Check out the gig “Noisy Night Does Brighton!”. Nick Paul of The Machines answers our 10 Questions today. The Machines are a classic punk band and their great sound brings back wonderful memories!
The Machines, Ten Tigers, Johnny and the Mullets and Fashoda Crisis will be playing at the Volks Bar and Club on Wednesday 7th May between 10pm and 2am. There will also be an exhibition of music photography in the basement area of the Volks Bar. So let’s now hear from Nick….
1. What inspired you to become a musician and performer?
When I was 8 there was a ‘Spot the 10 differences’ competition on the back of a cornflake box. It had a picture of the prize which was a bright red Futurama electric guitar. I was fascinated by the picture of the guitar and with some help from my dad I found the 10 differences and posted off the answers to the competition. I was 100% convinced I was going to win the guitar, I was 100% wrong!
Seven years later I was walking home clutching my first ever pay packet from my first ever weeks work. On the way I passed a second hand shop and in the window was the same guitar I tried to win all those years ago. The price was exactly the same as I had just been paid. I knew it was fate and walked straight in and pointed to the guitar and gave the man my pay packet (I hadn’t even opened it at that point) and walked proudly home with the guitar tucked under my arm. That was it, I was hooked – for life!
2. What is your show about and what should the public expect from your show?
Our show is about exciting songs played well and delivered in an explosive and engaging manner. The public can expect to be entertained and to hear and see a show that will stick in their minds long after the amps have been turned off.
3. What is your favourite Festival or Fringe?
Of the current crop of festivals I would say the V festivals at Chelmsford. Wide choice of bands/activities, loads of bars and food stalls and clean toilets!
My all time favourite festivals were the free ones in Hyde Park and Windsor in the 70s. There was a great feeling of ‘we’re going to get this thing together ourselves’. Happy daze.
Favourite Fringe? Has to be the French bob or classic Beatle mop top.
4. What’s your best advice for aspiring artists and musicians on the Festival/Fringe circuit?
Have some talent, work hard and develop a monumentally thick skin. For every bouquet there will be a dozen or more brickbats.
5. What is your funniest experience and also your worst experience performing or attending a Fringe/Festival?
My funniest was when I went to a free festival and stayed up all night and then fell asleep just before the bands started. It was a real surprise being tapped on the shoulder only to sit up and find I was the only person still there. It was my worst experience too!
6. As you travel performing to different festivals/fringes, where is your favourite place to vacation/chill out and why?
A small village called Elounda on the Island of Crete. It’s set in the corner of a beautiful ice blue bay surrounded by impressive mountains. If there is a heaven I think it will be exactly the same as Elounda!
7. Who is the person you most admire(d) and why?
My grandmother. She had enough faith in me to give me the cash to buy my first ever decent guitar (a 1963 Fender Stratocaster) when I was 17. Having a ‘real’ guitar made me feel duty bound to ‘lift my game’ to justify owning such a guitar so it was a pivotal moment in my playing career.
8. What is the best tip you have ever been given?
‘Take the longer view’.
9. What is the best book/s you have read and why do you like them?
There are so many but here are a few:
Anything by Richard Brautigan. A total genius with the ability to capture pages and pages of information in a single sentence. A unique man.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson. Crackles from start to finish.
Lanark by Alistair Gray. Creates his own surreal universe in a single book.
Money by Martin Amis. His finest book, once started impossible to put down.
Im OK, You’re OK, a handy way to find out how your brain works!
10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?
The way things are shared out. A lot of people have way more than they need whilst millions are starving or dying of diseases that could be cured for very little. Equality, in a nutshell!
Check out Nick’s interview at that pivotal point in time at the Punk 77 website!
