Adam Hindmarsh left Sydney swearing to never return.
It's a situation plenty of emerging bands have been in - wrong gig, wrong crowd, wrong vibe.
"The last time we played in Sydney, it was a bit of an experience," Adam laughs.
Despite the vow, Adam did return, banging the drums for his band Nana's Pie.
This time it was different.
"To come back and have people there singing our songs - like screaming them back at us - and nearly sell the place out, that was a pretty cool moment."
Such is the life of an artist - the highs don't hit as hard without a few lows along the way.
Working in the creative space is a topic Adam knows a lot about.
He's not just the drummer for a rising pop-rock trio - he also runs his own creative agency, delivering photography and video work that began, like so many businesses, with a genuine obsession.
"It kind of started off with GoPros at the beach, just having fun, making little action movies," Adam says.
"But I was just constantly getting new gear - I wanted to get better and better at it."
That creative energy led him to uni, where he studied a Bachelor of Creative Industries, majoring in Screen Media and minoring in Creative Advertising.
While studying, Adam launched his own business.
"Uni was valuable to me because I actually made a lot of connections," Adam says.
"People like my photography lecturer Tricia King - she was able to connect me with so many opportunities along the way. She's just such a legend."
Dr King says collaboration is central to working in the creative space for most people.
"Collaboration is often how we grow - not just in skill, but in confidence.
"Watching someone like Adam take those opportunities and flourish is really very rewarding."
That connectivity is clearly important to Adam too, with him emphasising them benefits that come from surrounding yourself with good people
"Work with people who are passionate, who inspire you, and who aren't afraid to think differently or give a second opinion," Adam says.
"Collaborate fully. Share the wins. Give credit openly.
"At the end of the day, we're all just people trying to bring something new and meaningful into the world - and doing it with others makes it so much more powerful."
As Adam's skills grew, so did his business.
"I was just constantly making content," Adam says. "And that's kind of flourished into getting more and more paid gigs. Now we're a company."
At the same time Adam was getting into visual storytelling, Nana's Pie started taking shape.
The band's roots can be traced back to a kindy in Cotton Tree, where Adam and his twin brother Nash met Tyler - the band's frontman.
Years later, the trio reconnected as teens, jamming in a van at the Cotton Tree caravan park near the Maroochy River on the summer holidays.
That van became their rehearsal space - a quasi-home framed by the golden sands and blue waters. It was paradise.
"We just used to jam out in that van all the time," Adam says. "That's kind of where it started."
Vans have become an important staple of Nana's Pie, with the band often loading into Nash's Renault Master to embark on tour.
Packed with sleeping gear, all the music equipment and surfboards strapped to the outside, the trio spent a great deal of time bumping along Australia's coastlines, playing late-night gigs, camping beachside for early surf sessions, then hitting the road again.
"We did our first Oz tour late 2022," Adam says. "Fully independent. We'd drive down the coast, sleep in the van, run everything ourselves. It taught us so much."
Touring grew, too, with friends joining on stage to fill out their sound and a small crew travelling with them - including a sound tech and another videographer, Robbie Hammer, whom Adam met at uni.
"He's amazing to work with," Adam says. "Having him there to capture content helped boost our profile."
Adam with his friend and colleague Robbie
Life on the road can be a wild mix of fun, fatigue, and chaos - and having Adam and Robbie there to capture it all has really helped the band grow their online presence and fanbase.
"You've gotta have an online presence," he says.
"It's never felt like a chore for us. We're kind of just like brothers, so it's easy."
As their online presence grew, so did the momentum - both for the band and for Adam's business.
"We're all visually creative," Adam says. "We bounce off each other and just get stuff done. I've built up all this gear over the years - cameras, lighting, editing stuff - and now we're just using it to our advantage."
That DIY mindset has helped Nana's Pie book multiple national tours, grow their fanbase in new cities and land high-profile support slots alongside acts such as Boy and Bear, Sons of the East, South Summit and their friends, The Dreggs.
But the band's momentum almost took a hiatus when Tyler made it to the finals of Australian Idol.
"He came ninth, which is pretty insane," Adam says. "He could've signed with a label afterwards. But staying with the band has let us keep building what we've got."
Now the band have released their first EP, recently returning to the UniSC music recording studios to film some more content to help further promote their new songs.
"I think we're just getting started," Adam says. "We've got the foundation now. It's just about building from here."
"It's all about consistency - making stuff, practicing, and putting your heart and soul into it."
