Nick Cody

Music festival experiences and why I’m mostly not a fan these days…

The last major music festival I attended was many moons ago and was the Pink Pop festival in Holland. It was a great line up and my favorite band was Morphine who opened the festival. I also got to see Crowded House and Bjork who were both superb. A few decades on, I’m less enthusiastic for a variety of reasons both as an attendee and/or a performer.

Great menu, but not perhaps the best “meal?”

One of the advantages of attending music festivals is that you get to see a whole host of acts all in one place. That can also be a minus, when the set lengths are usually pretty limited. As a music fan I like to see a full artist set and usually festival sets are massively reduced in terms of length and there’s not a great opportunity for proper sound checks. As a performer a very short set length can be challenging, which it itself is not a bad thing, but the set is under 30 minutes, these days I’m not really a fan. This is because everything tends to be a bit hyperactive in terms of artist changeovers and my own research suggests that the public also are not fans of really short sets.

A good example of this was playing one of the ukulele festivals in 2016 and 2017. It was a good experience for the band as an early outing, but on both occasions there was an issue with sound on stage. As an artist its extremely frustrating to be squeezed into doing a 20 minute set and find you can’t hear your own instrument and/or vocal!

This way of working in booking loads of artists for real short set lengths may be great for promoters who can show a big range of acts on a poster, but its in my view not the best experience for artist and attendee. Yes, you can argue that festivals remain very popular, but I would respectfully suggest that often the primary focus is not musical enjoyment, but rather a social gathering. That’s 100% a valid reason to attend, but not my personal preference!

Good value for money?

Another reason why I’m mostly not a fan is the cost of attending such events. Even the small niche music events can be 50 – 60 sterling for to get in, but then there’s often also additional costs in, accommodation and food costs. Some of these events charge extra for workshops (which can be just 60 minutes which is not ideal for any actual learning) and so costs start to crank. Quite quickly this can become a three figure cost, which is tougher in these economic times. Of course this is 100% a personal view and clearly many will be happy to pay what I would consider huge amounts of money to stand in a field where the sound of the artists is not great. The alternative is an indoor events can also be not ideal in this covid era. I may have had a different view twenty years ago, but these days I’m far more picky!

Super fans?

In relation to UK festivals, research suggests 28% of festival goers are festival super fans, attending an average of four festivals a year. To define the true festival super fan, its useful to look at several factors including their average festival ticket spend, how many festivals they attend, how influential they are in getting friends to go, how often they go back to the same festivals. The following stats are interesting to say the least –

Festival Super Fans (28% of all festival goers; attend an average of four (3.9) festivals
each year)
Moderate Festival Goers (34% of all festival goers; attend two festivals each year),
Casual Festival Goers (38% of all festival goers; attend one festival each year).

The effect of covid

Although covid 19 is not highlighted so much in the news, covid remains a real problem for many artists. Here are just some of the artists in 2022 who have cancelled festival appearances – https://www.billboard.com/business/touring/2022-concerts-canceled-festivals-covid-19-1235017924/

In recent discussions with Jim Glennie from James, Jim confirmed how covid remains a real problem for major artists. As Eric Clapton discovered, regardless of your vaccination ideas, the virus really doesn’t really care and you can find your entire schedule cancelled often at short notice.

Conclusion

Of course these are totally personal views and I’d rather be say in The Village Vanguard with 125 capacity, all seated and excellent acoustics! On leaving the event I can hail a cab in 5 minutes and not be queuing for hours to exit the festival location! My interest is always for the love of music and seeking out the best environments for this. I’m not ruling out attending any such events or playing at such events in the future, but I’ll be pretty selective in my choices.

Audience with hands raised at a music festival and lights streaming down from above the stage. Soft focus, blurred movement.

Artists featured on “All is fine ’til the world goes pop”

We are close to completing “All is fine til the world goes pop”, the first of four very different albums and I am blown away by the contributions of amazing musicians from all over the globe.

Here are the musicians who made this album possible. This album is different to anything I have done before. One of the biggest gamechangers are the vocal contributions from Towse, who is an extraordinary artist giving this material a new edge that is a genuine surprise and complete inspiration in developing this project. We both worked on this material during covid and didn’t actually meet in real life for two years. This made for some fascinating tracks and I’m delighted with the results.

Originally I planned a single album, but the material became so wonderfully diverse, it was clear that we needed a second album which was more pop in nature and reminded me of the classic Talking Heads “Remain in Light” period. The second album ‘Take Heart” will be released in 2023 and 40% of that album is already completed.

I thank all of you listed below from the bottom of my heart for helping making this such a terrific album.

Towse CA USA – vocals

Michael Ross Nashville USA – guitar

Laurent Zeller France – violin

Manitoba Hal Canada – slide guitar/vocals

Corwin Zekley USA – fiddle

Fergus Quill UK – bass

David Bowie Jnr UK – bass

Howard Taylor UK – bass

Agi from UK – backing vocals

Emily Mercer UK – keys and backing vocals

Rich Ferdi UK – percussion

Josh Burnell UK – keys

Sharon Cannings UK – backing vocals

The album will be released via Green Eyed Records this Sept, will live appearance Oct 7th

4 albums in the pipeline for 2022 – 2024

I currently have four very different albums in the pipeline for 2022 – 2024. Most of the material has already been recorded and its a case of mixing and mastering.

The first release will be “All is fine till the world goes pop” which will appear in Sept this year. This is a Nick Cody & The Heartache featuring Towse album and will include two singles already released “She’s tough enough” and “Thinking in Circles. This will be followed by a power pop album “Take Heart” which will appear in 2023. Some of these tracks are already mastered and there are five more waiting for additional musical parts from the 16 musicians contributing to this work.

There will also be a “Nick Cody & The Heartache” electric roots album “You Gotta Move” in 2023 that will include the four singles already released “Can’t stop”, “Slow Time” “You gotta move” and “That Gal” I have 5 more tracks to work up for that album in that vein.

2023 – 2024 will see the release of an electronic remix album with Black Star Liner “All Kinds of Crazy” I have 34 tracks “in the vault” for this project and it may be a double album.

Special thanks to all those musicians who have contributed to these tracks across the globe and all those who have helped spread the word and those involved in production.

Danelectro 56 Baritone guitar explorations

Sonic explorations and surprises

I’ve been aware of Danelectro for some time but never really investigated their guitars. These are straightforward no frills guitars, but very well made with a specific sound. The baritone 56 Danelectro guitar is very different to standard guitars. Firstly its tuned B – B rather than E – E and has 24 frets. This makes for a very different sound and of course if you capo at the 5th fret you are back in standard tuning. One of the minor frustrations in owning one of these instruments is finding a case to fit it. Danelectro don’t make even a soft case, which in my view is an epic fail as owners will mostly find a bass case is the only case that works. Even the excellent Mon M80 soft case which has a lot of headroom will take the instrument, but the case is stretched to its limit, which is not good.

Amp explorations

I started using the baritone 56 with a Supro Comet amp and it sounds terrific. This combination produces a great electric roots sound and its a super simple old school set up. This set up is for my electric ensemble “The Heartache” and the combination will be great for live gigs. I also am rehearsing my acoustic ensemble “The Small Change Diaries” and thought I’d test out the guitar with a Henriksen Bud amp with an extension 10 inch cab. I’m delighted to report that the Danelectro 56 sounds fantastic with this amplification combination. The Henriksen Bud amps have also been my go to amps for acoustic instruments, but they work brilliantly with all manner of electric instruments as well. This combination really showcases how great the lipstick pickups can sound and I’ll be using this in live situations.

Conclusion

The Danelectro baritone 56 is an unusual guitar, but as well as looking really cool, it also allows for some very different sonic possibilities which would not be possible with conventional guitars. They are also well priced and this 56 is the most inexpensive guitar I have bought in many years.

“Caveat Emptor” – A cautionary tale about music promoters

In recent times I’ve become increasingly aware of individuals setting themselves up as “festival and music promoters” who in my opnion (I’m being polite here) lack skills in making such events viable. Of course this is I suspect a minority, as there are many great, experienced professional promoters, but as the old saying goes “You couldn’t make it up”

What follows is a cautionary tale…

Pesky details…

A friend of mine was asked to find acts for a festival and started to leverage his contacts to ensure that the event had the best available artists. Anyone in the music business will appreciate that professional artists will usually be booked up during most weekends, so its important to book well in advance. In this instance he only had two months to help out this promoter, who had left it to the last monment to secure musical entertainment. Organising musicians is a bit like herding cats at the best of times, but those of us who love music mostly enter into such activities out of love for music promotion rather than financial interest.

My friend’s alarm bells began to ring when the promoter started ducking answering basic questions that any booker and/or artist would ask in such a venture. Lets be clear, we are not talking about forensic detail here, but rather common sense considerations for appearing at a festival. I know from running Music for the Head and Heart showcases how important it is to define expectations which of course is standard business practice in any industry including the music business.

The main website for the festival looked great on the surface but had no actual detail about what was being offered at the event. The homepage suggested “75 classes and activities” as well as “music” would be available, but I still can’t find any actual details of who or what will be appearing on the weekend! There are also no previous festivals of this name, so no momentum from days gone by to ensure good audience attendance. Of course its possible that people will flock to this first time event simply through word of mouth, but in my opinion that would be highly unusual…

Checking online for promoter’s credibility and experience

In this internet era its easy to check the credibility of any business online and for musicians its essential to check how and what you will be paid for your own peace of mind. The first alarm bell rang when the promoter was shifty about confirming in writing to artists rates of pay. He’d confirmed verbally to my friend, but ducked putting anything in writing to artists who were interested in playing. This does not inspire confidence and now the real danger is that my friend the booker could be left having to deal with the financial aspect of paying the artists, especially as artists were asked to invoice after the event had completed!

The second alarm bell was when I looked into the financials for the company which claimed to have been trading for 7 years and had run a series of events. The reality is that the company had only been incorporated in March this year and had zero trading history. The head of the company also was misrepresnting himself on business social media in this respect stating he’d been owner of this company for 7 years.

The third alarm bell rang when I looked at social media for this guts promotion business and found very little activity and/or engagement.

If it looks like a duck…

As the old saying goes “If it looks like a duck, has a beak and quacks like a duck, its probably a duck”

The lesson here is to scan for what I term “the elusive obvious” Its possible that a weekend festival could be really successful and attract a lot of exhibitors and artists without any contracts, marketing and promotion, but in my experience that would be a first. The reality is that any event, even if its an evening, never mind a full weekend, needs a great deal of work and attention to make it happen. In this instance neither is in place. As the saying goes “fail to plan, plan to fail”

These days many people are still apprehensive about attending any events even outdoors, so its crucial to make such opportunities attractive and that means giving detailed content on what you can expect

Good manners make for good outcomes

I come from a background in business and appreciate that we can all have different opinions, but good manners are always useful for good outcomes. When a promoter asks for help and then adopts a “don’t bother me I’m too busy to talk to the likes of you” approach, then that;s not good manners or good business.

In this instance the promoter has lost the goodwill of my friend the booker as well as all the artists who were willing to support the event. Its a perfect example of self sabotage and I note that one of his previous business concerns was dissolved in days gone by. Its a shame and a missed opportunity as this character managed to wonderfully snatch failure from the jaws of success. He would have had (note past tense) a host of different well connected artists promoting his event for FREE, but is too unaware to grasp the opportunity.

The lesson in all this is to define expectations and although we may agree to disagree, its always those pesky details that are important to ensure the success of any venture…

STOP PRESS – The terms and conditions for this festival have this clause

“If X festival is cancelled in its entirety due to any unforeseen circumstances for example covid related lockdown, Ink Events Ltd has the sole right to reschedule the event or issue partial total refund or NOT ISSUE ANY REFUNDS“

Note “any unforeseen circumstances” is pretty vague and most people will not dig into the detail here. To not issue any refund is highly unusual. Two words spring to mind-

Stop Press!

The Terms and conditions have now been amended. The event has now been flagged as “sold out” but still there is zero mention of any actual workshops or musical artists. The promoter when questioned becomes extremely defensive. Make of that what you will…

STOP PRESS 2

Unsurprisingly the event is now cancelled, according to a post on FB, BUT the event is still live on the promoters site and shows as “sold out” They now promise a return for 2023. Its a masterclass in ineptitude and a perfect example of how not to promote events. Here even basic elements were never in place for this to be remotely viable. CAVEAT EMPTOR!

The Challenge of earning a living from music

I have massive respect from anyone working in the arts and I set up Green Eyed Records as a music resource for artists who value the concept of “creativity though collaboration” as in my view there is an increasing problem for many artists to reach a wider audience. I come from a background in business and have set up and run multi million pound concerns and in my non music capacity work as a communication traininer in the UK, Europe, USA and Asia. I’m fascinated by “the music industry” and especially many of the myths of success. GER has allowed me to connect with many terrific musicians and its be a great insight into what its like for working musicians.

GER offers support for artists in many forms including marketing advice, technical advice, business sponsorship, live playing opportunities and other support. I talked about this to music journalist Sylvie Simmons when she interviewed me about GER. I’m pleased to have been able to offer tangible help to a number of artists to help them reach a wider audience for their work. This help has been in offering equiptment, business advice, recommendations for professional services and financial assistance.

Myth v Reality of artist income streams

In recent years I’ve had a number of artists lament the lack of income from working as music professionals. Being a “music professional” means that your primary income comes from music as opposed to being a hobbyist where you have a major source of income that funds musical activity. Nothing wrong with being a hobbyist of course and there are many advantages to having a separate income to fund creative interests.

Some artists really lean heavily on their fans goodwill to provide all manner of free assistance which of course is well meant but can in some instances not be the best long term strategy for a variety of reasons, including an over reliance on one source of income. In these tougher economic times many people have less disposable income and have to think far more carefully about what they spend their money on. Streaming has also hugely affected artist income and two artists in recent years have commented that their entire earnings per year are less that 20k, which doesn’t go far if you have a family to support. Yes, its great to create music for the love of it, but those with families need to be realistic about paying the bills as well.

Organisational and basic business skills

The problem for many artists is that although they may have some creative ability, they lack essential basic business and organizational skills. As my wife would often comment “They don’t know what they don’t know” and most months are spent on social media bemoaning the perceived opportunities for musicians and how disadvantaged they are. In short its always somebody else’s fault for their financial situation! Everyone is of course welcome to their own opinions but there’s a huge amount of optimistic thinking and in my recent interview with Jim Glennie founder of James, he pointed out that many people are more interested in perceived fame than actually creating music. From what I hear music colleges do little to create realistic expectations for students and of course its a bit of a shock for many when they leave the world of academia into the real world.

One of the central problems for many independent artists is reaching a wider audience beyond their core fans. Music distribution requires funding and these days unless you have external financial support, this can be a limiting factor for many artists. I’m increasingly seeing requests for fans to underwrite artist activities. Yes, funding for the creation of music products is well established but now this seems to have expanded to assisting with all manner of other expenses which are traditionally funded by the artist themselves. This is an observation rather than a criticism and of course its always been a tough call to work professionally in the arts.

Covid 19 and the current tough economic situation in the UK has affected attendance at gigs and festivals, and its been reported that even the most successful bands like The Rolling Stones have a downturn in ticket sales. In 2022 many are wondering if they can afford to invest 95 quid to stand in a field to watch a band. Niche festivals also are not selling out as easily as in days gone by and one major niche music artist has only sold 10% of tickets in a relatively small venue for a few hundred people and the public can still get front row seats, a few weeks before the gig. This is for a sub 30 quid ticket as well…

Talent show misconceptions and there;s no quick fix to “fame”

In recent years I’m increasingly hearing all manner of interesting insights into how talent shows operate. Of course since the days of “Opportunity Knocks” talent shows on TV exist primarily to boost TV ratings as opposed to being a facility to assist with making artists famous! Yes, in a very few instances some individuals can launch a career from such exposure, but this is pretty rare. In recent times I read an interesting article that many didn’t pick up on about how scouts work for such shows. Often the car crash auditions and performances are what create the most impact in such shows, but what is now coming to light is that the talent show scouts will seek out really oddball acts that they know won’t progress in the competition, but will make for what they consider “good entertainment” for the audiences. These acts are encouraged simply to appear on the shows rather than go though the formal audition process where they are screening for musical talent. Anyone who imagines they can appear on such a show and not have to sign a contract is delusional in the extreme of course, but this is commonplace in discussions on social media.

Another issue is that many artists are well known on the “talent show circuit” and are not exactly unknown quantities. As I have often commented “The music business” is like any other business, where there are trades and agreements. The Sun has reported that, of the 60 acts who have had auditions aired during the 2022 series of the reality show, 25% of them already have some kind of professional profile! I’m personally not a fan of these shows which are in my view not really about creating great music and the whole backstory formula is now pretty well worn.

I have the greatest respect for those who take this professional route

This article is not to promote doom and gloom but rather to note the changing trends in the public’s buying habits and the need to adjust expectations as artists, to avoid being disadvantaged. That said its increasingly tough for anyone wanting to earn a living purely from artistic work.

I have total admiration for anyone wanting to earn a living as an artist. Personally I hate the idea as it would totally compromise what I want to do and I’d far prefer to fund all my music projects from other work, so I continue to have total creative freedom. I’m seeing a number of artists really struggle to make a living and that’s often because they miss basic marketing opportunities and actually continue to insist that their music alone will win the day. Its a great romantic idea, but everyone I have ever spoken to who has some degree of professional success, appreciates that music alone is not enough. I wish that were not the case, but ultimately just like film producers and authors, very few make a reasonable living from such work. My conversation with Jim Glennie confirmed many of my suspicions and we both hold the view that a new model will emerge for artists and my thoughts are that this will be based more on collaboration than in previous times.

Discussions with Jim Glennie founder member of James

I’ve known Tim Booth and Jim Glennie from James for a very long time and watched them over the years become a band that has sold over 25 million albums, including releasing no less than eight albums on Universal Music. Jim was recently kind enough to let me do an interview with him and I sketched out the following questions

When did you first start writing and playing music?
What was the Manchester scene like in 1980s and who was most on your radar and why?
How big an influence was Tony Wilson on the Manchester scene?
How did you first meet Tim Booth and what were your first impressions?
How did you come to work with Brian Eno and what was the experience like?
You’ve played alongside some major artists over the years, what have been the best, worst and strangest experiences?
What makes for a great song and what whose music have you loved the most over the years?
What are the 3 biggest myths about being in a major band and the music industry?
How has Spotify and streaming affected artist income and overall are the effects positive or negative?
If you could go back in time knowing what you know now, what message would you send back to your younger self?

We filmed the interview and will be releasing the footage via Green Eyed Records in the near future.

Hanging with Jon Gomm

I first met Jon Gomm a few years ago when I interviewed hom for Music for the Head and Heart and was blown away by his playing and performing. He is truly a unique artist and will be headlining the Green Eyed Records/MHH live showcase October 7th this year. My band “The Heartache” and Towse will be providing support, so its gonna be a great night of entertainment. Not only is he an extraordinary musician, but also a great songwriter with an excellent attention to detail who creates really terrific material.

A few months ago Jon asked if anyone had any stickers for his new guitar case and I mailed him a GER sticker and a huge Code-E1 sticker that made the cut for the case. Jon recently received a guitar award from Ards International Guitar Festival who gave him an award that was an exact replica of his guitar cased, so Green Eyed Records and Code-E1 are now immortalised in ceramic!

I can think of no finer artist to be hosting this October and tickets are now available here

Rewiring the Big Rig, inc Soldano X99, Groove Tubes Dual 75 and Mesa Boogie 290

We just started rewiring the big rig in the studio which is a monster task as there are three main power amps, the Mesa Boogie 290, VHT amp and the new super rare Groove Tubes Dual 75 that covers all the Fender tones. I’ve only ever seen one other Groove Tubes 75 and that was 20 years ago in Amsterdam. Its a monster power amp designed to fit with the Groove Tubes Trio, which I bought 20 years ago. The combination is extraordinary and when played through two Mesa Boogie 1 x 12 cabs, it covers all the classic Fender tones in spades.

I’m using the Soldano Space box as a 100% analogue reverb and again this is super rare. I’ve never seen another one and the combination is terrific.

Egnater M4 and MTS modules

The big rig contains a number of Egnater and Randall modules which are run via two Egnater M4 units. These are also super rare and I bought both of these many years ago directly from Egnater in the USA. I remember having to wait for the second M4 in line after Steve Vai who swears by these units. The MTS modules are faithful reproductions of classic preamps by Bruce Egnater, including the Fender Bassman, Vox and other amps. Randall also made some of these but never found a way to properly market them.

Soldano X99 from Martin Barre

Years ago I heard about the Soldano X99 and asked Manson Guitars to look out for one of them for me. On the phone the Manson guy busst out laughing commenting “Nick, do you know how rare these are?” I later found out that only 200 were made and only 3 with UK voltage. Manson’s rang me 6 months later with one brought in from Martin Barre from Jethro Tull and I grabbed it.

I also have a Soldano SP77 which is the sister preamp to the Soldano X99 and is also rare, but not as rare as the X99. The VHS power amp is the perfect companion for these units, giving a classic rock tone.

Synergy SYN 1 and MTS units

Bruce Egnater and other builders combined to create the Synergy company to market the classic pre amp modules. The Synergy SYN 1 is a single unit module that is perfect either as a DI recording device or to play live. I have two of these in the studio and they work brilliantly as well as being really well made.

The rig requires a lot of cables and a Quartermaster unit for switching some of the preamps. I’m running these units out though two Mesa Boogie cabs, two two rock cabs and a Bognor 2 x 12 cab. This creates literally all sonic options. Its 100% a studio rig and not for playing out, as it would take a team of people to transport all this gear!

Covid times and covid musical adjustments

The last two years have meant covid musical adjustments with the advent of covid 19. For almost two years I only played one live gig which was the debut with the Heartache. It was a slightly surreal affair to suddently be playing to a full room of 120+ individuals. It was a great set and an absolute joy to be back playing, especially with the new electric material

I started rehearsing The Small Change Diaries ahead of a major future support slot and we’ve all been super careful to do lateral flow tests ahead of each and every rehearsal. In the UK currently more than one in 15 people have covid and although if you’ve been vaccinated it probably won’t kill you, it can still mean 10 days of being out of action and personally I can’t afford to roll the dice on that happening. This has meant cancelling a bunch of live activities I was looking forward to attending, but next week I’m in the studio on Monday working on the Towse collaboration, interviewing Sylvie Simmons on Wednesday, doing a band rehearsal on Thursday, so I can’t take the chance of missing any of these engagements.

I’m also hearing of many events being cancelled and I’m amazed at some close quarters indoor events still happening. With the Ukraine situation it seems many folks imagine covid has disappeared which of course is pure nonsense. This means making covid musical adjustments and taking as few risks as possible. I’m already seeing some festivals being cancelled due to covid and have great sympathy for all those artists who are touring and need to play out to maintain some income streams.