Friday 9th March
Nick Harper
£12/£14 [+10% booking fee]
Doors open 8pm – SOLD OUT
‘My musical discovery of 2016!’ Tom Robinson – BBC6 Music
Nick’s other recent work has seen him appear in the studio alongside Lana Del Ray playing on her cover of Leonard Cohen’s hit Chelsea Hotel no 2 from her acclaimed 2014 album Ultraviolence as well as featuring on recordings by Newton Faulkner, Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) and The Levellers.
Son of the legendary UK singer-songwriter Roy Harper, Nick was born in London and raised in Wiltshire. Having played the guitar from the age of 10 and surrounded by the likes of Keith Moon, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and Dave Gilmour as he grew up, it was no surprise when Nick made his recording debut on his father’s Whatever Happened to Jugula? in 1985.
After a chance meeting with Squeeze frontman and songwriter Glenn Tilbrook in 1996, Tilbrook was so impressed that he offered Nick a job playing with and supporting Squeeze and promptly signed Nick to his own label, Quixotic Records. Following tours in the UK, USA and Japan, Nick recorded the 1998 album Smithereens with Tilbrook as producer. This album and subsequent 40 date solo tour, including dates in New York and Glastonbury, confirmed Nick as a formidable talent in his own right. “If imagination, energy and bags of talent were the only factors in making a successful pop career, few would deny that Squeeze man Glenn Tilbrook has backed a winner in Nick Harper…Splendid stuff” – MOJO magazine.
He teamed up with Tilbrook again on 2000’s highly acclaimed album Harperspace. This is the album that confirmed his position at the forefront of a new generation of British Acoustic Performers. ‘Nick Harper has a quality that stands head and shoulders above anything else you are likely to encounter…The Verse Time Forgot from the new album ‘Harperspace’ is as close to a perfect song as you are likely to get.’ Edinburgh Evening News
To call Nick a superlative singer/songwriter could put his highly lauded guitar talent in the shade, and to call him a guitarist’s guitarist might slight his distinctive, soulful voice and passionate songs. Not forgetting the wild ride that is one of his live shows – from personal introspection to biting political satire via a charmingly caustic wit that would make Groucho Marx proud. He often segues from his own compositions to well-loved covers he makes his own – he takes on Presley, Zappa, Jeff Buckley, Led Zeppelin, Monty Python and Public Enemy (yes, on an acoustic guitar). He also has the alarming ability to break guitar strings almost by sheer force of will… and then change them without dropping a beat. For over a decade, he has been dazzling audiences and reviewers alike with this heady mix of virtuosity, boyish charm, showmanship and sheer bravado. His talent and showmanship were recognised in 2003 with a (Glasgow) Herald Fringe Angel award for excellence in live music during his Edinburgh Festival run. ‘Harper has so much musicianship in him that it just leaks out all over the place.’ The Times
Between albums Nick is known for touring with a vengeance – he’s now appeared at Glastonbury Festival six times – but also for his charity work devoting energy to fundraising projects as one of the organisers of Avebury Rocks in Wiltshire, raising substantial funds for a hospice near his home. In 2007 Harper’s charity single Blue Sky Thinking from the album Miracles for Beginners went to No.1 in the iTunes charts with proceeds going to the Love Hope Strength Foundation (LHSF). Nick had just returned from Nepal after helping the foundation set a new world record for the highest gig on Earth near Mt Everest Base Camp. Nick has been on two further treks with LHSF in Peru and Tanzania fundraising for local medical centres.
After 9 studio albums, a double live CD, 2 EPs (including Instrumental, a stunning display of his guitar talents) and a rockumentary style DVD ‘Love is Music’ Nick’s work is still as fresh and vital as that of his first solo release in 1994 but as evidenced by his highly personal 2004 “family album” Blood Songs, he still has time to sing about the most important things in his world – family, friends, love and life.
This event is fully booked.