In Motion: Nordista Freeze on Building Community and Breaking Records

A DIY Nashville-local artist is taking to the road; striving to complete a world record of touring every state in the U.S. in 30 days. Nordista Freeze and I met at the beginning of the year when I attended his annual event, Space Prom, a night of bringing together an eclectic group of people to dance and sing along to 80s music. One of Freeze’s greatest prides is building a community and sharing commonalities with strangers through music; that message is the foundation of this tour. 50 shows, 50 states, 30 days. I was able to talk to Freeze and ask a couple of questions about where his mind is at so far on the tour; he gave an insight into what his days are looking like, the differences in shows from city-to-city, and how his music has changed in meaning on such a unique experience.

photo by DeAnna Garza, Space Prom 2026

So my first question is: At what point did the tour go from an idea to you’re actually going to do this? What made 2026 the year of the World Record Tour?

A great question right off the bat, cause I’ve been planning it for a long time. What finally made me put my money where my mouth is, is that I’m trying to play 1000 shows before this September. I always had a goal of trying to do it in a 10-year span and this would be a great way to play a bunch of shows so that was a part of it for me.

I honestly just felt like the winds changed. I could just tell that I was in a place in my life where I was just ready to do something like this. I’ve been touring around and I’ve played almost every state, I really wanted a chance to see everyone and touch base with everyone. It had been a minute since I’d done a coast-to-coast tour and it felt like the right time.

Yeah, no better time than now.

Totally, totally. If anything, I don’t know why it took me so long to do it, but I’m grateful that I’m doing it now.

I know you’ve done some research over bands that have done a tour like this before, and you finally decided to try and break the record those before you had set.

Yeah exactly, I was trying to do 50 in 50 and then I decided a month. I couldn’t get it out of my head that I could do it in a month.

I mean, if anyone could do it, I know people have already said it in a couple of videos that you’ve posted, but it’s definitely you. You’re one of the most ambitious and driven DIY musicians I’ve ever met.

I appreciate that, thank you.

photo via Instagram @nordistafreeze

I know it’s only day two, but before you took to the road, was there a moment that it fully hit you that you were about to leave? I had just asked when the idea turned to “I’m going to do it,” but when did it click or finally hit you?

It was pretty late in the game. Someone had commented on my post about day one, yesterday, and they were like “see you in a week.” I just immediately felt sick, thinking “oh my gosh, I’m not ready to do this at all. I’m not prepared.” It got really real, so yeah probably about a week out. I had been working on it, but thinking of other stuff and it felt like I had more time than that and all of a sudden there was no time.

Then I got to where I was just wanting to do it. I felt like the last four days leading up to the tour, all I could do was worry about it, and I was thinking “I just want to get out there and do it instead of thinking about doing it.” I knew yesterday and today were going to be tough, and they definitely have been exhausting, but the vibes are great. Every time we get to a show it’s like a boost of adrenaline and we’re having a fun time driving too, but we’re all tired, which I knew we would be. I just wanted to face it instead of thinking about it.

The adrenaline was already building and you were just ready to get it started. So it’s day two, state five; what are the hours in-between looking like right now? The road, the nights when you’re couch hopping; how’s it all feeling?

It feels good, we have a rental car that’s just loaded down with things that people have given us, so it’s really sweet. My mom, my girl, brands that are sponsoring the tour have given some things; even as we were leaving Dallas, someone had given us a pizza and cookies; so it’s awesome.

We’re just trying to stay awake; but also eating cookies, having a fun time and listening to music. The road trip is the best; that’s the fun, what we love to do. It’s a bit more challenging today, but after today it gets into a groove of a show a day. I’d say we’re having just a great time, it’s just fun.

This whole tour is very DIY and in every city you’re meeting new people and working with other creatives that are also at your level. I’m sure that makes every show different in how you perform and your setlist; but has the sense of community that you’re forming through this tour influenced the way your music is presenting itself?

Definitely, for one my setlist is growing every show; I’m trying new stuff and I’m kind of actively adding songs to the setlist. The idea of the tour was to create a DIY communal through line, you know to sew or weave together, that can go to all 50 states and prove that there is a lot of commonality. There’s a lot of people who believe in the same things and just support DIY music and art. We are all one big web and that definitely feels true. I mean every show has gone better than we expected. There’s been three times as many people at every show; you know we just played Shreveport, LA and there was only 12 people there, but I thought there was going to be four. I didn’t think anyone would be there and it’s a Monday morning at 11 AM in a town I’ve never been to, but even the neighbors came out.

There’s a lot of people that are just trying to create culture and it’s cool to be a part of. We get to witness it every day, all the time; and I’m traveling more than almost anyone, but it’s cool for me to be able to see and prove to everyone that its possible. There’s a lot of division, there’s a lot of frustrating stuff going on in culture and in our country specifically that usually gets the headlines. Most everyone is just here on the ground trying to work and make art and community. It’s cool for us to get to kind of showcase that, show that it still exists; even though there’s more isolation and division these days.

To touch on that, has the whole experience changed your relationship with your music or have any of your originals gained a new meaning because of this tour and community you’re seeing?

I’m not sure yet, but I would say, yeah. When you put your music in front of different crowds, you do contextually notice different things about it when you’re playing for different types of people. David Byrne of the Talking Heads has a book on how music works and that’s a big opening thesis of his book. You know, music is not something that just comes out of nowhere and is projected into a venue. The music is affected and created within the context of the venue. I am bringing music to new spaces that I’ve never brought it to, but those spaces affect me and my understanding of those spaces and where I’m going to perform changes what I want to perform; if that makes sense. I do think there is a symbiotic relationship between communities, spaces, and the artists who are performing within those spaces. I will probably have really honed in on what it means to do this tour; like the identity of the tour will create itself in real time.

So for the people that are not able to see you on tour and are watching from afar, through a screen back home in Nashville; what’s something they aren’t seeing or experiencing with those limitations?

If someone is just watching from their phone, they’re missing out on understanding the intimacy of the events and you know, from social media you can feel the energy and excitement but you can’t witness the conversations that are being had. The warmth and the support in a tangible way, and I think that’s what you saw today in Dallas. How sweet everyone was and how supportive they were; leaving during the set to pick up pizza, Anna and Rachel giving us hugs and coming from Houston, you came from Austin, Brice and all of his friends were there for his birthday, other people from the community. It’s just like for one moment that can never be recreated; all these people came together on a Monday at 4 PM and we all shared this moment. It’s a sacred thing that really cannot be understood by anyone who wasn’t there.

Yeah, the multitude of timelines just coming together and intersecting for this event.

Yeah, yeah absolutely.

Has there been anything that’s harder than you expected or that you hadn’t though of so far?

Oh my gosh, yes. I’m not very detail oriented, so there is a plethora of things that I have not considered that are constantly unfolding before me; like I only had one guitar pick. It’s hard to hang up this banner and we forget to hang it up, or my debit card for the tour doesn’t work anymore cause it’s frozen, so we got to figure that out.

There’s things that happen and you can’t even predict them, it’s impossible. Danny, Zayne (his friends on the road to help) and I have all served as tour managers before and you can prepare a lot, but ultimately, you just get out here and every day something happens that has never happened before to you or to anyone around you. You have to get comfortable with asking “what’s the most important thing to do right now and be solved right now? What can wait till later?” It’s always complicated, like a puzzle every single day.

Just expecting the unexpected and solving it as you go about it.

Totally, just understanding the commonality of values and is it more important for us to stay and talk a bit more, like we did in Dallas. We’re probably going to be a little bit later because of it, and it’s just deciding what’s worth it all the time and you never really know. There’s so many factors you can’t predict; so you might even be wrong when you make a decision, but you don’t know, and you just try to do your best and make it to tomorrow. Touring really is just a series of days strung together, you really can’t even think about tomorrow yet.

Taking it show by show.

Show by show, that’s exactly right.

Do you think there’s a certain part, if not the entire experience of this tour, that will change you or if it’s just proving to you and to others something you already knew of yourself?

Yeah, right, it is a bit of both. This tour is something that is tailored for me, it is all the things that I really enjoy, which is like pushing yourself and driving, and performing music, and it’s social interaction. In a lot of ways, it’s one of those things that I know I can do. I have full confidence we’re gonna do this and at the same time, my hope is that I can inspire myself and inspire others to be able to do whatever challenging thing they want to do in life. I think it’s just good for people, someone giving it their best shot. Whether we succeed or don’t succeed, people are really inspired by someone going out on a limb; like an acrobat, flying into the air and trying to stick the landing. That’s something that I enjoy doing, things that are ambitious and kind of putting myself out there to feel the consequence if it doesn’t work out.

That’s a really great and true way of putting it; the metaphor of the acrobat.

Yeah, I think that inspires people to try to do whatever it is they wanna do and realize “oh, we can all do things we want to do. Whatever that is.”

Yeah, whatever we set our minds to, it’s always going to be possible, just a matter of beginning to do it.

Yeah, absolutely.

Okay, I have a few more questions. When you look back on this tour once it’s all over and you’re back in Nashville, say a couple months from now or even a week or a year from now, what’s something you hope that’s going to stick with you?

I ultimately think that this is just kind of, I mean to me, it’s just a once in a lifetime experience that whoever is there with me we can share. You know, the older I get, the more I realize you don’t ever get to duplicate something. You do it once and that’s what it is, you can do a similar thing; like I can go on another tour, but ultimately, this is my time and even the relationships that maybe aren’t as close to me, but they’re people that I see every time I’m in Mississippi or see every time I’m here or there.

It’s like we’re all weaving, everyone is helping me weave together a really beautiful quilt of a month and that’s something that I just get to cherish forever. As an artist, you hope that you can keep building and become more popular and affect culture in a deeper way, but ultimately, nothing actually really matters outside of these 30 days. It is an insulated, singular thing that I’m attempting and either way, it’s just cool, whether I succeed or not, it’s just been cool to involve all of the people who wish to be involved. It’s just a thing I get to be excited that happened and it’s out of my brain and then I can go and do something else.

I’ve been holding onto this one for years, it’s time for it to be done. When you do something that you want to do, it helps reveal the next thing you want to do; and sometimes you can’t think about the next thing because you never did the first thing. It’s good to do things that you want to do in that regard as well.

Just releasing something by accomplishing it, that way you can go after the next thing.

Yeah, 100%.

For those discovering you on this tour and following your journey... Whether it is online or they’re following you through every state; I know you had a couple of comments like that on your instagram, or just seeing you in one state and the rest on socials. What do you want them to know and understand about you and your message with this tour or just your music in general?

I would like for people who are engaging with this tour to understand that I’m trying to create something that’s bigger than me. That it’s about coming out to a show and meeting a new friend, if they’re willing to and if they can, you know. They can share an experience with other people and it’s a good, safe place to engage with their community and it’s a positive experience. That’s the kind of invitation it is, to just come out.

It’s like Space Prom in the same way, it’s about something that we can do together and my favorite thing about Space Prom, and what I hope to be the same in this tour, is when I get on Instagram and see two people hanging out that I know didn’t know each other before my show. I’m like “man, we just connected two people who are now friends because they came to something that we put on.” That’s about as good as it gets to me.

Seeing them stay connected because of something that you put together and even attend the next one together.

Yeah, the deeper relationships being formed through a shared experience, which could potentially be seeing Nordista Freeze on the World Record Tour.

Exactly. Well, that’s all the questions I have for you today, thanks for answering them and taking the time to speak with me.

Of course and thank you!

photo via @nordistafreeze Instagram

Nordista Freeze is on track to accomplish a world record of touring 50 states, 50 shows in 30 days. He’s highly ambitious and fully capable of the trek ahead of him, taking on the road with the help of his friends, strangers, and fans. You can follow his journey on Instagram @nordistafreeze or try to see him live in action in your state!