Getting Vocal
Muirsical Conversation with Alan Nimmo
Muirsical Conversation with Alan Nimmo
As just about every British blues rock fan will be aware, the pre-release discussion and promotion for King King’s new album Exile & Grace was knocked in to second place by the issue and concern over front man Alan Nimmo's recent, and second, vocal set back following vocal cord surgery in 2016.
While the operation was a success it’s now clear the increased workload and gigging schedule due to the ever rising popularity of King King (plus the recording of the new album) have meant a second rest and recovery period has become not just sensible, but necessary.
Ironically, an earlier consideration where Alan Nimmo’s brother Stevie would take over vocal duties for a number of dates while Alan played guitar has now become reality – but not with King King.
In a classic case of You Couldn’t Make It Up, a bicycling accident that led to a broken arm for Stevie Nimmo (just prior to his celebrated trio’s UK set of dates getting underway) has seen the elder brother front his band sans guitar while younger sibling Alan Nimmo takes over six-string duties as part of what is temporarily The Stevie Nimmo Trio + 1.
But Alan Nimmo was not just out on the road to play guitar for his brother; he was still actively promoting the release of Exile & Grace, albeit limited in how much he should be talking in conversation and interview.
But there are exceptional conversational efforts to every limited time rule.
FabricationsHQ's lengthy and in-depth chat with Alan Nimmo went beyond talk on the band's most rock orientated release to date (and the reasoning behind such) to discussion of specific songs, the art of songwriting and the equally important role of attention to detail, influences felt and received by a very young Alan Nimmo, a deep appreciation for the Eagles and David Coverdale and a Whitesnake cover with an interesting and, as it turns out, confessional, backstory.
The conversation started however around the ongoing vocal recovery and some honest and forthright observations from Alan Nimmo on the fragility of vocal health…
Ross Muir: Every press interview or promotional soundbite you’ve done over the last month has opened by asking how you are vocally, which is as it should be.
But let me ask you a more internal and personal question of just how you feel about it all, if there was any worry on your part, or if you were even aware another set-back was just around the next gig corner…
Alan Nimmo: Well first of all, I feel I’m getting a lot better. I think it was the best thing to do, taking time off and getting back into a recovery, because when you are on a stage and this has happened again, and then you have to walk off that stage…? For me that’s a massive no-no, but I had no choice.
And no, I had no warning that this was going to happen, other than something came over me just a second or two before where I just knew that next line wasn’t coming out.
And that was it – I couldn’t even explain myself to the audience because I quite literally could not speak!
It took about forty-five minutes to an hour before my voice started to come back so, yes, that was really quite worrying; that’s when I thought – after some very serious deliberation – "All right, we need to take some time off and stop."
But then of course we then hummed and hawed over how much time off that would be! [laughs]
We even had plans where my brother Stevie would be in place to fill in, singing for some shows, and I would play guitar; but as much as Stevie is the only man I would trust to stand in my place – and to be perfectly honest I think the fans would have accepted that – at the last minute I said "You know what? Let’s do this right and stop completely. I'll take time off to get myself in as good a place as I can, health-wise, and get my act together."
And, other than now helping Stevie out [laughs], that’s the only thing I’m concentrating on, getting fit and healthy, working with my vocal coach and getting the strength back in my vocal cords and vocal muscles.
RM: So this is an acceptance and determination of coming back from an injury and wanting to be not as good as you were before that injury, but better.
AN: Absolutely. We tend to equate these things to the athlete or the sportsman and the sports injury – not coming back to play football or whatever sport too soon.
So that’s the plan at the minute but I am actually feeling OK and working away with my vocal coach – she’s noticing that, week in week out, my voice is getting stronger and I feel that myself; that’s why I put a video up on Facebook a few weeks ago of me singing a wee acoustic song.
Now I know you’re going to tell me I shouldn’t have [laughter] but I miss not doing what I should be doing and I just get an urge to do it – hopefully it also restores some faith in the people out there who are waiting on us.
It's really me saying "Look don’t be worrying, I’m on the mend, this is happening – now please go and buy all those tickets, folks!" [laughs]
RM: You mentioned there being serious deliberation taken over this, but the final decision to stop was still yours?
AN: It was my decision, yes, but I was the one initially resistant to it!
I was the one saying "Look, I’ll be alright, it’ll be fine, we’ll keep going" but the advice I was getting from the band, our management team and everyone else around us, was "no, we really think you should stop."
I then took some time to think about it and said "OK, you’re right I do need to stop and get this under control."
I think everyone was relieved at that point to be honest, because with people like Lindsay, we’re not just band mates and business partners, we’re best mates; he was displaying massive and genuine concern for his pal.
That’s when I realised "OK, it’s time to get this sorted out properly."
And I do feel much better now, I really do; that’s a good couple of months now and I’m getting fitter too – I’ve been in the gym, I walk seven kilometers every morning before breakfast and I am feeling the benefits.
It might take a while for the weight to come down, though! [laughs]
RM: Yes, but you have a regime and a routine in place now; all that will come in time.
AN: Yeah it will, it will all come in stages, I know that. But I do really feel better and I’m very glad about that.
RM: And you’re going to feel even better when you’re back out on the road and performing the rescheduled dates, because I know just how passionate you are about playing and about the fans that come out to see and support King King.
AN: Yes, very much so, and also because I now know this is the only way to solve the problem.
But do you know what, Ross, if it doesn’t solve the problem, then there are a whole lot of other things that are important in life. But that’s a bridge we’ll cross if we ever come to it.
Right now, all I can do is work, to the best of my ability, to get back to vocal fitness.
RM: Just to put a full stop on the vocal issues and to assure everyone, the operation was successful, it was just that you probably didn’t give it enough time to fully heal and strengthen.
And, I have to be honest with you Alan, I felt you came back too soon, given the circumstances.
AN: Well, I think the set back has been a mixture of things – the first six months of 2017 were particularly busy for us, with rescheduled dates from the first set of cancellations, then the actual tour dates, and then fitting in the recording of the new album. That all took its toll.
Secondly, if truth be told, when I did have any time off, I probably wasn’t looking after myself in the best way I could have – I kind of learned a lesson the hard way there.
Back in the day, when I was younger and had time off, I didn’t do anything to keep up the fitness and I didn’t do any vocal exercises – because it was just that, my time off!
On the road we were healthy – it was all clean living with no drinking, we were a business – but when we came off the road for a couple of weeks I went to the pub with my pals.
This time though I learned, as I said, a hard lesson, that the young, bullet proof Alan Nimmo isn’t around any more! [laughs]
RM: That’s the same for us all once we pass that bullet proof point, trust me [laughter]
It could be a level of physical or sporting fitness we once had, or simply general constitution against wear and tear…
AN: Tell me about it! Once you hit that age milestone, usually around the four-oh, you have to accept those sorts of changes and I think that’s what’s happened to me.
But, also, we all have to remember this isn’t the wee bar band it used to be – we’ve upped the ante and raised the level each year; we need to be able to keep up with that, along with everything else and everybody else.
I need to realise that if I’m pushing this hard in the studio and on the stage, and we’re doing the hard work on building our profile and the brand, we all need to be fit enough to achieve that.
We all still need to be healthy and able to deliver this product we’re producing.
While the operation was a success it’s now clear the increased workload and gigging schedule due to the ever rising popularity of King King (plus the recording of the new album) have meant a second rest and recovery period has become not just sensible, but necessary.
Ironically, an earlier consideration where Alan Nimmo’s brother Stevie would take over vocal duties for a number of dates while Alan played guitar has now become reality – but not with King King.
In a classic case of You Couldn’t Make It Up, a bicycling accident that led to a broken arm for Stevie Nimmo (just prior to his celebrated trio’s UK set of dates getting underway) has seen the elder brother front his band sans guitar while younger sibling Alan Nimmo takes over six-string duties as part of what is temporarily The Stevie Nimmo Trio + 1.
But Alan Nimmo was not just out on the road to play guitar for his brother; he was still actively promoting the release of Exile & Grace, albeit limited in how much he should be talking in conversation and interview.
But there are exceptional conversational efforts to every limited time rule.
FabricationsHQ's lengthy and in-depth chat with Alan Nimmo went beyond talk on the band's most rock orientated release to date (and the reasoning behind such) to discussion of specific songs, the art of songwriting and the equally important role of attention to detail, influences felt and received by a very young Alan Nimmo, a deep appreciation for the Eagles and David Coverdale and a Whitesnake cover with an interesting and, as it turns out, confessional, backstory.
The conversation started however around the ongoing vocal recovery and some honest and forthright observations from Alan Nimmo on the fragility of vocal health…
Ross Muir: Every press interview or promotional soundbite you’ve done over the last month has opened by asking how you are vocally, which is as it should be.
But let me ask you a more internal and personal question of just how you feel about it all, if there was any worry on your part, or if you were even aware another set-back was just around the next gig corner…
Alan Nimmo: Well first of all, I feel I’m getting a lot better. I think it was the best thing to do, taking time off and getting back into a recovery, because when you are on a stage and this has happened again, and then you have to walk off that stage…? For me that’s a massive no-no, but I had no choice.
And no, I had no warning that this was going to happen, other than something came over me just a second or two before where I just knew that next line wasn’t coming out.
And that was it – I couldn’t even explain myself to the audience because I quite literally could not speak!
It took about forty-five minutes to an hour before my voice started to come back so, yes, that was really quite worrying; that’s when I thought – after some very serious deliberation – "All right, we need to take some time off and stop."
But then of course we then hummed and hawed over how much time off that would be! [laughs]
We even had plans where my brother Stevie would be in place to fill in, singing for some shows, and I would play guitar; but as much as Stevie is the only man I would trust to stand in my place – and to be perfectly honest I think the fans would have accepted that – at the last minute I said "You know what? Let’s do this right and stop completely. I'll take time off to get myself in as good a place as I can, health-wise, and get my act together."
And, other than now helping Stevie out [laughs], that’s the only thing I’m concentrating on, getting fit and healthy, working with my vocal coach and getting the strength back in my vocal cords and vocal muscles.
RM: So this is an acceptance and determination of coming back from an injury and wanting to be not as good as you were before that injury, but better.
AN: Absolutely. We tend to equate these things to the athlete or the sportsman and the sports injury – not coming back to play football or whatever sport too soon.
So that’s the plan at the minute but I am actually feeling OK and working away with my vocal coach – she’s noticing that, week in week out, my voice is getting stronger and I feel that myself; that’s why I put a video up on Facebook a few weeks ago of me singing a wee acoustic song.
Now I know you’re going to tell me I shouldn’t have [laughter] but I miss not doing what I should be doing and I just get an urge to do it – hopefully it also restores some faith in the people out there who are waiting on us.
It's really me saying "Look don’t be worrying, I’m on the mend, this is happening – now please go and buy all those tickets, folks!" [laughs]
RM: You mentioned there being serious deliberation taken over this, but the final decision to stop was still yours?
AN: It was my decision, yes, but I was the one initially resistant to it!
I was the one saying "Look, I’ll be alright, it’ll be fine, we’ll keep going" but the advice I was getting from the band, our management team and everyone else around us, was "no, we really think you should stop."
I then took some time to think about it and said "OK, you’re right I do need to stop and get this under control."
I think everyone was relieved at that point to be honest, because with people like Lindsay, we’re not just band mates and business partners, we’re best mates; he was displaying massive and genuine concern for his pal.
That’s when I realised "OK, it’s time to get this sorted out properly."
And I do feel much better now, I really do; that’s a good couple of months now and I’m getting fitter too – I’ve been in the gym, I walk seven kilometers every morning before breakfast and I am feeling the benefits.
It might take a while for the weight to come down, though! [laughs]
RM: Yes, but you have a regime and a routine in place now; all that will come in time.
AN: Yeah it will, it will all come in stages, I know that. But I do really feel better and I’m very glad about that.
RM: And you’re going to feel even better when you’re back out on the road and performing the rescheduled dates, because I know just how passionate you are about playing and about the fans that come out to see and support King King.
AN: Yes, very much so, and also because I now know this is the only way to solve the problem.
But do you know what, Ross, if it doesn’t solve the problem, then there are a whole lot of other things that are important in life. But that’s a bridge we’ll cross if we ever come to it.
Right now, all I can do is work, to the best of my ability, to get back to vocal fitness.
RM: Just to put a full stop on the vocal issues and to assure everyone, the operation was successful, it was just that you probably didn’t give it enough time to fully heal and strengthen.
And, I have to be honest with you Alan, I felt you came back too soon, given the circumstances.
AN: Well, I think the set back has been a mixture of things – the first six months of 2017 were particularly busy for us, with rescheduled dates from the first set of cancellations, then the actual tour dates, and then fitting in the recording of the new album. That all took its toll.
Secondly, if truth be told, when I did have any time off, I probably wasn’t looking after myself in the best way I could have – I kind of learned a lesson the hard way there.
Back in the day, when I was younger and had time off, I didn’t do anything to keep up the fitness and I didn’t do any vocal exercises – because it was just that, my time off!
On the road we were healthy – it was all clean living with no drinking, we were a business – but when we came off the road for a couple of weeks I went to the pub with my pals.
This time though I learned, as I said, a hard lesson, that the young, bullet proof Alan Nimmo isn’t around any more! [laughs]
RM: That’s the same for us all once we pass that bullet proof point, trust me [laughter]
It could be a level of physical or sporting fitness we once had, or simply general constitution against wear and tear…
AN: Tell me about it! Once you hit that age milestone, usually around the four-oh, you have to accept those sorts of changes and I think that’s what’s happened to me.
But, also, we all have to remember this isn’t the wee bar band it used to be – we’ve upped the ante and raised the level each year; we need to be able to keep up with that, along with everything else and everybody else.
I need to realise that if I’m pushing this hard in the studio and on the stage, and we’re doing the hard work on building our profile and the brand, we all need to be fit enough to achieve that.
We all still need to be healthy and able to deliver this product we’re producing.
RM: And that product is, currently, new album Exile and Grace, where the band has taken a more rock orientated route, although you still have a bluesy vein running through it – or classic rock heart, blues soul, as I made mention in my review.
I also said in review that I felt you hadn’t so much delivered a follow-up to Reaching For the Light as produced an album that is a natural, rockier, progression from that previous release.
Was that a conscious decision, to head down a rockier path?
AN: I don’t see us as having purposely changed anything; it’s never been a conscious decision to go for this particular style of music. It is, like you said, the natural progression from the last album, just as that album was the natural progression from the one before it. It’s just how we’re moving.
The only way I know how to describe it is the more experienced I become as a songwriter the more relaxed
I become as a songwriter.
When that relaxation comes along I tend to find that all my early influences – the stuff I listened to as a kid – start to bubble up and surface in my songwriting.
But there seems to be a gap in my life with my songwriting because my influences seem to revert back to when I was between the ages of ten to fourteen, not from fourteen to twenty-five as you might expect.
It’s all the earlier stuff I seem to be recalling, listening to Free and Bad Company and early Whitesnake.
I remember standing in my bedroom, with my Les Paul copy and my Marshall amp turned up – my mother, God bless her, she put up with so much noise in the house from me and my brother [laughs] – just playing along constantly to an old cassette tape of the first Black Sabbath album and listening to Tony Iommi, who was a massive influence on my playing, although I didn’t realise that until years later.
I remember too, being at school, and a mate giving me a copy of the song Comfortably Numb to listen to.
Again, it was only years later I realised what a huge influence that particular Dave Gilmour solo was on my own playing. I still hear myself emulating stuff from that solo.
RM: And this is all that earlier age experience?
AN: It is, yes, but when I was older, sixteen, seventeen, and in to my twenties, I never associated any of that music with what I was actually influenced by, or listening to – it’s really strange because it’s only now as I get that bit older I realise how and where all that’s come from and how much of it got in!
Even a band like Queen; I was never a Queen fan, or so I thought, until I remembered I used to sing all those songs in my bedroom and listened to those early Queen records when I was young – I mean really young, five six years old. I really do think that’s where all those great influences came from, at those earlier ages.
RM: That’s interesting, because it tends to be taken that that those early, formative years – five six, seven, up to ten or eleven, help shape and define who and what we will become, or be influenced by.
What you have just said seems to be borne out by who you are now, as a player, musician and songwriter.
AN: I would absolutely agree with that.
RM: As regards all those influences leading to the current blues rock movement, or a classic rock sound such as King King have delivered with Exile and Grace, there is an obvious and often heard criticism of "Well, it’s just a retread of Whitesnake," or Bad company, or whoever.
I dispute that; what you are actually doing is standing on the shoulders of giants and building your own sound and legacy from there.
Yes, you’re borrowing from those influences, but you are doing something fresh with it – blues rock or classic rock for the twenty first century through your songwriting and new material, while in deference to that great rock music of the past.
AN: Definitely, and that great music is great music because it’s stood the test of time and become what we now call classic rock.
I am under no illusions that King King are reinventing the wheel or doing anything really different, or major league special; I just think we are playing a classic style of music but playing it with the freshness you mentioned – and an energy that’s possibly been missing.
RM: A gap in the market?
AN: Well, I know I might be stepping out on a limb here [laughs] but I think there is possibly a reason why Thin Lizzy, who became the Black Star Riders, and all those other rock bands from back in the day, are out touring again, because yes, I believe there is a gap in the market for newer bands like King King.
We’re just not a big enough band to be noticed yet, globally speaking.
RM: Your fulfilling a much-needed role. Or should I say a much needed rockin' role.
AN: [laughs] I think so; there’s definitely a space here. There are loads of rock bands out there but there are very few of them with the heart, soul and passion of those older bands, and that’s a prime problem for me. That’s why bands like Whitesnake and Bad Company and Thin Lizzy were all great bands and that’s why we all remember those bands all these decades later – what they did was real, and honest.
They had great songs too, of course, but great songs come from that honesty; they don’t come from just putting a few chords together and a throwing a few words at a lyric – it's how they are performed that make them real.
And, proudly speaking, I think that’s one of the things King King have been doing and one of the reasons why people have been taking to us.
RM: Song quality is a major part of any musical success – if you don’t have the songs there’s no point in heading to a studio or stepping on a stage – but I fully agree that a genuine passion for the music and the craft is of equal importance.
If you go out there with a decent, or even great set of songs, but just go through the motions or phone it in? Audiences and fans will pick up on that very quickly…
AN: That’s very true. Even if you don’t know why you don’t like it you know something isn’t quite right.
It's an instinct; people can instinctively tell if it’s not real or, as you say, if it's phoned in.
And you won’t last long if it’s not honest, or real – that’s been proved time and time again over the years.
RM: That honesty and passion is something King King also take in to the studio, not just musically but in your vocal work.
Now, I know you have never been a one take and close enough singer and never will be, but on Exile and Grace I hear a step up, vocally – Find Your Way Home immediately comes to mind; beautiful song with a great vocal performance...
I also said in review that I felt you hadn’t so much delivered a follow-up to Reaching For the Light as produced an album that is a natural, rockier, progression from that previous release.
Was that a conscious decision, to head down a rockier path?
AN: I don’t see us as having purposely changed anything; it’s never been a conscious decision to go for this particular style of music. It is, like you said, the natural progression from the last album, just as that album was the natural progression from the one before it. It’s just how we’re moving.
The only way I know how to describe it is the more experienced I become as a songwriter the more relaxed
I become as a songwriter.
When that relaxation comes along I tend to find that all my early influences – the stuff I listened to as a kid – start to bubble up and surface in my songwriting.
But there seems to be a gap in my life with my songwriting because my influences seem to revert back to when I was between the ages of ten to fourteen, not from fourteen to twenty-five as you might expect.
It’s all the earlier stuff I seem to be recalling, listening to Free and Bad Company and early Whitesnake.
I remember standing in my bedroom, with my Les Paul copy and my Marshall amp turned up – my mother, God bless her, she put up with so much noise in the house from me and my brother [laughs] – just playing along constantly to an old cassette tape of the first Black Sabbath album and listening to Tony Iommi, who was a massive influence on my playing, although I didn’t realise that until years later.
I remember too, being at school, and a mate giving me a copy of the song Comfortably Numb to listen to.
Again, it was only years later I realised what a huge influence that particular Dave Gilmour solo was on my own playing. I still hear myself emulating stuff from that solo.
RM: And this is all that earlier age experience?
AN: It is, yes, but when I was older, sixteen, seventeen, and in to my twenties, I never associated any of that music with what I was actually influenced by, or listening to – it’s really strange because it’s only now as I get that bit older I realise how and where all that’s come from and how much of it got in!
Even a band like Queen; I was never a Queen fan, or so I thought, until I remembered I used to sing all those songs in my bedroom and listened to those early Queen records when I was young – I mean really young, five six years old. I really do think that’s where all those great influences came from, at those earlier ages.
RM: That’s interesting, because it tends to be taken that that those early, formative years – five six, seven, up to ten or eleven, help shape and define who and what we will become, or be influenced by.
What you have just said seems to be borne out by who you are now, as a player, musician and songwriter.
AN: I would absolutely agree with that.
RM: As regards all those influences leading to the current blues rock movement, or a classic rock sound such as King King have delivered with Exile and Grace, there is an obvious and often heard criticism of "Well, it’s just a retread of Whitesnake," or Bad company, or whoever.
I dispute that; what you are actually doing is standing on the shoulders of giants and building your own sound and legacy from there.
Yes, you’re borrowing from those influences, but you are doing something fresh with it – blues rock or classic rock for the twenty first century through your songwriting and new material, while in deference to that great rock music of the past.
AN: Definitely, and that great music is great music because it’s stood the test of time and become what we now call classic rock.
I am under no illusions that King King are reinventing the wheel or doing anything really different, or major league special; I just think we are playing a classic style of music but playing it with the freshness you mentioned – and an energy that’s possibly been missing.
RM: A gap in the market?
AN: Well, I know I might be stepping out on a limb here [laughs] but I think there is possibly a reason why Thin Lizzy, who became the Black Star Riders, and all those other rock bands from back in the day, are out touring again, because yes, I believe there is a gap in the market for newer bands like King King.
We’re just not a big enough band to be noticed yet, globally speaking.
RM: Your fulfilling a much-needed role. Or should I say a much needed rockin' role.
AN: [laughs] I think so; there’s definitely a space here. There are loads of rock bands out there but there are very few of them with the heart, soul and passion of those older bands, and that’s a prime problem for me. That’s why bands like Whitesnake and Bad Company and Thin Lizzy were all great bands and that’s why we all remember those bands all these decades later – what they did was real, and honest.
They had great songs too, of course, but great songs come from that honesty; they don’t come from just putting a few chords together and a throwing a few words at a lyric – it's how they are performed that make them real.
And, proudly speaking, I think that’s one of the things King King have been doing and one of the reasons why people have been taking to us.
RM: Song quality is a major part of any musical success – if you don’t have the songs there’s no point in heading to a studio or stepping on a stage – but I fully agree that a genuine passion for the music and the craft is of equal importance.
If you go out there with a decent, or even great set of songs, but just go through the motions or phone it in? Audiences and fans will pick up on that very quickly…
AN: That’s very true. Even if you don’t know why you don’t like it you know something isn’t quite right.
It's an instinct; people can instinctively tell if it’s not real or, as you say, if it's phoned in.
And you won’t last long if it’s not honest, or real – that’s been proved time and time again over the years.
RM: That honesty and passion is something King King also take in to the studio, not just musically but in your vocal work.
Now, I know you have never been a one take and close enough singer and never will be, but on Exile and Grace I hear a step up, vocally – Find Your Way Home immediately comes to mind; beautiful song with a great vocal performance...
RM: That breath to the final "home" at song's end is a great example of being in the vocal moment; there’s a clear and genuine vocal expressiveness at play there.
AN: I think, again, that goes back to what I said earlier about being that bit more relaxed and that bit more experienced; it also comes with producing the songs along with Wayne.
Wayne and I are lucky enough to have a great rapport where that’s concerned and that means I’m more relaxed about performing, writing and singing – therefore we have little things like that particular vocal, that may have been missed, or not thought about, on previous albums or years gone by.
Don’t get me wrong I didn’t really think about it this time – I may have been aware of it, but Wayne will immediately recognise it, from the other side of the studio glass, and say something like "Yeah, we’re keeping that one, that was genuinely emotive."
That’s the sort of working partnership that’s developed between the two of us; it’s also a result of the more we do as a team, as the band King King, the better we get.
It’s great that those little things are being picked up on by guys like yourself but, again, that’s me singing from the heart, because that’s all I can do!
RM: That’s exactly my point, though, and it reflects an earlier observation about what separates King King from many in the chasing pack – vocally, as an individual and musically, as a collective, you are not phoning it in and I doubt very much you ever could or would. It's just not part of your musical DNA.
AN: Goodness, no. I’m not a techie guy who could make it sound right on the night even if I wanted to!
I’ve not got any of that in me and I wouldn’t want to be part of any of that. It’s a real performance.
And you’re right, to go back to something you said earlier, I’m not a guy who could do it once and say "right, that’s good enough, let’s move on." Well, actually, if I was good enough I would! [laughs].
There are some phenomenal singers out there who can do that but that’s not me; in fact that’s what’s great about being in a studio because that helps you realise where you are, vocally, and understand your limitations.
But, at the end of the day, as long as it’s done with honesty, passion and you’ve given it your best, that’s what people are going to appreciate and enjoy on the album.
RM: That's great advice for any bands wanting to go that extra mile and do it properly.
It's a striving for a perfection that, if we are honest about our chosen art, we should accept is never truly obtainable. But we should always strive to achieve it.
AN: Absolutely. If I’m ever sitting thinking "Well, I could have sung that bit better" then you know what?
I’ve just learned that I have to strive to be better on the next album than I was on this album.
RM: We mentioned that subtle but significant vocal take on Find Your Way Home, but the little things that make all the difference are in their musically too.
Tear It All Up, for example, a great little hard rocker based on you touring experience with Thunder.
That song is driven by your riff and a strong beat but there are some great little organ interjections and bass lines slipped in between those beats, almost like ad-libs.
It’s those little things that sum up what you were saying earlier about the team that is King King; you are a band in full flow, confident in each other’s contributions, truly creating and not reinventing.
AN: Well, to get as technical as I’ll ever get [laughs] the one thing I am conscious of when writing is to make sure we are going through what I call all the gears of a song.
Where we sit right now, in the music industry, we can’t get away with just churning it out; you’ve got to write good songs, you’ve got to piece them together well, you’ve got to arrange them properly – we’re always thinking about all those things.
It might be a particular section of a song and how we want to tie it in to the next bit of that song; or we might need some sort of pick-up for the next verse to continue to develop the interest; maybe it’s just a little bit like the contributions from Lindsay and Bob you just mentioned. That’s all thought about; that’s all crafted.
In fact that’s the best word I can use – crafted – because we are crafting a piece that we want to present as the finished article.
I remember randomly catching a documentary on the Eagles on the TV one night and sitting down to watch, because as I was listening it made me feel so good about what we were doing.
The Eagles were talking about songs and saying they could have a debate for a week over one word in a lyric, for just one line in a verse, and I was thinking "Thank God for that, it’s not just me being mental!" [laughter]
The Eagles are a prize band for song success and, for me, one of the best bunch of songwriters that we’ve ever seen, or ever will see. Their attention to detail was fantastic and that’s something I feel you have to do. We stumbled upon that knowledge by ourselves, which I’m very proud of, because I didn’t read it out of a book; this came naturally.
And the success of those efforts is being reconfirmed for me, and the guys in the band, from what you’re saying about the songs on the album.
RM: And it becomes a win-win, because when transposed to the live environment we have a quality band performing quality songs.
AN: Thank you. Live shows are great; it’s in the moment and you can have that spontaneity of things along with the way you wrote those songs up – it’s happening right there and then with people who have come for a great night out before they have to think about tomorrow and their normal day.
But, the album is what they live with or maybe take home from that live show; that’s what is going to be on their stereo at home, or in their car, or on their iPhone.
That’s what you have to get right; the rest of it is about just having a laugh.
RM: Well, in comparative studio album to live show terms perhaps, but you boys are doing a damn sight more than just having a laugh on stage…
AN: Yeah, but you know what I mean. It’s about getting on that stage and having fun, finding joy in what you do, because we know we’ll get it right on stage, we know we will deliver a live show that works.
And we always will, because I have complete faith in all of us to do just that.
AN: I think, again, that goes back to what I said earlier about being that bit more relaxed and that bit more experienced; it also comes with producing the songs along with Wayne.
Wayne and I are lucky enough to have a great rapport where that’s concerned and that means I’m more relaxed about performing, writing and singing – therefore we have little things like that particular vocal, that may have been missed, or not thought about, on previous albums or years gone by.
Don’t get me wrong I didn’t really think about it this time – I may have been aware of it, but Wayne will immediately recognise it, from the other side of the studio glass, and say something like "Yeah, we’re keeping that one, that was genuinely emotive."
That’s the sort of working partnership that’s developed between the two of us; it’s also a result of the more we do as a team, as the band King King, the better we get.
It’s great that those little things are being picked up on by guys like yourself but, again, that’s me singing from the heart, because that’s all I can do!
RM: That’s exactly my point, though, and it reflects an earlier observation about what separates King King from many in the chasing pack – vocally, as an individual and musically, as a collective, you are not phoning it in and I doubt very much you ever could or would. It's just not part of your musical DNA.
AN: Goodness, no. I’m not a techie guy who could make it sound right on the night even if I wanted to!
I’ve not got any of that in me and I wouldn’t want to be part of any of that. It’s a real performance.
And you’re right, to go back to something you said earlier, I’m not a guy who could do it once and say "right, that’s good enough, let’s move on." Well, actually, if I was good enough I would! [laughs].
There are some phenomenal singers out there who can do that but that’s not me; in fact that’s what’s great about being in a studio because that helps you realise where you are, vocally, and understand your limitations.
But, at the end of the day, as long as it’s done with honesty, passion and you’ve given it your best, that’s what people are going to appreciate and enjoy on the album.
RM: That's great advice for any bands wanting to go that extra mile and do it properly.
It's a striving for a perfection that, if we are honest about our chosen art, we should accept is never truly obtainable. But we should always strive to achieve it.
AN: Absolutely. If I’m ever sitting thinking "Well, I could have sung that bit better" then you know what?
I’ve just learned that I have to strive to be better on the next album than I was on this album.
RM: We mentioned that subtle but significant vocal take on Find Your Way Home, but the little things that make all the difference are in their musically too.
Tear It All Up, for example, a great little hard rocker based on you touring experience with Thunder.
That song is driven by your riff and a strong beat but there are some great little organ interjections and bass lines slipped in between those beats, almost like ad-libs.
It’s those little things that sum up what you were saying earlier about the team that is King King; you are a band in full flow, confident in each other’s contributions, truly creating and not reinventing.
AN: Well, to get as technical as I’ll ever get [laughs] the one thing I am conscious of when writing is to make sure we are going through what I call all the gears of a song.
Where we sit right now, in the music industry, we can’t get away with just churning it out; you’ve got to write good songs, you’ve got to piece them together well, you’ve got to arrange them properly – we’re always thinking about all those things.
It might be a particular section of a song and how we want to tie it in to the next bit of that song; or we might need some sort of pick-up for the next verse to continue to develop the interest; maybe it’s just a little bit like the contributions from Lindsay and Bob you just mentioned. That’s all thought about; that’s all crafted.
In fact that’s the best word I can use – crafted – because we are crafting a piece that we want to present as the finished article.
I remember randomly catching a documentary on the Eagles on the TV one night and sitting down to watch, because as I was listening it made me feel so good about what we were doing.
The Eagles were talking about songs and saying they could have a debate for a week over one word in a lyric, for just one line in a verse, and I was thinking "Thank God for that, it’s not just me being mental!" [laughter]
The Eagles are a prize band for song success and, for me, one of the best bunch of songwriters that we’ve ever seen, or ever will see. Their attention to detail was fantastic and that’s something I feel you have to do. We stumbled upon that knowledge by ourselves, which I’m very proud of, because I didn’t read it out of a book; this came naturally.
And the success of those efforts is being reconfirmed for me, and the guys in the band, from what you’re saying about the songs on the album.
RM: And it becomes a win-win, because when transposed to the live environment we have a quality band performing quality songs.
AN: Thank you. Live shows are great; it’s in the moment and you can have that spontaneity of things along with the way you wrote those songs up – it’s happening right there and then with people who have come for a great night out before they have to think about tomorrow and their normal day.
But, the album is what they live with or maybe take home from that live show; that’s what is going to be on their stereo at home, or in their car, or on their iPhone.
That’s what you have to get right; the rest of it is about just having a laugh.
RM: Well, in comparative studio album to live show terms perhaps, but you boys are doing a damn sight more than just having a laugh on stage…
AN: Yeah, but you know what I mean. It’s about getting on that stage and having fun, finding joy in what you do, because we know we’ll get it right on stage, we know we will deliver a live show that works.
And we always will, because I have complete faith in all of us to do just that.
With the quality of Exile & Grace and Alan Nimmo's ongoing recovery, everything points to a positive 2018 and beyond for the front man, bass player Lindsay Coulson and Team King King (Nimmo, Coulson and drummer Wayne Proctor have since been joined by Jonny Dyke, who replaces the departing Bob Fridzema).
RM: I want to mention a song that helps emphasise the light and shade of Exile and Grace and that’s the final track I Don’t Wanna Lie; that’s a funky little number that has as much groove as it does shuffle.
In fact I’m now convinced it’s either a shroove or a gruffle [loud laughter]
AN: Aye, it’s one of them gruffle songs! [laughs]
RM: Joking aside, it has that Stevie Wonder-esque funky soul-vibe that’s become such an established part of the King King repertoire…
AN: It’s funny, because the first person people go to with that song is Stevie Wonder, probably because of that whole Isn’t She Lovely vibe, and the keyboards up front, but for me it was more of a Toto thing and Jeff Porcaro, where it’s all about that other beat and not just his half time shuffle.
More his Hold the Line beat, if you know what I mean.
RM: I do indeed; now of course we’re speaking Wayne Proctor’s rhythmic language…
AN: Definitely [laughs], and it is kind of spacious and groovy in the verses, which was Bob’s influence.
But like everything else we’ve done, and no matter if people say "You’ve changed on this album" or "You’ve gone rockier" the best thing I hear is that all those comments end with "but you still sound like King King."
And that’s what we needed to do with that song; that’s why we brought in the rockier, big voiced chorus and the big guitar chords; that brought it back to a song that sounds like us.
RM: I want to mention a song that helps emphasise the light and shade of Exile and Grace and that’s the final track I Don’t Wanna Lie; that’s a funky little number that has as much groove as it does shuffle.
In fact I’m now convinced it’s either a shroove or a gruffle [loud laughter]
AN: Aye, it’s one of them gruffle songs! [laughs]
RM: Joking aside, it has that Stevie Wonder-esque funky soul-vibe that’s become such an established part of the King King repertoire…
AN: It’s funny, because the first person people go to with that song is Stevie Wonder, probably because of that whole Isn’t She Lovely vibe, and the keyboards up front, but for me it was more of a Toto thing and Jeff Porcaro, where it’s all about that other beat and not just his half time shuffle.
More his Hold the Line beat, if you know what I mean.
RM: I do indeed; now of course we’re speaking Wayne Proctor’s rhythmic language…
AN: Definitely [laughs], and it is kind of spacious and groovy in the verses, which was Bob’s influence.
But like everything else we’ve done, and no matter if people say "You’ve changed on this album" or "You’ve gone rockier" the best thing I hear is that all those comments end with "but you still sound like King King."
And that’s what we needed to do with that song; that’s why we brought in the rockier, big voiced chorus and the big guitar chords; that brought it back to a song that sounds like us.
RM: I Don’t Wanna Lie is the perfect closer because having delivered what is primarily a rock album – hence those "You've changed on this album" comments – you end by saying "We’re still here folks, we’re still King King." A signing off statement if you will.
AN: Of course. A lot of bands might finish on the big ballad, or it might even be a bit of filler just to pad out the album and have more tunes, but that’s exactly why I would much rather have a shorter album of nine or ten great songs than an album of fifteen or sixteen songs where eight or nine might be really good but the rest are just filling the gaps.
I’m very happy with the songs on Exile and Grace and I can honestly say I feel the same about each and every one of them; I don’t have to think "Well, I’m not sure about this one, I’ll just move on to the next one" because if I’m skipping one of them, how many others are doing the same!
I’d much rather have people saying "I wish there was more on this album" than saying "I’ll think I’ll pass on this track, in fact I’ll just go and put the telly on!" [laughter]
RM: While I agree with, and am an advocate of, your less is more philosophy, I have one, genuine criticism of Exile and Grace and that’s that I think you made a mistake in not going one song further.
I’m just going to say cover version, and the song title Give Me All Your Love…
AN: [laughs] Oh man, do you know what, I’ve been tearing my hair out the last few weeks about that song because it was a very conscious decision not to put it on the CD.
We have put it on the vinyl version, as you know, but we did think about making it a digital download only track, or maybe keeping it back for later; all those thoughts were discussed.
RM: And the reason it wasn’t considered for the CD?
AN: In absolute honesty Ross, it was just confidence; I was actually thinking to myself "I’ve just covered a Whitesnake song; there’s every possibility I’m going to get crucified for this." [loud laughter]
RM: I’m laughing but I can understand that mindset; there are some… let’s just say overly dedicated fans of particular classic bands who will cry "Heresy!" or believe some things are best left untouched.
You’ve done covers before and had great critical and fan feedback – Jealousy by Frankie Miller and Heavy Load by Free are prime examples – but as regards the latter band Stevie reminded me earlier this year that you and he took some stick for daring to cover Wishing Well on the Brother to Brother album.
AN: [laughs] We did, yes, but I told him we should never have covered that song because it's such a classic. That’s why with the Whitesnake song I felt we should hide it a bit, or make it a bonus track on the vinyl rather than proudly presenting it like a bunch of peacocks, because that way we might not get crucified! [laughs]
But… I honestly wish we’d put it on now!
RM: Don’t tell me that now, Alan – too late too, late was the cry!
AN: I know, I know, sorry folks! [laughs]
RM: Behind the humour of this is the fact you have a great song that would have made for a perfect tenth track because, for those that don’t know, your cover of the song is a reinterpretation that takes it back to the sound of early Whitesnake – it has a slower tempo and the feel of the classic Coverdale-Marsden-Moody incarnation of the band.
AN: That was always the plan with that song. It's no secret that I’m a massive fan of the old Whitesnake but that 1987 record was an absolute peach and, to be perfectly honest, I don’t think David Coverdale gets the credit he deserves for being a very clever guy.
He knew that the era of the old Whitesnake was over; he knew in the changing times of the mid-eighties that stuff was finished; if he continued with the old band or the old sound, he would probably fall by the wayside. He knew what he had to do and, boy, did he do it with a bang with 1987.
But, interestingly, although he put new versions of Crying in the Rain and Here I Go Again on there, it was Give Me All Your Love that stuck out for me any time I played that album – and I could always imagine Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody playing it; I could hear those guys on that song.
For me that was the last remnants of the old band, right there, on that one song.
RM: Hence your fondness for it.
AN: Yes, but I also knew if we ever recorded it I wasn’t going to be stupid enough to compete with Coverdale on 1987 because at that point nobody who could touch him; you do not try to stand toe-to-toe with that stuff!
I knew the only way I could do it justice was if we tried to do it the way the old band would have done it.
So instead of having that big double bass drum rock beat we played it as a shuffle, slowed the tempo down, had Lindsay do what he does best, just sitting on that shuffle beat, swinging that quarter note and bang, there you go!
RM: And, as regards taking it on vocally?
AN: Well, we recorded it and then… [pauses]… actually, it took me two years to put the vocal on it! [laughs]
RM: Oh, man, this is becoming more like a confessional... [laughter]
AN: Aye, the truth is out now! [laughs] We really did record it ages ago – and I just kept bottling it! [laughter]
But of course the time came where I thought "Right, it’s now or never" and gave it a go – and as far as the results, well, the good folks out there can decide for themselves!
RM: For what it’s worth I really like, and rate, your cover of Give Me All Your Love but, unlike you, I never took to 1987 and it’s American melodic metal meets AOR sheen.
I do agree with you on his business smarts however; David had pretty much disbanded Whitesnake but was clever enough to listen to Geffen Records who asked him to retain the name and continue working with John Sykes. The rest, as they say, is history.
AN: And he was a clever guy not just in the business sense but in what would work musically.
I was chatting to Micky Moody a while back – he came up and played with the Nimmo Brothers and we did Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City.
Micky was telling me that David came to them with that song and said they should record it. The rest of the band knew it from Bobby Bland’s original R&B version and were saying to him "Have you gone mad?"
But he said, "No, listen, I have an idea about how I want you guys to play the riff, a mixture between the Beatles twang and Free’s Be My Friend; I think this song could be very good for us."
Micky thought David was still nuts but it became one of the biggest songs of their entire show.
He might have become the man with the big hair, shoulder pads and the spandex but he was very switched on!
RM: He had more than just a voice.
AN: For sure!
RM: And as regards your own voice I have to say one, you’ve gone way beyond the call of conversational duty with me so I’m calling time on this for vocal rests sake and two, I’m convinced I’ve been listening to that musically enthused ten to fourteen year old Alan Nimmo for at least half of this conversation [laughter].
He has clearly not left you my friend and I hope he never does…
AN: I hope so too, I hope that passion and enthusiasm never dies.
And if it does, or I ever feel like it’s not there? Well, I’ll move on and do something else – but right now this is what I do and this is who I am. I eat, sleep and breathe King King and this business, and I love it.
And yes, I’m sitting here with you knowing I’m not supposed to be talking anything like this much – but even though it’s to my own detriment at times I just can’t help myself; I love this, too!
RM: And isn’t it interesting your current circumstances could well be another interpretation of Exile and Grace – the Yin and the Yang, the good with the bad, cause and effect.
AN: It absolutely is! Yes! [laughs]
RM: Alan, thanks for getting so vocal with FabricationsHQ and here’s to you getting even more vocal when King King return to the stage to Tear it All Up.
AN: Thank you very much, sir – always a pleasure!
AN: Of course. A lot of bands might finish on the big ballad, or it might even be a bit of filler just to pad out the album and have more tunes, but that’s exactly why I would much rather have a shorter album of nine or ten great songs than an album of fifteen or sixteen songs where eight or nine might be really good but the rest are just filling the gaps.
I’m very happy with the songs on Exile and Grace and I can honestly say I feel the same about each and every one of them; I don’t have to think "Well, I’m not sure about this one, I’ll just move on to the next one" because if I’m skipping one of them, how many others are doing the same!
I’d much rather have people saying "I wish there was more on this album" than saying "I’ll think I’ll pass on this track, in fact I’ll just go and put the telly on!" [laughter]
RM: While I agree with, and am an advocate of, your less is more philosophy, I have one, genuine criticism of Exile and Grace and that’s that I think you made a mistake in not going one song further.
I’m just going to say cover version, and the song title Give Me All Your Love…
AN: [laughs] Oh man, do you know what, I’ve been tearing my hair out the last few weeks about that song because it was a very conscious decision not to put it on the CD.
We have put it on the vinyl version, as you know, but we did think about making it a digital download only track, or maybe keeping it back for later; all those thoughts were discussed.
RM: And the reason it wasn’t considered for the CD?
AN: In absolute honesty Ross, it was just confidence; I was actually thinking to myself "I’ve just covered a Whitesnake song; there’s every possibility I’m going to get crucified for this." [loud laughter]
RM: I’m laughing but I can understand that mindset; there are some… let’s just say overly dedicated fans of particular classic bands who will cry "Heresy!" or believe some things are best left untouched.
You’ve done covers before and had great critical and fan feedback – Jealousy by Frankie Miller and Heavy Load by Free are prime examples – but as regards the latter band Stevie reminded me earlier this year that you and he took some stick for daring to cover Wishing Well on the Brother to Brother album.
AN: [laughs] We did, yes, but I told him we should never have covered that song because it's such a classic. That’s why with the Whitesnake song I felt we should hide it a bit, or make it a bonus track on the vinyl rather than proudly presenting it like a bunch of peacocks, because that way we might not get crucified! [laughs]
But… I honestly wish we’d put it on now!
RM: Don’t tell me that now, Alan – too late too, late was the cry!
AN: I know, I know, sorry folks! [laughs]
RM: Behind the humour of this is the fact you have a great song that would have made for a perfect tenth track because, for those that don’t know, your cover of the song is a reinterpretation that takes it back to the sound of early Whitesnake – it has a slower tempo and the feel of the classic Coverdale-Marsden-Moody incarnation of the band.
AN: That was always the plan with that song. It's no secret that I’m a massive fan of the old Whitesnake but that 1987 record was an absolute peach and, to be perfectly honest, I don’t think David Coverdale gets the credit he deserves for being a very clever guy.
He knew that the era of the old Whitesnake was over; he knew in the changing times of the mid-eighties that stuff was finished; if he continued with the old band or the old sound, he would probably fall by the wayside. He knew what he had to do and, boy, did he do it with a bang with 1987.
But, interestingly, although he put new versions of Crying in the Rain and Here I Go Again on there, it was Give Me All Your Love that stuck out for me any time I played that album – and I could always imagine Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody playing it; I could hear those guys on that song.
For me that was the last remnants of the old band, right there, on that one song.
RM: Hence your fondness for it.
AN: Yes, but I also knew if we ever recorded it I wasn’t going to be stupid enough to compete with Coverdale on 1987 because at that point nobody who could touch him; you do not try to stand toe-to-toe with that stuff!
I knew the only way I could do it justice was if we tried to do it the way the old band would have done it.
So instead of having that big double bass drum rock beat we played it as a shuffle, slowed the tempo down, had Lindsay do what he does best, just sitting on that shuffle beat, swinging that quarter note and bang, there you go!
RM: And, as regards taking it on vocally?
AN: Well, we recorded it and then… [pauses]… actually, it took me two years to put the vocal on it! [laughs]
RM: Oh, man, this is becoming more like a confessional... [laughter]
AN: Aye, the truth is out now! [laughs] We really did record it ages ago – and I just kept bottling it! [laughter]
But of course the time came where I thought "Right, it’s now or never" and gave it a go – and as far as the results, well, the good folks out there can decide for themselves!
RM: For what it’s worth I really like, and rate, your cover of Give Me All Your Love but, unlike you, I never took to 1987 and it’s American melodic metal meets AOR sheen.
I do agree with you on his business smarts however; David had pretty much disbanded Whitesnake but was clever enough to listen to Geffen Records who asked him to retain the name and continue working with John Sykes. The rest, as they say, is history.
AN: And he was a clever guy not just in the business sense but in what would work musically.
I was chatting to Micky Moody a while back – he came up and played with the Nimmo Brothers and we did Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City.
Micky was telling me that David came to them with that song and said they should record it. The rest of the band knew it from Bobby Bland’s original R&B version and were saying to him "Have you gone mad?"
But he said, "No, listen, I have an idea about how I want you guys to play the riff, a mixture between the Beatles twang and Free’s Be My Friend; I think this song could be very good for us."
Micky thought David was still nuts but it became one of the biggest songs of their entire show.
He might have become the man with the big hair, shoulder pads and the spandex but he was very switched on!
RM: He had more than just a voice.
AN: For sure!
RM: And as regards your own voice I have to say one, you’ve gone way beyond the call of conversational duty with me so I’m calling time on this for vocal rests sake and two, I’m convinced I’ve been listening to that musically enthused ten to fourteen year old Alan Nimmo for at least half of this conversation [laughter].
He has clearly not left you my friend and I hope he never does…
AN: I hope so too, I hope that passion and enthusiasm never dies.
And if it does, or I ever feel like it’s not there? Well, I’ll move on and do something else – but right now this is what I do and this is who I am. I eat, sleep and breathe King King and this business, and I love it.
And yes, I’m sitting here with you knowing I’m not supposed to be talking anything like this much – but even though it’s to my own detriment at times I just can’t help myself; I love this, too!
RM: And isn’t it interesting your current circumstances could well be another interpretation of Exile and Grace – the Yin and the Yang, the good with the bad, cause and effect.
AN: It absolutely is! Yes! [laughs]
RM: Alan, thanks for getting so vocal with FabricationsHQ and here’s to you getting even more vocal when King King return to the stage to Tear it All Up.
AN: Thank you very much, sir – always a pleasure!
Ross Muir
Muirsical Conversation with Alan Nimmo
October 2017
Photo Credits: Laurence Harvey
Audio tracks presented to accompany the above article and to promote the work of the artist.
No infringement of copyright is intended.
Muirsical Conversation with Alan Nimmo
October 2017
Photo Credits: Laurence Harvey
Audio tracks presented to accompany the above article and to promote the work of the artist.
No infringement of copyright is intended.