Getting Inside with The Wrecks: A Conversation with Nick Anderson

As The Wrecks gear up for the release of their upcoming project INSIDE : and kick off their nationwide INSIDE : OUTSIDE tour, frontman Nick Anderson joined a rotating panel of journalists and music outlets for an intimate press conference.

What followed was more than just a Q&A—it was an hour of candid reflection, creative deconstruction, spontaneous sidebars, and a few running jokes. From songwriting philosophies to fan memories and setlist debates, Nick pulled back the curtain on the stories, struggles, and sparks that shaped this next era of The Wrecks.

Below, we’ve highlighted some of the most memorable questions and quotes from the conversation.

Can you describe a favorite experience making music—whether that be writing, recording, or playing a live show? What part of the process do you resonate most with?

Leah — Seven Inch Sound

“It’s the pride in, like, holy sh*t I made that thing. I’ve pinpointed where my passion for making anything comes from—it’s the moment at the end of the night or early morning when I’ve finished a song or a version of the demo and going back and sitting on the couch while it exports and listening back to it,” Nick shared. “That’s the top of the mountain for me—and it’s the most rewarding feeling when it feels good.”

For him, that sense of “getting away with something”—a funny lyric or a new sound—is what fuels the most rewarding part of the process: making something out of nothing and thinking “there’s no way, I get to have this, this idea is our idea?” And after that, “the releasing part? I forget that’s part of it,” he added. 

What was it like recording in LA studios compared to home/makeshift studios? Do you prefer creating in one setting over the other?

Caia — Washington Square News

“For us, it’s been the same thing the whole time. This room I’m in might as well be in Minnesota. I actually forget that I live in LA often because I don't participate,” he said, laughing. “It’s always been a homegrown process. Whether it was working in a barn near my hometown in the middle of nowhere, western New York or just making the records in this studio—it’s just always been us locking ourselves away and making the music.”

Despite studio tours from producers (“This is where Led Zeppelin recorded!”), Nick said those polished, professional spaces just don’t work for him. “I don’t know how to make music in this room, but I do know how to make it in my room,” he said. “I’ve never successfully gone into a nice big studio, made a song, and then released that song.”

Are there any new genres or styles you’re experimenting with on this new project, INSIDE :, and what inspired those directions?

Christina — Wavelengths at Lincoln Center

While genre has never been front of mind for Nick (“how many times can someone say we’re kind of all over the place, it’s a lot of different genres”),  he did open up about his creative process as a producer.

“I think the thing that I like most too about making the music myself is the challenge of making a style of song or something I’ve never done before. The idea of using the same trick in multiple songs feels almost dishonest.” For him, the excitement is in pushing himself to create something he hasn’t done before and working to “explore the problems to solve in a production”, rather than trying to fit songs into predefined boxes.

The upcoming project, INSIDE :, is highly anticipated. Can you share the inspiration behind the project and how it differs from your past releases?

Luna — Lovebomb Magazine

“I think I’d been writing for two years and the whole first year, I had nothing to say after our last album Sonder,” Nick admitted. That album “was about a breakup with someone who doesn’t seem to understand that other people exist—and once I got all that out, there wasn’t much left in the tank as far as perceptive.”

He shared that during that time, he still felt the need to create—but struggled because lyrics come first for him. “I was making stuff with nothing to say. And no matter how cool the instrumentals or melodies were, if I didn’t have a meaning or something real attached to it, I don’t know what to do with it and can’t get anywhere with it.”

Over time, that creative drought became the record’s concept. “It’s about the fact that I was trying so hard for something for so long in isolation, that it kind of broke my brain a bit. INSIDE : is about being locked away for so long that the outside world eventually starts growing in through the cracks of the walls, it feels like foliage starts creeping in through and reaching out.”

The artwork, Nick explained, represents this with images of hands reaching in through blinds—representing the band, friends, and family, reaching out to him saying, ‘Hey bud, this thing that you’re doing is something that we want you to do but maybe you get some vitamin D’. “So I got vitamin D supplements… and kept working on the record.”

You guys are LA based but I am a Milwaukee native and one of the new tracks is “Milwaukee’s Best”. Can you tell me about the inspiration behind that song and its reference to the popular beer in our area here? 

Anna — Music Scene Media

“Shoutout Wisconsin. Shoutout Milwaukee. Shoutout Spotted Cow, shoutout Menomonie, shoutout UW–Stout. Shoutout O’Claire. You know the drill. Go Blue Devils!” Nick rattled off the names with a grin. 

He explained that Aaron, the band’s bass player, is from Bloomer, Wisconsin and went to school in Menomonie and UW–Stout. “Our first tour we stopped in Wisconsin and many times through our first few tours, we’d hang out with all of Aaron’s friends that he had met through college. He has such a great friend group. They are all just such sweet, creative, cool people. The whole area is full of people like that. And when those friends from Wisconsin would come visit LA, it’d be the same kind of thing. We’d go beach camping and do stuff we normally wouldn’t.”

The song, Nick said, captures a kind of nostalgia. “It’s the one song on the record that’s like yearning to get out and experience what it was like when we were first touring.” The track is about “wanting to get outside, get back to that reckless abandon, have a bit of fun, and get a little too drunk on some Milwaukee’s Best.”

I know you once said that The Wrecks’ M.O. was to share an honest articulation of pain, struggles, happiness, and sort of any real experience so that fans could apply their own experience to it. Do you think that still applies and if so, how do you feel that you accomplish that with INSIDE :? 

Madison — Superstar Magazine

“In short, yes,” Nick began, before raising an eyebrow. “But did I say that?”

Laughter followed. He clarified: “That quote is worded pretty interestingly, it’s almost like it’s too much on the head. I agree with the sentiment, but I don't know if I would distill it down in that way. Because honestly, I don't approach making music or making any of this art to reach out to anyone. I’m just making the thing that I’m feeling as honestly from my point of view as I can.”

Sometimes, he added, it’s not even honesty, sometimes he doesn't even agree with a feeling he had in the past but admits that he did in fact have the feeling so there can be an interesting take to explore there.  

He emphasized that the connection to fans happens because he’s focused inward. “I can only make things that people connect with by connecting with it only for myself to connect with.” He doesn’t try to make his music with the goal of hoping he makes something for people to relate to. He thinks that would be too generic or accessible. 

To explain this point, he offered a metaphor. “I’ve described this to other artists I’ve worked with before when noticing they’re sometimes going for something not just from their point of view or perceptive: I think I could write a song about building a desk and people could relate to it.” 

“Like, halfway through I realized that I have to start over and I'm frustrated and f*ck the instruction manual. And then in the second verse—where's the instruction manual? I keep restarting, and why am I thinking that I can build this without the instructions? Then I'm struggling to figure out the instructions to build it in the first place, and then it's done and it's wonky, but I like it because I'm proud of it. That’s a universal feeling, but I don't know how many of you have built a desk before. I didn't write the song about building a desk to reach other people building desks, if that makes sense.”

He then smiled and referenced back to the original quote saying he hasn’t quite articulated it that way and it would be more accurate if they replace the ‘so that’ with ‘luckily/gratefully, fans connect their own things to it.’ 

What is a lyric from any song on INSIDE : that people might not realize has a deeper meaning or completely different meaning than what they typically would assume?

Jasmyn — KVCU Radio 1190

“I don’t know if I have an answer for that on the spot,” Nick admitted. “I don’t really write from a metaphoric point of view because I never connected with them growing up. I always connected with saying the thing exactly as it happened.”

He paused to think through the lyrics. “I’m trying to run through every line on the record trying to find something…usually I’m just kind of saying the thing.”

Then he grinned: “I’ll get back to that, I’ll send you eight of them and say ‘Wait, sorry I was completely wrong this is all the examples’.”

As teases for the full album came out at the beginning of the year, you announced that INSIDE:, was the first half of the project, what brought the decision to break the project into two and release them at separate times? 

Armando — Average Dude Music

“I was writing INSIDE and OUTSIDE at the same time, which was maybe an internal struggle—trying to come to terms with the fact that I was going through something and isolating myself, while also being in denial that I wanted to be out experiencing the world. I was kind of trying to be in both, and I realized I had all these songs coming from different points of view that were contradicting each other and not being honest with how I was really feeling.

If songwriting was this way for me to make sense of what I was experiencing mentally, then I was confusing myself—and I couldn’t seem to finish any of them. I’ve never had that problem. I’m pretty good at not just being like, ‘Yeah, I got some stuff coming up, just you wait.’ It’s usually like, ‘Here’s the things I’ve made,’ and then I make more things as I go. Instead I had 20, 30, 40 unfinished half baked ideas.”

This eventually led to the idea of splitting the project into INSIDE and OUTSIDE. “I picked the songs that are on INSIDE : because they were all representing this self-isolation, confusion that I was going through and what had caused that, was a lot of coming into my own skin and understanding the complexities of neurodivergence and seeing that in yourself and the reflections of your conversations and how those revelations can show themselves in skill regression and lack of confidence. 

I told everyone, ‘I can't finish a record right now—but I can finish half a record really clearly.’ And everything got exciting again and wasn't so scary and so frustrating and confusing because I realized I wasn't trying to live multiple different lives at once of making this record. I was allowed to just focus on this one thing about what I was feeling and creating. I didn't have the creative, emotional, or intellectual bandwidth to take it all on. So I picked out the songs that I knew I needed to finish and INSIDE : is what I could do.” 

With this project, what song are you most excited for fans to hear and why that song?

Alexa — Setlist Media

“Yeah, it's the first song, ‘I Didn’t Used To,’ which I just started posting some teasers of. It’s almost five minutes long and goes through a few journeys—it feels like the song I’ve been trying to write for a few years, while simultaneously being the song I’ve always been waiting to write my whole life since making music.

It just ticks all those boxes for me. The answers to it weren’t clear to me right away. Usually the answers are very sudden for a good song and I know exactly what to do with it. This one took a minute to figure out.

I delivered it to the label mixed and mastered, then realized it needed a bridge. So I added another minute and twenty seconds to it after. That choice—that I even thought I had to make it—tells me I really got everything out of it that I wanted to and put everything into that I wanted to put into it. So yeah, the answer is certainly, ‘I Didn’t Used To.’”

From the setlist to the stage design, what can fans expect from the INSIDE : OUTSIDE tour?

Amelia — ECHO Publication

“A good show. Best night of your life, probably. Mostly.” 

Then he grinned, adding: “And probably a bit of shrubbery on stage, some tomfoolery if you will. We have a lighting production meeting tomorrow morning, so in 24 hours I’ll have a really good answer for you. But I think an extension of INSIDE : to the stage.”

The Wrecks aren’t known for big-budget stage production—and that’s intentional. Their goal is to stay nimble and responsive to the energy in the room.

“We’re not a big stage production band in general. Our setlist changes throughout the tour until it feels right with the crowd. Usually we start the tour with a bunch of transitions between songs, and then by night one we’re in the green room reworking it. A week and a half in, there are no transitions, we’ve broken the show, and I’m filling in the gaps by talking. That’s what a Wrecks show is. The broken version of what we were trying to do. And everyone feels more present because it’s clear we’re there to give the tightest, most well-paced version of the set.”

Ultimately, Nick said the production won’t be about dazzling theatrics—it’ll be about connection.

“I’d rather be in a garage with a few lights directly on their faces. It’s just the music and the human being on the stage.”

What was it like creating the setlist for this tour? How did you decide how much of the new project would go in vs older songs that fans are more familiar with?

Andy — Musically United

“We actually haven’t decided the setlist yet, but I think we’re going to play most—if not all—of the new record. Because I think we should. Usually you put out an album so you can’t play everything and you never get the chance to. But the fact that we’re only putting out half the record, there’s a better chance we’d be able to get to all of it in a set.”

Rather than making decisions in a vacuum, the band brought fans into the process in a way that was uniquely Wrecks.

“We had a setlist debate with our Discord community—the Recommenders. They recommended all of their ideal setlists and we debated them one-vs-one: band versus fans. Then the fans went against each other on the Discord and it was pretty brutal and pretty awesome.

There were some staples that may make their way out because we were convinced pretty hard by some fans on what they think we should be playing and they made some great arguments. For the first time ever we did a setlist debate and it was productive to hear that perspective.”

Still, nothing is locked in quite yet—and Nick is leaving room for surprises:

“So yeah, we haven’t really decided yet. If we're only playing 16 or 17 songs in the set, maybe the six new ones—and they only have a week to learn it. We'll see. I think we go for it and then by the end of the tour, we'll be playing none of it because everyone hated it and it's fine, we'll play the old stuff,” he said with a laugh.

INSIDE : OUTSIDE Tour

From writing alone in his house to filming music videos in empty rooms, from teasing cryptic concepts to letting fans vote on setlists, Nick Anderson is doing what he does best: building something raw, personal, and true from the ground up.

INSIDE : arrives April 11, with the INSIDE : OUTSIDE Tour following close behind.

Stay tuned—there’s more to come, both inside and out.