Wednesday, 10 September 2014
Tuesday, 3 June 2014
Nick McCabe Selling Equipment To Fans Via Facebook
Former Verve guitarist Nick McCabe is selling off various guitars, amps and pieces of musical equipment via his Facebook page.
McCabe announced the sale on May 18 and has been regularly updating the items on sale. Among the sought-after pieces are a 1972 Telecaster Deluxe seen on the 'Love Is Noise' video, and pedals used on 2008 Verve album 'Forth'.
In a May 18 post, McCabe concedes that "The past two years have been hard on my bank balance" but later writes that he's finding the clear-out rewarding. "I'm actually extracting a lot of joy from selling all this stuff off, who'd have thought," he wrote. He's also been posting pictures of himself packing and signing items bought by fans.
McCabe has let sentimentality get the better of him when it came to one item, his red Fender Stratocaster, named Spike, which was removed from sale.
"I've had all kinds of reactions to selling that guitar, but generally people closest to me say, 'You can't'," he writes. "I've managed to autoerase most of my history several times, maybe it's time to [stop] doing that. Everything else is still up for grabs."
McCabe announced the sale on May 18 and has been regularly updating the items on sale. Among the sought-after pieces are a 1972 Telecaster Deluxe seen on the 'Love Is Noise' video, and pedals used on 2008 Verve album 'Forth'.
In a May 18 post, McCabe concedes that "The past two years have been hard on my bank balance" but later writes that he's finding the clear-out rewarding. "I'm actually extracting a lot of joy from selling all this stuff off, who'd have thought," he wrote. He's also been posting pictures of himself packing and signing items bought by fans.
McCabe has let sentimentality get the better of him when it came to one item, his red Fender Stratocaster, named Spike, which was removed from sale.
"I've had all kinds of reactions to selling that guitar, but generally people closest to me say, 'You can't'," he writes. "I've managed to autoerase most of my history several times, maybe it's time to [stop] doing that. Everything else is still up for grabs."
Sunday, 16 February 2014
Nick McCabe Sailing Into Calmer Waters With New Band
Heres an interview with Nick McCabe done recently with the Manchester Evening News:
After a bruising time with The Verve, guitarist Nick McCabe tells Sarah Walters why he's now ready to unveil his new band
Nick – best known as peerless guitarist in Wigan band The Verve – is putting together the 'technicals' for a short tour with his new band Black Submarine, who stop off at the Deaf Institute on Wednesday.
Despite years of working with musical luminaries such as John Martyn, and as a producer, he has never formed a band outside The Verve. “The last Verve album had a couple of lessons for me really,” says Nick.
“I had previously come out of that band quite damaged, as the scapegoat for various machinations in the band that had been pinned on me. Post each period of The Verve, I had a period of convalescing and licking my wounds.
“The reason I continued at all is because I'm passionate about music, and that's been a blessing and a curse – while that's given me the conviction to carry on making music, I have rejected the notion of getting involved in anything with a profile that would ruin the satisfaction of it.”
Recording sessions for the final Verve record, Forth, were what allowed Nick to 'make peace' with those anxieties. He rekindled a fruitful writing relationship with The Verve's bassist Simon Jones, and it soon became clear that they could put together a project they'd been considering working on since they were teenagers.
“It was a bit of a triumph over adversity,” Nick recalls, “we realised all the bull**** didn't have to affect us. I don't think The Verve ever played as well as we did on that tour, but it's not to be underestimated the politics in that band; even the people who worked with us got sucked into the dysfunction.
“Pete Salisbury (The Verve's drummer) was going to come on board with us, but his loyalty to Richard (Ashcroft) and the politics... Rather than getting embroiled in that, he just bowed out gracefully.
“A lot of other things conspired in our favour: I had a working relationship with Mig (Schillace – former drummer for Portishead) and I'd been sparring verbally with Dav (Davide Rossi – strings visionary for Goldfrapp, Coldplay and the Forth LP). Instead of belligerently sticking two fingers up at the music business, I thought, 'Well, I've invested most of my life in this business, this is what I want to hear and if that satisfies my idea of quality then someone else is going to get it too'.
“At this point in life, I can look at things and realise how lucky I am.”
Finally, then, in 2010 Nick, Simon, Davide and Mig unveiled The Black Ships, and an EP started doing the online rounds – Kurofune, a 25-minute psychedelic masterpiece and classic McCabe territory. A legal challenge from an American band forced a name change from on to under the ocean, the Massive Attack-style revolving roster of singers was abandoned in favour of permanent vocalist Amelia Tucker and, 18 months on, there's an album ready to go.
New Shores is 'the cream of a big crop' from sessions that were more jammed than contrived. It's pretty wow: majestic and utterly without musical boundaries. It's no accidental wander away from the genres and Zeitgeists McCabe rejects, and it acknowledges how liberated musicians in a post-major label age can be.
“Genre fascism has gone the other way, even prog's being rehabilitated! And that means we're in a position where everybody has very disparate tastes and everything you hid away in your record collection as your dirty little secret is fair game,” Nick smiles.
“Music doesn't have to be this highly conceptual hybridisation, it can be as simple as letting your subconscious vomit. That's where I'm more excited really – when things spill forth and you go, 'Where did that come from?'. If you've got five people in a room and they all let their subconscious vomit you're going to get something really interesting.”
Laughter erupts. “Honestly, though, I'm going back to being five years old listening to The Planets suite by Holst, you don't have a visual stimulus for what you listen to so you've got more room for imagination. I like to think with this record we've let the universe in – that it's a drug experience without the drugs.”
After a bruising time with The Verve, guitarist Nick McCabe tells Sarah Walters why he's now ready to unveil his new band
Nick – best known as peerless guitarist in Wigan band The Verve – is putting together the 'technicals' for a short tour with his new band Black Submarine, who stop off at the Deaf Institute on Wednesday.
Despite years of working with musical luminaries such as John Martyn, and as a producer, he has never formed a band outside The Verve. “The last Verve album had a couple of lessons for me really,” says Nick.
“I had previously come out of that band quite damaged, as the scapegoat for various machinations in the band that had been pinned on me. Post each period of The Verve, I had a period of convalescing and licking my wounds.
“The reason I continued at all is because I'm passionate about music, and that's been a blessing and a curse – while that's given me the conviction to carry on making music, I have rejected the notion of getting involved in anything with a profile that would ruin the satisfaction of it.”
Recording sessions for the final Verve record, Forth, were what allowed Nick to 'make peace' with those anxieties. He rekindled a fruitful writing relationship with The Verve's bassist Simon Jones, and it soon became clear that they could put together a project they'd been considering working on since they were teenagers.
“It was a bit of a triumph over adversity,” Nick recalls, “we realised all the bull**** didn't have to affect us. I don't think The Verve ever played as well as we did on that tour, but it's not to be underestimated the politics in that band; even the people who worked with us got sucked into the dysfunction.
“Pete Salisbury (The Verve's drummer) was going to come on board with us, but his loyalty to Richard (Ashcroft) and the politics... Rather than getting embroiled in that, he just bowed out gracefully.
“A lot of other things conspired in our favour: I had a working relationship with Mig (Schillace – former drummer for Portishead) and I'd been sparring verbally with Dav (Davide Rossi – strings visionary for Goldfrapp, Coldplay and the Forth LP). Instead of belligerently sticking two fingers up at the music business, I thought, 'Well, I've invested most of my life in this business, this is what I want to hear and if that satisfies my idea of quality then someone else is going to get it too'.
“At this point in life, I can look at things and realise how lucky I am.”
Finally, then, in 2010 Nick, Simon, Davide and Mig unveiled The Black Ships, and an EP started doing the online rounds – Kurofune, a 25-minute psychedelic masterpiece and classic McCabe territory. A legal challenge from an American band forced a name change from on to under the ocean, the Massive Attack-style revolving roster of singers was abandoned in favour of permanent vocalist Amelia Tucker and, 18 months on, there's an album ready to go.
New Shores is 'the cream of a big crop' from sessions that were more jammed than contrived. It's pretty wow: majestic and utterly without musical boundaries. It's no accidental wander away from the genres and Zeitgeists McCabe rejects, and it acknowledges how liberated musicians in a post-major label age can be.
“Genre fascism has gone the other way, even prog's being rehabilitated! And that means we're in a position where everybody has very disparate tastes and everything you hid away in your record collection as your dirty little secret is fair game,” Nick smiles.
“Music doesn't have to be this highly conceptual hybridisation, it can be as simple as letting your subconscious vomit. That's where I'm more excited really – when things spill forth and you go, 'Where did that come from?'. If you've got five people in a room and they all let their subconscious vomit you're going to get something really interesting.”
Laughter erupts. “Honestly, though, I'm going back to being five years old listening to The Planets suite by Holst, you don't have a visual stimulus for what you listen to so you've got more room for imagination. I like to think with this record we've let the universe in – that it's a drug experience without the drugs.”
Tuesday, 22 October 2013
Pete Salisbury Performs At Jon Brookes Tribute Concert
The Charlatans headlined A Night For Jon Brookes, a tribute concert for their late drummer, at London's Royal Albert Hall (October 18).
The evening started with Birmingham band Dumb, followed by Tim & Friends, a line-up featuring New Order's Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert, Mumford and Sons' Winston Marshall, The Vaccines' Freddie Cowan and Arni Arnason, and The Pretenders' James Walbourn, with Tim Burgess on vocals.
Manic Street Preachers' James Dean Bradfield was up next followed by Liam Gallagher & Friends, essentially Beady Eye without injured guitarist Gem Archer.
Finally, The Charlatans came to the stage, with former The Verve drummer Pete Salisbury filling in for Brookes. Speaking to NME before the concert, Charlatans bassist Martin Blunt said: "There was a tour when Jon was ill and wasn't going to be able to play. We asked who he wanted to replace him, and his first choice was Pete Salisbury."
Black Submarine Announce Debut Album And Gigs
Black Submarine have announced their debut album New Shores, which will be released on Monday February 3 via Kobalt Music, with a free track ‘Black Submarine’ available to download now from the band’s website.
Black Submarine are Nick McCabe (ex-The Verve guitarist), Simon Jones (ex-The Verve bassist), Davide Rossi (multi-instrumentalist/string arranger for Goldfrapp/Coldplay), Michele ‘Mig’ Schillace (ex-drummer for Portishead/Santa Cruz) and Bristol-based vocalist Amelia Tucker.
The band will be bringing New Shores to a live audience in February with two exclusive UK headline shows.
2014 Live Shows:
Wed February 5: Manchester, Deaf Institute
Thurs February 6: London, Wilton’s Music Hall
Tickets go on sale at 9am this Friday ( priced at £17.50 in Manchester and £20 in London)
Tuesday, 15 October 2013
Jazz Summers (Verve Manager) On Bittersweet Symphony
A new interview with Jazz Summers (ex Verve manager) appeared online recently giving insight to the whole Bittersweet Symphony debate between The Verve and The Rolling Stones regarding songwriting credits:
"I remember hearing The Verve put the finishing touches to Urban Hymns in 1997 and thinking, this album’s a masterpiece. That was the day I discovered there was a Rolling Stones sample on Bittersweet Symphony. It felt like winning the lottery but losing the ticket.
The sample, the producer told me, was from an orchestral version of the Stones’ 1965 hit The Last Time. A shadow crept across my soul. I knew who owned the copyright for that era of the Rolling Stones. It was a man called Allen Klein: former manager of the Rolling Stones, former manager of The Beatles.
Klein ran a company called ABKCO and he was notorious as a breaker of both deals and b***s.
For Bittersweet Symphony to exist, we’d have to come to an agreement with Klein about our respective shares of the songwriting royalties. I called his assistant Iris Keitel in America and attempted to charm her.
‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Yes, I know about this. Some idiot from EMI phoned me about this yesterday. I told him to f*** off, Jazz. You needn’t have called. We’re not going to let you use it.’
I phoned Nancy Berry, who ran Virgin Records in America, and asked if there was any chance she could play Bittersweet Symphony to Mick and Keith. Those two were bound to put music before business.
The following week, Nancy called back with news that Klein would allow the song to come out and had agreed a 50-50 split. I was delighted. I called up the band and they were ecstatic, too. It was what they deserved, at the very least – a 50 per cent royalty on the song they’d written.
The next week, the contracts arrived. The deal wasn’t 50-50. It was 100 per cent Jagger/Richards. I phoned Nancy, and she confirmed what they’d done.
‘The contract is right, Jazz, and it is 50-50, like they said: 50 per cent Mick, 50 per cent Keith.’
When Bittersweet Symphony was nominated for a Grammy, the song was attributed to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
It baffles me, how Mick and Keith could bear that.
Maybe they’re so used to having money and greatness bestowed on them, they just nodded, banked the cash and went with it.
We were asked to put the song on a Vauxhall advert. We declined, so ABKCO re-made it without the vocal and gave Vauxhall permission.
It’s the same when the football comes on TV in England: Richard Ashcroft’s sons tell him his music’s on, but it isn’t, not really, and that hurts him.
I loved The Verve, but there were tensions, and I couldn’t stop them from splitting. Likewise, if my artists don’t support me I can’t do my job. I need their backing."
To read the rest of the interview click here
"I remember hearing The Verve put the finishing touches to Urban Hymns in 1997 and thinking, this album’s a masterpiece. That was the day I discovered there was a Rolling Stones sample on Bittersweet Symphony. It felt like winning the lottery but losing the ticket.
The sample, the producer told me, was from an orchestral version of the Stones’ 1965 hit The Last Time. A shadow crept across my soul. I knew who owned the copyright for that era of the Rolling Stones. It was a man called Allen Klein: former manager of the Rolling Stones, former manager of The Beatles.
Klein ran a company called ABKCO and he was notorious as a breaker of both deals and b***s.
For Bittersweet Symphony to exist, we’d have to come to an agreement with Klein about our respective shares of the songwriting royalties. I called his assistant Iris Keitel in America and attempted to charm her.
‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Yes, I know about this. Some idiot from EMI phoned me about this yesterday. I told him to f*** off, Jazz. You needn’t have called. We’re not going to let you use it.’
I phoned Nancy Berry, who ran Virgin Records in America, and asked if there was any chance she could play Bittersweet Symphony to Mick and Keith. Those two were bound to put music before business.
The following week, Nancy called back with news that Klein would allow the song to come out and had agreed a 50-50 split. I was delighted. I called up the band and they were ecstatic, too. It was what they deserved, at the very least – a 50 per cent royalty on the song they’d written.
The next week, the contracts arrived. The deal wasn’t 50-50. It was 100 per cent Jagger/Richards. I phoned Nancy, and she confirmed what they’d done.
‘The contract is right, Jazz, and it is 50-50, like they said: 50 per cent Mick, 50 per cent Keith.’
When Bittersweet Symphony was nominated for a Grammy, the song was attributed to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
It baffles me, how Mick and Keith could bear that.
Maybe they’re so used to having money and greatness bestowed on them, they just nodded, banked the cash and went with it.
We were asked to put the song on a Vauxhall advert. We declined, so ABKCO re-made it without the vocal and gave Vauxhall permission.
It’s the same when the football comes on TV in England: Richard Ashcroft’s sons tell him his music’s on, but it isn’t, not really, and that hurts him.
I loved The Verve, but there were tensions, and I couldn’t stop them from splitting. Likewise, if my artists don’t support me I can’t do my job. I need their backing."
To read the rest of the interview click here
Thursday, 19 September 2013
The Verve Live @ Lollapalooza 1994
This video surfaced on YouTube recently. Shot from the front row/beyond the barrier. Audio isn't the best, but some great close ups of Nick and the telecaster he used in those early days.
Just thought I'd share, for those that haven't already seen it:
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