PopWrapped caught up with Nick Santino (formerly of A Rocket To The Moon) on Warped Tour 2014. Nick talked with us about what it’s like to have grown up in the music business, the shift from band member to solo artist, and the crazy stories he loves to tell on stage. Get the full details, below!

Zachary Jaydon: It is now the last week of Warped Tour 2014. What has this year been like for you?

Nick Santino: It’s been awesome. I think I went into it thinking it was gonna be the hardest summer ever and even after the first week I was like, this is fucking great. I love it. You know, Warped’s awesome. You meet friends… people think it’s hot and you have to do all this stuff and it’s the hardest tour ever and it’s like, honestly one of the easiest tours I’ve ever been a part of.

ZJ: Yeah, especially because people don’t even care if you shower.

NS: Exactly, and you can get away with it.

ZJ: You can get away with anything. You’ve been doing this now for almost ten years with A Rocket To The Moon, and now your solo stuff, and you’re only 25.

NS: Yeah, tomorrow I’ll be 26.

ZJ: So, how does it feel being raised by the recording industry?

NS: Yeah, it’s nuts. I signed when I was around 19 or 18 and a half, so I never went to college, I went straight into music and I was very fortunate. A lot of people can’t say they’ve done that, and a lot of people back in my hometown worked shitty jobs and I’m very, very fortunate to be able to say that I was signed to a record deal, that obviously didn’t go that great toward the end, but I just held my head up and I kept moving on and that’s why I’m doing solo stuff. I just love music and I’m very passionate about it, so that’s what I keep on doing.

ZJ: What’s next for you after Warped Tour?

NS: After Warped Tour I go home for a bit. I’m going to go to the UK with The Maine in October for two weeks and then I’m working on a big tour in November for the US. So a lot of traveling, a lot of just keeping getting the music out there.

ZJ: Can you give us some spoilers about that, who might be joining you?

NS: I honestly don’t have any details on it. It’s just like, “Hey! we’re gonna do a tour in November.” Now we’re starting the plans. We’re still working, but it’s going to be some sort of acoustic-based, storyteller, singer-songwriter kind of tour. We want to package it really cool where it’s not just boring… we want to make ticket prices around $10, something really cheap that anybody could go for, and do something really special to give back to the fans that have stuck around forever.

ZJ: And that’s going to start in November?

NS: November, I think we’re shooting for, yeah.

ZJ: When do you expect to wrap that up?

NS: It’ll probably be done by the end of November and then we’ll start looking into Spring plans for touring. It’s going to be amazing.

ZJ: Do you have any more full band records planned?

NS: Not right now… I write all the time so I have songs that I’m ready to record, but we’re gonna let this [album] play out a little bit and then maybe after spring… we could do something with a full band. But that’s what’s great [about being solo] is that I can do I an acoustic EP or just a piano-based record go full out rock ‘n roll record. So, I don’t know what i’ll do for the next record.

ZJ: Are you going to be playing any of your new songs on the acoustic tour in November?

NS: Yeah, I’m playing a few on this tour too. [“Big Skies”] came out in may, so that’s what I would be pushing, mostly.

ZJ: What can we tell people about Nick Santino that they don’t already know?

NS: About me as a person or me as a musician? I guess I’m the same, I don’t try to hide behind being this big, gimmicky ego thing like a lot of people do in bands. so, I think what you see is what you get. when I’m on stage I tell the fuckin’ dumbest stories but I think it shows people in the crowd that this is a real artist. He’s not hiding behind anything. i’ll go out and be like, “this song’s about some fuckin crazy girl that I used to know,” and then tell the detailed story and I don’t care if she finds out. I’m kind of like that, where a lot of guys will just go up and do the same thing everyday and it’s hard to feel real about it. For me, I feel like as awkward as I am on stage, when it comes to taking I think that’s the most genuine side of a person that you see. So when I’m so vulnerable on stage, standing in front of a bunch of people, I feel like [I can say what I want] and people won’t judge me too hard because we’re all a bunch of freaks just singing along to good music.