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| Nic's Bio |
Nic's Bio
Bio
Stage Gear Used
J&D Brothers Bass Guitar
Warwick Bass Guitar
Behringer 450watt Ultrabass Amp with one 1x15" cab and one 4x10" cab
Started playing bass with the band Silver Waters at the age of 17, and then moved on to the band Quovardis. Both of these bands played original music written by the band members themselves.
Spent some 15 years racing cars, so the music took a back seat,so instead of gigging Nic was racing single seaters and latterly saloon cars in national championships.
Returning to music, Nic played guitar with The Breeze and then with Motorwest for six years, also had a short time mainly rehearsing with MAD and then Nic's own project called Redhouse.
Had a couple of years off and then returned playing bass with the Cosmicjon Band.
Now playing bass with Downright Liberty
17 And learning!!!!
Motorwest Days
Playing Gibson SG
Musical life
Musical Jottings 1971-Present
Memories of a rock and roller
My musical career started when I was sixteen years old, well over thirty years back, as I write this my Marshall lead guitar stack and my Behringer bass stack awaits idly by my side. With a collection of lead and bass guitars waiting for use stood upright in the various stands, the effects pedals and wireless pick ups ready for use, I thought I would write the story of my musical being.
This started at some point between 1971 and 1972, a long long time ago…
The first band I ever played in was the Silver Waters, I played a bit of acoustic guitar, and also took the vocals and a little percussion. Dave Morris and Chip Chambers and Gordon played acoustic guitar as well.
After a while I also took on the electric bongo’s, I have never seen such an instrument before or since, basically it was a vinyl coated contoured box with a microphone inside. Tapping different parts of the box produced various drum notes, very odd but it sounded really good, I wonder what happened to it?
We wrote loads of songs, I still have a cassette recording, and listening to it now makes me laugh out loud, such gems as “we don’t need nobody we don’t” the simply divine sounds of “drainpipe” and the unforgettable “I’ve got a bogey on my nose” yep timeless classics!
The band even found time to get a manager, a guy called Morris Walters, he had a couple of bands in his stable already, both I have to point out they were far more musically accomplished than us.
We did our first (and only gig) at Ryarsh village hall, a friend Jon Maxfield (who now runs a local radio station in Maidstone) was holding a disco. I managed to talk him into letting our band have a slot in the evening, not the best reception as the entire crowd walked out just a few seconds after us starting to play.
I remember the conversation between the band “trouble is they don’t know anything about music!” well looking back maybe they did..
We rehearsed in the back room of a pub in Maidstone called the Admiral Gordon, this was on the Tonbridge road almost opposite the college, in the room we wrote songs drank light ale with a splash of lime, it was a few pence cheaper than lager!
After a few months we made the decision to ‘go electric’ it was about this time that Chip Chambers took to the bass guitar, it was at that point I realised that I wanted that job.
My memory gets a bit foggy here, I know we did a session for a radio station, both playing a set plus interviews, good old Morris Walters set this up for us, all I really can tell you is I got loads of static shocks from the microphone suspended from the ceiling.
I never heard this broadcast, but I am told it was, even a couple of people told me they heard it, but were they pandering to our ever growing egos?
My appearance at this time was always wearing a big black hat and a beaver lamb full length fur coat that had belonged to my grandmother, with bright yellow flared jeans and platform shoes, such a fashion icon. My hair was almost waist length and sometimes in bunches held in place with pink ribbons….oh dear!
I think it was about this time that Gordon left the band, he was a very shy bloke, in fact when we played at Ryarsh he had his back to the audience all the time.
Morris kept wanting me to join one of his other bands, he singled me out, the main reason I am sure is that he was gay and wanted to be more than just a manager, now that was never going to happen!!! But I have to say he really was a really nice guy, a good chap.
After a year or so the usual problems started to affect the band, musical direction and lack of money for decent equipment, the writing was on the wall.
I don’t remember any formal split, it more or less faded away, but in a very short while Quovadis was born, myself on bass guitar, Dave Morris on lead guitar, Jesse on synthesiser and Phil Young on drums.
Yet again I have a cassette tape of this, a couple of rock covers and a reprise of ‘I’ve got a bogey on my nose”
This went on for ages, but we were young and could never get a gig, eventually it faded away.
Over the next couple of years loads of collaborations of people met together to try and get a band going, Julie and I had started going out during the Silver Waters time, and we ended up playing acoustic guitar together.
Our highlight of our music career together was playing things like “banks of the Ohio” in pensioners clubs, oh how rock and roll!
One evening at my parents house a guy came to the door and asked me if I played bass, within moment I was whisked away to a hall where I had an audition, the song we played was ‘Alright now’ by Free.
I was told I had the job, but it seems the drummer didn’t like me and was sacked the very next day, never saw any of Plum Crazy again.
I sold all the music gear I had, didn’t even pick up a guitar for several years, but eventually I bought an old Japanese Les Paul and practiced again.
In my late 30s I started recording again on cassette decks, with a keyboard a guitar and a drum machine I wrote such gems as ‘She’s an old stoinker’ and ‘I’ve got a hedgehog down my trousers and I don’t like it!’
Once again I still have these tapes, and you know what, I think they are pretty good!
I started rehearsing with Ron Turr, another guitarist and keyboard player a number of years back, he a Canadian who lives in England, then Rick Kirby, another Canadian guitarist joined in. Within weeks we had formed MAD, rick and myself on guitar and Ron on keyboards, we found a bassist Alan.
.
A prequel to this part of the story now, when I was at school aged about 14, John Fitzpatrick and I entered the talent contest, we did ‘The popstars Christmas party’ by the Barron Knights, we came second.
A couple of the guys in MAD wanted a female singer, we auditioned one called Estelle (yep Skoda gags were in that day) turns out she was the wife of John Fitzpatrick whom she had left a couple of weeks before.
By sheer fluke a couple of days later Julie was writing a cv for a chap who was leaving the company they both worked for, you guessed it John Fitzpatrick!
Now I had not seen or heard of him since we left school, now he comes into our lives twice in a couple of days from different angles, odd world huh?
So MAD started to rehearse some very girly material, not really my thing, but I still carried on.
We had a succession of drummers, and eventually I called my old my old mate Phil Young (the drummer from Quovadis) and dragged him out of retirement.
The first rehearsal with him was to be our last for MAD, we formed a new band the following week called the Breeze.
The Breeze was myself and Keith Knight on guitar, Brian on bass and Phil Young on drums with lead vocals by Dave Woodward.
When we started it was very much a blues outfit, it was a great band, Dave’s vocals were brilliant, a deep growling voice and a big stage presence.
Our gigging started at a pub in Paddock Wood, we only had a set and a half so some of the songs were played twice, don’t think anyone noticed, or cared.
What we did notice was the songs that went down the best were our more upbeat ones, and gradually we became more of a rock band.
For two years we continued, and it was a really great time, the band gelled and more and more songs were added to our repertoire, but musical direction had started to get in the way, as ever it seems! And the band broke up
Keith, Brian, Phil and myself got back together and luckily found a singer Andy Tozer and formed Motorwest, without doubt Andy is the best vocalist I have ever worked with.
For a several years we gigged and had a ball, one particular gig was at the Royal Albion in Maidstone. We had been late booked as the band who were to perform had cancelled, this because as it was the river festival weekend and the previous years gigs that weekend had been marred by fighting. I jumped at the chance as I had been trying to get into that pub for ages, oh what a night it turned out to be.
The pub was full to the rafters, we stood on the stage, I said “Hi we are Motorwest, not the usual sort of band you get here, we are starting with the birdie song, and later I want you all to join in with agadoo!”
A moments silence ensued, I looked over at the landlady who I swear lost all the colour in her face, then we opened with a storming version of 20th century boy, I looked over again at the landlady, she smiled and I lip read her, a four letter word beginning with c is what I think she said…
One of the funniest gigs we ever got a booking for was a summer festival in Sheerness Kent, I also managed to get my sons band booked for the same day.
The stage was a lorry trailer parked on a small grassed area right close to the beach, now this was mid summer in England, but in Sheerness that day it was freezing cold windy and showery. Lucky for us the wind came from behind and the trailer was covered, but we still played with coats on!
Motorwest and Polecat Alley took it in turns to play sets, culminating in both bands playing a few songs together, it sounded great.
The major problem was the only thing watching us was a collection of seagulls and a few band members’ partners, we did however have a crowd for a few seconds as the local lifeguards ran past on the way to an emergency of some kind.
It me quite a long time to find the guy who was paying us, when I did catch up with him he handed over the cash and apologised for the low turnout, I thought he had done a runner.
Another classic gig was a party in a village hall, I had the idea that to make a real start to the gig we could do something that really got the attention. On the stage the curtains were pulled closed, the lights were all off, the fog machine was switched on, we were all set for a dramatic start.
As the curtains pulled back all our stage lights were switched on, beams of coloured lights darted across us, the fog spilled from the stage, we hit the opening to 20th century boy, that song was always our opener, the strobe flickered, sheer drama.
Now at this point I should tell you that poor Keith had a dreadful cold, and as all of this was going on he was coughing his lungs up, he was almost on his knees, and so was I as I couldn’t contain my laughter.
I wished I had been out front that night, I was told by so many that it looked brilliant, Keith did forgive me after a while!
We had in the end a nice little circuit of pubs and had bookings for a year or so in advance, almost the entire band was spending money on bigger and better equipment, Brian had a huge bass stack, I had my Marshall stack and Phil had an ever expanding drum kit.
The PA was bought by the band after my own one started to get a little shoddy, so we invested our gig money into buying a state of the art amp and speakers.
Now the problem was Keith, he was playing through an amp that was old tatty and quite frankly rubbish, the sound emanating from it was awful, he was after all the lead guitarist.
A couple of Motorwest members started to get a little touchy with him about it, I couldn’t really as he is my brother in law, I did tell him that he ought to replace it or he could find himself replaced. Although I did lend him one of my old Carlsboro amps it didn’t really help, I was later to learn that one of the other band members had a new guitarist lined up. Life was made a little difficult in the band for Keith and eventually he was fired.
What made this hard for me is the fact he is my brother in law!
Nick Smith was the chap who replaced him, now this was a simply brilliant guitarist, he made it sing, he made the band shine. With both of us playing cherry red Gibson SG’s through Marshall amplifiers the sound was awesome, looked pretty good as well!
The dynamics of the band had changed though, looking back Nick was just a bit to much for a lot of the places we played, I had noticed that some of the pubs booked us less than normal. The problem was we were moving into a lot heavier sound, some of the songs were the same but with Nick’s jaw dropping solo’s we seemed to be moving away from what made us popular.
The band lasted for just over six years, Nick Smith left and we went looking again for a replacement, we found a guy who’s name I cant remember, I called him Jon-Luc as he looked so much like Captain Picard from star trek next generation!
Not only was he good on guitar he was pretty mean with the keyboards as well, I really liked him, but band politics started to kick in.
During the last year of the band Andy our singer had his leg in plaster for a whole 11 months following a motorbike accident, he carried on with us sitting on a bar stool, but just after Jon-Luc joined us he had another bike crash and sadly lost the leg.
It was decided to disband, I had had enough anyway, six years is a long time to play in the same band and I was ready for a change.
I formed a new band, myself and a Scottish guy on guitar ( I really cant remember his name) a simply brilliant drummer (Er I cant remember his name either) Daniel my son on bass (I was just borrowing him from his band) and a female singer named Boo.
The band called Redhouse was back to basic blues again, I think I am going full circle now…
The band never gigged, I felt that it really wasn’t working out, Boo was a pretty girl who’s singing was just about acceptable, but somehow it never really gelled.
I found a band who were looking for a guitarist, I went along and rehearsed with them a number of times, but some of the stuff we were playing was not really me, the other guitarist was also never going to become a friend, one of the very few people that I have ever taken a dislike to. The drummer who I had known for some time hurt his back and could not play for a while, I took leave of absence, never to return.
I advertised on a website, Bassist seeks band, now I have to tell you that at this point I did not have a bass or amp, nor had I played bass since being a teenager.
A guy got in touch with me, and within a few weeks the band CosmicJon was born, Ian and Jason on guitar, myself on bass and the drummer was jug.
The rehearsals were really easy, we had all played in covers bands before, and most of the songs we all knew, the obvious problem was relearning bass.
It was strange really, I picked the bass up really easily, and what is more I loved it from the start, I can’t say I am the best bassist around, but I know at least one who is worse!
Our rehearsals took place in a pole dancing strip club, now that is rock and roll, going through the back room to the bar to be greeted by naked young ladies was quite a bonus!
The band had a great sound, really tight and gritty, Jason’s vocals on some of the songs were just terrific, and Ian did some great vocals on the quieter songs.
The band really gelled, mistakes by one member were realised by the rest of the band, and they followed the error, just like a band who had been going for years.
Most of the gigs were pubs and clubs, but we did do a couple of weddings, birthday parties and one gig for a group of gypsies. Oh boy what a gig that was.
We turned up at this massive house rented by some road workers, we set up in the garden under a small marquee arrangement, with a disco at one end and the band the other. It was quite apparent that these were real pikey’s, a really rough crowd.
The first fight of the night happened about 8.30pm when we were setting up, I remember thinking this is going to be a hard night, best I get some beer to ease the pain! From the moment we started to play all you could hear was the ruffians calling for Elvis, not one of his tracks did we know, although I think we did a sort of attempt at one. The night went well in the end, had a great time, a few fights broke out but generally well behaved towards the band. Some of the strippers from our rehearsal pub turned up and a little skinny dipping was going on in the pool, the snooker table was used as a pole dancing table. I could see from where we were playing the girls were also lap dancing for guys that were sitting around the pool, I often wondered if they got paid more than the band, you can be sure they did!
The gigs got bigger and better every time, culminating in the best gig I have ever done, and this is the story of that gig.
An old biker friend called me on the phone, she said if I wanted a gig at a farm for the fruit pickers would I want it? Oh yes please!
The band went to the farm to check out where we were going to play, it was a huge barn that had been emptied with a large stage made of pallets to a height of about five feet.
We arrived on the night of the gig to find a huge disco to one side, we set up all our equipment including loads of lighting on the stage.
Outside the barn a huge marquee had been erected with tables for 500 people, the biggest bbq in the word was cooking chicken and burgers, sausages and just about everything else. The place was full of people, about 85% female and all from Eastern Europe, and all under 25 years old.
From the moment we hit the first chord girls ran into the barn and started to boogie, as the set went on these young girls jumped onto the stage grabbing hold of us while there friends took photo’s, and this was during the performance!
It was amazing, young girls either kneeling in front of us, or grabbing us, even pretending to be playing on stage, just out of control!
If there was a night I didn’t want to end it was that one, I remember during one song leaning over to Jason and saying “*bleep*, is this fun or what?” the wry grin I got back from him spoke volumes.
It was mid summer and really hot in the old barn, I realised I had nothing to drink, after an hour or so I started to get very dehydrated, but so on a high it didn’t really bother me.
At the end of the gig I was exhausted, I couldn’t find any water anywhere, plenty of beer but I was driving, I found a litre of coke, I don’t think it touched the side as I swallowed the contents of the bottle.
What I didn’t know at the time was my blood pressure was so high I could have suffered a heart attack at any moment, a trip to the doctors the following week he strapped that awful device to my arm and pumped, he looked at me and said “*bleep*!”
“Er that bad huh?” says I, and he packed me off home to rest with a whole bunch of pills.
after the gig, seeing all these babes drape themselves over us, Julie just said “its going to take a week to wipe that smile from your face!” she laughed, and I agreed, and it did!!!
That night I felt like it must be to be a proper rock star, these girls had no idea if we were really famous or not, but made us feel like a million dollars.
The rehearsal after that gig I told the band that it was someone else’s turn to try and get somewhere to play, for over a year Julie and I had supplied every one, I needed a break from it.
The drummer decided it was time for him leave the band,shame as he was a really good drummer.
We continued to rehearse without a drummer, and started to look for a replacement, so far I have not heard from anyone!
So we have it then, so many gigs over the years, from the days of an acoustic outfit playing to pensioners to real rock and roll parties, but never one gig I have not enjoyed playing.
The only sad part for me is that so many band members of the past I have lost touch with, but I suppose people go there own way with other bands, and others just stop playing altogether.
Odd Jottings
One of my favourite moments was going to see Paul Rogers (lead singer from Free) the whole of Motorwest and our partners gathered together in the entrance foyer.
As we stood at the top of the stairs before the milling crowd, someone below shouted “Hey its Motorwest!” it seemed like everyone looked up at us at the same time.
Several people asked me if I was famous during the course of the night, I said “only in Ashford”, comedian Vic Reeves bought us a lot of beer that night, thanks Vic.
Motorwest once played a night club in Ashford, we started playing at midnight and concluded at 3am, after packing away and getting home it was getting on for 5am, slept most of Sunday, only made fifty pounds but I reckon I spent forty that night!
During a rehearsal of Cosmicjon one of the strippers came in and announced she was a drummer, she sat naked and played a song with us, now there’s a thought.
Cosmicjon played at a 50th birthday party, but it was the same day as a big football match during the world cup, only a handful of people turned up, those that did were already drunk as skunks.
Motorwest played at yet another party, now this one had a stripper, oh boy how she had the nerve to take her clothes off in public, I think they call them grotto grams, I couldn’t play for laughing
One audition we did for a lead guitarist, the guy probably being playing for a fortnight, it was so funny, but he was dead serious!
If only he had a copy of Bert Weedon’s play in a day.
Motorwest again, we played at an outdoor car rally just near Heathrow airport, apart from the obvious distraction from the planes it was very hot, so hot that the bass drum on Phil’s kit warped, and the neck on my guitar actually twisted, recommend you never leave a guitar in the sun, lucky for me it was just a cheap one I took as a spare.
Motorwest again, but I suppose in six years things add up, we were playing at a pub in Maidstone when a guy was causing trouble in the toilets, now I mentioned this over the PA, my elder brother was in the bar, being a cop ran in, followed what turned out to be two other cops, when the guy came out a while later he did look rather worse for wear.
A good friend of mine is Steve Nicols, now he was the drummer for Eddie and the Hotrods who had a few hits way back in the 1970’s, I once played guitar on stage with him and another ex hotrodder, oh how great that was, he almost became the drummer for Cosmicjon but he decided to move to Tenerife with his family.
I also worked for several years with Percy who was the guitarist with splodgenesabounds who had a hit with two pints of lager and a packet of crisps!
I never played with him but spent many a happy hour chatting about music, strange fellow though, loves techno music now!
And finally Esther, At a pub in Ashford Motorwest were due to start playing, only the drummer and lead guitarist were on the stage, Brian the bassist, Andy the singer and myself guitarist were in the toilet messing about.
As all three of us used wireless equipment we played the first song whilst trying to use the urinals, silly sods I know but apparently it looked really good out front.
Current stage gear
Lead Guitar Equipment
1x Marshall JCM200 100watt Triple super lead amp head
2x Marshall JCM900 4x12 Speaker cabinets
1x Gibson SG USA Cherry red guitar (now sold)
1x Fender Stratocaster Japanese/USA Highbred
Various Boss pedals
Bass Guitar Equipment
1x Behringer Ultrabass BX4500H 450watt amp head
1x Behringer 4x10 Speaker cabinet
1x Behringer 1x15 Speaker cabinet
1x J&D Brothers Bass Guitar
1x Warwick Rockbass Bass Guitar
Website www.motorwest.net E-Mail motorwest@hotmail.com
Log on to find a performance of Cosmicjon via U-Tube and pic’s and news of the band.
Out for a blat on a Triumph
Created on 11/07/2005 05:37 PM by motorwest
Updated on 04/13/2010 11:06 AM by motorwest
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