Nyx comes to Boston for more than a “Two Nite Stand”

Banner by Cate Banks

By Maura Cowan

When I sat down with three-piece rock group Nyx over Zoom, they were each preparing for a rehearsal together – frontperson Ell Lonsinger (they/them) sitting in their room, drummer Silas Pipson (he/him) folding his clothes in a laundry unit, and guitarist Jay Randle (he/him) buffering through public transportation as he made his way towards Berklee College, where Lonsinger attends school. Watching them work separately, it felt as though I was seeing three vastly different lives about to converge. That feeling is not so far from the truth.

Fresh onto the Boston local scene, the group has an eclectic, odd-trio energy that is at once both charmingly authentic and reflective of a real strategic intelligence. Each member, they explained, plays to their strengths, helping to create a band that is far more cohesive in sound and branding than many groups were in their early days. 

“We’ve all kind of got our own jobs in the band,” Randle said. “[Pipson] is the brains, [Lonsinger] is the ‘guy in the chair,’ making sure everything is organized and executed well, and I tend to take care of the networking side of things.”

The trio bounces off of each other with the easy shorthand of lifelong friends – an assumption that seems only furthered by the fact that all three grew up in Wisconsin. Lonsinger and Randle crossed paths consistently throughout their high school years through their involvement in the Milwaukee youth scene.

“We went to different schools, played in separate bands, but we always kind of knew each other and kept up,” Randle said. “[Lonsinger] just always had this amazing voice to me, I wanted to work with them for years before.”

Eventually, Lonsinger stepped in as a vocalist for The Golden Age, a group Randle played for before the days of Nyx. It didn’t take the two long to start developing their own ideas, and eventually, their own name. In the summer of 2021, the duo recorded their first EP with a contributing drummer, a self-titled set largely rooted in a classic sound with psychedelic rock influences. Randle shreds on the guitar, and Lonsinger’s voice has a snarly, witchy quality that gives each song a timeless feel – like it could have existed in the 1970s as much as it could today. It’s got a lot of potential, especially for a young, self-made group’s first release. What it does not have, though, is Pipson.

“I grew up in Madison, just an hour away from [Randle and Lonsinger], and we literally never met,” Pipson reflected.

Never, that is, until Lonsinger’s first year at Berklee when the two began to connect over mutual friends. “He knew some people that I knew, and at one point, I saw him in the cafeteria, and my friends wanted to go over and talk,” Lonsinger said. “I realized he had a water bottle with a Wisconsin sticker on it, and we just got to talking from there.”

By the beginning of the summer, the duo had become a trio. It may have been coincidence, may have been fate, but when Pipson stepped into the group, it became clear that Nyx had found lightning in a bottle. His drumming, which is influenced by his prior experience playing for more metal and punk-inspired bands, brought a new life and a new layer to Nyx’s sound. 

In the months since, the band has evolved with a little bit of an additional edge. While they have retained the core rock essence established by Randle’s guitar work and Lonsinger’s vocals, the energy, they explained, has been turned up to eleven.

“I mean, I definitely think the average beats-per-minute in our songs has gone up since I joined,” Pipson said with a laugh, “I don’t know if I have an exact number on it, but I know I play fast and loud.”

They’ve also begun to firmly establish themselves as a Boston group. After doing some recording and gigs back in Wisconsin over this past summer, they returned to Massachusetts in the fall eager to start playing and working here in the city. A new state and a new sound, after all, will naturally birth new music, and the band’s hard work was ready for some payoff.

On Oct. 31, Nyx released their first single as a trio, “Two Nite Stand,” a fast-paced, electric, “anti-fuckboy” anthem. It’s a perfect first statement to the Boston scene: Randle slams into the track with a particularly headbang-worthy guitar riff, and Pipson makes his debut with a crisp drumline. Lonsinger’s vocals, too, have only strengthened since their initial EP, with a spine-tingling tinge of riot grrrl that matches their lyrical frustration. The highlight of the track is a cathartic, power-blast chorus bearing the perfect punchline for this Californian: “Don’t want another L.A. boy.”

“Two Nite Stand” is available to stream on all platforms, and despite the suggestion of their single’s title, Nyx plans to stay shredding in Boston for much, much longer.