Nick McCabe

Nicholas Joseph McCabe (born July 14, 1971 in St Helens ) is a British musician and producer. He became known as a founding member of the northern English band The Verve . He plays synth guitar and is active as a producer of young English rock bands as well as in the field of electronic music.

style

Characteristic of Nick McCabe is the extraordinary way of playing the guitar. He plays completely independent of the rhythm and uses multiple echo and feedback effects , which he can also perform at the same time . At Verve times it was noticeable that he seemed immobile on stage, as is typical of shoegazing , because he had a huge field of pedals and treadmills (a single effect for the electric guitar that can be switched on with an oversized button with the foot) for his synthesizers and operated effects devices while making the strings sound with his hands . Owen Morris , the producer of The Verve album “A Northern Soul” and the first two Oasis records, once said about him that it was remarkable to watch and listen to him playing the guitar, his guitar runs and carpets of sound have a soul of their own . In addition, for reasons of conviction, it is difficult to persuade him to repeat a sequence of notes and sounds.

Career

The way to music

Driven by his great role model John Martyn , Nick McCabe picked up the guitar one day and quickly noticed that he didn't like simply playing chords and plucking strings. Rather, he was fixated on effects devices and synthesizers , which he didn't want to control via keyboard, but rather electric guitar . The problem was that he didn't have the money for the necessary equipment and so he took care of an external play option. Finally the opportunity arose to practice in a music room at a school in Wigan , a few miles from St. Helens.

The Verve

One day in 1989, Richard Ashcroft passed this room and overheard McCabe playing. Since he was just about to start a band, this chance encounter was just right, especially since he was impressed by the way he played. Shortly thereafter, McCabe became a permanent member of The Verve , which he was until the first separation in 1995. The growing tension between the two egos led to the band falling apart. However, Richard Ashcroft asked him to return to The Verve a year and a half later and he followed suit. In 1997 he made his worldwide breakthrough with The Verve , the single Bitter Sweet Symphony and the album Urban Hymns . But McCabe's growing enthusiasm for electronic music was not shared by Ashcroft in particular. With “Deep Freeze” he was able to place his own song as a hidden track on The Verve's hit album “Urban Hymns”. However, the conflict of visions between himself and Ashcroft was ultimately one of the main reasons for the second breakup with The Verve.

McCabe left the band surprisingly during the European tour in the spring of 1998, whereby The Verve could no longer perceive the last of their planned four appearances in Germany. So far, however, it is unclear to what extent he turned his back on the band of his own free will. An interview with the American indie pop fanzine Excellent Online , which is run by the administrators of the best-known and oldest Verve fan site, the Verve Universe, gave rise to speculation . After refusing the English New Musical Express and other newspapers and magazines, Nick declared himself to be his supporters in this controversial interview in 1999 - EMI only agreed to the publication of the interview at the end of 2002.

McCabe as a solo musician and producer

Since the end of The Verve, Nick McCabe has preferred to stay in the background and devote himself to electronic music . After the official separation of the band on April 28th, 1999, however, he quickly reunited with Simon Jones , Simon Tong and an unknown drummer. a. contributed to the soundtrack for the film adaptation of Iain Banks ' "Conspiracies". At the end of 1999 he moved to Spain with his wife and daughter and from there worked on various French electronic projects such as Mellow and Neotropic as well as with DJs and producers David Kosten and Photek . In 2000/01 he produced the film “An Ambient Road Movie” with Riz Maslen , a French artist, and in particular the soundtrack for it. The music was released under the title “La Prochaine Fois” through Riz Maslen 's project “Neotropic” ( Ninja Tune ). Since his return to Great Britain in 2002, he has mainly been involved in the production of young English bands.

McCabe gained his first experience as a remixer and producer while he was still there. Various remixes by him can already be found on the B-sides for A Northern Soul . After his debut as an independent producer when mixing and preparing the debut EP of the Beta Band during the first Verve separation phase (1995-1996) were those of Parlophone contracted and finally placed three albums successfully in the top 20 of the UK album charts. He has worked closely with the Nova Saints since 2005 and produced their debut. In 2006 McCabe appeared on stage for a song together with the band and after eight years of abstinence made his live comeback with the synthetic guitar. McCabe is also involved in the production of remixes such as B. for the single "Freedom Fighters" by The Music . In 2004 he fulfilled a dream when he recorded a song with John Martyn .

Comeback as a band musician

In 2007, The Verve reunited, with whom McCabe released an album and two singles in 2008. Since 2009 he has been running his new band project The Black Ships with bassist Simon Jones ( The Verve ), electric violinist Davide Rossi ( Goldfrapp ) and drummer Mig Schillace ( Portishead ) . In 2011 they gave their first live concerts and released the Kurofune EP as a teaser for their debut album in May. The short-playing record contains exactly one 25-minute song with experimental song structures, which is made up of melancholy triphop elements, folk-like violins, psychotic-noisy guitars and electronic samples. For the album, the project collaborates with different singers, but Rossi also picks up the microphone every now and then. In 2012 the band changed their name to Black Submarine .

Discography

1992-1997

• Verve - The Verve EP (1992)
• Verve - A Storm In Heaven (1993)
• The Verve - No Come Down (1994)
• The Verve - A Northern Soul (1995)
• The Verve - Urban Hymns (1997)

1997-2001

• The Beta Band - Champion Versions EP (1997)
• Mellow - Instant Love EP (1999)
• OST for Iain Banks ' "Complicity" (2000, 2 tracks with Simon Jones )
• Neotropic - La Prochaine Fois / An Ambient Road Movie (2001)

2002-2007

• Faultline feat. Nick McCabe - Last Broadcast (Released 2002/2004 on "Your Love Means Everything")
• John Martyn feat. Nick McCabe - Walking Home (Released 2004 on "On The Cobbles")
• Nick McCabe vs. The Music - The People (Released 2004 on The Freedom Fighters EP)
• The Heavy - In The Morning EP (2005, produced by Nick McCabe)
• The Nova Saints ( previous name: Spencer) - The Draft EP (May 28, 2007, produced by Nick McCabe, including remix by McCabe)

2008 ff.

• The Verve - Forth (2008)
• The Black Ships - Kurofune EP (2011)
• Charly Bickers - Our Frail Hearts (2012)
• Lowline - The Howler EP (Track "Bury My Soul", 2013)
• OST for " Java Heat - Island of Decision " (2013, 4 tracks with Black Submarine)
• Black Submarine - New Shores (2014)

Web links

Nick McCabe

• Northern Souls Forum
• Nick McCabe at MusicBrainz (English)
• Nick McCabe at Discogs (English)

Projects

• Description for Riz Maslen's Road Movie

swell

1. ^ Daniel Ecclestone ( The Guitar Magazine ): Soul Survivers ( memento from October 26, 2009 on WebCite ) (band portrait The Verve), September 1995
2. ↑ ^{a b} Ajay Sharma, Lisa Y. Garibay: Nick McCabe Interview ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Excellent Online ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , IV: June, 1999 release: 20. September 2002  
3. ↑ Ajay Sharma, Lisa Y. Garibay: Nick McCabe Interview Part 2 ( Memento of the original from April 4, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Excellent Online ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , IV: June, 1999 release: 20. September 2002  
4. ↑ Ajay Sharma: Verve Universe , Unofficial The Verve website, supported by Nick McCabe, tolerated by EMI . Since January 1996
5. ^ New Musical Express ( NME ): Former Verve man makes surprise appearence , short message. July 27, 2006
6. ^ NME - New Musical Express : The Verve reunite for a tour , June 26, 2007
7. ^ NME : Members of The Verve, Goldfrapp team up for new band , July 31, 2009
8. ↑ motor.de : Somewhere between Eno and the early Verve  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , July 28, 2011