Keep Art Alive :: Photos by Isaac James
Keep Art Alive :: The 10 Questions Project :: Featuring Nyna Nelson and Trevor Tunison of Fort Vine
1. What music (or other art form) inspires you when you create your art?
Nyna: I like to draw inspiration from all sorts of genres of music and it’s something that constantly changes so that I never get bored and I am always learning. A lot of my tendencies for my vocal harmonies come from my Dad’s music that I listened to as a kid which includes bands like Styx, Supertramp, Rush, Queen, etc.
Trevor: The music I like to listen to while I draw and paint is definitely classical music. I love Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. and But some of the musicians that are in my current playlist are: Cloud Control, Half Moon Run, The Kooks, Fleet Foxes, Modest Mouse, Alt-J, Hippo Campus, Tame Impala, James Brown.
2. Long distance road trip: what three people do you invite along (fictional or non-fictional, dead or alive)?
Nyna: Trevor Tunison, Mahatma Ghandi and Joan d’Arc.
Trevor: I would invite Nyna Nelson, my better half, my brother Wesley Tunison, who is an actor and I love him to pieces and I would also bring Richard LaFleur, who has a great track record of making me belly laugh every time I see him. That would be a really fun trip!
3. What is your favorite breakfast cereal?
Nyna: I’m really boring and I like to eat granola with almond milk and bananas on top but I’m more of a breakfast sandwich person.
Trevor: Amaranth is an ancient grain that Nyna and I love to eat for breakfast with some apples, chia seeds, walnuts and real maple syrup.
4. What is one thing that is hanging on your bedroom wall?
Nyna: A collection of the original Fort Vine posters that Trevor created.
Trevor: A hand made wreath from grapevines that grow around my home in upstate New York. My mother made it for me and it is beautiful. My mother has always been a creative inspiration for me.
5. What smell/scent evokes strong memories for you?
Nyna: There is a specific brand of sun screen lotion that every time I smell it reminds me of when my family went to Hawaii in 2006. It was one of the most fun vacations I ever had.
Trevor: Lilacs are my favorite flower to smell. They blossom in May every year where I was raised in the Catskills of New York. They fill the country air with the sweet smell of spring and rebirth.
6. Coffee or tea?
Nyna: Tea.
Trevor: I love both but my true love is coffee. Tea is the mistress on the side.
7. What has been the most impactful compliment, or criticism, you have ever received?
Nyna: A fan of ours that we’ve never met in person sent us a video of her singing one of our songs and wrote us a letter as well.
Trevor: Last May I had a lot of friends and fans tell me that they found our “Song a Day in the Month of May” project very inspiring. It is beautiful to be inspired but to inspire another with your own art is a gift.
8. Three words that describe you?
Nyna: Energetic, empathetic, bright.
Trevor: Childlike, patient, driven.
9. What is/was your cartoon character crush?
Nyna: Aladdin.
Trevor: I would have to say Jasmine from Aladdin.
10. The world is ending in ten minutes and you get to listen to one, and only one, song: Which song?
Nyna: Dreamer by Supertramp
Dreamer :: Supertramp
Editor’s Note: Great choice. Have Fort Vine ever covered this song, or any other Supertramp’s music?
Trevor: Beethoven’s 6th Symphony
6th Symphony :: Beethoven
Here at lyriquediscorde.com I like to do a “song of the day“ post as an (almost) daily feature. The idea of taking a song that has been spinning around in my head and using it as an inspiration for my own writing has been important to me, even before I shared the songs in a blog format. Fort Vine took the idea of “song of the day“ even further with their “A Song of the Day in the Month of May“, a project that they completed last year, and are in the midst of right now. Fort Vine challenged themselves to write, record, mix, film and release a new song every day for thirty-one days. How impressive, and frankly so cool, is that?
You can view their most recent music videos which they have been creating daily on their YouTube Channel.
You can learn more about Fort Vine via their website, FortVine.com. You can have a listen to their “May” songs here (via bandcamp). And, you can “get social” with them here at their Facebook.
Here are a few favorites from this year’s project:
It Doesn’t Matter (May 11th)
Donneur de Couleur (May 3rd)
Late at Night (May 2nd)
and my favorite (so far, this May):
Love in the 21st Century (May 19th)
I want to thank Nyna and Trevor, from Fort Vine, for participating in the Keep Art Alive: 10 Questions Project.
Please remember to support the art and artists you enjoy and discover – be a part of what KEEPS ART ALIVE by going to shows, buying what you can, and supporting and promoting what you love. ALWAYS.
