Nicholas Rattigan is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, journalist and music video director, originating from Reno, Nevada. He currently releases music under the moniker Current Joys. He also is the drummer and lead singer of the indiesurf rock band Surf Curse. As an artist, Rattigan began releasing music as The Nicholas Project from 2011 to 2012, thereafter releasing music as TELE/VISIONS, releasing his debut album, Wild Heart, on January 2, 2013, as well as all of his music on Bandcamp. After 2015, Rattigan began performing as Current Joys, with his second studio album Me Oh My Mirror, released on February 16, 2015, reflecting the significant change in his style of music. He released his third album, A Different Age, on March 2, 2018.
Rattigan started individually writing and releasing music as The Nicholas Project, after an anonymous Myspace message inspired him to compose music. He self-released a slew of independently-produced recordings on Bandcamp from November 2011 to October 2012 under the moniker. As TELE/VISIONS, Rattigan self-released his debut album, Wild Heart, on January 2, 2013. Citing the name change as being influenced by Videodrome, Rattigan said to FORGE Magazine that "I was writing this song and my roommate had given me a drum machine, so I was like "This is perfect! I can start playing live shows!" and they were like "yeah but no one is going to book you with your name as the Nicholas Project" and they were right. In 2013, he and classmate Jacob Rubeck, who self-releases music under the moniker Gap Girls, formed the band Surf Curse, being their second band after a small project named Buffalo 66. Through Big Joy Records, an independent label in Los Angeles, California, they released their debut album, Buds, in June 2013 and the extended playSad Boys EP in October. Three EPs were released in 2013: Young Luv in January, No One Will Dance in February and Neon Gold in June. Also, from May to July 2013, Rattigan wrote for Noisey, a brand under Vice. An extended play, 2013, was released in January 2014. 2008–2010, a compilation album, was released as the final work under The Nicholas Project in May. A compilation of b-sides and unreleased tracks, B-Sides, Rarities and Demos, was released a month later. Rattigan wrote for Impose as an intern from September to October 2014. Found on his YouTube channel, Rattigan has performed under additional names, Franco Years and Devil Worship. Both of these projects can be found on Bandcamp.
2015 – present: Current Joys and Danger Collective
In February 2015, Rattigan announced that the follow-up to Wild Heart was almost complete. The album, Me Oh My Mirror, was then self-released on February 16. In January 2016, the limited-edition zineAlabama was announced for release in February. On March 6, 2016, the song "New Flesh" from Wild Heart was used in a short video titled "Flesh" on Vine by Internet celebrity Emma Greer, under her online alias GIBBERTON. The video was her last before her death from cancer twenty-one days later and caused a rise in interest towards the song. Two days later, Rattigan released a song, "Kids", and announced the name change to Current Joys instead of TELE/VISIONS, stating that "I no longer feel like it represents the music I want to make and there are too many conflicts with the band Television which present problems for future prospects." To fit with the change, Rattigan re-released all of his music under the moniker on October. Rattigan, debuting as a music video director, produced and directed the music video for "123" by the folk punk bandGirlpool in March 2017. In July, Rattigan released a second limited-edition zine entitled Days, which came with an unreleased five-song EP. He also collaborated with labelmate BOYO for a 4-track EP, Split, released by Danger Collective and Terrible Records on September 6. On January 8, "Become The Warm Jets" and "Fear" were released as the lead singles for A Different Age, his debut album on Danger Collective. The music video for "In a Year of 13 Moons" was released on January 30 as the third single. In February, the fourth single from the album, "My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days", titled after the film of the same name, premiered on L.A. Record. The album was released on March 2. Within the same month, NPR included "Fear" in "The Austin 100", a playlist of songs from artists performing at SXSW.
