Broadside Staff Writer Dylan Hares

I could say that Nicholas Megalis is a wild performer and an eccentric young musician, but that wouldn’t be doing him justice.

Hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, Nicholas Megalis is a 19-year-old hurricane of talent that people really need to be on the watch for.

Jaxx Nightclub in West Springfield had a diverse line-up on Sunday, Sept. 14 featuring a scene band, a screamo band, a punk band, a progressive band, and Nicholas Megalis. I only drop Megalis’ name because the other bands were very cookie-cutter with nothing original about them. Nicholas Megalis had the most unique arrangement and is the most unique performer and songwriter I have ever seen.

Megalis featured a two-man band with him and his drummer Jimmy. A lot of his live songs had lengthy voice-overs at the beginning where Megalis would run around on stage or do something ridiculous that made me think, “Why is he doing that—I wish he would stop.” But then I realized that it was part of the whole experience. It was part of the performance. It was part of his energy. No one else really does stuff like that anymore. He’s a unique entertainer.

His first song started off with a bang. He kicked over his keyboard stool in order to properly assume rock position. His second song was his single off his new studio album Praise Be, Hype Machine called “The Phrase.”

This song, a catchy, rhythmic, and upbeat rock-pop tune really highlights Megalis’ style with his seemingly-random lyrics and young insights.

Now despite the sound system at Jaxx, I found myself generally completely unable to understand what Megalis was singing, but at the same time so entranced it was hard to care. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was told he was making it all up as he was pounding on his keys. Megalis interacts very well with the crowd. He had everyone in the pit ballroom dance with each other while he played a slow, melodic song. He consistently made everyone laugh with his jokes and antics.

He would be a great guy to have at any party. Likewise, his music is just the same with songs like “The Holder” and “Instances of Shame” which are upbeat and fast-moving. He played very few slow and ballad-like songs during his seven-song, half-hour set, but that just shows his natural stage presence and energy is just way too torrential to contain.

In a Venn diagram of experimental music, pop music, and rock music, Nicholas Megalis would fall somewhere in that tiny middle region.

It’s nearly impossible to classify him and almost as hard to find someone like him. His playing is masterful, his energy boundless, and his voice is big and fun and reminds me a lot of Andrew Stockdale from Wolfmother.

I really recommend buying his CD which is available off of his Web site www.nicholasmegalis.com because it gives you 14 exciting and fun songs that are catchy and hard to get tired of.