BLOOD ORCHID Debuts in Music City

June 15, 2023 maxbutler98

June 6, 2023 (Nashville, Tennessee)

The solo artist, known by his stage name Blood Orchid, stopped in Nashville to showcase his unique live performance. Taking the stage with nothing but a mic, a guitar, and a mixer he displayed his ability to cross genres and entertain a crowd without support from a full band. From performing live guitar and vocals to mixing and looping tracks on stage, there’s always something to witness when attending this live show.

The man behind the music is Nikolais Palencia from Miami, Florida. Niko has worked in various different roles and projects in the music industry for more than a decade. I was curious about his road to success in not only music, but visual arts as well. Luckily, Niko was willing to meet on the famous street known as Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee to chat further about his career.

Niko is currently touring the United States and hopes to expand internationally from there. We discussed his upcoming tour dates and his feelings on taking this project on tour.

“Being out here touring I’ve learned a lot about myself. This is something I have dreamed about since I was in elementary school. I’ve got Raleigh and Charlotte. Then I have San Diego and L.A. – and L.A. should be good because I have a big fanbase there. Then I’m getting some hometown stuff in South Florida. Before I would hit them up [near my hometown], and I wouldn’t get a response. Now they see me posting these 15 city tour fliers and they’re actually hitting me up.”

During our conversation I asked how it felt to finally being getting recognition in his hometown.

“Man I spent so much time begging [to do shows]. Nobody likes a beggar. But that feeling is part of what is driving me to do what I do now. Someone told me ‘You can’t be a prophet in your own land’. You go somewhere else and then people start looking at you differently. When you come back home you have this reputation, and that’s what I’m trying to build.”

Niko displays influence from multiple different genres including rock, punk, rap, and various forms of electronic music. When asked about the early days of his music career he began explaining how his initial love for artists in these genres launched his career.

“I remember when I was really young I would say I didn’t like music, but then I heard Rollout by Ludacris and that was the first time I remember having a music preference. Then that turned into Linkin Park, and Korn, and Limb Bizkit. Then at nine years old I had a guitar in my house, so I started playing the guitar pretty early. When I got into high school is when I started playing the guitar about five hours a day. I’d be in the back of my class like fucking chopping at my fingertips trying to build my callouses up.”

He goes on to explain how his love of playing guitar evolved into producing electronic music.

“From there I got into electronic music and started producing pretty excessively. I started producing many different genres of music for like the next ten years. Different projects. Different Names. House music, Dubstep, Rap.”

Later we discussed how his current project, Blood Orchid, evolved into what it is today.

“Like four or five years ago I felt like I wasn’t being authentic. I felt like I was copying everything, which is a cool way to learn skills, but it’s not the best way to show who you are. I went back to my guitar playing shit, and from there started my Blood Orchid project.”

Blood Orchid started as a project that was only being released through digital streaming services. With only a handful of live shows under his belt with this project, he is currently experimenting with what he wants really wants out of this live experience.

“With this project, after about 3 years and 30 songs, I’ve gotten up to about 80,000 monthly listeners and a few million total plays. Now I figure, how can I turn this digital entity into a real life experience?”

Putting on a live performance as a solo artist certainly does come with its challenges. We go on to discuss his song writing process and what his live performance is like for him.

“When I’m writing, since I don’t have a band, I’m trying to write songs that have a simplicity so that when you’re looking at one guy on stage it doesn’t look too weird. It’s very raw. I can play it all. I can loop it up. But I would like to have a band eventually. I think if I push far enough I can have people lining up. I’ve already had people start to tell me ‘If you need a drummer … if you need a bass player …’. And I really want that. But until I meet the right people I’m going to continue doing it on my own. I would like to remain the primary song writer, but I would like to record it and then mix it all up myself.”

So far three music videos have been released. The live videos include Doom & Gloom and YEAH YEAH YEAH. The third video for Hellfire Hot Sauce was animated by Niko himself.

“I animated the entire music video for Hellfire Hot Sauce. It took me 3 months and 150 hours of work. I’ve always appreciated animation and drew inspiration from Adult Swim shows like Metalocalypse.”

The animated music video can be seen below.

Currently the second album for Blood Orchid is in the works and we spent some time discussing what he is working on currently.

“Right now I’m working on the second album. It’ll be called Doom & Gloom. The way I interpret it is as more of a classic Punk … Doom Metal … Older Heavy Metal like Black Sabbath, but through a contemporary producer’s ear. Mixed more in a way that will sound better on festival speakers. Like, how can you mix a Ramones’ style song in a way that fits with my peers that are producing electronic music. How can you incorporate something that is unexpected? You can’t just keep remaking stuff that sounds exactly like The Ramones or The Clash. You can at least add something unexpected to it.”

Before we wrapped up our conversation I asked if he wanted to add anything, and he responded quite humbly.

“I really just want to add a thank you to my parents. They’ve always really let me be myself and supported me and let me be the weird kid that I am growing up. I wouldn’t be here without that.”

Needless to say, Niko is a highly motivated artist and his success thus far with Blood Orchid is much deserved.