Hailing from Nashville, four piece band Framing Hanley has unveiled a single back in February titled “Mean It (Photographs and Gasoline Pt. 2)”. Framing Hanley, arriving into the music scene in 2007, has put out four studio albums, including their well-known Lil Wayne cover of “Lollipop”. The quartet currently comprises of members Kenneth Nixon (vocals), Nic Brooks (guitar), Jonathan Stoye (bass), and Matt Naff (drums). The band blends rock with R&B in their song writing and has expanded their sound throughout the years and since then showed drastic growth. For old and new fans of Framing Hanley, their latest release gives fans a little taste of nostalgia and a taste of diversity. Co-owner Emily Agnesini had the chance to speak with frontman Kenneth Nixon about the release of “Mean It”, the behind the scenes and writing aspect of the song, future plans moving forward and why Nixon had a hot dog in his pocket.
INTERVIEW
Emily: My name is Emily. I'm the one interviewing you today. I'm one of the owners here at Ultraviolet Magazine, would you be able to introduce yourself, your role in the band and maybe share a fun fact about yourself?
Nixon: Yeah, my name is Kenneth Nixon. I go by Nixon. I am the lead singer and also wear many other hats in Framing Hanley and a fun fact about me is man, a fun fact about me that I am a boomer as well with my technology and no, I would say I love football just as much as I love music,
Emily: Okay, I see you, I don't know much about sports but my boyfriend, he is huge into football, soccer, hockey, you name it, he loves it. What's your favorite team?
Nixon: My favorite is the Jacksonville Jaguars, unfortunately. And then Chelsea, I'm a big American football and English football fan.
Emily: Awesome, that's sick. Okay, so we're gonna dive right into the questions. Are you ready?
Nixon: Perfect
Emily: So earlier this year in February, you guys have just unleashed a new song titled "Mean It," which the track is awesome, by the way. The production is put together really perfectly, in in my opinion. It kind of gives me so much nostalgia from when I was a kid. I'm a 2000s baby. I was born in '03, so it brings me back to my sister when I was growing up. She was an '80s kid. So would you be able to share with us what the song means to you and what inspired you guys to write it? Like what is the core message you would want listeners to take from this track?
Nixon:
Yeah, I don't know. Like one of my favorite things about music is the fact that, you know, everything's open to interpretation. I'm not a huge fan of talking like saying, well, this is what the song is about. You know, there are plenty of interviews where you can find that out about the song, I guess. I guess I would rather say, you know, to answer the other part of that is like, you know, this is just who Framing Hanley is in 2025. I mean, even though we recorded that in 2023, and just finally put it out this year. It's just I am a big fan of letting music that influences you and speaks to you as a listener, you know, welcoming that into your pot, if you will, and, you know, stirring that all up. And I think that that song and then, you know, the songs that we've done since then or direct reflection of like not just who we are as musicians because of what you know and what we are creating you know on our own but you know we are directly influenced by other artists that we're huge fans of and I think that you can kind of hear that in that song and everything that we're doing now so yeah I think that if there is a job, if you will, of a musician that has a fan base that we're fortunate to have. It's always evolving, never to be stagnant, and that naturally happens with us just because we're just fans of music, so there's so much new shit coming out in the rock world, in the hip -hop world, in the country, this singer, song-writer, that in I mean film as well all that influences um my writing and creating.
Emily: It's really interesting how you want fans to know who Framing Hanley is and taking the old stuff and kind of like twisting it into what's new which I find really cool. So you said a lot of artists and musicians influence you like what are some of those artists or even those films has drawn inspiration?
Nixon: I mean, I could, you know, um, shit, we'd sit here all day if I'm giving you all the artists. I would say I can give you three from three completely different genres, you know, Jason Isbell Childish Gambino and Loathe. Those are three artists that we love. It’s just it's true. You know Medium Build is another artist in the last year that His you know, he's been a main mainstay in my playlist Noah Gundersen and others, yeah, I mean, different artists are going to influence different things, you know, from, you know, maybe a lyrical standpoint of like, oh, I like the way they approach this song. I never thought about it that way. Maybe I could do that with this song that I've just, you know, been running in circles with. And then from a musical standpoint, oh man, I really like the way that snare sounds on that. I wonder if they did this with the mic in this room and recorded in here, let's try that or, you know, I would say that we are very, very influenced by hip hop elements in our music. You know, some of that could get a little tried with probably the amount of trap beats you hear in the ya’llternative, as I call it, the country rock shit that is all over the radio. So, you know, I just think again, like the, like true artists are always evolving. And then, you know, there, I'm, I'm not some stick in the mud when it comes to pop music, or, or, you know, I'm always trying to find new shit that I love. And we live in a day and age where there is an abundance of that there is so much good music out, don't let anyone fucking tell you any different music is in such a healthy place right now granted AI kind of threatens that a little bit. That's another conversation for another day but yeah there's so much good music out there and it's always naturally going to come through and I think what we're creating just is going to be influenced by what we're fans of.
Emily: Okay, that's awesome, and I just want to say I love how you mentioned ya’llternative. That's honestly very so iconic I'm all here for it. So onto my next question. So “Mean It” has Photographs and Gasoline's part two tacked on the end, so can you talk a little bit about the creative choice there or how it came to be? To expand on it, too, does it feel like it's like a younger sibling from 2010? I want to know your standpoint on that.
Nixon: Yeah I mean again, without directly speaking to what that song is about I can just say that like literally the person that song was about 17 years ago became a part of my life again almost 20 years later and in writing about the situation, I realized, "Oh, this is a continuation of the story." So it wasn't something I sat down as like, "I got to write a sequel to this song that is a deep cut that we've played live like 15, 20 times ever I've got to do it." No, it was just, I was writing about what was going on in my life at the time. And I realized, "Oh, this is still, I'm not finished with that story that I started in 2010. And yeah, so it was just naturally it happened that way.
Emily: I love that. And especially like recapping from something that happened over a decade ago into current dates. That's really cool. I love when artists do that, where they do a part one from years ago and then reflect on it now and continue that story. And a lot of It makes you want to go back and a lot of listeners want to go back and listen to the original and then play the new one. That’s what I find really interesting.
Nixon: Yeah, yeah, like a guy the other night actually talked about and said t I don't know if that's really a sequel. I'm like dog like I wrote it. Because you can't hear that like cool bud. Like that's beautiful again about music like apply that song to how you want to apply it to your life it's probably about something completely different than what you applied the first one to. That doesn't mean that the two things are different for me.
Emily: Yeah and especially if you look at the lyrics too it kind of has like a pattern which I really liked as well and even a lot of artists from years ago having like that feeling of being stuck in like a deep dark place years ago, and then they entered that mentality then exited that mentality and then now they're reflecting and then it's more of like how they grew as a person too so that's something that really catches my attention a lot. So with the track though, did you go through any major changes from like the demo version to the final version like what was the whole recording process with it?
Nixon: So that was the first time I had ever worked with Richie Vikanda I met him, second time technically, because I met him initially when I was doing a vocal feature for an artist in Houston, and he was the producer and engineer on it. When I met him, it just clicked immediately. I wasn't looking for someone to bring in the fold and to work with outside of the circle that I had been working with for years, But we just got along and hit it off and had a lot of the same ideas for this artist's song that we were working on together. I was like, man, we should work on some FH stuff at some point. And so that was an idea he'd initially sent. Musically, I would say it's basically spot on from what the original version that we went back and forth on was. The chorus, I think I vocally had a different idea at first, that I wasn't vibing with, that finally when I came up with this chorus, it was just like, oh, this is definitely it. So yeah, I mean, I would credit to Richie really, you know, in that time in my life, you know, him being introduced in my life and, you know, since then effectively, you know, my other brothers in this band, it's had a lot to do with an influence. Again, there we go talking about that word with just where we are now in this, in this chapter of FH. Which he's awesome. Like he also plays drums in a band called Fire From The Gods.
Emily: I’ve heard of that band before. They sound pretty sick.
Nixon: You know, he just did the flowers tour. There were some shows that Nic, our guitarist, could not make and Richie, we were working on the flowers EP and we were like, "Oh shit, where were we gonna have to cancel some of these shows?" And he's like, "Yo, I'll come out and play guitar." So yeah, he wears many hats. I'm very fortunate that dude's a part of my life, not just on the, you know, musical side of things like he's just a great person, good energy.
Emily: That's so sweet and it's like really nice having that friend if you really need the help or if you're stuck in a situation they always have your back. I've had a lot of friends in my life who I've had to drop because they weren't there for me in my life, but now as I'm an adult, those friends came back and now it's like no more dramas happening everything's all good now and then we have each other's backs at all times. So I really like how you guys have that personal friendship and also the musical business side of everything. So onto my next question. You’re a guitarist right? If so, did you use specific gear while recording the demos and everything? Were there certain pedals and all that stuff?
Nixon: No, I mean, I'll play some guitar, but I'm not the one that's gonna sit here and nerd out on gear with you. I would have to get Nic or Stoy to do that. Actually, on the EP, there's not a lot of guitar that I did on this, I'm trying to think. Two songs, maybe? And one of the songs, like the guitar part, became such an after thought toward the song ended up going. So yeah, I mean, I am a much better mouth guitar player than I am actual guitar player. Like I can play guitar enough to write a song and then kind of hand it off and be like, “Yo, Nic! Yo, Stoy, make this cooler”
Emily: That's literally how I am all the time. So I totally get it laughs. That's honestly hilarious. So considering you do vocal so like with the writing process with your music, do you start with the lyrics first and then build the instrumentals around the lyrics or vice versa?
Nixon:Yeah, I wouldn't say no like that. That's a for sure. No because in the past on our first album especially it was a lot of that but typically it starts with either a melody idea or I get you know a certain chord structure with a melody, a lot of the times I do what I call caveman, the lyrics which is I just go in and phonetically I'll lay down like a scratch vocal that's usually just obviously the melody and then phonetic sounds and I'll either use those sounds to help me you know write you know or I'll just use the melody and write lyrics from there and seal is like all right. This is it. This is the story.
Emily: A lot of people that I have interviewed in the past and a lot of my friends who are in bands start with the lyrics first and then build everything around the lyrics. Sometimes they find the melodies within the
Nixon: You're not doing a disservice to your art, you're not married to one way. You know, "Built For Sin", for example, was one that I think that was the first time, and that's on our debut album, which was like the fourth song that we ever recorded, and that was the first time where I used these phonetics that I was drawn to certain sounds, a certain percussive syllables in certain parts and then I wrote the lyrics based on that. And we have songs like “The Promise” from a ‘A Promise To Burn’ the opening track off that album, I wrote that story and wrote the lyrics first after watching ‘Eternal Sunshine Of the Spotless Mind’, I sat down, and compared that and, you know, compared that to my life with my now ex-wife, but at the time, and wrote about that and wrote the story and then we put the music together. And then, you know, now I would say the large percentage of the time it's, we have a chord structure or a melody idea. And then I just sit with it for a while and kind of let the words flow.
Emily: So, Framing Hanley has had quite a journey since forming. So I know you have different inspirations throughout your journey, but like, how do you feel like your sound has evolved over the years considering how long you guys have been a band?
Nixon: We're just, we're not ever married to a sound. It's there's never a, this is Framing Hanley. And again, that goes back to just constantly being open to influence from outside, be it in your lives or in the music that you're a fan of. So yeah, I mean, that's one thing I pride myself in is just again, like knowing that we're always changing. You know, we're not like, oh, this doesn't sound like our band. And that's so apparent, probably more so, I mean, for sure more so now than ever before in a career on the Flowers EP.
Emily: So speaking of the Flowers EP, so how excited are you about the release? I don't know how much you can share, but how different is it? Is it gonna have a similar -ish sound to “Mean It”? I know you are open to branching out and whatnot
Nixon: No, I’m beyond excited that, you know, that music is out there. We decided ultimately we just, we only released it on the Flowers tour. So if you came to a show, you could get the EP. It's, you know, “Mean It” was on there and that's on Spotify. We might put out one other single on DSPs, but other than that, I think the plan is, you know, I'm in Traverse City right now, it's always house tour just ended. Richie's here with us and we're writing and recording more. So I think the plan is to put out a full length later this year. Can't really speak too much to that right now because everything's still in flux. But yeah, I mean, this is, it's, you know, I was so stoked about “Mean It” when we recorded that and I feel like it's the weakest song if you will on the entire five song EP. So to feel like that, I mean, I'm just In my bag right now I'm doing the best shit that I've ever done and you know If that translates to becoming one of the biggest bands in the world and fucking awesome if not if that translates to 250 people and you know Reno, Nevada hearing it and that's it and whatever it's like I I am having the most fun creating right now then I've ever had in my life.
Emily: It’s amazing how you guys share so much enjoyment with what you are creating. I love the idea that you guys are sharing it with your fans on the road like that's really bad ass. Fans who have been around since day one of you guys starting and seeing how much growth and everything and all the meaning and all the emotions and hard work that goes into it like that's. I didn't know you guys are going to scrap and make it a whole album.
Nixon: Thanks. I said that we were going to put out more material this year than we ever have in a calendar year. So, uh, I've got to get downstairs to the studio quickly, just to, to make sure I stay on track for that.
Emily: As you should. So, back to the whole EP discussion, what led to the title being ‘Flowers’? Does that have any sort of special meaning to the band?
Nixon: Yea, I mean at the risk of almost drops computer sorry, I just lost you on my computer.
Emily: laughs
Nixon: At the risk of sounding like some egotistical prick, I promise I'm not, that it just really is like a, It's about time people give us our flowers, like, we're very good at what we do. There aren't many things that your favorite artists are doing out there that we couldn't do if we set to write a song exactly like that, you know what I'm saying? And I've been doing this for almost 20 years and, you know, I could say that I know that we're not as big as, you know, I feel like we should be.And yeah, “Flowers” was like literally like a statement of like, listen to this and tell us that we're not fucking good.
Emily: That's crazy, like I love that meaning so much and it's like, ‘check us out before you judge us’ type of thing.
Nixon: Yeah, I mean, it's just like, the life or the timeline of our band is so interesting because I can look back on when we first came out and we were too emo for the new metal-like radio bands and we were too new metal or active rock in the beginning for the the scene crowd of the emo kids. So it's just like, it’s like, I'm used to being labeled funny enough from two different completely ends, but like for each one, they're like, ‘well, you're too much this, you're too much that’, and this EP just shows like, ‘yo, we're whatever the fuck we want to be’.
Emily: Yeah, like you could be anything.
Nixon: Yeah, like I, you know, I've never prided myself and I'm not a fan of my voice. I don't pride to myself on being a great singer, but I can write a fucking song and we are writing great music now and I dare anyone to listen to the CP and say otherwise.
Emily: I'm just mind blown by that. I love that for you guys and you guys have, I've listened to you guys before, hence my sister. She's a lot older than me. So when I was little, she would always have you guys on repeat in like 2008/2010 like around there.
Nixon: Yeah.
Emily: So just like hearing all that, and also, like, just everything overall, it's just you guys put out great music. I know you guys will always continue to do that and not let anyone tell you otherwise. So I love that and I am excited to see what you guys could put out and even in the new album.
Nixon: Thank you so much and yeah I can't wait for people to finally hear this.
Emily: I'm excited. So enough talking about music, we're going to talk about tour if that's okay with you. So you guys just finished up the ‘Flowers Tour’ correct?
Nixon: Yeah.
Emily: So how has that tour been so far? Like is there anything that stood out to you in comparison to other shows that you've played throughout tour?
Nixon: No, I mean, it just made me realize how out of shape I am. I have a back pain like that of a 95 year old man now and I've never dealt with that before.
Emily: Oh no.
Nixon: Yeah, I should have done more cardio as well before getting out there and singing for 80 minutes after not doing that on a tour for 10 years now, but no, it was a great time. It's just we're very fortunate to have people all around the world that care enough to spend their money in this day and age, in this economy, to buy a concert ticket and go support some knuckleheads that just like to get loud and play music. It was a blast and it's over now, like I said we're recording this week and then we've got Sonic Temple this weekend but I can't wait to get more shows on the books and hopefully visit a lot of other cities that we haven't been to in a long ass time.
Emily: That's awesome, so on this tour what was your favorite city and venue to play?
Nixon: I mean Denver was rad, Houston was rad, a lot of venues were super cool. I'd say Denver and Houston were two of my favorite shows and I know that this Saturday at Sonic Temple, it's gonna be tough to top that, you know.
Emily: That's such a huge opportunity. Is it your first time playing Sonic Temple?
Nixon: Yeah, we did Rock on the Range back in the day and that's what it was, now sonic temple. It was called rock in the range initially so yeah we did that i think in year two of rock on the range which might have been like 2009/2010 and that was awesome. Same location, columbus crew stadium, maybe it's a different a new stadium now but yeah, that was sick. I mean, there's nothing that compares to playing a festival, you know, playing in front of a much bigger crowd is always awesome. But just knowing that you're going out there and playing in front of a large percentage of people that've never heard of your band is like invigorating. Like, you're like, ‘all right, let's show them’.
Emily: Show them what we're made of.
Nixon: For real, I mean, and to feel like that 20 years later when I obviously have nothing left like I don't have to prove anything to anyone, but it's still that driving. I don't feel like I'm a recognition -motivated person, but when it comes to something like that, it definitely gets your engine going.
Emily: Yeah, and especially with the adrenaline and seeing everyone there and all new faces and the amount of fans that you're probably going to gain after. I love that. That's amazing. I wish I could go.
Nixon: Hopefully, we'll see, it does suck that we can't sell recorded music at this festival this year so I don't know we've got a few copies of the flowers EP. Like I said, we were only putting those out putting that out on the tour. I'm thinking about maybe going out in the crowd and just passing out EP's.
Emily: Now that would be pretty cool. Very interesting surprise for people who may or may not have heard of you guys before so that's good. So speaking of music and all that on tour, what is your favorite song to perform live? Like what really brings out the most energy out of you?
NIxon: Right now it's “I am the reckoning" which is a new song from the EP and we're opening up with it right now. I mean it's the heaviest song that we've ever had in the history of our band and it's just it rips. It's so much fun live.
Emily: I can only imagine.
Nixon: And that'll be the next single if I had to guess.
Emily: Okay, you know, I'll be listening to that, I like the heavy, I love the high energy, I love the intensity, so I'm all here for that.
Nixon:This one has all of that.
Emily: So before hitting the stage on tour, did you and the band have any pre -show rituals before heading on stage?
Nixon: We always do a little circle and just talk. You know, I don't wanna say any words of affirmation or positivity, it's nothing like that. It's just like a reminder of, ‘hey man, it's been a while since we've been able to do this. Let's just have fun.’ And then we break it down with ‘I'm Going to Shabooms’, which is from the greatest comedy series of all time, “Eastbound and Down”. But yeah, we just get in there and talk about having fun.
Emily: That's pretty interesting. I had a lot of bands like, do the most wildest shit that that's like the ritual before heading on stage like saying the most like weird things not like really motivational but like I don't know how to word it but like it's just stupid stuff and they're like ‘okay on one two three we say this and that like that’ type of stuff, but speaking of shows I heard from many people and I don't know the story of this but someone told me that there was a ‘hot dog in a pocket’ story from a show that you guys played. You were throwing around a hot dog or kicking it around. So what, what is that whole story about?
Nixon: As a vocalist, you can't eat within a certain timeframe of actually having to go on stage and sing for a multitude of reasons and our merch guy was on our bus and he was making hot dogs. I was like, ‘God damn, the glizzy sounds so good right now’. And then I was like, and I hadn't eaten that day at all, I had like two to three coffees, which is, pretty normal for me. I'm usually like eight espresso shots in by three o 'clock and then I'll finally eat something. But yeah, I was like, I really wanted a hot dog. And they're always like, ‘you can, you can, you know, it's up to you, you can’ and I was like, ‘I can't do it’ and then I was just, I was like, ‘oh, I'm gonna take a hot dog on stage and not tell them.’ And then just take it out, you know, to some point in the set and our set just goes bam, bam, bam, bam, like there's no stops really the first few songs and I realized about halfway through the second song that I was focusing more on hiding that hotdog in my pocket than I was performing to the crowd. So finally I just took it out and acted like I dropped it on the floor and Stoy was very confused as to why there was a hotdog in his area.
Emily: From the crowd’s perspective I would definitely be like “what is going on and why do you randomly have a hotdog in your pocket?”
Nixon: Yeah and the thing that sucks is that I don't think they noticed that I did but I don't know, maybe we'll see if I can incorporate the full time in our set.
Emily: laughs Next merch drop, just be like a hot dog. Just you dropping hot dogs everywhere. So besides performing a cover of Lil Wayne's “Lollipop” live, if you had to perform another cover live, what would you pick?
Nixon: Stoy and I do sometimes do "Wild Horses" by Noah Gunderson as part of an encore, so that's like I think one of the like best songs of all time like just lyrically that song is like, just a song I feel like everyone can relate to and every time I sing that song or hear Noah sing it even more so like it just speaks to me and I get exactly what he's saying and it's like, yeah, so probably that song would still be my answer.
Emily: Okay. I never really listened to that song. I've heard of it, but I haven't like, listened to it, but it makes me want to check it out.
Nixon: Yeah, definitely do that.
Emily: So considering that you guys have been in a band for quite some time, how has the concert scene evolved since you guys started playing shows and we're talking like throwbacks and all that like how has it evolved?
Nixon: I do feel like attendance is down across the board you know you'll have your exception to the rule, the bands that are selling out arenas, but yeah I don't know like you know I think a lot has to do at least speaking from my perspective about my own band was, you know maybe inactivity over the years because we weren't releasing new music, but I think also it has to do with just like where we are in society now. In the standing age of like, how easy it is to put things off because of the rush of dopamine that you get from your phone every day, all day, every day. It's really easy to say ‘rather than buy tickets in advance I don't know what my schedule is gonna be like I'll wait till day of’ and then the show gets there and you forget all about it. So yeah, I don't know. I mean I will say that I'm having as much fun now as I ever have playing shows but yeah, we'll see. I think that this new music we'll get things really going again like they were in the past from a live standpoint.
Emily: That's great to hear and yeah I had a lot of friends who are in bands who play shows and there's been some times where they would announce a tour and then no one would show up because it's all like working and things have been changing over the years.
Nixon: Yeah because now it's hard to go out to shows, you know? I mean, again, especially in this, this damn economy.
Emily: Tickets are expensive.
Nixon: Yes and also, like, it's a whole thing. You got to get babysitters. And it's like, so when somebody chooses to do that and spend their evening with us, like, that's a huge thing that we don't take for granted. Like, we're very fortunate to have anybody that gives a damn enough about our music to come out and support it live.
Emily: Yeah, just like how much tickets used to be then versus now. Recently, I know a friend who recently dropped like $300 for a resale ticket and all these people are reselling tickets for like a thousand dollars and I'm just like why? Years ago I could have gotten that ticket for like $20 not a thousand so that's wild. So last question about touring so how does the band reset after a tour, like what are some things that you guys like to do on your off days?
Nixon: Good question, we just would do sports sports sports. Or binge, there's so much good television and film out that you always can find something there as well. But like, I consume a lot of sports, like you said.
Emily: laughs That's great. All right, and now I have one more question before I let you go. So to wrap things up, is there a piece of advice you would like to give to your fans and to upcoming musicians?
Nixon: Just stay true to being an artist. You know, I think that there's a stigma that comes along with that, like that you're taking yourself too seriously if you look at yourself as an artist, but like, at the end of the day, that makes it so much more enjoyable when you look at it as like, oh, I'm creating. You know, I'm brushing with a different brush stroke or from a different lens I'm looking at this. It's just, stay true to always evolving and being an artist.
Emily: That's beautiful, well I'm gonna let you go today. Thank you Nixon for chatting with me today.
Nixon:Thank you!
Emily: I’m looking forward to listening to what you have in track for the future and yeah, good luck at Sonic Temple. You guys are going to absolutely destroy it. I wish I was there.
Nixon: Hopefully. But yeah, thank you so much. Thank you so much.
Emily: It was nice meeting you. Have a good day.
Nixon: You too. Bye.
