Contra is a military veteran, Bitcoiner, Nostr philosopher, and the creative force behind a father-son music project. This conversation covers his Bitcoin origin story, why military veterans seem to take to Bitcoin and Nostr like a mission, and the real story behind his music that a lot of people consider to be AI slop.
Contra found Bitcoin in 2016 through a military training class that touched on dark web operations and technology. His first instinct was pyramid scheme. The class instructor reframed it as dollar cost averaging and the rest is history. Nostr came next, around late 2022 or early 2023.
On why military veterans seem to gravitate toward Bitcoin and Nostr: the mission-oriented mindset, the tight community, the shared sense that no one is coming to save you and that it is time to take matters into your own hands.
The music. Contra has a soon-to-be 19-year-old son who has played drums since childhood, picked up every instrument in the house, and has been learning Logic Pro for years. They sit down together, his son starts with guitar or drums, they record and clip pieces in Logic Pro, find a consistent voice for the album, and build it out from there. It is a father-son project about two and a half to three years in the making. The AI component is used to enhance, not replace. His son is the musician. Contra is the music fan who showed up.
The Geyser Fund for their music exists because his son asked a fair question: what am I getting out of this? All zaps and sats from Wavlake and Nostr go directly to his son. Contra keeps none of it.
On what Contra wants to see more of in Nostr: better onboarding, more people understanding they do not own their audience on legacy platforms, and bringing back the randomness of the internet. He floated the idea of coordinated comment section raids into Bitcoin Twitter to pull people toward Nostr. He wants more people awake, not more followers.
On the difference between Nostr and Twitter engagement: on Twitter a post can get thousands of views with zero real interaction. On Nostr someone is actually going to respond. That realness is the whole point.
Find Contra on Nostr. Find Heather at ditto.pub. Support independent music at wavlake.com and fountain.fm.
https://ditto.pub/[email protected]