Meet Nicky & Max Weinbach | Musicians (Band: Silhouette City)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nicky & Max Weinbach and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nicky & Max, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Before forming our band, we began our careers as writers and producers for musical theater, but due to our deep love of classic 1960s pop records, we decided to trade in our staff paper for electric guitars. The longer story of that is after we graduated from college, Max went to teach English for a year in Paris while also taking classes at a music conservatory there. Nicky had gotten into an acting school in Paris but couldn’t afford it, so he stayed behind in Los Angeles. During that time, Nicky started writing some tunes on his guitar that sounded like they’d be good for a band one day. (One of those songs was actually inspired by our year apart from one another.) Nicky didn’t know what to do with the songs at the time, but he just let the post graduation creative juices flow, and he ended up writing around ten really good songs just that summer, all for a band that had yet to exist. Nicky also started work on writing a full-length original musical called Made in China; he had been inspired by Max, actually, whose honors project at the end of college was writing and producing the first half of an original musical called A Match Made in Hell. By the time Max returned back from Paris a year later, Nicky had moved up to San Francisco. Cut to a couple years later. We both put on full month-long productions of our musicals and were wondering what to do next after having put in such arduous work into our shows. We thought, “What can we do now that’s not going to require as many moving pieces but that’s still going to be creatively fulfilling?” And then it dawned on us: “Let’s start a band!” Like we mentioned before, this is when we “traded in our staff paper for electric guitars”. PSYCH! We actually never traded in our staff paper and never will. We actually have always written out all our band songs on staff paper. The only true rock n’ roll way to do it. Basically, we wanted an outlet to perform the type of vintage pop tunes we wrote that felt right for a band to play. Nicky worked with a guy who was a great guitarist but could also play bass, the guy who played drums for Max’s musical was down to jump on board, and we even had a fifth guy on keys in the very beginning who was a friend. He even helped us record our first demos and build out our first band website. And that’s how it all started…

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
We’re Max & Nicky Weinbach, and we front a vintage indie pop band called Silhouette City. We’re also a stand-up comedy duo (“Max & Nicky”), but that’s a separate thing. We love 60s music and are greatly influenced by melody-driven bands and artists like the Beach Boys, the Zombies, Harry Nilsson, the Smiths, and, of course, the Beatles with a little bit of doo-wop to boot. Think the four-part harmony of the Beach Boys meets the chorus guitar effects of the Smiths.

What sets us apart is we’re twins, which is ironic since we’re like each other. But, as one entity, we’re very different from others. For example, we’re twins and most other people are not. And, in a city full of transplants, we’re born and bred Los Angelenos. And, while others do their thing, we do our own thing, so that sets us apart from them.

In all seriousness, there are a few projects that we’ve done that we’re super proud of: the albums we’ve made as Silhouette City like ‘Who Do You Want to Be?’ (and the ones we’ve made under our former moniker Little Person), and the original full-length musicals that we’ve written and produced, Max’s ‘A Match Made in Hell’ and Nicky’s ‘Made in China’. And, in regards to comedy, we’re really proud of the hard work we’ve put into refining our material and act and some of the accomplishments we’ve achieved in that field.

Hard work has always been the key to our success. Though it may sound cliché, very few people actually get lucky right off the bat. You have to remain motivated even when it seems like it’s not gonna work out. To paraphrase Conan O’Brien, things may not always turn out the way you planned or imagined, but if you work hard and stick to it, good things will happen… or something like that. We don’t really remember exactly what he said, but it was very inspiring. If he didn’t actually say that, then we guess we don’t really feel that way. Only if he actually said it.

It’s still not easy, and we’re still overcoming challenges, but that’s the life of an artist. When good things do come, it makes you appreciate it that much more.

Most of all, we just want our art to have some sort of impact. If we see someone singing or dancing along to one of our tunes, that’s the most satisfying thing.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We’d definitely take our best friend to Carney’s on the Sunset Strip to grab the best hot dog in town (split on the grill). They have a bodacious burger as well. We’d also take them to L.A.’s finest doctors at Cedar Sinai Hospital where they give the most thorough examination of jock itch in the country. There are also many sites to check out like Griffith Park Observatory, the Getty, the Skirball Center, the La Brea Tar Pits, our pits which have also been tarred, the many Frank Lloyd Wright houses, and the list goes on. Probably would take them to a fun show at Dynasty Typewriter, especially if we’re performing there that night. We’d definitely take them back in time, circa 1995, to the Hollywood Bowl when John Williams was conducting the L.A. Philharmonic while they played some of his most iconic scores. (That was actually one of our first concerts.) We’d also drive our friend around the Valley where we spent a significant amount of time during our teenage years. Henry’s Tacos in North Hollywood was always a favorite spot as was Grandma’s Thai Kitchen in Van Nuys. Gotta play some miniature golf at Sherman Oaks Castle and go bowling at Sports Center Bowl (it’s 1995, so it’s still called Sports Center Bowl and Jerry’s Famous Deli is still there). And, after bowling, we’d head over to Carney’s in Studio City; it’s right next door. Probably would take our friend to the Echo, especially if we’re playing there that night (it’s not 1995 anymore). Oh, and we gotta take them up Sunset Plaza into the Hollywood Hills so we can check out Ice-T’s house and the house that once belonged to both Diana Ross and Christopher Reeve. In all honesty, there are some great views of the city up there, and it’s a perfect spot to watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July. Heck, if they’re in L.A. for a week, let’s go to a Dodgers game at Dodger Stadium and grab some Dodger dogs – that’s the best part about going to a baseball game: the insanely overpriced food. Seriously, though, there’s so much to do in Los Angeles, but one of the most exciting things is just driving around the city and taking in all its eclecticism.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Our sister, Laura Weinbach and her band Foxtails Brigade. She and our brother-in-law Anton Patzner have really helped us out so much with our band over the years from awesome constructive feedback to priceless tutorials and advice on sound mixing and recording to valuable counsel on how to promote our band and what blogs and radio stations to contact to even recording strings and voice on a couple of our albums. They’ve been our biggest supporters. We’d also like to shout out our older brother, Brent Weinbach, a popular stand-up comedian who is also an accomplished jazz pianist. He’s usually our first sounding board when we have even the slightest sliver of an idea for a song or a joke. He’ll give us the most honest feedback that is also very constructive and useful. He also directed our first music video for our first single “Sommeria” from our first EP. Brent is about to release a new comedy special in a couple weeks. Make sure to check it out on YouTube. It’ll be the funniest special you’ll see all year. We guarantee it. And that’s how it all farted [sic]… yes, farted. Yes, sic.

Website: https://www.silhouettecityband.com and https://maxandnicky.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silhouettecityband and https://www.instagram.com/maxandnicky/

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/silhouette-city-band and https://soundcloud.com/little-person

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/silhouettecityband and https://www.facebook.com/maxandnicky

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MaxAndNicky and https://www.youtube.com/@silhouettecity

Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3Hrxwgd4m13x6gzdR0Xd12

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/artist/silhouette-city/1698329489

Image Credits
Mike Bryk, Tom Armstrong, Yoko Haraoka, Tommy Kha, Hunter Peress