Name: Randy Niles 

 Age: 34 

Describe what you will do this year as part of Infringement Festival. 
I use the art of live looping, which is basically incorporating a digital device—loop pedal—into my setup which allows me to record my voice and instrument(s) in real time and play it back immediately for my audience. By doing this I can manipulate the sound of my guitar, with the use of a few other colorful effects, to get percussive beats, bass lines guitar melodies, and more all into my performance.

What inspires you to create your art?
The desire to really open people’s hearts and connect with them on a much deeper level is a huge part of my inspiration. I look around me and see so much going on, and though it’s truly nothing new, there is a sense that you can actually make some level of a difference in their lives as well your own.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve done in the name of art?
I took a crazy job years back, selling kids books (those types you would find in those 99-cent stores) wearing this embarrassing costume, on the streets of New York City. I was desperate and determined because I wanted to buy this particular guitar I saw in a vintage shop and needed to raise the funds for it. I was horrible at it and it was embarrassing, but I promised myself that I would work the job until I earned the money, and then quit. I got thrown out of places like Madison Square Garden when shows like Sesame Street were going on because I was trying to sell to the teachers and counselors as they were waiting in line with the kids. It almost got me arrested a few times, but I earned the money after a few months and the day I bought the guitar I walked back to the company’s warehouse and quit.

How do you think you fit into the Infringement Festival?
In what I do as an artist and what I am saying through my music, I really take a stand toward forging my own path; through creating a unique sound and experience with my art. I always run into the common stereotype—that I am just this one guy with a guitar that isn’t going to have much to say or really impact a room. But my persistence at getting this vehicle out and not conforming to the “standard” way, has actually opened more doors and more minds to the idea of a new outlook of perceiving the live music experience. The Infringement Festival welcomes the creative, pioneering, and risk-taking factors of producing a voice through arts many faces and I feel I fit right in to this environment comfortably.