From cult indie tours to a one-man studio, Nick Skalkos forges a raw, cinematic protest on his own terms.
From the stages of the world with bands like The Miniatures and Spirits to crafting platinum records for others, Nick Skalkos has lived a full musical life.
Now, from a renovated Victorian house in Halifax, he has forged his most personal work yet: Golden Slides.
A completely solo endeavour, this project finds the multi-instrumentalist writing, performing, and producing every note of raw, cinematic indie rock.
His new album, ‘Ruined That Never Was,’ draws inspiration from Nova Scotia’s rugged coastline to explore themes of unrealised potential and quiet protest.
Moving beyond traditional love songs, Skalkos uses widescreen emotion and blown-out guitars to challenge our empathy for the planet and its animals, crafting a compelling, late-night headphone journey that is entirely and authentically his own.
Happy: What would you get up to today?
Golden Slides: This morning began with my ongoing battle to maintain a workout routine — a habit that, despite my best intentions, has a knack for slipping through my fingers.
My cat, a 16-year-old Siamese, is also on my mind. I once thought he would live forever, perhaps ascend to some feline Valhalla without ever surrendering to the mortal indignities of time, but alas, the cosmos deals even the most graceful creatures its inevitable cards.
Beyond tending to him, my day involves conversing with visionaries and business owners seeking to raise capital — something I coach them through so they can grow without surrendering control.
I’ll also join some real estate networking events. For me, the aim is to cultivate streams of passive income, because I’ve never been content with the idea of exchanging hours for a paycheque.
I’d rather structure my life so I have the time and freedom to focus on what matters most to me.
Happy: Tell us a little bit about where you’re from and what you love about it.
Golden Slides: I was born in Kitchener, Ontario, just outside Toronto, but I now live near Halifax, Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia feels like a place balanced between land and sea, rooted yet always aware of the ocean’s pull.
My home is on a lake, just a short drive from the Atlantic, so I have both stillness and openness.
I can spend the morning in quiet, surrounded by trees and water, and still be close enough to enjoy Halifax’s vegan food spots or hop on a flight.
The untouched beauty here is what drew me in — the sheer abundance of lakes, the coastline that feels largely unchanged.
The geography itself is an embarrassment of riches. I never imagined I’d live on a lake, but here it feels almost inevitable.
Happy: The album title Ruined That Never Was is incredibly evocative. What’s the story or concept behind it?
Golden Slides: The title was born in a moment of uncanny poetry — the sort of thing that happens when you aren’t trying to be profound.
It came from a walk along an oceanside path with views worth a fortune. There, I saw the concrete foundation of a building that had never been completed.
My wife, in a moment of unpremeditated genius, looked upon it and named it: the ruin that never was. It struck me as an accidental parable.
To me, it speaks to unfinished stories — relationships that collapse before they take shape, ambitions that fade, people carrying pain they think will become art but never does.
It’s about potential that remains unrealised, and how that can be both tragic and strangely beautiful.
Happy: This is a completely solo endeavour. What was the biggest challenge and the biggest reward of handling every single aspect yourself?
Golden Slides: I’ve noticed that my most honest work often comes when I have constraints. When money is tight and resources are limited, you’re forced to be resourceful and to focus.
The biggest challenge was definitely mixing and mastering myself — a technical, often frustrating process.
For someone who thrives in collaboration, whose instinct is to bounce ideas like sparks in a forge, the act of working entirely alone was at once alienating and hypnotically compelling.
I’m used to collaborating, so doing everything alone went against my instincts. Still, I wanted to see what would happen if I took complete ownership.
The most profound reward was not the completion of the album, but the astonishment of discovering I could still astonish myself.
Happy: Can you tell us about the recording environment in Halifax and how the city’s atmosphere seeped into the album?
Golden Slides: I recorded in one of my wife’s renovation projects — a Victorian-era home she’s converting into apartments.
I took advantage of the cavernous spaces and lofty ceilings to capture a kind of cathedral-esque resonance, as though the building itself were a secret collaborator.
Its high ceilings and large rooms gave the music a natural, almost unintentional spaciousness. I even used the basement for its natural reverb.
Being in Halifax, with its proximity to the ocean, inevitably influenced the writing. Lighthouses, waves, rocky coastlines — these images began to appear in my lyrics without me deliberately putting them there.
Even when I found myself imagining relationships from other centuries, I was reminded that the undercurrents of longing, struggle, and endurance are timeless — merely dressed in different clothing. This historic place has a way of getting into your work.
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Happy: Is there an essential theme or emotional journey you’re inviting listeners on with this collection of songs?
Golden Slides: Yes — the core of this album is a quiet protest against how we treat animals and the environment. Nearly every track turns its gaze upon our narcissism, our relentless appetite, our willingness to treat sentient beings as resources rather than kin.
Almost every song questions our entitlement, our lack of empathy, and how our choices harm other living beings.
At a time when most mainstream music is about love or escapism, I feel compelled to sidestep the conveyor belt entirely.
There is a peculiar liberation in no longer caring about commercial viability. I can dwell in the unpopular, shine a light where most would rather avert their gaze.
Protest, for me, is embedding the discomfort into melodies that might linger in the listener’s ear long after the subject matter has pricked their conscience.
I feel no pressure to write for popularity. That freedom allows me to address uncomfortable truths through my music. It’s my way of having the conversation without the noise of a debate.
Happy: After years of collaboration in projects like The Miniatures, Spirits, and The Mounties, what compelled you to create something entirely your own?
Golden Slides: With each of those ensembles, my role was largely as interpreter rather than instigator — a touring percussionist, a studio musician, a part of someone else’s beautiful machinery.
I cherish those chapters, those songs, those friendships. But there comes a moment when you realise you’ve been adding colour to other people’s canvases without ever committing a brush to your own.
I didn’t begin this project because I believed myself to be some untapped genius; I began it because I wanted to find out if I could even enjoy my own company in the act of creation.
Could I write something I would willingly listen to? I was prepared to loathe the result. But curiosity — that gentle tyrant — demanded an answer.
Happy: How has your musical palette changed from your days in The Miniatures to what you’re creating now as Gold Slides?
Golden Slides: Back then, I was more rigid about my tastes. I aligned myself with certain styles because they seemed “cool” at the time. In hindsight, some of that music hasn’t aged well for me.
Now, I find myself unmoved by the tropes of love-lost balladry or the synthetic joy of chart-friendly pop.
Give me instead the shriek of John Zorn’s saxophone, the honest abrasion of sonic chaos, the unpolished howl of something raw and unmediated.
Happy: For aspiring musicians trying to forge their own path, what’s the most valuable piece of advice you’ve gathered from your journey?
Golden Slides: Stop trying to be cool as soon as possible. It’s the quickest route to making honest work. Coolness is a tax on authenticity. Learn to record yourself — it gives you creative control.
Be open to collaboration and feedback, but write for yourself first. If you’re not satisfied with your own work, no one else’s opinion will make up for that.
Happy: What makes you happy?
Golden Slides: Witnessing a farmed animal rescued from the machinery of exploitation and given sanctuary — that is happiness distilled.
To see a being previously condemned to suffering now free to express its nature is to glimpse, however briefly, what redemption might look like for our species.
If you wish to align with your own morals then give yourself and this planet an unambiguous gift: go vegan.
