Styrofoam Winos
If you frequented now-closed Midtown institution J&J’s Market and Cafe during the 2010s, at some point you almost surely placed your coffee order with Trevor Nikrant, Lou Turner or Joe Kenkel, the members of stellar DIY outfit Styrofoam Winos. After finishing their studies at Belmont University, the three friends and songwriters worked the cafe by day and jammed out together in their free time. In the beginning, the intention wasn’t to start a band, but that’s just how the chips fell.
Inspired by local lifer artists like Chris Davis (of arts nonprofit FMRL) and The Cherry Blossoms (of whom Davis is a member), as well as the weird and worn spirit of places like J&J’s, Betty’s and Springwater, the Winos set out to create a communal ensemble from the inside out. Since their earliest shows, the trio’s members have switched instruments and lead vocals from song to song in a carousel of sharp chops and superb lyricism. All three actively pursue their own solo projects, and each has two full-length records under their belt. Collaboration and free expression are at the core of their creative philosophy, and that commitment shines through in every release.
The Winos cut their second record Real Time live to tape at The Bomb Shelter and released it in September (with vinyl available via Sophomore Lounge). We caught up with the group at the end of 2024, after they returned from a lengthy tour across the Midwest, Texas and the Southeast.
How does playing in the band affect your solo projects and vice versa?
Joe Kenkel: The biggest thing is being around great songwriters. Spending time with really intentional songwriters makes you think, when you’re in your own private space working on a different project, “How can I bring the intention I feel in the Winos into my own stuff?”
Lou Turner: I have recorded most of my solo stuff with [Kenkel and Nikrant], in some way, and that’s a big way it’s influenced me. Something might be solo in name, but I really love the collaboration of the Winos, and I want it in every music experience. … I want to feel that freedom of collaboration and looseness around it, and not just be, like, myself in a sandbox.
Trevor Nikrant: For me, recording bass or drums on my own music is totally influenced by having internalized the way they both play. The whole shared musical language … as well as the songwriting.
LT: We want to make stuff each other likes. It’s cool to have space to go be your own version of yourself apart from a band. It makes everything feel more capacious. I’ll have an idea, and I’m like, “This is just too idiosyncratic for anyone to need to chase it with me, so maybe this is a ‘me’ song.” Maybe that’s true, maybe it’s not, but to have the freedom to be able to bring it into a group or to go off on your own — it’s really nice that we all have that inter-independent relationship. That’s always been there from the beginning, which I don’t think a lot of bands have.
What inspired your decision to rotate instruments from song to song?
TN: At first, just necessity. We all wrote songs, but none of us had a band … and that boggles people’s mind sometimes.
LT: It’s fun to entertain people — underrated sometimes. It entertains us. … It keeps it really fresh to change stations song to song. I’m never bored during a Winos set. Ever. It pushes us to be better at all the things we do and to play to each other really well no matter what we’re doing. I think it just makes you better at everything to know what it’s like in every situation. Like Trader Joe’s — it’s like the Winos of grocery stores. They ring a bell and switch stations.
JK: So you go from, like, stocking to cashier?
LT: Yeah. It’s so they all respect each job. So that every job gets done well because there’s different eyes on it.
TN: Be sure to say we are very inspired by Trader Joe’s.
Oh, I will. “Influences: David Berman and Trader Joe’s.” Who are some of the artists in your community in Nashville who you feel really inspired by?
LT: Kyle Hamlett is someone who we are all huge, slathering fans of, and have collaborated with in different ways. He collaborates furiously with so many different people, and is also such an individual. I think that is a really cool duality that is kind of Wino-y, and something we try to do.
JK: Our friends in Crave On. … They make really cool, idiosyncratic songs that are so good and in their own style.
TN: Body Electric and everything Andie Billheimer does. She’s an amazing musical mind.
What are your hopes for the community of musicians in Nashville who you live and create with?
JK: First and foremost, that they keep making music. Everyone is killing it in regards to the songs they are making and putting out. I think more places to play would be crucial for our community in particular.
LT: More places like Random Sample that are community-rooted and interdisciplinary. That’s something we all really love and are encouraged by, and it’s really nice to see in Nashville: different types of art being uplifted together in the same space. … People not getting discouraged. Continuing to find a way to do this and do it for their life … and not worry about how many streams they’re getting on Spotify. Truly: Make your music available, but then try to forget about that.
TN: I wish there was a word for sending energy to people to help them not get discouraged. Just like a big hug.
LT: We get that on tour from our extended network of friends that do this in other places. It’s nice to get your cup filled in another place and remember that people are slogging everywhere and have community everywhere. When we come back home, it’s always like, “OK, we got to repay our karma.” Someone let us sleep on their floor, we’ve got to let a band stay with us now and cook them breakfast. … Go to shows you’re not playing, and really try to be there for other people. I’d love to see more of that, and I’m talking to myself, too.
TN: More one-on-one, like, “I love this lyric” or “I love this bill.” People sharing their close listening experiences to each other’s music is the most wind to put in sails for anyone making stuff.
What do you do when the music industry rears its ugly head and Spotify, like, takes all of your money?
TN: This tour we just went on was packed full of sweeties in various towns just putting so much heart into running venues and throwing shows and supporting the whole thing. It’s ugly out there, for sure. I guess we kind of, by default, knew from the beginning we didn’t want all the diamonds and rhinestones. We kind of expected to be pretty close to the ground for maybe just forever, because it’s more fun.
How are you guys feeling about the coming year? What role does making art in a community play in these very heavy, hard, sad times?
JK: On a very granular level, making weird shit is a great mini form of rebellion that’s important for our little community. Speaking personally, for mental health, creating stuff that doesn’t fit into the straight and narrow path feels great. It’s like, “Fuck whatever else is going on, I’m just going to make this weird little piece of art.” While that might not necessarily be, like, “helpful,” it is what is important to do.
LT: Like: “AI could never! Big business could never!” It’s important to be your weird little self.
TN: It’s inherently political, I feel like, because you’re just creating joy and something you care about out of thin air. It hasn’t been preapproved by an approving body, or it hasn’t been commodified into something.
LT: It’s important to support your local subculture, as my friend Dan would say. The more we can create another world, the more the shitty existing world can migrate to that one. We have to keep creating a new world, and not let fear keep you from doing small things, because small things are all we have to do really.
TN: They are only small things if some power says they are small.
What is 2025 looking like for the Winos?
TN: Hopefully making some new songs. More touring for sure.
JK: Looking back a year ago excites us to look forward a year, because a year ago we had barely started the writing and recording of Real Time. … It’s just exciting to imagine what could be different for us in a year’s time.
