Nina Las Vegas Talks Nando’s First Aus Chicken Shop Sessions, The Power Of PERi-PERi & New Music Plans
“As someone who works behind the scenes in music, I can’t tell you how much Nando’s really do back us.”
Nina Las Vegas @ Nando's Chicken Shop Sessions (Supplied)
Rainy days and hot chocolate. Surfboards and saltwater. YouTubers and controversy... Some things just naturally go together so perfectly, it’s like one was made specifically to enhance the other. And ever since the iconic South African brand was launched in the late 1980s, one of those piquantly perfect pairings has been Nando’s and music.
From the game-changing Nando’s Music Exchange to their very own recording studios (one of which is literally built into a Nando’s restaurant in Soho), partnerships with creative academies around the world, and their own series of popup live music events, Nando’s have been staunch in their efforts to champion the ever-burgeoning global music industry – especially in times when it’s otherwise struggled.
Take for example the newly launched Chicken Shop Sessions: a series of intimate, exclusive gigs to celebrate up-and-upcoming Australian and New Zealand artists, which kicked off in Melbourne (Naarm) last Saturday (July 20) with a life-affirming afternoon of good vibes, PERi-PERi chicken and live music from the reggae-rock lords in Coterie, house icon Nina Las Vegas, soulful R&B star CHAII and indie-pop stalwart ISHAN. It was an experience we’ll never forget – as our reviewer Sam put it, an “intimate snapshot of the emerging music scene in Australia and New Zealand, capturing a diverse array of artists and an equally varied selection of genres”.
The event was notably well-timed, coinciding with what was originally planned to be the weekend of this year’s Splendour In The Grass festival (if it hadn’t have been cancelled back in March). A rep for Nando’s confirmed they made sure to invite guests who had been ticketholders for Splendour.
It certainly wasn’t a “traditional” gig – but as Nina Las Vegas told us right before she hit the decks, “What is a ‘traditional’ gig these days!?” She riffed: “It's such an odd time in music right now – nothing is normal, you know, so a gig like this can be normal. I mean, what’s ‘normal’ was Splendour In The Grass; what’s ‘normal’ was busy shows and people buying tickets to shows every weekend. The whole industry is just wild at the moment – everything is upside down, it’s all highs and lows – so it’s like, if anyone wants to do something, and they’re supporting artists and putting opportunities [like this] in front of them, then I’m down for it.”
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The fact Nando’s even bagged Nina for the event speaks to its authenticity. “I’m not big on working with brands,” she says candidly, “but when it’s a brand that I know are actively trying to help out and make an effort in the music scene, then I’m always down.”
Nina herself has a long history with Nando’s, frequenting their Soho studio – “so many MCs love it,” she beams, noting that it’s “not taboo” to hit up the branded haunt because “the gear is good, the sound is perfect [and] the engineer is super talented” – and partnering with them multiple times in the past. She vouches for the company’s support of emerging artists and labels, even when there aren’t opportunities to advertise involved: “Honestly, as the manager of an indie label [the inimitable NLV Records] and as someone who works behind the scenes in music, I can’t tell you how much Nando’s really do back us.
“Say you’re doing a video shoot, right? All the costs are so expensive. You’re working with young creators and you want to make sure everyone is getting paid; and then by law – in a good way – you’ve got to make sure everyone on set is being fed. But if you think about an artist that might not have a crazy budget, catering a video shoot could cost you $300, $400, and that can totally throw everything off. Nando’s have been so great with things like that in the past, where I’ve been able to say, ‘Hey, we’re doing this shoot with this artist, can you help us out?’ And that’s how they can help us – they feed us! And it’s just amazing.
“Especially now, when [the state of] the music industry is so dire... Being an artist is very tough right now, everyone knows that – especially being an emerging artist – so little things like catering help so much. Even Nando’s putting this gig together, in a time when people are really struggling to put shows on... It’s incredible.”
If you managed to catch her performances last Saturday, you might have noticed Nina Las Vegas treated the Chicken Shop Sessions crowd to some unreleased bangers. The NLV Records roster is stacked with incredible talent from all around the world, and as Nina reveals, she’s sitting on a goldmine of new material from all the artists on it: “I’ve got so much new stuff from Gold Fang, Ninajirachi, Anna Lunoe... There’s so much amazing stuff in my collateral,” she gushes.
It’s a bit of a Catch-22, though, as Nina herself hasn’t dropped any new tunes since the standalone single Busy in October 2020. “The annoying thing is,” she explains, “because I have this label with so many amazing artists and amazing songs, if I put something shit out, it ruins everything – like, why would people want to work with me if my own music is bad!?”
Rest assured, Nina’s content drought will come to an end in due time – she confirms to us that she “absolutely” plans to release something in the coming months, assuring us she has “a single that’s very close to being done”. She expounds: “It’s at the mixing stage right now. And then I have a whole EP in the pipeline; I actually have two EPs pretty much ready to go, it’s just about finding that space, and the capacity to do it. Because even since I last put music out, people have become so much more online and content-driven, and it’s like, I don't want to do that – at least without being ready for it, you know?
“I don't want to do anything halfway. I never do anything halfway – when I was on the radio, I was on the radio; when I was DJing, I was DJing; when I'm in label mode, I'm in label mode. If I do anything, I pour 100 percent of myself into it. But I am never not working on music – like I’m always in the studio working on new stuff – but I tend to work on everyone else[’s releases] first. I prioritise my own stuff pretty low in the grand scheme of things. But I have to have music out this year, because now whenever I post something online, people are like, ‘Are you ever gonna put music out again!?’ Yes! The answer is yes!”
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