A recently formed college band from the fertile crescent of Florida’s ever-burgeoning DIY scene, The Nancys are carving out a plot of their own with the upcoming release of their first EP, out everywhere May 9. The debut is an ode to coming of age, touching on universal themes of love, loss, identity and becoming. For a band still very much in their infancy, they consistently punch with the weight of a group years their senior.

This week, vocalist and main songwriter Ella Norris was nice enough to answer a few of my questions about the band.

YY: As a band from Gainesville, a town famous for its tight-knit music scene and nationally recognized events like The Fest, do you identify deeply with where you’re from, or do you believe you could you have formed this band anywhere, regardless of its hometown?

EN: I would say as a band we definitely identify deeply with coming from Gainesville. It's a very big town with people coming from all over the place to go to college here, and I think that it definitely influenced our forming. While I'd like to believe we could have formed The Nancys anywhere, I think it’s impossible to ignore the environment and catalyst Gainesville served to make it happen!

The Nancys often performs alongside other bands from the Gainesville area — what has been your experience “coming of age” among this group of potentially likeminded artists?

It's really been such a good experience coming up as a band in Gainesville, and we've been so grateful for the scene. It's definitely a place where we have found some of our closest friends (and bandmates), and everybody is so collaborative. We're very close with a lot of other artists here and have played shows with almost every band around.

For all intents and purposes, The Nancys is a college band. Established at a presumably formative time for you, how did your college experience contribute to the foundation of the band and this first EP?

College plays a big part in the writing process of the band. Especially since college is a time where you learn the most about yourself and are thrown into all these new experiences. I would say I'm the most inspired when writing from all my college experiences, and it's primarily the topic of our songs as well. Coming into adulthood and finding yourself and your identity is a big theme on our upcoming EP.

What does your typical songwriting process look like from start to finish?

I find it very hard to force myself to write something. Most of the time I will have bits and lyrics scribbled down over periods, and if I find a line I like, I'm usually able to form an entire song around it. I find that to be the easiest and most therapeutic way to get everything out. I write most songs on my acoustic guitar, and then I bring it to Theo and Shane where we create lead guitar, bass, and drum parts.

Your debut EP marks the culmination of about a year and a half of writing, recording, performing and overall growth. When you reflect on that time, what are you grateful to have had, and is there anything you might’ve done differently?

I feel like we all have plenty of things we wished we'd done differently when looking back. For the purposes of writing and creating though, I wouldn't say there's anything I'd go back and change. It's all part of the long winding process, and skipping the hard parts simply doesn't create that authentic feel we're going for.

If you could point to one key emotion or experience that ties these songs together and puts a bow on this EP, what might that be?

I would say that the EP could be described as "nostalgic" for sure. Each song reflects on a specific experience I've had, something that I'm sure many people can also relate to. Whether it’s a good or bad feeling, it does bring you back to a certain place and a certain time. A very specific emotion.

Which of the five tracks is your personal favorite, and why?

My personal favorite track is “Know Me Too.” I wrote it not expecting it to ever see the light of day, and to watch it transform over the months has been pretty incredible. The lyrics on it are my favorite and mean the most to me as well.

What’s an album or artist you’re particularly interested in at the moment?

We all listen to a lot of different music. An album I've been fixated on lately is The Bends by Radiohead.

If the Gainesville music scene has a Nancy, who is its Sid?

I've definitely said it before, but I love the idea that there is no Sid. Nancy is a mindset. It's a state of being. In the Gainesville music scene and the band, there is no one Nancy, we are all Nancy. It's a fun little idea that quickly caught momentum here.

As a band of college seniors, I would imagine graduation is just around the corner for each of you, marking not only a significant milestone in your individual lives, but also in the life of this band. With that in mind, what’s next for The Nancys?

Graduation is definitely a scary thing we're quickly approaching. For us, we are definitely continuing The Nancys for as long as we can. We feel like we've just started, and to put an end to something that causes us so much joy just doesn't feel right. Hopefully lots to come for the future of Nancys all over the world.