The video was filmed on top of the PRS building in Streatham Hill, directed by Chris Presswell with assistance from Carina Birrell. Huge thanks to cast and crew as well as Laura McAleer and everyone at PRS.
Behind the scenes...
ALCHEMY ROSE - LAUNCH PARTY
This was at the Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen and played to a lovely appreciative crowd! Thanks to everyone who came down.
I debuted a number of brand new tracks from my forthcoming album, including 'I've Been Thinking' and 'Well Well' - check them out below:
MUSINGS AND SUCH "I ask the songwriter how his solo work differs to that he performed
with The Foxes; what we can expect from his sophomore album; what sort
of music he is inspired by - Thomas selects a few albums that have made
an impact on him." Have a read!
Note: I never normally look this cool
THE FOXES - 'B-SIDES AND RARITIES' - OUT NOW!
I'm really proud of this collection of songs from my old band, The Foxes, many of which have either never been heard before or only available on long since sold out CD and vinyl.
The album includes 'Hey Baby!', 'She's a Cow', 'Friday Night', alternative
original recordings of 'Lover, Killer,' 'Suzy' and 'Run' and a host of
never before heard tracks. ITunes, Amazon and all good online stores. iTunes Amazon UK Amazon US Spotify
Much more to come, including new album news, new music videos AND the day I got to drive a huge JCB digger for a horror short and another where I was filmed inside a fridge.
First off, here's the brand new music video to 'Fever', a track from my forthcoming début album. They say there's no light without darkness and this video is very dark - made by the fantastic Infinite Pictures (the team behind my 'Third Movement' video, as well as The Foxes 'Lover Killer' and 'Bill Hicks') it references films from Maniac and American Psycho to literature including the works of Burroughs, Bukowski, Ellis and Palahniuk.
Written and Directed by Zoe. Produced by Gavin Fry (Infinite Pictures - www.infinitepictures.co.uk) Costume by Gemma Corker.
Huge thanks to everyone who gave up their time and talent so generously for this video to happen. You know who you are and you know I'm grateful.
The next blog will contain full info on the album release. CLARK KENT AMBUSH. The great champion of new music Clark Kent (AKA John Clay) ambushed me on the streets of Camden Town in this three part interview. Take a look, then check out his Youtube channel here. He's the real deal.
ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL.
Playing the Isle of Wight Festival was a blast! After the incredible amounts of rain on Friday evening the sun shone on the Kashmir Cafe stage on Saturday where I played with some hugely talented musicians to a sizeable festival crowd, then got to watch Blur again after - not a bad days work.Thanks as always to Doug Alldred for organising and to all in the lovely crowd who watched and listened. Photos below by Chemical Gdns. Click on photos for larger versions.
'Moment of the Festival' - seeing drummer Pat Kenneally in the morning after his £19 tent was found not to be quite as waterproof as he'd hoped, and he'd used his only dry trousers to mop up the puddles.
The band left to right - Alex S Tower (Keys), GrooveSun (bass, hidden behind Alex), Patrick Kenneally (drums, vocals, hat), Me (guitar, vocals) Jon Bretman (lead guitar, vocals).
Hamburg
Last week I had the privilege of playing several gigs in Hamburg, both solo acoustic as as part of 'Darling Boy', led by the multi-talented musician Alex Gold, formerly of The Wutars, whom I met back in the Death Disco days. We were both in support of 'Duncan Reid and the Bigheads', led by the former front man of classic punk rock band The Boys. I've had their song 'Cest La Vie' in my head for days now, check it out.
HUGE thanks to Anna and Dirke Lange for their hospitality, and everyone involved. Click on photos for larger versions.
At Monkey's, a fine club and lovely crowd.
I have a lot of time for this sign!
Photo op on stage!
More Monkey club action
On stage with Darling Boy!
Don't ask....
HOLIDAY TIP - don't cross the road in Germany without the green man, regardless of complete lack of traffic. The police will
tell you off and you'll have to use your broken German to explain that
you're used to throwing yourself into the road with wild abandon in London.
NOT I... I'll leave you with a track I've recently discovered called 'Little Heart Bomb' by Norwegian band 'Bigbang'. Enjoy.
Nigel. X P.S. lovely little pre-release review of 'Fever' by John Clay here, via God is in the TV. P.P.S My dear friend Stuart Saint is doing a kickstarter for an exiting new musical called 'Princess' - do have a look!
First of all I'm very excited to announce that the official trailer for my feature film 'Candlestick' has finally been unleashed to the world! Have a look:
From TV Bomb:'Candlestick is a stylish retro thriller taking its cues from Alfred Hitchcock’s classics Rope and Dial M for Murder. Director Christopher Presswell’s
second feature sees a social gathering take a dark turn when the host
suggests that his best friend’s wife may have been unfaithful. However,
as the allegations start flying, it soon becomes clear that something
far more sinister is at play. Watch the preview below then see the film
as part of the Aberdeen Film Festival on Wednesday 8th October.'
I'll be up in Aberdeen for the Film Festival on 8th October with plenty more screenings to come (including the Marbella Film Festival AND I've heard rumours of New York too).
It really is a great little film of which I'm really proud to have been a part - keep up to date with screenings and exclusive updates on the Candlestick Twitter page.
THE MUSIC HALL MENAGERIE
There's just ONE WEEK left to see my current production, The Music Hall Menagerie at the Leicester Square Theatre in central London, directed byStuart Saint. It's a show full of laughter, songs, variety, fun and a touch of dance, do come and see it if you can (use the code WOW10 for special discount but keep it to yourself!).
ALBUM AND TOUR Finally, I can announce that I'll be embarking on a mini UK tour in November in advance of the release of my new solo album. I'll be joined on the tour with Cara Mitchell, a hugely talented singer/songwriter from Aberdeen. The tour so far (with huge thanks to Ross Calder of AGP Aberdeen) Thur 20th Nov - GLASGOW, Nice 'n' Sleazy Fri 21st Nov - EDINBURGH, Sneaky Pete's Sat 22nd Nov - ABERDEEN, Cellar 35 Sun 23rd Nov - INVERNESS, Hootananny's Mon 24th Nov - NOTTINGHAM, Acoustic Rooms Tue 25th Nov - NORWICH, The Blueberry Music House Wed 26th Nov - LONDON, Death2Disco Thur 27th Nov - BRIGHTON, Chequers
I'll have more album news soon where lots of music videos are already in the works - I'll leave you with the full band video to Third Movement (a completely new remake of the acoustic video) by the fabulous Infinite Pictures, who made The Foxes music videos 'Bill Hicks' and 'Lover, Killer'.
That's all for now! Thanks for taking the time to read this blog - if you enjoyed it I'd be very grateful if you'd help it spread by emailing it to a friend or sharing on Facebook or Twitter. Plus I'd love to hear your thoughts on the trailer - so if you have 30 seconds, leave me a little comment below! Much love, Nigel. X
I'm very pleased to announce I'll be recording my first proper solo album at Tilehouse Studios in January with a group of some of the best session musicians in the country.
Here's a little sample of what we've done already (this one recorded at Bowerman Studios) and yes, it contains real harp, violin and cello.
There are live videos for 'Fever' and 'Travelling Man' both of which will appear on the album if you fancy other, very different tasters!
You can still currently download my acoustic album, 'Third Movement' for free from here. It'll be deleted at the end of the year, so get it while you can. MUSIC VIDEOS I'm featured in the new Rizzle Kicks music video 'Skip to the Good Bit' which samples the famous EMF song. Here it is:
Earlier this year I was also lucky enough to feature in the music video to 'Footsteps' from The Jar Family which you can see here. They're a great band, well worth checking out.
My penchant for making low-fi music videos for The Foxes album tracks continue with this latest offering for "Sweet Little Wonder". It features all of us in the bath, which will both delight and shock in (un)equal measure.
Candlestick director Chris Presswell who helped with filming this also made a very special little stop-motion/layered video test called 'Nigel Gets What He Deserves' which is both spiritually correct and rather amusing. Chris was also responsible for taking the photo of me which was featured in the final episode of one of my all time favourite TV comedies, The IT Crowd on Channel 4.
To quote Chris himself: "The episode is currently available on 4oD."
THE FILM The new feature film I'm in, Candlestick, is 'a stylish Hitchcock style thriller'. The production team have just finished recording the score with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (which provided the music to such films as The Sixth Sense, District 9 and Mullholland Drive) and it'll be out in 2014.
Never one to turn down the chance to wear a bright green full body jumpsuit, I'm the 'game head' in this Stride advert for Gumulon. I also have a beard in this, which I quite like.
Using my geeky acting side to its extreme, I play Francis in this comedy viral ad. It's fine, I want to hit myself quite a bit in this too.
Thank you to everyone who came to see me in Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens at the Leicester Square Theatre this summer, directed by Stuart Saint. It was glittery, challenging and a lot of fun.
Until next time.... Much love, Nigel. P.S. I found this: 'Hit or Miss' by Odetta Holmes. It's great. P.P.S. You can still find me dj'ing Death2Disco every week at Notting Hill Arts Club. I book the bands too, feel free to make suggestions. P.P.P.S. Real or not, this video has completely cured me. P.P.P.P.S. Pub quiz?
“While we look to the dramatist to give romance to realism, we ask of the actor to give realism to romance.”Oscar Wilde.
"I got tiger blood, man. My brain...fires in a way that is - I don't
know, maybe not from this particular terrestrial realm." Charlie Sheen.
While we look to the dramatist to give romance to realism, we ask of the actor to give realism to romance.
I've been way too busy to post anything since October...so what's been going on?!
Well, you won't be surprised to hear a lot of gigging has happened and we played with The Buzzcockson the Isle of Wight a few weeks ago, from which the live video above to "Get Me" is taken. There's loads more live videos on our Youtube page, and photos from the gig are here. It really was a brilliant night, and thanks to Doug Alldred and Airon Baker from Blunt Promotions for putting on the show. Special thanks to Doug for the quite incredible aftershow party, of which we're not going to say too much (stronger Honey next time Doug?!) apart from it went on past 7am and Doug makes the BEST cocktails...oh, and his Guinness "surge" device is amazing, as is his vinyl collection.
The Buzzcocks were really nice chaps, and we had quite a time with them after the show. Must remember to include four bottles of Champagne on my next rider too....
Well, the big news is that from 17th to 21st January, we'll be recording a brand new 4 track EP at Sawmills Studios with producer John Cornfield. John produced and mixed several of my favourite albums, including "Origin of Symmetry" by Muse, and "In it for the Money" by Supergrass, though he's also worked with Razorlight, Oasis, Robert Plans, The Verve, The Stone Roses etc. The studio is in the most beautiful areas of Cornwall, and can only be accessed by boat...yes, we'll be transporting all the equipment from our van to the studio by the river, as you can see from this photo:
We've firmly decided on three of the four tracks we'll be recording...which are:
We're still pondering as to the fourth track....which will either be "Country Low" (which you can hear on my Facebook page here) or a new version of an old song "Run" (which you can hear here).
We also need to decide upon a NAME for the EP...which might be based on some of my lyrics - suggestions welcome on all counts, though don't feel bad if they're ignored...it just means they're rubbish.
Oh, and "Lover, Killer" has been used by a New Zealand company in a Skiing video which you can see here. It's also now up on Air New Zealand, if you happen to fly with them....
ANYWAY, all of this is all piffle, compared to the GIGANTIC NEWS that the FANS IN OUR VAN HAVE NOW BEEN FIXED. No, we don't carry repaired girls around in it, I mean the HEATING is fixed. What better time to have done that too, than aftermonths of FREEZING COLD?! Honestly, this will improve my life immensely, and I might finally start to feel better. We'll be announcing a big UK tour shortly, and I think we all would have frozen to death without this. The wheel that nearly came off the van when we were driving (which would have killed us), has also been fixed. So that's good.
Those of you who have had the time and strength of mind to have read my previous blog entries will know that I had....er...ALL my stuff stolen on my wild European Road Trip with Jonno in September. Luckily I was insured, and you'll all be as delighted as I was to hear that out of about £2,000 worth of stuff stolen, I've received the princely sum of £164.74. Isn't life so very fair?!
However, on the bright side, I DID manage to get another Mickey Mouse top after months of searching Ebay.
The photo above and right is HMS Warrior in Portsmouth Harbour, which I took just before getting the ferry to the Isle of Wight. Pretty pretty!
IN THE NEXT BLOG: There'll be news (and maybe even a snippet) of the World Cup song I've been asked to write, as well as video compilation I'm putting together from the filming I did on the YETI tour way back in 2008....PLUS more random photos and weird videos.
I'll leave you with photos from our Death Disco Christmas Party, and just for a laugh, a video (which someone uploaded just six months ago and I found by chance) of our playing a song we never play anymore nearly two years ago.....ah, the memories!
"Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape." William S. Burroughs.
