A couple of months ago, I had to opportunity to interview my favorite musician Thomas Nicholas and here is the interview in case anybody's interested
Q: At what age did music start to interest you and when did you decide you wanted to pursue it as a career?
A: I was about 14 years old when I first had an interest in playing the guitar. I began (attempting) to sing as soon as I could play Nirvana's song Polly. Immediately, I began writing my own songs. After a learning more about song writing from my cousin Will, who lived in Las Vegas, I began to put a band together. We played a few shows and recorded a demo. As soon as I had that demo, I knew I wanted to record a complete album. However, I would have to say that pursuing it as a career didn't come until much later.
Q: Who influences your music?
A: I grew up listening to Classic rock, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and the Who. I got into the 90's rock music like Nirvana, STP, Weezer, and Pearl Jam. Later I became a fan of Bruce Springsteen after a friend gave me a copy of "Nebraska" From there, I understood his album "Born to Run" in a new light. I was still into rock with crunch so I couldn't help but dig the FooFighters. In 1997 I saw Switchfoot and I modeled much of my sound after them. And then came John Mayer ...
Q: How did the Thomas Nicholas Band come to be?
A: Well, I started out with an acoustic tour before the album was complete. I wanted to promote the upcoming album and also get my chops up to be ready to tour with a full band. My friend Thai came to one of those acoustic shows and when I asked him what he thought, he said that I needed a bass player. I asked him if he was interested in doing some gigs and he agreed. I called him the next day. Later we auditioned our lead guitarist and Thai was friend's with the drummer (Shay). The story is a bit more complicated than that, but I'm saving all of those details for the biography.
Q: Do you face any unanticipated challenges while promoting your band?
A: The main issue is trying to convince people that we don't suck without sounding like I'm an ego maniac. Once they hear the music they are convinced, so the tough part is just getting them to hear the music.
Q: You've been touring since 2007 in support for Without Warning. What were some gigs that stood out to you and why?
A: The most amazing experience was performing on an outdoor stage in front of 10,000 people when we opened for Kenny Loggins. It was so amazing to have the opportunity to play in front of that many people so early in my music career.
Q: Do you get nervous before gigs? If so, what do you do?
A: I'm usually just excited before we play and depending on how much time we have to set up our gear, I sometimes don't even have time for that...
Q: In between gigs, you're in the studio recording a new album. Could you give us an update of how that's going? Is the new record going to be in the same vein as Without Warning?
A: Currently, the band and I are writing songs for the album and pre-producing the tracks. We've been playing a few of them at our concerts to see how people react to them. The new songs are in the same vein, although a few of them get a bit heavier than Without Warning.
Q: Is there a release date set for the new album?
A: More like a recording date. We plan on starting to record this November. We are going to take our time, so there is no release date set.
Q: If you had the chance to remake one song, what song would it be and why?
A: I would probably do a Bruce Springsteen tune. I'm a big fan and I'd also like to catch his attention.
Q: Are there any bands or artists that you'd like to work with?
A: I would like to work with Dave Grohl, Chris Cornell, John Mayer and Bruce Springsteen to name just a few.
Q: What are your fans like? How do you manage fan mail and contact with the fans?
A: The fans are great. Everyone at the shows is supportive. I stay in touch by running all of the social networks myself. It takes time to write everyone but I chip away at it everyday.
Q: Do you have any interesting stories about the fans?
A: Well, I think the most interesting story is about you, Paul. You're the only fan that has every single handedly booked me a gig. I think that we met via myspace and now here we are ... doing this interview.
Q: Before Without Warning, you released an album entitled Something More with the T.I.N. Men. You also recorded an EP, performing a song off it on the Sharon Osbourne Show. Are those two albums available for purchase anywhere?
A: The "Something More" album can be purchased from my website. I don't advertise it, because my sound has changed so much since 1997, however, I did get a request from a fan once for the album. I told them to purchase the "Without Warning" album on my site but I would send them the TINmen. As far as the EP. That's a different story. I only ever mastered and printed the title track "You're Leavin" which is what I played on the Sharon Osbourne show. I never got the other 4 songs mastered or printed. I wasn't completely satisfied with the final sound of the songs, so I shelved the project.
Q: One album to erase from memory to listen to the first time again, what album would it be?
A: That's a tough choice. But for the interview let's go with - Led Zeppelin "Houses of the Holy".
Q: What's the ultimate goal that you hope to accomplish as a musician?
A: I love to write songs, I love to play live. So my goal is to be able to continue doing that. I'm not sure of the outcome, so I'm just enjoying the journey.
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Topic: My interview with Thomas Nicholas (Read 869 times)