Blues Brother
Muirsical Conversation with Alan Nimmo
Muirsical Conversation with Alan Nimmo
Alan Nimmo and King King, on the back of two award-winning studio albums and night after night of stand-out, high-energy live performances, have made themselves one of the must see must hear bands of British blues rock.
But that’s only half the story as regards the career of Alan Nimmo.
The highly regarded Scottish musician is also one half of The
Nimmo Brothers, the twin guitar blues rock band formed around Alan and his brother Stevie who have, to date, released five studio albums and a showcase live album.
Alan spoke to FabricationsHQ just prior to the start of King King’s spring UK Tour to discuss King King, the band’s third album Reaching For the Light, The Nimmo Brothers, his musical influences, his brother’s talents and all points of musical view in between.
Alan Nimmo also speaks as he plays – honestly and passionately – evident from the conversational outset as we talked about the career of The Nimmo Brothers, the past and present music scenes and how to ensure a solid future for blues and blues rock…
Ross Muir: It’s been an amazing rise of success, recognition and awards for King King over the last few years and we’ll talk about the band shortly, but I’d like to start with The Nimmo Brothers – you’ve just come off a set of European dates with your brother Stevie…
Alan Nimmo: Yes, I was out on tour with him in January – Holland, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.
Because it’s all gone a bit nuts with King King lately and gotten really, really busy Stevie graciously stepped back so as not to get in the way of the King King momentum.
But I take January off – we don’t book anything in January with King King – and one of our agents in Holland got hold of us to say "I can book you tours in Europe every January; at least three weeks worth of dates."
To which we said "right then – carry on!" (laughs).
RM: You've just answered the first of what would have been a two-part question – how do you balance schedules and/ or find time for The Nimmo Brothers?
The other part of that question is, even with some critical acclaim here in the UK and a couple of Blues Awards behind you, The Nimmo Brothers have never got the larger hall tours or the mainstream blues circuit recognition they deserve…
AN: You know what Ross, that’s the million dollar question and I spent years asking that myself; scratching my head and getting sickened about it and worried over it.
But now? What’s for you won’t go by you and I don’t put much thought in to it.
But the answer is that I really don’t know; it could be anything from simply not having the luck or not being in the right place at the right time. Or somebody somewhere might simply have decided you’re not flavour of the month, so no-one really takes an interest. It could be any number of reasons.
RM: Oh there’s plenty of right place right time and wrong place wrong time examples out there and then there’s the politics of the music industry itself. But on the plus side, and as I mentioned, The Nimmo Brothers are a critically acclaimed outfit and there have been some great festival slots, including in the US.
And there's the European tours you mentioned, so it’s not as if this is a bad gig – far from it – it’s just that the UK has been difficult.
AN: Yeah; nowadays the industry is quite difficult but then I think it always was; but with The Nimmo Brothers we take care of all the business matters on our own. Actually maybe that’s part of the problem! (laughs).
But that’s just how it is, and how it’s been for a long time.
But with King King, and how that was all put together, I had a bucket load of ideas on how I essentially wanted to run it as my own business – how to market it, how to promote it.
And with all the luck we've had – because I’m certainly not claiming to be a genius – we've been very fortunate that things started happening for us.
That’s not to say we didn't work our arses off because we did and do work our arses off – we have worked very hard for this and it’s great to see that hard work paying off.
RM: Nail on the head. Your work ethic is second to none and you always seem to be on the go or on tour, pushing and promoting product – but what also doesn't hurt is the quality of that product as proven by the award winning studio albums.
And over the last five years or so you have made yourselves into one of the must see must hear bands in British blues rock. Right now I would say King King are the blues rock band to catch.
AN: Well I suppose that was always the idea, but that’s great – that’s fantastic to hear.
It’s really nice to get those awards and it’s great to get those sorts of accolades. For me, and for those of us in this game, those are great things to have on your C.V. and for promotional purposes, especially when you’re going in to territories abroad like Europe and Canada – they love to hear about a band that’s winning. So it’s nice to get recognition like that but as I’ve said before, they can chuck all the awards and accolades at us they like – and I’m quite happy to take them – but that’s not what I do this for; that’s not why we're doing this. We’re here for the long haul and I want to make music that people will remember.
But that’s only half the story as regards the career of Alan Nimmo.
The highly regarded Scottish musician is also one half of The
Nimmo Brothers, the twin guitar blues rock band formed around Alan and his brother Stevie who have, to date, released five studio albums and a showcase live album.
Alan spoke to FabricationsHQ just prior to the start of King King’s spring UK Tour to discuss King King, the band’s third album Reaching For the Light, The Nimmo Brothers, his musical influences, his brother’s talents and all points of musical view in between.
Alan Nimmo also speaks as he plays – honestly and passionately – evident from the conversational outset as we talked about the career of The Nimmo Brothers, the past and present music scenes and how to ensure a solid future for blues and blues rock…
Ross Muir: It’s been an amazing rise of success, recognition and awards for King King over the last few years and we’ll talk about the band shortly, but I’d like to start with The Nimmo Brothers – you’ve just come off a set of European dates with your brother Stevie…
Alan Nimmo: Yes, I was out on tour with him in January – Holland, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.
Because it’s all gone a bit nuts with King King lately and gotten really, really busy Stevie graciously stepped back so as not to get in the way of the King King momentum.
But I take January off – we don’t book anything in January with King King – and one of our agents in Holland got hold of us to say "I can book you tours in Europe every January; at least three weeks worth of dates."
To which we said "right then – carry on!" (laughs).
RM: You've just answered the first of what would have been a two-part question – how do you balance schedules and/ or find time for The Nimmo Brothers?
The other part of that question is, even with some critical acclaim here in the UK and a couple of Blues Awards behind you, The Nimmo Brothers have never got the larger hall tours or the mainstream blues circuit recognition they deserve…
AN: You know what Ross, that’s the million dollar question and I spent years asking that myself; scratching my head and getting sickened about it and worried over it.
But now? What’s for you won’t go by you and I don’t put much thought in to it.
But the answer is that I really don’t know; it could be anything from simply not having the luck or not being in the right place at the right time. Or somebody somewhere might simply have decided you’re not flavour of the month, so no-one really takes an interest. It could be any number of reasons.
RM: Oh there’s plenty of right place right time and wrong place wrong time examples out there and then there’s the politics of the music industry itself. But on the plus side, and as I mentioned, The Nimmo Brothers are a critically acclaimed outfit and there have been some great festival slots, including in the US.
And there's the European tours you mentioned, so it’s not as if this is a bad gig – far from it – it’s just that the UK has been difficult.
AN: Yeah; nowadays the industry is quite difficult but then I think it always was; but with The Nimmo Brothers we take care of all the business matters on our own. Actually maybe that’s part of the problem! (laughs).
But that’s just how it is, and how it’s been for a long time.
But with King King, and how that was all put together, I had a bucket load of ideas on how I essentially wanted to run it as my own business – how to market it, how to promote it.
And with all the luck we've had – because I’m certainly not claiming to be a genius – we've been very fortunate that things started happening for us.
That’s not to say we didn't work our arses off because we did and do work our arses off – we have worked very hard for this and it’s great to see that hard work paying off.
RM: Nail on the head. Your work ethic is second to none and you always seem to be on the go or on tour, pushing and promoting product – but what also doesn't hurt is the quality of that product as proven by the award winning studio albums.
And over the last five years or so you have made yourselves into one of the must see must hear bands in British blues rock. Right now I would say King King are the blues rock band to catch.
AN: Well I suppose that was always the idea, but that’s great – that’s fantastic to hear.
It’s really nice to get those awards and it’s great to get those sorts of accolades. For me, and for those of us in this game, those are great things to have on your C.V. and for promotional purposes, especially when you’re going in to territories abroad like Europe and Canada – they love to hear about a band that’s winning. So it’s nice to get recognition like that but as I’ve said before, they can chuck all the awards and accolades at us they like – and I’m quite happy to take them – but that’s not what I do this for; that’s not why we're doing this. We’re here for the long haul and I want to make music that people will remember.
RM: I’m all for timeless musicality and I don’t care if that’s quality pop, rock, progressive, fusion or blues. And, in the case of King King, hopefully something you and I are still discussing in ten, fifteen, twenty years’ time.
AN: I certainly hope so because the music that I grew up listening to, the music of the sixties and the seventies, we’re all still talking about that today; it’s all still relevant today.
And it’s relevant because it is such good quality – its music that lasts. There’s music that comes and goes, or fads where people have made a fortune in six months, but there will come a time when no-one will remember it or won’t be playing it.
RM: There’s a major difference between creative musicality and manufactured musicality – it’s quite clear.
But it’s also quite clear which one is geared to sell to the masses and which is geared for longevity.
AN: Absolutely. But I do think there is a change in the wind. It’s coming round again where I’m looking at some of the bands that are around now – both youngsters and middle aged guys – where they are saying "you know what? I’m going back to what works in the long run."
I see a lot of bands going back to the classic rock sound and I think the whole business is getting on board with that, which can only be good, because we want music that lasts.
I’m very proud of what King King does and how we’ve worked hard to get established; I’m also enjoying the process of how I write songs these days and I’m getting better at it – well, hopefully (laughs).
But we’re not doing anything that’s ground breaking. We’re just a very good, tight band that produces music that people will hopefully be listening to for a long time. That’s how I see it.
RM: That’s an interesting summation and it touches on why so much of that sixties and seventies music is now described as "classic rock" in inverted commas. I write, review and comment on a lot of classic rock based releases and none of it is truly ground breaking. My own summation, or as I sometimes describe the best of those releases, is that there is nothing really new here, it’s just done very well.
AN: A lot of bands would probably read that about themselves and take it as an insult; they would get upset or insecure about it but at the end of the day it is what it is – just good quality music.
And hopefully, as we’ve just been saying, you’re still putting that music on the players in ten and twenty years time while saying "yeah, that’s still a great song." Like we do with the music we grew up with!
RM: Indeed. I agree there is a change in the music business culture but I don’t think it will worry the manufactured fads or cookie cutter pop that helps oil the wheels of today’s entertainment industry.
But those wee get-togethers where you stick some vinyl on the record player and discuss the music?
That’s certainly making a comeback.
AN: Absolutely! Those record sessions with your mates – "there’s a record session over at so and so’s house Friday night – you coming?" (laughs).
RM: You’d bring your favourite records – or maybe that new one you’d just bought – and sit with your mates to discuss the album, the sleeve artwork, the lyric sheet, pick out and replay your favourite tracks.
The perfect antidote to the sterile, individual listening experience of a wee set of earphones and an iPod or any similar digital device.
AN: Well you will be very glad to hear that we manufactured vinyl records for the new King King album, because there was a massive demand for it.
Over the last six months or so people have been constantly asking if we’re going to be doing a vinyl edition along with the CD and at first we didn’t know – in fact to be perfectly honest with you we were originally saying "well, maybe; we’ll see." But there has been an overwhelming demand for it from the fans.
RM: Which ties in perfectly to what we just said about the listening experience – at first it was just a small number of die-hard or older fans, but then it grew to became hundreds, which became thousands and on to tens of thousands of music fans and music listeners realising "you know what? 180 gram vinyl is a pretty nifty way to listen to – and appreciate – this sort of music."
AN: Totally! I’ve still got a lot of old Free vinyl and early Whitesnake picture discs and I would love somebody to buy one of my records and feel exactly the same way about it as I did when I was buying those records; picking it up and thinking "I’m keeping that for life."
RM: That’s great. Sadly, or perhaps inevitably, everything I had on record or cassette tape has long since been replaced by CD or digital copy. But I could go up to the loft right now and pull out a very small but very significant collection of original vinyl I just can’t part with.
AN: I should think not!
AN: I certainly hope so because the music that I grew up listening to, the music of the sixties and the seventies, we’re all still talking about that today; it’s all still relevant today.
And it’s relevant because it is such good quality – its music that lasts. There’s music that comes and goes, or fads where people have made a fortune in six months, but there will come a time when no-one will remember it or won’t be playing it.
RM: There’s a major difference between creative musicality and manufactured musicality – it’s quite clear.
But it’s also quite clear which one is geared to sell to the masses and which is geared for longevity.
AN: Absolutely. But I do think there is a change in the wind. It’s coming round again where I’m looking at some of the bands that are around now – both youngsters and middle aged guys – where they are saying "you know what? I’m going back to what works in the long run."
I see a lot of bands going back to the classic rock sound and I think the whole business is getting on board with that, which can only be good, because we want music that lasts.
I’m very proud of what King King does and how we’ve worked hard to get established; I’m also enjoying the process of how I write songs these days and I’m getting better at it – well, hopefully (laughs).
But we’re not doing anything that’s ground breaking. We’re just a very good, tight band that produces music that people will hopefully be listening to for a long time. That’s how I see it.
RM: That’s an interesting summation and it touches on why so much of that sixties and seventies music is now described as "classic rock" in inverted commas. I write, review and comment on a lot of classic rock based releases and none of it is truly ground breaking. My own summation, or as I sometimes describe the best of those releases, is that there is nothing really new here, it’s just done very well.
AN: A lot of bands would probably read that about themselves and take it as an insult; they would get upset or insecure about it but at the end of the day it is what it is – just good quality music.
And hopefully, as we’ve just been saying, you’re still putting that music on the players in ten and twenty years time while saying "yeah, that’s still a great song." Like we do with the music we grew up with!
RM: Indeed. I agree there is a change in the music business culture but I don’t think it will worry the manufactured fads or cookie cutter pop that helps oil the wheels of today’s entertainment industry.
But those wee get-togethers where you stick some vinyl on the record player and discuss the music?
That’s certainly making a comeback.
AN: Absolutely! Those record sessions with your mates – "there’s a record session over at so and so’s house Friday night – you coming?" (laughs).
RM: You’d bring your favourite records – or maybe that new one you’d just bought – and sit with your mates to discuss the album, the sleeve artwork, the lyric sheet, pick out and replay your favourite tracks.
The perfect antidote to the sterile, individual listening experience of a wee set of earphones and an iPod or any similar digital device.
AN: Well you will be very glad to hear that we manufactured vinyl records for the new King King album, because there was a massive demand for it.
Over the last six months or so people have been constantly asking if we’re going to be doing a vinyl edition along with the CD and at first we didn’t know – in fact to be perfectly honest with you we were originally saying "well, maybe; we’ll see." But there has been an overwhelming demand for it from the fans.
RM: Which ties in perfectly to what we just said about the listening experience – at first it was just a small number of die-hard or older fans, but then it grew to became hundreds, which became thousands and on to tens of thousands of music fans and music listeners realising "you know what? 180 gram vinyl is a pretty nifty way to listen to – and appreciate – this sort of music."
AN: Totally! I’ve still got a lot of old Free vinyl and early Whitesnake picture discs and I would love somebody to buy one of my records and feel exactly the same way about it as I did when I was buying those records; picking it up and thinking "I’m keeping that for life."
RM: That’s great. Sadly, or perhaps inevitably, everything I had on record or cassette tape has long since been replaced by CD or digital copy. But I could go up to the loft right now and pull out a very small but very significant collection of original vinyl I just can’t part with.
AN: I should think not!
Back-to-back British Blues Award winning studio albums and night after night of stand-out, high
energy live performances have made King King one of the hottest tickets in British blues rock.
RM: We touched on the resurgence of classic rock earlier but this is also a great time for the blues and blues rock, especially British blues.
We have Joanne Shaw Taylor, Ben Poole – both great young talents – King King and of course The Nimmo Brothers; Matt Schofield is on fine form. Then there’s the old stagers such as John Mayall who continues to record and perform as an octogenarian. Robin Trower’s back out on the boards this year with a new album and tour. And so many more…
AN: Absolutely no question but, and this is something I’ve always stressed in interview or whenever I speak to anyone about the blues, the only hope for the game is that the youngsters get on board.
Because let’s not deny it, we need the younger ones to get involved; we need the young bands to come in and recreate that scene again and make it relevant.
And my hope is they instil new life in to it and maintain a standard of musicianship and a standard of performance that doesn’t drop, because that would be the biggest downfall for the blues scene – just because they are a young and keen band doesn't necessarily mean they are a young and good band.
I just hope the standard gets kept high because we all know the blues is specialist music nowadays; every-one wants to play a lengthy guitar solo and nobody gets airplay on mainstream radio because the songs are too long or there is too much instrumental stuff going on.
Now, we can all look at the business end of broadcasting and pull our hair out over it but that’s just how it is; if you want played on Radio 2 you’ve got to have a short song with not too much faffing about (laughs).
If you keep the essence of the blues intact you might just get there but the standard of musicianship and performance needs to be kept high – if it doesn’t, we all lose out.
If we keep churning out bands that are no good to anybody then the scene will be made a mockery of and it will die away again.
RM: There are definitely musical genres that suffer from rise and fall and the blues in particular does seem to hit peaks and troughs across the decades. But the good news is right now we are hitting a peak – and long may that continue.
AN: Definitely. And, as you said, we have people like Joanne, Ben – we have young Laurence Jones with us on the UK spring tour – and there's a few other folk coming in to the scene at the minute.
But the biggest thing for me, along with the standard of musicianship, is the energy and passion they put in.
This is something else I’ve always stipulated – mean what you do. If you don’t mean it then get out the way. Some of the young ones that are doing it right now have got that heart and got that fire; that’s what we need, that’s what is going to keep it alive.
But we don’t want people coming in and just thinking it’s a stepping stone to some bigger pop world, with no heart or soul for what they’re doing. Those guys can just fuck right off as far as I’m concerned.
RM: No arguments from me and it’s refreshing to hear passionate, honest statements from a passionate, honest musician who is true to his calling.
I tend to write the very same way – which probably explains why I’m Freelance (laughs).
AN: Yeah (laughs), but you know exactly what I mean – just keep it real. Because if you don’t people will see right through it, eventually.
RM: Of course they will. It’s a little veil or musical façade but veils have a tendency to fall off or be pulled off. But then as Pat Travers so perfectly put it when I spoke to him a while back – there’s a show business and there’s a music business; two sides of the same industry.
But to extend your own observation I think there are a lot of younger bands starting to learn that you have to work an apprenticeship and work at your craft to have credibility and longevity.
AN: Oh absolutely. But I do think there has been a problem over the last few years with the introduction of Social Media; to the degree that there wasn't that many band’s doing it the old fashioned way.
I consider a musical apprenticeship to be when you join a band or start a band and you travel all over the place, grafting your backside off. You walk in to a bar with a noisy crowd and try to win them over, doing your best to get them in the palm of your hand; then you walk out the back door and in to the van, driving in the snow and the rain and the cold. The ins and outs of learning your trade, doing it properly and having to lift your own gear up and down the stairs.
A lot of young guys and young bands come in now and start at a level we took two years to get to – and that’s because they are preaching from the pulpit of their Facebook page, which is in the bedroom of their mum and dad’s house!
Now that’s all fine and great; that’s the world we now live in. But there is a whole lot to be said for picking up your guitar, getting out there, doing it properly and learning your craft.
RM: Talking of picking up the guitar and getting out there and doing it properly – you do that as well as any in British blues but I also detect some classic-era British rock influences.
And vocally there’s a little Paul Rodgers and even some Jimmy Dewar, the late and great Scottish singer that played with Robin Trower throughout the seventies. I think the soul-blues side of your voice compares very favourably to Jimmy’s.
AN: These are all very nice compliments to hear and these are all the guys I loved to listen to, particularly Jimmy, Paul and Frankie Miller. I grew up listening to all that stuff but it goes back to the thing I was talking about earlier – having a passion. They all had that; they all stood on a stage and basically bared their soul, whether there was a large audience in front of them or just a few hundred folks.
That’s what comes across and that’s what’s kept these guys on the radio and on everyone’s record player and in everyone’s memory over the years. These are the guys that did it for real.
RM: Oh you can certainly tell who is just singing and who is a singer…
AN: Of course! And all these people, and bands like Free, they were amazing to us; that’s what instilled that passion in us.
RM: That certainly comes across in King King’s performances and on the albums. The original material you are writing with bass player Lindsay Coulson is high-quality but I also like the fact the covers you’ve done thus far – a couple on each of the first two albums – are performed with a passion and a love for the original artist and the material. Jealousy by Frankie Miller for example.
AN: I just think it was always interesting, as a music fan, when you bought a record by one of your favourite bands and you noticed there was a cover on there and it was a song you knew and liked.
I always found that interesting, especially if you picked up an album and said "look, they’ve done such-and-such a song; I can’t wait to hear that!" I think putting in a song or two like that just adds to the record and, as the musician, it's probably going to be another one of your influences.
RM: And you’ve done them all proud – Free’s Heavy Load; John Hiatt’s Feels Like Rain; we mentioned Jealousy. But I have to say that with Old Love – a highlight of Eric Clapton’s Journeyman album – you’ve taken ownership of that song, especially live.
That’s a fantastic version, just saturated in feel, and live you are clearly in a zone, or in that moment, during your extended solo. You just go somewhere else…
AN: That all stems from the days of being young players in young bands and working hard, especially those with a blues background. You play and you play and you get to a point where everyone is on the same page during the song – exactly the same page – and it all just clicks together; it all just moves the way it’s supposed to and that power comes across.
But if you’re recording blues it’s extremely difficult to find that on a recording – that’s generally left for the live environment, when you are in that moment at that exact time.
But if you've got a band that’s playing together all the time, where they are like a family – you’re all muckers or buddies – you can get to that point; you can achieve it. But it’s very difficult and a lot of bands will never achieve it.
RM: I would suggest part of the reason King King are achieving in that manner is because you have that family camaraderie – as well as top flight musicianship, of course. I mean if you have Lindsay Coulson and Wayne Proctor holding and driving the rhythm you’re not going to be too sloppy, are you?
AN: That’s not too bad a start, is it? (laughs). But it’s taken us a while to get this unit together as you know.
We’ve been through several keyboard players and drummers over the years, honing the band until we got the right chemistry. Because it’s not just about getting the right players, it’s about getting the right people.
If you spend as much time on the road together as we do you had better get on; otherwise there’s going to be a lot of broken bones along the way! (laughs).
RM: Yes, you become an extended family. Part of that family left fairly recently when Bennett Holland departed King King. Bennett brought some great organ playing and keyboard textures to the band…
AN: Bennett was great; he really was fantastic. He was one of the team and he fitted in musically.
We really had a good rapport; we could bounce off one another all the time and Bennett was great at taking direction, which was really good for me, especially in the studio.
I could sit beside him at his Hammond or his piano – and I’m useless on a keyboard, I can't play a chord on those bloody things (laughter) – but I could say "Bennett, could you play this?" (mimics and sings little riffs).
And he would play it right back, note for note! He knew immediately what I meant, what I wanted.
Bennet's stage presence was great too; always very animated and he brought a lot to the shows we did.
But Bennett had his own ideas of what he wanted to do – he worked another job as well – and he was never up for the extensive touring; he writes stuff from home now and prefers that sort of life.
So we parted ways and to be honest I think it was meant to be because what we have now with Bob Fridzema is exactly where we need to be. I think we have found the right sound for King King with Bob.
With Bennett it was close but for me, with Bob, we’ve found just the right keyboard sound.
energy live performances have made King King one of the hottest tickets in British blues rock.
RM: We touched on the resurgence of classic rock earlier but this is also a great time for the blues and blues rock, especially British blues.
We have Joanne Shaw Taylor, Ben Poole – both great young talents – King King and of course The Nimmo Brothers; Matt Schofield is on fine form. Then there’s the old stagers such as John Mayall who continues to record and perform as an octogenarian. Robin Trower’s back out on the boards this year with a new album and tour. And so many more…
AN: Absolutely no question but, and this is something I’ve always stressed in interview or whenever I speak to anyone about the blues, the only hope for the game is that the youngsters get on board.
Because let’s not deny it, we need the younger ones to get involved; we need the young bands to come in and recreate that scene again and make it relevant.
And my hope is they instil new life in to it and maintain a standard of musicianship and a standard of performance that doesn’t drop, because that would be the biggest downfall for the blues scene – just because they are a young and keen band doesn't necessarily mean they are a young and good band.
I just hope the standard gets kept high because we all know the blues is specialist music nowadays; every-one wants to play a lengthy guitar solo and nobody gets airplay on mainstream radio because the songs are too long or there is too much instrumental stuff going on.
Now, we can all look at the business end of broadcasting and pull our hair out over it but that’s just how it is; if you want played on Radio 2 you’ve got to have a short song with not too much faffing about (laughs).
If you keep the essence of the blues intact you might just get there but the standard of musicianship and performance needs to be kept high – if it doesn’t, we all lose out.
If we keep churning out bands that are no good to anybody then the scene will be made a mockery of and it will die away again.
RM: There are definitely musical genres that suffer from rise and fall and the blues in particular does seem to hit peaks and troughs across the decades. But the good news is right now we are hitting a peak – and long may that continue.
AN: Definitely. And, as you said, we have people like Joanne, Ben – we have young Laurence Jones with us on the UK spring tour – and there's a few other folk coming in to the scene at the minute.
But the biggest thing for me, along with the standard of musicianship, is the energy and passion they put in.
This is something else I’ve always stipulated – mean what you do. If you don’t mean it then get out the way. Some of the young ones that are doing it right now have got that heart and got that fire; that’s what we need, that’s what is going to keep it alive.
But we don’t want people coming in and just thinking it’s a stepping stone to some bigger pop world, with no heart or soul for what they’re doing. Those guys can just fuck right off as far as I’m concerned.
RM: No arguments from me and it’s refreshing to hear passionate, honest statements from a passionate, honest musician who is true to his calling.
I tend to write the very same way – which probably explains why I’m Freelance (laughs).
AN: Yeah (laughs), but you know exactly what I mean – just keep it real. Because if you don’t people will see right through it, eventually.
RM: Of course they will. It’s a little veil or musical façade but veils have a tendency to fall off or be pulled off. But then as Pat Travers so perfectly put it when I spoke to him a while back – there’s a show business and there’s a music business; two sides of the same industry.
But to extend your own observation I think there are a lot of younger bands starting to learn that you have to work an apprenticeship and work at your craft to have credibility and longevity.
AN: Oh absolutely. But I do think there has been a problem over the last few years with the introduction of Social Media; to the degree that there wasn't that many band’s doing it the old fashioned way.
I consider a musical apprenticeship to be when you join a band or start a band and you travel all over the place, grafting your backside off. You walk in to a bar with a noisy crowd and try to win them over, doing your best to get them in the palm of your hand; then you walk out the back door and in to the van, driving in the snow and the rain and the cold. The ins and outs of learning your trade, doing it properly and having to lift your own gear up and down the stairs.
A lot of young guys and young bands come in now and start at a level we took two years to get to – and that’s because they are preaching from the pulpit of their Facebook page, which is in the bedroom of their mum and dad’s house!
Now that’s all fine and great; that’s the world we now live in. But there is a whole lot to be said for picking up your guitar, getting out there, doing it properly and learning your craft.
RM: Talking of picking up the guitar and getting out there and doing it properly – you do that as well as any in British blues but I also detect some classic-era British rock influences.
And vocally there’s a little Paul Rodgers and even some Jimmy Dewar, the late and great Scottish singer that played with Robin Trower throughout the seventies. I think the soul-blues side of your voice compares very favourably to Jimmy’s.
AN: These are all very nice compliments to hear and these are all the guys I loved to listen to, particularly Jimmy, Paul and Frankie Miller. I grew up listening to all that stuff but it goes back to the thing I was talking about earlier – having a passion. They all had that; they all stood on a stage and basically bared their soul, whether there was a large audience in front of them or just a few hundred folks.
That’s what comes across and that’s what’s kept these guys on the radio and on everyone’s record player and in everyone’s memory over the years. These are the guys that did it for real.
RM: Oh you can certainly tell who is just singing and who is a singer…
AN: Of course! And all these people, and bands like Free, they were amazing to us; that’s what instilled that passion in us.
RM: That certainly comes across in King King’s performances and on the albums. The original material you are writing with bass player Lindsay Coulson is high-quality but I also like the fact the covers you’ve done thus far – a couple on each of the first two albums – are performed with a passion and a love for the original artist and the material. Jealousy by Frankie Miller for example.
AN: I just think it was always interesting, as a music fan, when you bought a record by one of your favourite bands and you noticed there was a cover on there and it was a song you knew and liked.
I always found that interesting, especially if you picked up an album and said "look, they’ve done such-and-such a song; I can’t wait to hear that!" I think putting in a song or two like that just adds to the record and, as the musician, it's probably going to be another one of your influences.
RM: And you’ve done them all proud – Free’s Heavy Load; John Hiatt’s Feels Like Rain; we mentioned Jealousy. But I have to say that with Old Love – a highlight of Eric Clapton’s Journeyman album – you’ve taken ownership of that song, especially live.
That’s a fantastic version, just saturated in feel, and live you are clearly in a zone, or in that moment, during your extended solo. You just go somewhere else…
AN: That all stems from the days of being young players in young bands and working hard, especially those with a blues background. You play and you play and you get to a point where everyone is on the same page during the song – exactly the same page – and it all just clicks together; it all just moves the way it’s supposed to and that power comes across.
But if you’re recording blues it’s extremely difficult to find that on a recording – that’s generally left for the live environment, when you are in that moment at that exact time.
But if you've got a band that’s playing together all the time, where they are like a family – you’re all muckers or buddies – you can get to that point; you can achieve it. But it’s very difficult and a lot of bands will never achieve it.
RM: I would suggest part of the reason King King are achieving in that manner is because you have that family camaraderie – as well as top flight musicianship, of course. I mean if you have Lindsay Coulson and Wayne Proctor holding and driving the rhythm you’re not going to be too sloppy, are you?
AN: That’s not too bad a start, is it? (laughs). But it’s taken us a while to get this unit together as you know.
We’ve been through several keyboard players and drummers over the years, honing the band until we got the right chemistry. Because it’s not just about getting the right players, it’s about getting the right people.
If you spend as much time on the road together as we do you had better get on; otherwise there’s going to be a lot of broken bones along the way! (laughs).
RM: Yes, you become an extended family. Part of that family left fairly recently when Bennett Holland departed King King. Bennett brought some great organ playing and keyboard textures to the band…
AN: Bennett was great; he really was fantastic. He was one of the team and he fitted in musically.
We really had a good rapport; we could bounce off one another all the time and Bennett was great at taking direction, which was really good for me, especially in the studio.
I could sit beside him at his Hammond or his piano – and I’m useless on a keyboard, I can't play a chord on those bloody things (laughter) – but I could say "Bennett, could you play this?" (mimics and sings little riffs).
And he would play it right back, note for note! He knew immediately what I meant, what I wanted.
Bennet's stage presence was great too; always very animated and he brought a lot to the shows we did.
But Bennett had his own ideas of what he wanted to do – he worked another job as well – and he was never up for the extensive touring; he writes stuff from home now and prefers that sort of life.
So we parted ways and to be honest I think it was meant to be because what we have now with Bob Fridzema is exactly where we need to be. I think we have found the right sound for King King with Bob.
With Bennett it was close but for me, with Bob, we’ve found just the right keyboard sound.
Alan Nimmo and Lindsay Coulson, the musical partnership King King was built around.
Coulson and noted groove drummer Wayne Proctor form one of the best rhythm sections in the business while Bob Fridzema adds the keyboard sound Nimmo always envisaged for the band.
RM: And the fans can hear the retooled quartet on Reaching for the Light, an album you have mentioned in comment as faster and more energetic than what has come before.
AN: Yeah, I have said that this album is a bit faster-paced and has a bit more energy to it. I think we were honing our sound to a more soulful, smouldering kind of style and I was getting a little wary about that and the dangers of becoming just another slow-paced band (laughs).
So I thought "we need to change this up a little" while keeping the essence of what we do and who we are.
RM: The album is a natural progression. Take My Hand was a strong opening statement and a real feisty slice of blues rock as exemplified by the title track we played earlier.
Standing in the Shadows was, overall, a mellower album with a more developed sound than the debut.
Reaching for the Light therefore becomes the opportunity to crank it up, step it up another notch and garner even more attention.
AN: I definitely think so. I’ve been asked what I think this album is when compared to the last one and it is a natural progression from Standing in the Shadows.
But like everything else the more you do something the better you get at it; this time around we are more experienced in the studio and have written stronger songs.
So you do progress naturally, but I was also wary of not ending up with an album that was just as good as Standing in the Shadows – I didn’t want an album as good as Standing in the Shadows; I wanted an album a bucket-load better than Standing in the Shadows.
I think we’ve achieved that; I think we have an album that is a good few steps up from the last one, so the critics have nothing to complain about.
Because it would have been easy for them to say "Standing in the Shadows won all these awards and they haven’t really bettered it" or "they haven’t improved that much" but I think this time they are going to have to say "you know what? They have improved that much."
RM: I hope that is the case, critically speaking, because after an award winning period it can become a classic case of the higher they climb… and critics are always waiting for a fall.
AN: The thing about this little game we’re in is that once you take that little step upwards, people are kissing your arse constantly – which is great (laughs). But when you move up a little higher, progress a little further, that's when you start getting the lovers and the haters; you need to prepare yourself for heftier criticism.
But we’re all thick skinned and none of us are kiddies any more; we’re not wet behind the ears or just out of school – we’re quite prepared for any criticism and that’s also a sign of progressing for me.
When you watch guys like Joe Bonamassa and John Mayall, you’ll get the same amount of people absolutely loving what they’re doing now as those that hate it – and it’s not done them any harm (laughs); it’s just something that is going to happen. And that’s fine. I’m prepared for that.
RM: Interesting you mentioning Bonamassa because Joe’s last album, his first of all-new material, suffered from that sort of love-hate criticism. Some people believe it to be lacklustre or not strong enough without some quality covers while others, including myself, believe it to be his best album to date.
AN: I think Joe made a brave move when he said he was going to write a whole album this time, rather than write three or four songs and put a whole bunch of covers on it. He just felt it was about time he wrote an entire album so he did – and I think he knocked it out the park to be honest.
RM: Agreed, but the interesting thing is I could sit down with a dozen other people and six would say yep, that’s his best by a country mile while the other half-dozen would say oh dear no; what was he thinking?
AN: But this is what you face at that level and some of these guys get that constantly – daily posts and comments about how shit they are and then another ten appear declaring their love (laughter).
But that’s what happens and as long as you can handle that you’ll be ok.
RM: It happens to the best of guitarists. Talking of which, your guitar work is obviously a major feature and highlight of the King King sound and performance, whether burning up the fretboard on the harder blues rock material or melodic soloing over a song such as A Long History of Love…
Coulson and noted groove drummer Wayne Proctor form one of the best rhythm sections in the business while Bob Fridzema adds the keyboard sound Nimmo always envisaged for the band.
RM: And the fans can hear the retooled quartet on Reaching for the Light, an album you have mentioned in comment as faster and more energetic than what has come before.
AN: Yeah, I have said that this album is a bit faster-paced and has a bit more energy to it. I think we were honing our sound to a more soulful, smouldering kind of style and I was getting a little wary about that and the dangers of becoming just another slow-paced band (laughs).
So I thought "we need to change this up a little" while keeping the essence of what we do and who we are.
RM: The album is a natural progression. Take My Hand was a strong opening statement and a real feisty slice of blues rock as exemplified by the title track we played earlier.
Standing in the Shadows was, overall, a mellower album with a more developed sound than the debut.
Reaching for the Light therefore becomes the opportunity to crank it up, step it up another notch and garner even more attention.
AN: I definitely think so. I’ve been asked what I think this album is when compared to the last one and it is a natural progression from Standing in the Shadows.
But like everything else the more you do something the better you get at it; this time around we are more experienced in the studio and have written stronger songs.
So you do progress naturally, but I was also wary of not ending up with an album that was just as good as Standing in the Shadows – I didn’t want an album as good as Standing in the Shadows; I wanted an album a bucket-load better than Standing in the Shadows.
I think we’ve achieved that; I think we have an album that is a good few steps up from the last one, so the critics have nothing to complain about.
Because it would have been easy for them to say "Standing in the Shadows won all these awards and they haven’t really bettered it" or "they haven’t improved that much" but I think this time they are going to have to say "you know what? They have improved that much."
RM: I hope that is the case, critically speaking, because after an award winning period it can become a classic case of the higher they climb… and critics are always waiting for a fall.
AN: The thing about this little game we’re in is that once you take that little step upwards, people are kissing your arse constantly – which is great (laughs). But when you move up a little higher, progress a little further, that's when you start getting the lovers and the haters; you need to prepare yourself for heftier criticism.
But we’re all thick skinned and none of us are kiddies any more; we’re not wet behind the ears or just out of school – we’re quite prepared for any criticism and that’s also a sign of progressing for me.
When you watch guys like Joe Bonamassa and John Mayall, you’ll get the same amount of people absolutely loving what they’re doing now as those that hate it – and it’s not done them any harm (laughs); it’s just something that is going to happen. And that’s fine. I’m prepared for that.
RM: Interesting you mentioning Bonamassa because Joe’s last album, his first of all-new material, suffered from that sort of love-hate criticism. Some people believe it to be lacklustre or not strong enough without some quality covers while others, including myself, believe it to be his best album to date.
AN: I think Joe made a brave move when he said he was going to write a whole album this time, rather than write three or four songs and put a whole bunch of covers on it. He just felt it was about time he wrote an entire album so he did – and I think he knocked it out the park to be honest.
RM: Agreed, but the interesting thing is I could sit down with a dozen other people and six would say yep, that’s his best by a country mile while the other half-dozen would say oh dear no; what was he thinking?
AN: But this is what you face at that level and some of these guys get that constantly – daily posts and comments about how shit they are and then another ten appear declaring their love (laughter).
But that’s what happens and as long as you can handle that you’ll be ok.
RM: It happens to the best of guitarists. Talking of which, your guitar work is obviously a major feature and highlight of the King King sound and performance, whether burning up the fretboard on the harder blues rock material or melodic soloing over a song such as A Long History of Love…
RM: Where does that Alan Nimmo six-string style and feel come from?
AN: To be honest with you I don’t know; I’ve never studied a process of how to become a better player – you just do or you don’t.
And the stuff I listened to growing up is the stuff I’m listening to now; it’s not really any different. You add some new flavours of your own along the way and you learn some new things here and there – it’s always good to keep learning – but I think at the core of it all, the essence and the feel of it, are the players I listened to when I was younger. Guys like Peter Green, Eric Clapton and Paul Kossoff.
My brother has said a couple of times in the past – much as you mentioned earlier – that when I’m in that zone, really in that zone, he says "you’re away; you’re gone. You’re playing a solo and you’re completely unaware of the audience. You are in that song."
And he’ll tell me I revert back to playing like Kossoff, because that’s how I learned at the start.
RM: I understand what Stevie means; it’s like you are returning to the source…
AN: Yes; absolutely. When you brush aside all the other stuff and catch yourself in that moment, when the band’s really cooking, that’s when the basic core of who you are comes out.
RM: The interesting flip side to that is while you may be unaware of the audience at those moments the audience is very much aware of you and the energy you are projecting.
When I saw King King at the Darvel Music Festival a couple of years back, you had an audience that wasn’t a King King audience; it was a festival audience there for the event and the various bands that played.
Yet when you played the solo on Old Love – the cover we mentioned earlier – while there was the usual unfortunate but typical back-of-the-hall bar chatter as you started to bring the solo right down and then cut the P.A. audio, you moved from having half the crowd’s attention to everyone’s attention.
The energy emanating from that moment can ride out like a wave…
AN: That's just a wee challenge I give myself (laughs). I actually relish that; I really enjoy that challenge.
Sometimes you get them right away – you have a silent audience and you have nothing to worry about – you just enjoy it. But sometimes they are a bit noisy and you say to yourself "right, I’m going to see how long it takes me to make them shut up" (laughs) and I just carry on.
And I have to say that, luckily enough, I can probably count on the fingers of one hand how many times that’s not worked. I’ve usually got them to shoosh – and long may that continue! (laughs)
RM: I also think that helps show the level of respect both King King and your musicianship have earned, but then as you mentioned earlier you’ve worked your arses off to get to that level.
We should also mention the hard work and career growth goes right back to the Blackwater Blues Band, which featured you and Stevie. Do you think that band was a means to an end – or a means to The Nimmo Brothers – or could there have been a bit more?
AN: Well the first thing to say is that 2015 marks twenty years Stevie and I have been playing together; we started playing together in the Blackwater Blues Band back in 1995.
I think that’s a great achievement in itself but, definitely, there could have been a bit more from that band – although we were a lot younger then (laughs) – and there’s no denying there could have been a lot more for The Nimmo Brothers.
But call it fate, or the stars not aligning or anything else you want to come up with, it really doesn’t matter anymore. It would have been great if there had been more for The Nimmo Brothers because if any band deserved larger success it was probably us, but it wasn’t to be.
And regardless of any insight or knowledge we might have of the music business, and how difficult that business can be, at the end of the day we were – and are – a very good band and a very exciting band.
Having said all that our biggest downfall was probably the fact that we stick so strongly to our guns.
I put us in mind of the Rory Gallagher’s of the world – artists that didn’t compromise, didn’t sell out, didn’t do this, that or the next thing.
We stick to those guns, just do what we do and still put the same amount of energy in to a show as we did in 1995; there is absolutely no doubt about that.
Anyone that comes to see a Nimmo Brothers show will never come away from the gig feeling unsatisfied.
RM: I can testify to that and any fans of The Nimmo Brothers I speak to always talk about what a great high-energy show they have seen – but they also ask me why is it the band are still primarily playing to clubs of hundreds in the UK and not theatres of thousands.
But then as we have been discussing that’s the nature of the business beast – it can help take you to the top or it can continually bite you on the arse.
AN: That’s exactly what it is Ross, the nature of the beast. We could talk for another hour on the reasons why this happened for somebody or that didn’t happen for somebody else but, at the end of the day, whether there’s a hundred people in a room or a thousand people in a room, if we get that audience going away saying "that was a great gig!" then that's our success; that’s how we succeed as a band.
RM: And in terms of musical progression as go King King go The Nimmo Brothers, because we’re not talking about a band that’s resting on their laurels – for me the last Nimmo Brothers album, Brother to Brother, is your strongest album yet.
AN: I think so too but I should also say I don’t honestly believe we have ever displayed just how good a band we are on album and that is a shame.
I think the only album that ever achieved that was the live album but that tells you a lot about us – we are a live band.
But unfortunately studio time has been a problem; we’ve never been in a position where we have been unrestricted, time-wise, in the studio.
But I’m not making any excuses and don’t get me wrong, I’m still very proud of everything we’ve done, but every time we went in to a studio we’ve been on a budget and a deadline.
We went out to Texas to do Brother to Brother but we were literally done, in and out, in four days. Now, while I would have liked another twenty days on top of that to make it the album that it could have been, we’ve been fortunate in that we’ve never heard anyone complaining about the quality of that album, or any of our albums. In fact to go out there for only four days and record with guys we didn’t really know I think we did all right.
RM: "Did all right" is an understatement. While we’re talking about Brother to Brother I’d like to play Still Here Strumming, which opens the album. That song seems to perfectly sum up The Nimmo Brothers….
AN: That’s exactly what I wrote it for, but lyrically you can hear it’s a comical jibe.
I don’t lose sleep over people that ignore the band – I’m too old for that for a start (laughs) – but it was just a comical outlet that says you know what? It doesn’t matter if you don’t write about us in your magazines or if you don’t talk about us much because at the end of the day this is what we do.
It's what we’ve done since the start and we’ll still be doing it at the end...
AN: To be honest with you I don’t know; I’ve never studied a process of how to become a better player – you just do or you don’t.
And the stuff I listened to growing up is the stuff I’m listening to now; it’s not really any different. You add some new flavours of your own along the way and you learn some new things here and there – it’s always good to keep learning – but I think at the core of it all, the essence and the feel of it, are the players I listened to when I was younger. Guys like Peter Green, Eric Clapton and Paul Kossoff.
My brother has said a couple of times in the past – much as you mentioned earlier – that when I’m in that zone, really in that zone, he says "you’re away; you’re gone. You’re playing a solo and you’re completely unaware of the audience. You are in that song."
And he’ll tell me I revert back to playing like Kossoff, because that’s how I learned at the start.
RM: I understand what Stevie means; it’s like you are returning to the source…
AN: Yes; absolutely. When you brush aside all the other stuff and catch yourself in that moment, when the band’s really cooking, that’s when the basic core of who you are comes out.
RM: The interesting flip side to that is while you may be unaware of the audience at those moments the audience is very much aware of you and the energy you are projecting.
When I saw King King at the Darvel Music Festival a couple of years back, you had an audience that wasn’t a King King audience; it was a festival audience there for the event and the various bands that played.
Yet when you played the solo on Old Love – the cover we mentioned earlier – while there was the usual unfortunate but typical back-of-the-hall bar chatter as you started to bring the solo right down and then cut the P.A. audio, you moved from having half the crowd’s attention to everyone’s attention.
The energy emanating from that moment can ride out like a wave…
AN: That's just a wee challenge I give myself (laughs). I actually relish that; I really enjoy that challenge.
Sometimes you get them right away – you have a silent audience and you have nothing to worry about – you just enjoy it. But sometimes they are a bit noisy and you say to yourself "right, I’m going to see how long it takes me to make them shut up" (laughs) and I just carry on.
And I have to say that, luckily enough, I can probably count on the fingers of one hand how many times that’s not worked. I’ve usually got them to shoosh – and long may that continue! (laughs)
RM: I also think that helps show the level of respect both King King and your musicianship have earned, but then as you mentioned earlier you’ve worked your arses off to get to that level.
We should also mention the hard work and career growth goes right back to the Blackwater Blues Band, which featured you and Stevie. Do you think that band was a means to an end – or a means to The Nimmo Brothers – or could there have been a bit more?
AN: Well the first thing to say is that 2015 marks twenty years Stevie and I have been playing together; we started playing together in the Blackwater Blues Band back in 1995.
I think that’s a great achievement in itself but, definitely, there could have been a bit more from that band – although we were a lot younger then (laughs) – and there’s no denying there could have been a lot more for The Nimmo Brothers.
But call it fate, or the stars not aligning or anything else you want to come up with, it really doesn’t matter anymore. It would have been great if there had been more for The Nimmo Brothers because if any band deserved larger success it was probably us, but it wasn’t to be.
And regardless of any insight or knowledge we might have of the music business, and how difficult that business can be, at the end of the day we were – and are – a very good band and a very exciting band.
Having said all that our biggest downfall was probably the fact that we stick so strongly to our guns.
I put us in mind of the Rory Gallagher’s of the world – artists that didn’t compromise, didn’t sell out, didn’t do this, that or the next thing.
We stick to those guns, just do what we do and still put the same amount of energy in to a show as we did in 1995; there is absolutely no doubt about that.
Anyone that comes to see a Nimmo Brothers show will never come away from the gig feeling unsatisfied.
RM: I can testify to that and any fans of The Nimmo Brothers I speak to always talk about what a great high-energy show they have seen – but they also ask me why is it the band are still primarily playing to clubs of hundreds in the UK and not theatres of thousands.
But then as we have been discussing that’s the nature of the business beast – it can help take you to the top or it can continually bite you on the arse.
AN: That’s exactly what it is Ross, the nature of the beast. We could talk for another hour on the reasons why this happened for somebody or that didn’t happen for somebody else but, at the end of the day, whether there’s a hundred people in a room or a thousand people in a room, if we get that audience going away saying "that was a great gig!" then that's our success; that’s how we succeed as a band.
RM: And in terms of musical progression as go King King go The Nimmo Brothers, because we’re not talking about a band that’s resting on their laurels – for me the last Nimmo Brothers album, Brother to Brother, is your strongest album yet.
AN: I think so too but I should also say I don’t honestly believe we have ever displayed just how good a band we are on album and that is a shame.
I think the only album that ever achieved that was the live album but that tells you a lot about us – we are a live band.
But unfortunately studio time has been a problem; we’ve never been in a position where we have been unrestricted, time-wise, in the studio.
But I’m not making any excuses and don’t get me wrong, I’m still very proud of everything we’ve done, but every time we went in to a studio we’ve been on a budget and a deadline.
We went out to Texas to do Brother to Brother but we were literally done, in and out, in four days. Now, while I would have liked another twenty days on top of that to make it the album that it could have been, we’ve been fortunate in that we’ve never heard anyone complaining about the quality of that album, or any of our albums. In fact to go out there for only four days and record with guys we didn’t really know I think we did all right.
RM: "Did all right" is an understatement. While we’re talking about Brother to Brother I’d like to play Still Here Strumming, which opens the album. That song seems to perfectly sum up The Nimmo Brothers….
AN: That’s exactly what I wrote it for, but lyrically you can hear it’s a comical jibe.
I don’t lose sleep over people that ignore the band – I’m too old for that for a start (laughs) – but it was just a comical outlet that says you know what? It doesn’t matter if you don’t write about us in your magazines or if you don’t talk about us much because at the end of the day this is what we do.
It's what we’ve done since the start and we’ll still be doing it at the end...
RM: We should also mention that Stevie is far more than just one half of The Nimmo Brothers.
Stevie performs with his own trio and released a solo album, The Wynds of Life, about four years ago.
That’s a fantastic acoustic and electric based Americana blues album but is yet another release that never got the wider audience it deserved.
AN: I remember when he did that album. I heard the playback long before anyone else and as soon as I’d heard it I phoned him up and said "that’s the best piece of work you have ever done."
The quality of the songs, the musicianship and the guys that were picked to play on it were all fantastic; I just think he hit a real sweet spot with that album.
But a lot of blues fans and even some Nimmo Brothers fans are not aware of its existence, but then you know what it’s like when someone comes out with what’s perceived as another new project; people get sceptical.
King King faced the very same scepticism at the beginning – as far as some people were concerned it was just another Nimmo Brothers project but without the other one in it! (laughter).
We had to work very, very hard to get people to come out and watch us but we persevered and eventually won them over. Don’t get me wrong though, there was also a fairly hefty amount of money invested in building up the profile of the band and I think that’s what would have been needed with Stevie’s album.
But any time he goes and performs those songs people are just blown away by them. Folks go up to him and say "I can’t believe those songs – where did they come from!" and when he says he did the album four of five years ago they say "you’ve had it that amount of time? Where can I get it – I want to buy it!"
RM: It’s a beautifully crafted album. I mentioned the Americana feel of it earlier but for me Stevie’s almost created a new blues off-shoot with The Wynds of Life – Electric Acousticana…
AN: Well that’s another of Stevie’s musical pages; one that’s a bit different to mine.
We do have very similar tastes but there are areas where I go off in one direction and Stevie goes off in another and we do our own thing. The Wynds of Life represents the kind of stuff he really likes and loves to listens to; the tone of his voice is also suited to that style of music.
And Stevie can also write songs for fun – I hate him for that (laughs) – I’ll write a small amount of songs at a time and then have to work them like hell while he’s writing about ten a day – the bastard (laughter).
RM: If he has that many you're clearly going to have to cover a few of them; help a brother out with some performance royalties…
AN: (laughs) Well as you said he’s got the Stevie Nimmo Trio now and he is playing a few songs from the album and I must say they sound great with the band.
They sound lovely when it’s just Stevie and his acoustic guitar – I love to hear them like that; raw and from the core source – but when he has the band involved they sound fantastic.
I would urge anyone who sees a Stevie Nimmo Trio gig advertised in their area to not just sit on the couch thinking about it but to get off their bum, go buy a ticket and go see them because you will not be disappointed.
RM: I would urge the same to anyone considering a Nimmo Brothers gig. And It’s a testament to you and Stevie’s song writing skills and your musicianship that, with limited studio time, you’ve produced such solid albums as the critically acclaimed Coming Your Way, the acoustic album New Moon Over Memphis and Brother to Brother, to name but three. You should be proud of what you’ve achieved as The Nimmo Brothers.
AN: Yes I am, but I’m very precious about my bands and how things get done, which is why I’ve never felt we’ve produced our best in the studio.
But I’m lucky enough to be in complete control of how things get done with King King and have a certain processes I like to go through – how we do things, how I like to produce an album, how I write and arrange.
I also like to live with things for a while – there are times when the guys' say "that’s amazing" or "that’s a great arrangement!" but I’ll come in the next morning with half of it changed and I get that look (laughter).
Then the comments start... "What’s he changing that for?" "It’s fine as it was!" (laughs).
But once I explain the change and they go away with it for five minutes, they all come back and say "yeah, you were right. We get it."
If you've got a vision as an artist then that’s what you want to express, but I find it very hard to communicate that vision it to others. It’s more of a natural, musical thing with me – I can hear and see it the way I want it to be but find it very difficult to communicate that – in words – to others.
But if I work my charm on the lads and say "listen, just stick with me. Try this, play it like that and then put this part here. Trust me." Then it all comes together.
Well hopefully it does (laughs), because that’s how I do it with this band!
RM: Well if that’s the formula, if that’s your process, then fair to say so far so good and long live the King King. Alan, thanks for chatting so extensively, passionately and honestly.
AN: No problem Ross and thanks so much, it's been a pleasure – see you on the tour. Cheers!
Ross Muir
Muirsical Conversation with Alan Nimmo
February 2015
Click here for FabricationsHQ's Feature Review of Reaching for the Light.
Recommended Nimmo Brothers listening:
Coming Your Way (2001)
New Moon Over Memphis (acoustic album) (2003)
Live (2004)
Brother to Brother (2012)
Stevie Nimmo - The Wynds of Life (2010)
photo credits: press imagery/ Noble PR
Audio tracks presented to accompany the above article and to promote the work of the artist.
No infringement of copyright is intended.
Stevie performs with his own trio and released a solo album, The Wynds of Life, about four years ago.
That’s a fantastic acoustic and electric based Americana blues album but is yet another release that never got the wider audience it deserved.
AN: I remember when he did that album. I heard the playback long before anyone else and as soon as I’d heard it I phoned him up and said "that’s the best piece of work you have ever done."
The quality of the songs, the musicianship and the guys that were picked to play on it were all fantastic; I just think he hit a real sweet spot with that album.
But a lot of blues fans and even some Nimmo Brothers fans are not aware of its existence, but then you know what it’s like when someone comes out with what’s perceived as another new project; people get sceptical.
King King faced the very same scepticism at the beginning – as far as some people were concerned it was just another Nimmo Brothers project but without the other one in it! (laughter).
We had to work very, very hard to get people to come out and watch us but we persevered and eventually won them over. Don’t get me wrong though, there was also a fairly hefty amount of money invested in building up the profile of the band and I think that’s what would have been needed with Stevie’s album.
But any time he goes and performs those songs people are just blown away by them. Folks go up to him and say "I can’t believe those songs – where did they come from!" and when he says he did the album four of five years ago they say "you’ve had it that amount of time? Where can I get it – I want to buy it!"
RM: It’s a beautifully crafted album. I mentioned the Americana feel of it earlier but for me Stevie’s almost created a new blues off-shoot with The Wynds of Life – Electric Acousticana…
AN: Well that’s another of Stevie’s musical pages; one that’s a bit different to mine.
We do have very similar tastes but there are areas where I go off in one direction and Stevie goes off in another and we do our own thing. The Wynds of Life represents the kind of stuff he really likes and loves to listens to; the tone of his voice is also suited to that style of music.
And Stevie can also write songs for fun – I hate him for that (laughs) – I’ll write a small amount of songs at a time and then have to work them like hell while he’s writing about ten a day – the bastard (laughter).
RM: If he has that many you're clearly going to have to cover a few of them; help a brother out with some performance royalties…
AN: (laughs) Well as you said he’s got the Stevie Nimmo Trio now and he is playing a few songs from the album and I must say they sound great with the band.
They sound lovely when it’s just Stevie and his acoustic guitar – I love to hear them like that; raw and from the core source – but when he has the band involved they sound fantastic.
I would urge anyone who sees a Stevie Nimmo Trio gig advertised in their area to not just sit on the couch thinking about it but to get off their bum, go buy a ticket and go see them because you will not be disappointed.
RM: I would urge the same to anyone considering a Nimmo Brothers gig. And It’s a testament to you and Stevie’s song writing skills and your musicianship that, with limited studio time, you’ve produced such solid albums as the critically acclaimed Coming Your Way, the acoustic album New Moon Over Memphis and Brother to Brother, to name but three. You should be proud of what you’ve achieved as The Nimmo Brothers.
AN: Yes I am, but I’m very precious about my bands and how things get done, which is why I’ve never felt we’ve produced our best in the studio.
But I’m lucky enough to be in complete control of how things get done with King King and have a certain processes I like to go through – how we do things, how I like to produce an album, how I write and arrange.
I also like to live with things for a while – there are times when the guys' say "that’s amazing" or "that’s a great arrangement!" but I’ll come in the next morning with half of it changed and I get that look (laughter).
Then the comments start... "What’s he changing that for?" "It’s fine as it was!" (laughs).
But once I explain the change and they go away with it for five minutes, they all come back and say "yeah, you were right. We get it."
If you've got a vision as an artist then that’s what you want to express, but I find it very hard to communicate that vision it to others. It’s more of a natural, musical thing with me – I can hear and see it the way I want it to be but find it very difficult to communicate that – in words – to others.
But if I work my charm on the lads and say "listen, just stick with me. Try this, play it like that and then put this part here. Trust me." Then it all comes together.
Well hopefully it does (laughs), because that’s how I do it with this band!
RM: Well if that’s the formula, if that’s your process, then fair to say so far so good and long live the King King. Alan, thanks for chatting so extensively, passionately and honestly.
AN: No problem Ross and thanks so much, it's been a pleasure – see you on the tour. Cheers!
Ross Muir
Muirsical Conversation with Alan Nimmo
February 2015
Click here for FabricationsHQ's Feature Review of Reaching for the Light.
Recommended Nimmo Brothers listening:
Coming Your Way (2001)
New Moon Over Memphis (acoustic album) (2003)
Live (2004)
Brother to Brother (2012)
Stevie Nimmo - The Wynds of Life (2010)
photo credits: press imagery/ Noble PR
Audio tracks presented to accompany the above article and to promote the work of the artist.
No infringement of copyright is intended.