...In February 2012 I read an advert seeking book proposals for one volume accounts of significant albums...Voice in my head said "you could do that," the other voice sneered, "yeah right...Prove it!" So I did. Whatever got in the way I just kept going and by that winter created my first published work: "Dark Slivers: Seeking Nirvana in the Shards of Incesticide" tackling Nirvana's much-overlooked Incesticide compilation.
Further work became the basis for "I Found My Friends: the Oral History of Nirvana" (St Martin's Press, 2015) built on the memories of 210 people from 170 bands who shared the stage at around three-quarters of the shows Nirvana ever performed. I was asked at that time to create "Cobain on Cobain: Interviews and Encounters" (Chicago Review Press, 2016), part of a series in which the best interviews by significant artists are compiled into single volumes for scholars, music studies, fans and those seeking to understand them. In the background I helped Soul Jazz Records compile the "No Seattle: Forgotten Sounds of the North West Grunge Era" compilation (and wrote the band histories and inlay) and then, for Dekema Records, prepared the liner notes for the expanded reissue of the Fire Ants' 1992 EP "Stripped".
Across 2016-2017, with the support and permission of Thurston Moore, I created the book "We Sing A New Language: The Oral Discography Of Thurston Moore" (Omnibus Press, 2017) - an account of his vast array of output created outside of the confines of Sonic Youth. Then I moved onto "SWANS: Sacrifice And Transcendence" (Jawbone Press, 2018) - the first volume ever to tackle the tale of Michael Gira's legendary band. My personal feeling is that a lot of my experience over these past years came together on this book, the ability to make pages electric, to craft people's voices and memories to make their voices sing, to draw a reader through a journey they can see in their mind's eye.
It was an honour to then be asked by filmmaker Beth B and genius creative artist Lydia Lunch to create a book to accompany the film they were making together. This is what led to Lydia Lunch: The War Is Never Over (Jawbone Press, 2020) released amid the first summer of the COVID pandemic. I spent the long months of lockdown creating a volume of rare, unreleased and lost interviews with the group COIL for the book Everything Keeps Dissolving (Strange Attractor Press, 2022). I was also asked to do the liner notes to Urusei Yatsura's reissue of the album "We Are..."
What else to say? Well, hi, I'm Nick - nice to meet you. Work-wise, I lead a global team within a large IT advisory and consulting firm, looking after my team across three continents and six time zones. Back in the day, I did a History degree, then an MPhil in History, at Cambridge University. What feels most important to me is to only write about what I love and to do so in a way I love - to only write books that I want to see on my shelf and want to read. I have a normal job, a normal life - writing is what I do for pleasure and I hope I'll always stand on the right side of the line as someone drawing inspiration from the things I respect.