Interview with Nick Daniel
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What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?
My parents used to listen to a lot of early Beatles when I was young and I liked that. Pivotal moments for me are seeing Queen do Seven Seas of Rhye on Top of the Pops – just ‘blew my mind’ and hearing a Space Oddity by Bowie on the radio – it made me want to cry. I realised then to power of music.
If I had not gotten into music, I would probably be off fighting some cause –
stop the rain forest from being cut down, stopping companies from spewing toxic crap into the air we breathe …
What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?
I live by the sea and I love going for walks by the sea. I can get great ideas and inspiration from a long walk.
I watch a lot of movies and they can give me fresh ideas and takes on life and reality which will eventually filter through into the music I make. Sci-Fi is my preferred genre.
How long have you been making music?
Since I got my 1st job at 18. I remember sitting there after the 1st week at a
desk job thinking ‘there has to be more to life than this’! So, I bought a guitar for £99, learned to play it and never looked back.
Where are you based out of and how did that influence your music?
Based in Scarborough – north of England, UK. The only influence I can think of from the area I live is the weather (it rains a lot), the scenery – the rugged countryside, the cliffs and the sea and the strength of character/ honesty of the
people living around here.
Tell me about your most memorable shows, if you haven’t played live what is your vision for a live show?
Top shows:
Grand Opera House in Scarborough with a band called Transmission, supporting the Little Angels.
Sand Aid at the Open-Air Theatre Scarborough – a charity gig supporting Band Aid in the UK.
Rock City, Nottingham with Screaming Banshee Aircrew because I’ve always wanted to play there.
Selling out the Camden Underworld, London for our Screaming Banshee Aircrew album launch party.
What is your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you have not already?
All of the above venues were fantastic. Would love to play all the obvious top
venues like Madison Square Garden, the Budokan and festivals like Rock in Rio and Donington and Wacken would be great.
If you could play any show with any line-up, who would be on the ticket?
Judas Priest, AC DC, Rammstein, KISS, Styx, Icehouse, New Model Army
What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into making music and some advice that you would give to your younger self?
DON’T DO IT! Just walk away while you still can!!! Ha!
Seriously though …
Don’t sit there thinking about doing it – Just DO IT!
Life is too short to fuck around so make a start today!
Be prepared to work your ass off – the competition is fierce!
Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?
I think ‘Get the Fuck Off my Space Station’ from Elevate means the most as that is what kickstarted the album. I remember thinking to myself that one day, as the quality of life on Earth deteriorates to the point where it becomes untenable, the super-rich will start building space stations to live off-world and you can bet they will be very territorial with them.
Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?
The longer ones like ‘More’ and ‘Where do we go from here’ are best to play as you can really get into the groove when playing them. Most requested would be the single off the ‘Elevate’ album ‘I Forget There’s Something to Remember’ as it the most commercial song on the album.
What is your creative process, and what inspires you to write your music?
Generally, it’s pick up an instrument – create a riff or musical passage – record it to a basic drum beat – listen to and expand the idea – listen to it in my car and sing over the top of it until I get something I’m happy with then record it properly.
Many things can inspire me – a film, a book, weather, a mood, positive psychology, the passing of time, observations of society, the news, injustice, greed …
Do you have messages that you like to get across in your music, if so please tell me about them?
A lot of my songs carry a message – a lot are from a positive psychology point of view – don’t give up, you’re not alone, the past is gone – Life is NOW … Sort of thing and a lot is about the World which we live in, injustice, greed, selfishness, stupidity, arrogance and just generally treating the World and the people in it like shit for short-term financial gain. If Planet Earth is ‘A’ – there is no planet ‘B’.
Elevate itself is a story about greed, poverty, climate change, conceit, apathy, betrayal, murder, the end of society as we know it and its eventual salvation.
By 2050 the Earth’s population has risen to 9.6 billion. The land is over-populated. The air and water are polluted, food and clean water are becoming scarcer and scarcer. Climate change has heated the planet up faster than ever imagined, rendering many areas inhabitable. A massive campaign has (secretly) been underway for years to explore the real possibilities of terra-forming other planets and moons to make them habitable for humans.
Oil Corporations run the planet, exploiting what little resources the Earth has left for profit. As time progresses wide scale looting breaks out across the Globe culminating in Civil Wars, then genocide as society as we know it collapses.
Commercial flights had been drastically reduced then completely withdrawn in 2040. This is ‘sold’ to the general populous as a bid to reduce the effects of Climate Change, but in reality, the rich fat cats at the top, knowing that the Oil is going to run out completely in the very near future, horde what’s left for themselves.
With the invention of the matter transporter - capable of transporting humans and matter between portals - a base is set up on the moon to explore the terra-forming technology in a series of vast underground caves. The experiments are successful but 'hushed up' from the general populous.
The rich begin building a series of space stations to live 'off-world'. The 1st of these 'Adonis' becomes operational in 2082. Funded by billionaire playboy Leonard Silo. More follow in a short space of time.
As resources become even scarcer the decision is taken by the wealthy to build an armada of space-ships to head off into space to find new worlds to inhabit. Places on the armada are strictly limited and very expensive. As the fleet is completed, the rich - taking the terraforming and matter transport technology with them – head off into Space, effectively leaving those left behind to rot.
What is left of society collapses and much of the Earth becomes a wasteland… eventually a hero arises out of the ashes and, with will and determination sets out to save our World.
What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up?
Well, I just had the Elevate launch party on Saturday which was great so now it’s time to push Elevate and get the word out on it.
I would like to turn Elevate into a Musical. I love musicals like ‘Tommy’ by the Who and ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ where the story is told entirely through the songs i.e there is no spoken dialogue just the songs to tell the story.I’m not an expert in this area but if anybody reading this is, then please feel free to contact me via the links below …
How can your fans best keep up to date with you, any socials you want people to check out?