Kiwi ski stud Nico Porteous has notched accolades under his belt to make all of New Zealand proud and still has the energy to do some more damage. The 20-year-old lets us in on his music taste that fuels his fire on skis, and to our surprise, draws inspiration from his nearby Aussie mates’ surf scene. Hit play on Nico’s custom post-punk music playlist and learn more about all of his favorite music in his latest On Rotation interview below.
Let’s just start off with what’s your favorite type of music?
My favorite type of music to listen to sort of varies on how I’m feeling. Currently, it’s like punk rock or like pretty heavy rock.
Who are some punk and heavy rock bands you are currently jamming to?
Currently, I’m listening to a lot of the Misfits. There’s an Aussie band called Blister, which is made out of surfers that I really like.
That’s with Aussie surfer Noa Deane, right?
Yeah, with Noa, let’s see who else do I listen to? Bad Brains is really dope. Bit more chill stuff like Brian Jonestown Massacre. I really like them. There’s this one French post-punk song that I’m really into right now called Demain Berlin by Guerre Froide. I listen to a lot of Joy Division and Eddy Current Suppression Ring they’re really sick, The Idols, Radioactivity, Wand. Just all kinds of like punk/post-punk I like all that sort of stuff.
How’d you get into that type of music?
I always find it gives me really good energy. It gives me the sort of f**k it mentality of drop-in, balls to the wall type thing. That’s sort of came from pool skating really inspired it. I don’t really skate transition, but I remember always being young and at the skate park, and people would be blasting punk rock, and that was pretty rad.
What’s your music routine like for when you’re at a competition?
I’ll listen to a playlist until it’s time to drop. Then I have my drop song on, which is We Are 138 by Misfits or Gouge Away by Pixies.
How heavy of a role does music play in your day-to-day life?
When I’m skiing, I’m constantly listening to music with two headphones in always. It gives me energy, and I DJ a bit when I’m at home. So I’ve played at some outdoor parties and played my first festival this year. So quite into house and techno music as well. More on the heavier techno side, but yeah, it’s a massive part of my life. Music is so important to me.
How did you get into DJing and wanting to spin at parties?
Just through friends, they had equipment, and I used to play on that, and then I bought all my own equipment when I was maybe 15 and sort of upgraded steadily from there. It’s a nice way to relax and at the same time, listen to music.
So on road trips to the resort, are you designated DJ in the car?
I don’t really like to play music in the car because I feel like I have such a specific music choice. If someone else is playing music, I like to think in my head a song that I can play really well and put that on, but I definitely try and stay away from playing music because it’s stressful. Also, the cool part about someone else playing music is that you get to discover new songs.
Any videos that you’ve watched growing up that has an influence on you because of the music?
I definitely get a lot of music inspiration from surfing. Skiing wise I haven’t really taken crazy amounts of inspiration. I mean, obviously like rap, and 90s rap was such a big part of freeskiing and reggae. That sort of introduced me to those two genres. But I would say that more surfing and skateboarding have inspired my music taste more.
Can you name off a few of those surf and skate videos that have inspired you the most?
Noise by Noah Deane is really sick. He uses a couple songs that are his own, but then Volcom I know have a band they sign called The Line, and they’re really sick. I’ve got a friend Carlos Garcia Knight, he uses really sick music in all his video parts, like Rucks I and Rucks II all have really sick music. So definitely take inspiration from them.
What would you choose if you were to pick any dream song you could use for a video part rights-free?
Dream song, sh*t I don’t know. It really depends on the style of video. That’s something I have a massive interest in is finding the right music to match towards a clip. Say if it was a really heavy part, I’d probably want to put a punk song to it, or if it was really artistic, I’d want to put something with a bit more texture, like Floating Points more electronic style. But yeah, it all really depends on the skiing and how I personally view the project.
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