![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/papercrowns.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt’s the age-old chicken-or-egg question. Which came first: the marriage of Spiro and Nicole Nicolopoulos, or their musical collaboration, the Paper Crowns?<\/p>\n
\u201cTechnically,\u201d Nicole responds with a laugh, \u201cthe musical collaboration, then marriage.\u201d Spiro clarifies things: \u201cWe had a year-and-a-half relationship before any musical collaborations.\u201d Starting as friends, building a relationship, launching a duo and getting married is a lot of activity compressed into relatively few years. But that’s only part of the story: they started out in California and moved their lives and livelihoods to North Carolina.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A multi-instrumentalist and nascent songwriter, Spiro had been very active in the West Coast jam band music scene; as a solo artist, he scored a spot on the bill at the massive Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee in 2006. His approach to music was loose and informal. \u201cWhen there’s chaos involved, I don’t even have to try,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Nicole \u2013 a formally trained musician with a degree in music \u2013 was playing hard rock. \u201cWhen we got together, I had an electric trio,\u201d she says. \u201cCollege\/indie rock, but a little heavier.\u201d But she brought a focus and discipline to the music. \u201cWhen structure is involved, Nicole can navigate very easily,\u201d Spiro says with admiration. He admits that on the surface at least, his and Nicole’s approaches to making music are polar opposites, styles that \u201cdon’t always work together.\u201d<\/p>\n
But in this couple’s case, they do. When Nicole and Spiro began collaborating musically, they ended up heading in a direction that was distinctly different from what each had been doing previously. \u201cWe did something that people totally didn\u2019t expect,\u201d Spiro says. \u201cWe tried to compose music with slap guitar: mimicking percussion by hitting the guitar.\u201d At first, this more acoustic-based approach confused fans of Spiro’s and Nicole’s previous projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people really dug it,\u201d Spiro says. \u201cBut the thing that I heard right away was, ‘Spiro doesn\u2019t play solos anymore. He\u2019s totally abandoned the things that he did.’\u201d Nicole heard the same kind of comments: \u201cNicole\u2019s not playing electric guitar anymore!\u201d<\/p>\n
But the couple believed in what they were doing. \u201cWe had to start all over again with a different fan base in California,\u201d Spiro recalls. \u201cBut we did our own thing: we put together our first generation of contraptions that we step on to make percussion noises.\u201d And Nicole developed a rhythmic style of playing that owes a debt to the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir.<\/p>\n
The couple started gaining traction with their new music, but found the California music scene frustrating. \u201cThe routine of it all became a drag,\u201d Spiro says. \u201cKind of soul-sucking. So we said, ‘Well, it’s time to change our lives. What do we really<\/i> want to do?’\u201d They left California and moved to Asheville in August 2015.<\/p>\n
Thanks to a solid local connection \u2013 Spiro had backed his friend and Asheville musician Oso Rey when Rey played out west \u2013 the couple was booked a radio station appearance; that was soon followed by a high profile gig at that year’s Dig Festival. A unique act that nonetheless stood out in a town full of unique acts, The Paper Crowns quickly established themselves in the region’s music scene.<\/p>\n
Nicole says that what the Paper Crowns do is more complex than it might appear. \u201cIt\u2019s splitting your brain a lot of different ways,\u201d she says. \u201cSpiro\u2019s got his guitar, and he\u2019ll be soloing. But he’s got kick and snare drums going at the same time.\u201d Meanwhile, Nicole is playing guitar and working additional percussion with her feet. She laughs and says that people often ask, \u201cWow, where is that noise coming from? And how are you doing it?\u201d<\/p>\n
The Paper Crowns also exist in a full band configuration; Spiro says that there is a long-term plan that involves releasing recordings that showcase the different sides of the Paper Crowns. But no matter what they do, Spiro and Nicole make music that defies easy classification. And that’s by design. \u201cI really enjoy the entire history of American music,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd that\u2019s mostly the source that we draw from.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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