Grant Nicholas

The Institute, Birmingham on Sat 27th Sep 2014

Everyone knows Grant Nicholas for being the frontman of Welsh (or is it British?) band Feeder.

He has been in the business for years, first performing when he was the tender age of 11 and being in various bands, such as Multi-Story, Rain Dancer, Silent Partner, Reel, and Hum before forming Feeder in 1995ish.

Grant Nicholas


Nicholas is a very talented producer by trade, if you check out any of the CD booklets from Feeders previous album releases, Nicholas has the accolade of producing a lot of the Feeder material. With a career spanning 20 years so far, with 11 albums, of which 8 are gold and platinum and with over 3 million sales, this guy is a true British treasure for sure. So very under rated as an artist in my eyes.

Tonight is about Nicholas' debut solo album 'Yorktown Heights', announced via social media that he was recording a solo album and giving the premiere airing of 'Soul Mates' on Dermot O'Leary's BBC2 radio show back in May.

The album was released back in August and has had rave reviews from pundits in the music biz. Being written and produced by Nicholas in his own studio, with a combination of The Crypt in London and Angelic Studios Banbury, and with help from Sam Miller and Brian Sperber at the 'Yorktown Heights' studio in NYC, a project lasting a total of fourteen months. And with album artwork by his Daughter, a future artist in the making, nothing like keeping it in the family eh??!!

Nicholas' gave his thoughts on 'Yorktown Heights' saying, "I felt it was time to bare my soul and let people hear my songs in a more acoustic way. I grew up listening to a lot of acoustic based artists from the 60's and 70's and I really wanted to make an album that touched on what I loved about the honesty and warmth of those records."

A Twelve date UK tour to celebrate the release of 'Yorktown Heights', with Birmingham being the fifth date on the tour. (Which is tonight!!). Nicholas has also showcased some tracks live at various HMV's around the country, gutted I missed them, even popping in to the Big Issue in Cardiff, which was an amazing thing to do.

What will tonight's show bring? Obviously I've seen Feeder so many times, (My wife's first gig with me was Feeder at the old Barfly in Birmingham - bloody awesome, sweaty gig which we'll never forget), so tonight will be a nice surprise. I've listened to the album a few times and I'm pleasantly surprised. Will it transfer into a live scenario, only tonight will tell.

The venue is quite small and compact, bout 250 people in here tonight, there was still room to manoeuvre and to get to the bar easily.

Grant Nicholas

'Counting Steps', 'Safe in Place' and the amazing and enchanting 'Soul Mates' were the first few tracks to kick off the set. Nicholas was backed by a four piece band and they complemented his voice beautifully.

'Time stood still', 'Tall Trees', 'Joan Of Arc' and 'Good Fortune' were up next, the songs and the mellowness of Nicholas' voice show how mature his songwriting has become, I love how mellow the songs are.

The set tonight was filled with chat and questions and lots of interaction with the audience. Why was the album called 'Yorktown Heights'?, Why did Grant have brown hair? It was a fairly relaxed affair and I loved everything about the whole concept. It was relaxing and a total breath of fresh air.

'Yorktown Heights' was given an airing tonight, minus a couple of tracks, it was immense, Grant's voice was silky smooth, I never tire of it.

Tonight's gig reminded me of a fan club gig, everyone was well in to it and paid attention to every word Nicholas uttered.

I'm hoping this isn't the last solo effort from Nicholas as it it definitely music to your ears and well worth a listen.

So glad I didn't miss out tonight as I would've kicked myself for sure.

article by: Michelle Owen-Williams

photos by: Michelle Owen-Williams

published: 30/09/2014 11:39



FUTURE GIGS


sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.