Before joining Verve
/ The Verve, Nick was a trainee quantity surveyor in
Liverpool, which means he would've worked out the amounts of
materials needed for things like new buildings from given
plans, so he must be good with a calculator!! He also did
stints as a farm labourer and a milkman.....
A Times newspaper
reporter in September '93 commenting on Nick's typical live
stance said he, "coaxed gorgeous shimmering wodges of
sound from his instrument while exuding all the enthusiasm of
a man waiting for a bus"......
Whilst being
interviewed by "Hits" magazine in Pittsburgh 1994, Nick was asked what
was the thing he most liked about Richard Ashcroft. He said,
"What I like about Richard is what I sometimes don't
like about him ~ his endless enthusiasm. I got up this
morning and felt absolutely terrible and homesick. Richard
said, "Come on, get some life into you!" That can
be a bit much really."
In 1994 whilst on tour in America, Nick and
Simon Jones got invited back to the apartment of a boozed up
drug dealer. An over indulgence in his "hospitality",
led to Nick being inadvertantly locked in the flat, fast
asleep. Some hours later Simon had already gone ( friends eh!!!!
) leaving Nick, who then somehow managed to get out in the
morning.
This is a story from
Dylan who is on The Raft mailing list.
"He used to live in a flat opposite my house about 7-8 years ago. I was only about 12 at the time and it was before ASIH had been released so obviously I knew nothing about the Verve. He used to sit behind his window most of the day playing his acoustic. As we were childish 12 year old kids we used to take the piss out of him and try and get him to chase us etc. When his window was open, we used to shout up to him calling him the "Honky Tonk Man" for some strange reason. Most of the time though we'd just play tappy on his door. He never used to bother answering it as he knew it was us. Once though when we did it, he shouted to us through his window and as we went over he chucked a bloody bucket of water over me! Another time we robbed a huge pile of Record Collector magazines from the back of this house and took them to Nick to see if he'd buy them off us. His words were, "No, thanks for asking. I used to read that actually but I can't afford it any more as I'm in a band and all my money goes on my equipment."
At the Bataclan
Venue, Paris April 1995, Nick's finger was
broken by a security guard (evil man!!), who punched and
kicked him downstairs.......though some reports say Nick was
thrown against a wall and punched in the face.......(even
more of an evil man!!)
During the recording
of a Northern Soul there was tension between Nick and the
producer Owen Morris who liked a good piss take......the
sensitive Nick didn't like it at all. Owen said Nick was
"without a shadow of a doubt the most gifted musician I
have ever worked with, but at the same time a complete and
utter nightmare. He'll never play the same thing twice."
Nick commenting on
the "Big Buddies with Oasis" scenario:
"The thing is, I've never said, "Oh, I'm best mates with Oasis, you know" because I don't really know them. It's funny , it's Richard who knows them best and yet he's the one who talks about them most and then gets pissed off when they're always mentioned.....I'm not into cliques and I avoid it because most bands are total fucking knobs."
At Christmas 1996,when Nick was
severely depressed his flat mate even considered having him
sectioned for his own safety. Just as well he went back home......
In
1997,
Nick was asked to produce The Beta Bands' "Champion
Versions" (Regal EP,1997).
Not only is Nick a
great guitarist, but he can play keyboard instruments and is
a whizz with a childs xylophone, ( listen carefully to The
Verve's "So Sister" )
