Nik Kershaw
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Drum Talk
View previous drum talk's in the archive
December 2007
Is it possible to release a Remix-CD with all the vinyl-extended-versions? What do you think about these remixes and the whole extended-mix-thing in the 80's?
It's possible, but I can't say I'd be enthusiastic about it. You write a song that's three and a half minutes long and that's how long it is... three and a half minutes. Then someone turns up and asks for a seven minute version because that's what everybody else is doing. What's that all about?
Why haven't they asked you to be on Grumpy Old Men yet?
What makes you think they haven't? Actually, I was making a demo with one of the "Grumpy Old Men" yesterday. Mr Tony Hawks. Fine fellow, not even slightly grumpy!
I would like to know that there is a planned tour in the near future... there is a whole new audience out there...?
Nothing planned, and who is this new audience you speak of? Do you have their names and addresses?
Are you a car fan? If so, are you a modern car enthusiast of more into the classics?
I am indeed a fan of the Cars. I have all their records.
I like a car that starts on a cold morning, stops when I press the brake pedal and can accommodate all my offspring's detritus (although I quite fancy the idea of an old Porsche Speedster).
Do you ever do 'jam-sessions'?
Only when I can't find the marmite.
In the song "She Could Be The One" you mention John Travolta. Are you a fan of his work or are you really a closet Scientologist? And what's with the quacking duck in "Promises, Promises"?
I think he's a fine actor. I'm actually a small cupboard with hanging rails and coat hangers but I don't like to talk about it. That makes me a closet closet. I think Scientologists are somewhat barking. Talking of barking, the quacking duck was called Theopholus and, if you play the song backwards, you can hear him saying "please don't marinate me in Grand Marniere"!
Just finished reading the latest (Jul 07) Drum Talk and had a good old chuckle as per. Your answers seem so off the cuff and sown to earth and they always make me smil. I was wondering though, do you (or perhaps your 'mole', as you put it) choose just a fraction of received e-mails to respond to each time (well, duh!) and then what criteria you use for picking them out?
I answer pretty much all questions presented to me by my mole. If I refuse, I get repeatedly battered around the head with a copy of Music Week.
What were the sessions for 'The Works' like? Did you meet and work with Colaiuta in the studio and what was that like? On 'The Works' his performance alone is amazing -" Cowboys and Indians" being my favourite, as song as well. And I heard/read that Colaiuta wouldn't do "Walkabout" cause he thought his feel wasn't right for the song and suggested Porcaro to do it instead? Is this true?
Vinnie (Colaiuta) was extraordinary. He came in after Jeff (Porcaro) and was a bit reluctant to step on the great man's toes. "Walkabout" was the only track we didn't ask him to have a go at. Jeff had already nailed it.
I recently read and enjoyed Giles Smith's book 'Lost in Music' which has a whole chapter devoted to your good self. I just wondered have you read it? And is Giles on your Christmas Card list?
I too enjoyed Giles' book and a lot of it is painfully true. No, he's not on my Christmas card list but that's because I don't have his address.
What is your keyword in writing music?
Halibut.
My favourite song and one for the desert island just has to be "Die Laughing", the lyrics and the way you sing this are just superb, it sticks in my head for the rest of the day on hearing it. How did this song come to be and is HE based on anybody you knew or know?
HE is my alter ego, Frank, which is why the album is called 'To Be Frank'. Frank sits on my shoulder and tells me I'm crap.
I was just wondering - how do you harmonize? I always try but never can.
I don't think there are any rules. You can sit and work it out with a book of rudiments but either hear it or you don't. That probably isn't a lot of help, is it?
When you mixed your last three albums and the four songs from "Now and Then", did you use studio speakers or headphones?
Speakers. Headphones give you a false sense of the stereo spectrum.
I have just listened to some of your musci for the very first time. I really like it. You have the same honesty in your lyrics as the lat Alan Hull of Lindisfarne. Would you consider that a compliment of insult?
That would be a compliment. I remember one particular night at St Matthres Baths Hall in Ipswich. The Town had just beated Leeds Utd 4-2 and Lindisfarne were onstage, giving it some. Good memories. 'Meet me on the corner' was the first bass line I ever learned.
I read somewhere that you played all the instruments including drums on your early demos before you got a record deal. Did you have all the instruments or did you borrow them?
I stole them from some blind guy on Charing Cross station.
Technological advances in the early 1980's enabled multi-faceted artists like yourself, and say, Howard Jones, to produce entirealbums from home studios. Given that a couple of decades have passed and the equivalent technology is now even cheaper, who would win a fight? You or Mr Jones?
Depends who chose the weapons. If it was keyboards at dawn, then I dare say Mr Jones would have the upper hand. If it was guitars, then my honour would be upheld and I would ride off into the sunset with Princess Sarah.
Are you sometimes disappointed that people don't remember you for the good music, and in particular that good playing, rather than the generic nostalgic appreciation that seems to surround the 80's?
Ever since I first heard "Human Racing" it has been one of may all time favourite albums. I am also a musician, and as such consider myself to be a semi-qualified critic. 20-odd years later, som eof the stuff you play and the sounds still blow me away. You obviously enjoyed huge commercial success at the time, and were also somewhat a favourite of the 'Smash Hits' readership. Were you ever frustrated by the fact that you were perhaps overlooked by a more serious audience?
(For both above) Not any more. Life's too short. I'm appreciated by those I appreciate and that's all that matters.
How do you eat your Cadbury's Creme Eggs?
In a wetsuit whilst reciting Shelley.
Do you keep in touch with Mark King? Both of you are whatever the plural of genius is. Were and are you a big Level 42 fan?
I was one of the early Level 42 fans. I used to go and watch them at places like 'King Tuts' in Southend. Last saw Mark at the Cambridge Corn Exchange a few months back. In a couple of hundred years time, people will flock to see his thumb in a glass of formaldehyde at the natural history museum. Mark my words!
Please can you tell me the name of the drummer on tour with you (The Works tour) in 1989 when you supported Elton on the European leg of his world tour?
Tim Goldsmith.
You said not so long back on Steve Wrights' radio show that you had a phone call from your publisher with the opportunity to write with Robin Gibb. Did you actually meet up and write together?
That would be a big NO! If I had a pund for every time a publisher had called me up and offered me gainful employment with a seventies icon, I'd have £7.50.
Who would you rather put into Room 101?... Mike Reid formerly of Daturday Superstore for referring to you as 'Nikkers' on TV or former DJ of Radio One, Bruno Brookes, for announcing live on air just seconds before your interview with him that you would be revealing the answer to 'The Riddle'?
I couldn't possibly say.
I love watching food programmes on TV, but given the opportunity, what would be your signature dish to present on Celbrity Masterchef?
I was actually asked to go on the last series of Celebrity Masterchef and I declined. My signature dish would've been Squirrel Sorbet in a mushroom and bogie Jus.
Just got pro tools for my PC, it comes with a 873 page book, it's a bitch! What's been your most daunting instruction manual?
I tried using Protools with a PC. It doesn't bloody work! Get yourself a Mac. You won't need the manual, it's that easy. Most daunting? That would be that Haynes manual for a 1975 Austin 1100.
If you could have your own groundhog day, when would it be?
Live Aid day. Maybe I'd get it right eventually.
If you could give one piece of advice to your fans what would it be?
Always make sure you wear clean underpants every day.
Being a Spaniard and a fan, I have started wondering whether you are familiar with any Spanish song-writers. I fee some air of tango going on in "Can't Get Arrested"... and I can't help thinking of the lyrics by Joaquin Sabina, Drexler, Tontxu or the Cuban Silvio Rodriguez, when I hear yours, I just wonder...?
Sorry, I'll need to Google those guys to see what you're on about. Then I'll probably have to learn Spanish.
I've always found that "The Riddle" has a bit reggae and a bit celtic influences. Am I wrong? Is it pure coincidence or did you want to put those musical influences when you wrote the song? My other question is: what's the story about the song "Know How"? I think it's a song against war and soldiers, but maybe I'm wrong...?
I've always loved Irish music. Not sure about the reggae thing but Irish music has the offbeat accent going on.
"Know How" is about jobsworths. Give someone a uniform and they turn into Attilla the Hun.
Have listened to your songs since 1983 and have truly enjoyed and shared your music ever since. Wonder if you can tell me who played the bass parts on "Human Racing" and "The Riddle"?
All the bass parts on both albums were little old me, apart from "Easy" (Mark King) and the chorus of "I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" (Geezer who's name escapes me and I can't be arsed to look it up).
I've got to ask you... did you ever provide one of those radios (as featured on the front sleeve of the Radio Musicola album) as a prize on a UK TV show? I seem to think you did, but I could be wrong.
There were very few made. I had one for years but it fell to pieces. I have no recollection of giving any away on a TV show but that doesn't mean it didn't happen!
When you promoted the 'Then & Now' compilation album, "What It Is" was released as a promo single, but which of the four new tracks from that album received the best feedback from radio stations?
There was never really a 'single' as such. I think the best feedback came for a track called "Cloud 9".
Do you think you would ever accept an invitation to appear on a Here and Now tour again? From what I read, you received a lot of positive feedback from the mixed audiences.
Only if it was on July 19th 2008 at Blickling Hall in Norfolk, UK.
Just wondering what you use, in general, for recording. Do you incorporate the old gear with the new... Tape??? It sounds great. Sounds too fat to be all digital, but what do I know?
I'm afraid I'm a digital guy. I spent years struglling with analogue recording and now I embrace all the new technology. Why make life difficult for yourself?
Are you still enjoying the red lawn mower purchased some time ago and will we be hearing any songs from the red lawn mower sessions?
Alas, I have moved house and no longer have a lawn worthy of the red lawn mower.
Do you know how much a loaf of bread is? (according to the papers you don't know).
Haven't got a clue but I'm sure it's cheaper than a litre of bloody petrol!
But now the question I was thinking about the whole day: What did you have nmind when you wrote "Could She Be The One"? Did you write about a personal experience?
That song is just about finding yourself single after 25 years and what the hell the rules are.
So mate, just how much good music does a guy have in him? It has to end one day (although I hope not). Also, how do you define the point at which there is no more?
What a depressing question. I'm still hoping the best is yet to come!
Logic Pro or Protools?
Protools! So rools!
Is it true you aren't ever going to tour again? I was just a tot when you were around in the 80's, so I never got to see you live (sorry not trying to make you feel old!).
No.