Biography

Nick Piunti is a Detroit-based singer/songwriter with roots in classic rock and the early power pop movement. Raised in Riverview, Michigan just outside of Detroit, he formed his first band, Dwarf, in 1972 with two of his sixth-grade classmates to play at their school's talent show. Dwarf would remain together for the next 14 years, releasing their first single in 1975 and gaining regional attention for their high-energy performances and melodic sound, which would later be identified as power pop. Changing their band's name to the Take, they relocated to L.A. in the mid-'80s, but were unable to fully connect with the hard rock and hair metal sound of the times, eventually disbanding and moving back to Michigan. Throughout the late '80s and early '90s, Piunti continued recording, releasing a solo album and gigging regionally. After spending some time away from the music industry to start a family, he returned to the studio in 2002 and recorded a self-titled LP, beginning a new era in his career. A few years later, he formed a new band in the power pop vein called the Respectables, who released their self-titled debut in 2005. A second album, Sibley Gardens, followed in 2008, earning national attention; it saw a couple of its songs placed in film (Jeff Who Lives at Home) and television (Mercy). The Respectables released a final EP, 3, in 2010 before going their separate ways. At this point, Piunti began working with Detroit guitarist and songwriter Ryan Allen, collaborating on a group of songs that would eventually appear on his critically lauded 2013 solo release, 13 in My Head. Recorded in Ann Arbor with producer/engineer Geoff Michael, it set up a burgeoning partnership that would yield two more LPs over the next three years. First came 2015's sprightly Beyond the Static, followed in close succession by Trust Your Instincts, the latter of which arrived in 2016 via the recently revived Jem Records. ~ Timothy Monger, Rovi