Nicholas (Nick) Deyoe

Nicholas Deyoe is a Los Angeles based guitarist, composer, and conductor. He is a co-founder of wasteLAnd ensemble and concert series and is a member of the dark-ambient electric guitar duo KillDry with Jay Sorce and ethereal doomgaze quartet Serpentine Transmission. 

His music has been called “intriguingly complex and excitedly lush” by the LA Times. The New York Times wrote that Deyoe’s a new(er) anxiety “contrasted filigree lightness and explosive loudness…without seeming to strain for effect.” Drawn to sounds that are inherently physical, Nicholas strives to create music that engages listeners intellectually and emotionally by appealing to their inner physicality. His music combines the use of noise, delicacy, drama, fantasy, brutality, lyricism, and joy to create a diverse sonic experience. As a guitarist, Nicholas strives to further the already vast sound world of the electric guitar by experimenting with microtonal tunings, non-conventional instruments, preparations, bows, beer cans, and lots and lots of pedals. His recordings appear on Orenda, New World, Populist, New Focus, Hat Art, Sono Luminus, Spektral, Innova, and Microfest. Nicholas is currently on faculty at California Institute of the Arts where he conducts the new music ensemble, teaches composition, conducting, and guitar, and is the program director of the Instrumental Arts specialization.