Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Emblom.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
In late 2017, I stumbled across a new and growing music genre called Synthwave. It instantly reminded me of 1980/90’s cinema and video games through its use of song structure and vintage synthesizers.
Although I had been in a number of bands throughout my life. After graduate school, I found it difficult to form a new band due to the life commitments of friends and former bandmates. Understanding that I could produce Synthwave on my own I decided to take a big step into the world of producing electronic music.
After close to 6-9 months of song writing and releasing music online the desire to perform live grew. As a result of chance social media contacts, I met Mike Resendez of WFNU Saint Paul Minnesota and Eric Riedel of the Paradise Arcade podcast. After appearing on both of their shows, we made quick friends. The three of us agreed that we’d like to host a first of a kind local Synthwave concert. The problem is we didn’t know any other Synthwave bands. After some thought, I started searching social media and found other local electronic music acts.
After a couple of months of networking and meeting new people, I was able to get a small group of musicians/producers together at a local brewery to talk about putting on a Synthwave concert. We pooled our resources and made the decision to call our community “NitrowaveTC”.
That all happened back in July 2019. We played our first small show in the back of a record store that October. Since August 2022 we have hosted 6 concert events in the Twin Cities. Most recently we had a large crowd fill the Amsterdam Bar and Hall in St. Paul Minnesota. NitrowaveTC/North Innsbruck already have quite a few big events booked for 2022.
More important than anything is the fact that we’re building a community based on our collective values and interests. NitrowaveTC strives to be a positive support resource for retro-inspired electronic musicians of all walks of life.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There’s been ups and downs along the way. The ups are easy to talk about but there has been some solid learning as well. We started Nitrowave 6 to 8 months prior to Covid shutting everything down. Those initial months leading up to Covid were wonderful. We grew, we made friends, we learned. However one week before what was going to be our biggest show the world changed. Nitrowave TC spent the next year and a half in hibernation. Eric, Mike and I talked from time to time about the dream of resurrecting NitrowaveTC but couldn’t be sure if it would happen again. During that time we worked like crazy to keep our community connected online and keep it in the eyes of the international Synthwave community.
Since we returned in August 2021 NitrowaveTC has grown. Now that doesn’t mean every show was a sell out and it doesn’t mean it was easy. What a lot of people don’t see is the planning posts and marketing on social media, the middle of the evening phone calls, the conversations about how we’re going to pull off or next big idea. Those are all major challenges that we face right now. We want to market our shows we want to draw people but it also comes with cost and with cost comes risk.
What we do know is that this is worth it. None of us have ever been a part of a community quite like this before. We’ve never seen our music reach people locally and across the world like it is right now. I think as electronic music producers and bedroom musicians we’re in a unique place to do something special. It’s only gonna get better from here.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize in producing Cinematic Retrowave and DarkSynth music. This style of music consists of midi driven synthesizers. Midi stands for musical instrument digital interface. It’s a means of controlling keyboards and synthesizers through wired connections to a computer. Midi allows me to use and play dozens of instruments simultaneously. As a result, I am able to compose and build large compositions that would typically take many musicians to perform. Some of my more famous musical influences and predecessors include composers Vangelis, Wendy Carlos and Tangerine Dream.
I’m known across the international Synthwave music community as being both a producer and an organizer. I’ve been a guest on many podcasts as well as live on-air radio interviews. I have had music featured on top Synthwave playlists as well as international and local radio.
More recently, my last album a A Delicate Balance has received acclaim from a number of reviewers. Released in late 2020 it has been chosen as a best album by both Melodic Noise Media in Minneapolis and the Synthwavefan.com blog out of Amsterdam, NL. A Delicate Balance was also chosen in 2021 to be submitted into the Hennepin County Public Libraries MNSpin program highlighting the region’s top artists and albums.
More than anything, I’m most proud of the community that’s growing around Nitrowave TC. Never in my life did I think a group of artists and musicians could come together so tightly and work so well to achieve common goals. Going forward into 2022 and beyond I am confident that the name NitrowaveTC is going to become more recognizable. I don’t have a crystal ball, I can’t see into the future, but I do know that what’s happening with NitrowaveTC is special and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in music or art before. I can’t wait for more people to find us!
How do you define success?
Success is happiness. My goal in life is to be happy. I want to do things and participate in activities that foster joy. If I’m able to make this world a better place for the people around me I’m accomplishing my mission.
Contact Info:
- Email: northinnsbruck@gmail.com
- Website: http://www.northinnsbruck.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/northinnsbruck
- Facebook: facebook.com/northinnsbruck
- Twitter: twitter.com/northinnsbruck
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/kNNyixBkpcocFA699
- Other: https://northinnsbruck.bandcamp.com
