“Waiting to Wait For You” has been running on a loop through my brain. The lead single from As of Right Now, the latest EP from N8NOFACE and his debut with venerable L.A. label Stones Throw, is a sticky mix of indie jangle and new wave bounce with the Long Beach-based singer repeating, “I can’t wait, wait to wait for you” against a riff that sounds as if it could have come from Johnny Marr.
N8 credits producer Chico Mann, aka Marcos Garcia, the guitarist best known for his work with Antibalas and Here Lies Man, for the EP’s sound. “He was a huge Johnny Marr fan as a kid,” says N8 on a recent video call. The two connected a few years back to collaborate on producing another song. “We would talk about what direction I would want to go in and I always mention to him things that I just can’t do musically and he’s like, well this is a sound I always wanted to produce, let me write some music with your voice in mind,” N8 recalls. Garcia came back with about a dozen instrumentals. N8 tackled the lyrics in about a year and seven of the songs landed on As of Right Now.
The second EP from N8NOFACE this year, As of Right Now takes a turn towards the sound of classic alternative radio. There are echoes of The Cure— one of N8’s favorite bands— throughout the EP, and maybe a few nods to indie bands of the ‘00s, like Bloc Party, and more recent artists like Molchat Doma. It’s a bit of a different vibe for the singer, but, honestly, not a major departure from the synthpunk stylings that made N8NOFACE a cult favorite. However, N8 says that he did have to take a different approach to writing lyrics for this batch of songs.
“The lyrical content on this project is different,” he says. “I’ve talked about street stuff and addiction and coming from the border and where I come from and what my friends were all involved in. I feel like none of this music told me to tell those stories. This one is more about love and an appreciation of love.”
And, while As of Right Now is, primarily, filled with songs about love, N8 also notes that some touch on how he views “the world in general” at the moment. “I try to keep it broad and loose so that you don’t really know what I’m talking about, but it’s what I’m writing from, my view of the world and how crazy it is,” he says.
Empathy is a thread that runs through As of Right Now and that’s something that’s important to N8, as well as showing a range of emotions. “You can find me doing a show where I’m hitting a mic on my head and bleeding and raging and so angry, but I wanted to make sure that I cry too and I love too and have been heartbroken,” he says. “I just always want to show that, because there’s a lot of macho stuff, and I want to show that you can do both and both can exist in a man.”
A veteran of backyard punk parties and DIY show spaces, N8 has also had to rethink how he performs after moving to bigger stages. “Before, I would just come with a little drum machine. I played DIY parties where literally my machine is plugging into the guitar cabinet and I’m following a crazy heavy punk band,” he says. “I’m really looking at it differently now, whereas before I would just come on and rip. I wouldn’t even pause between songs. A song would end and I would hit the next one, not even giving people a chance to applaud. I’m always so scared up there, I just go very fast and now that’s changed.”
Last year, N8 was part of Limp Bizkit’s Loserville tour and he continued on with the band on the European leg of the trek earlier in 2025, which was quite the departure for someone who is used to playing “sweatbox” venues. “Ten thousand people and the stage is so big and I’m just one person up there. It’s hard,” he says. “I’m running back and forth to make sure left and right both get a show.”
The tour also helped N8 strike a balance between the varying styles of music he plays. “I remember when Fred first asked me to tour with Limp when we did the States, I was working on this album and I said Fred I’m so scared, the music I’m working on isn’t really for a Limp crowd,” he recalls. “I’ll never forget him telling me, N8, I don’t care if you’re up there and you read Bible verses, do whatever you want to do.”
N8 says that he started out playing his harder material at those shows, but received a DM from a fan who was bummed not to hear him play “View From Here,” a slower song released in 2024. “People were telling me, we’re coming to hear hard stuff, but we want to hear slow stuff too,” he says.
More recently, he played Cruel World early in the day. “I was really grateful for it because it is a genre that I love so much and love to play in, so I’m really glad,” he says of playing the festival that focuses on classic alternative bands and new post-punk and darkwave artists. “Sometimes, I never know how the true fans will accept a guy who is kind of an outsider from everything, but they really embraced me.”
All that has encouraged N8, who will tour with Slay Squad this fall, to bring a bit of everything to the stage. “When you come to a N8 show, just prepare to maybe get in the mosh pit, slow dance, fast dance, and just have fun all around,” he says. “I’m getting more comfortable with doing that.”
As of Right Now by N8NOFACE is available on both digital and vinyl. Tickets are on sale for N8NOFACE at El Rey in Los Angeles on October 30. Follow N8NOFACE on Instagram for more tour and release updates.
Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs or listen to the latest Beatique Mix. Follow on Instagram or Bluesky for more updates.
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