Nick McCabe
Encyclopedia
Nick McCabe is a musician best known as the lead guitarist of The Verve
.
at Winstanley College
. Ashcroft described McCabe's guitar playing as sounding like "a whole other universe"; the two briefly played in a band whilst at college. After leaving college, McCabe began a career as a quantity surveyor
. He later recalled: "I hated it. I used to sit there all day scribbling in my pad thinking about guitar sounds." He gave this up to be part of The Verve
along with Ashcroft, Simon Jones
and Peter Salisbury
.
. Shortly thereafter Ashcroft reformed the band without McCabe, replacing him with Simon Tong
. McCabe returned home to work on his own music and spend time with his daughter until Ashcroft asked him to return in 1997, for the band's third album, Urban Hymns
. Despite the album's success, McCabe left in 1998, and although The Verve continued touring without him, the band later split for the second time in early 1999.
In early 2007, McCabe made peace with Ashcroft, and the band reunited. A new album, Forth, was released in 2008. However, the band broke up again in 2009.
. In 2002, he played on "Lost Broadcast" for Faultline
's album Your Love Means Everything. In 2004, McCabe's remix
of The Music's song "The People" appeared on their single "Freedom Fighters". In March 2009, following the death of Martyn, McCabe discussed Martyn's music and the experience of working with him in an interview with Mojo
.
Later that year McCabe founded a new band called The Black Ships
, with Jones, drummer Mig Schillace, and electric violinist Davide Rossi. The Black Ships released their first EP, "Kurofune", in May 2011, and performed their debut gig at Kings College Student Union on the 2nd June 2011.
McCabe has cited artists such as Joy Division
, John Martyn and Eddie Hazel
as inspirations. He has also expressed his fondness of synthesizer
s and explained his 'psychedelic
' sound as trying to make a guitar
sound like a synthesizer by using effects pedals and valve Amps.
Producer Owen Morris
referred to McCabe as "without a shadow of a doubt the most gifted musician I've ever worked with", but also claimed he was "a complete and utter nightmare" to work with, saying "He'll never play the same thing twice. Now you can ask Noel Gallagher
to play the same guitar line a hundred times, and as long as there's a good reason for him doing it, he'll do it. But with Nick you've got no chance. But that's what he does, y'know?"
Effects (partial):
Guitars (partial):
The Verve
The Verve were an English rock band formed in 1989 in Wigan by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones, and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboardist Simon Tong later became a member. Beginning with a psychedelic sound indebted to shoegazing and space...
.
Early life
Nick McCabe was the son of a bus driver and has two older brothers, Alan and Paul. When asked what it was that inspired him to become a guitarist, he answered: "That was me, I just got a guitar, and I could play a few things on it, and I liked messing with it, and I liked making my own things up." He attended Haydock Sports College, and later met Richard AshcroftRichard Ashcroft
Richard Paul Ashcroft is an English singer-songwriter. He was the lead singer and occasional guitarist of alternative rock band The Verve from their formation in 1990 until their split in 1999, and continues as a lead vocalist working with guitars and keyboards...
at Winstanley College
Winstanley College
Winstanley College is a sixth form college in the Billinge Higher End area of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester.-Admissions:In the academic year 2007–08 it had 1,803 full time students...
. Ashcroft described McCabe's guitar playing as sounding like "a whole other universe"; the two briefly played in a band whilst at college. After leaving college, McCabe began a career as a quantity surveyor
Quantity surveyor
A quantity surveyor is a professional working within the construction industry concerned with building costs.The profession is one that provides a qualification gained following formal education, specific training and experience that provides a general set of skills that are then applied to a...
. He later recalled: "I hated it. I used to sit there all day scribbling in my pad thinking about guitar sounds." He gave this up to be part of The Verve
The Verve
The Verve were an English rock band formed in 1989 in Wigan by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones, and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboardist Simon Tong later became a member. Beginning with a psychedelic sound indebted to shoegazing and space...
along with Ashcroft, Simon Jones
Simon Jones (musician)
Simon Jones is an English bass player. He played bass and provided occasional backing vocals for the English band, The Verve.-Personal life:...
and Peter Salisbury
Peter Salisbury
Peter Salisbury is best known as the drummer of The Verve, which he joined as a founding member in 1989.- Personal life :...
.
The Verve
McCabe was generally an aloof member, being involved in relatively few interviews. Tensions and power struggles between McCabe and Ashcroft would later cause the band's dissolution. The first breakup happened in 1995 when Ashcroft left after the band's second album, A Northern SoulA Northern Soul
A Northern Soul is the second studio album by English alternative rock band The Verve. The album was released in the United States on 20 June 1995 on the Hut label and in the United Kingdom on 3 July 1995 on Vernon Yard Records...
. Shortly thereafter Ashcroft reformed the band without McCabe, replacing him with Simon Tong
Simon Tong
Simon Tong is a guitarist and keyboardist who was a member of The Verve between 1996 and 1999 and is currently a member of Erland and the Carnival and Transmission. He has also played on tour with Blur, Gorillaz and the unnamed supergroup responsible for The Good, the Bad & the Queen...
. McCabe returned home to work on his own music and spend time with his daughter until Ashcroft asked him to return in 1997, for the band's third album, Urban Hymns
Urban Hymns
Urban Hymns is the third album by English rock band The Verve, released on 29 September 1997 on Hut Recordings. It earned nearly unanimous critical praise upon its release, and went on to become the band's best-selling release and one of the biggest selling albums of the year...
. Despite the album's success, McCabe left in 1998, and although The Verve continued touring without him, the band later split for the second time in early 1999.
In early 2007, McCabe made peace with Ashcroft, and the band reunited. A new album, Forth, was released in 2008. However, the band broke up again in 2009.
Other projects
After The Verve's split in 1999, McCabe kept a low profile. In 2001, he played on "Walking Home" for John Martyn's album, On the CobblesOn the Cobbles
On the Cobbles was the final studio album by John Martyn released during his lifetime , released in 2004...
. In 2002, he played on "Lost Broadcast" for Faultline
Faultline (musician)
Faultline is an electronic music project centred on producer David Kosten.This UK act's enigmatic music has background death threats, Dennis Hopper dialogue and cover versions sung by rock stars. Faultline is the recording moniker for David Kosten, who claims to have turned to samplers and...
's album Your Love Means Everything. In 2004, McCabe's remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
of The Music's song "The People" appeared on their single "Freedom Fighters". In March 2009, following the death of Martyn, McCabe discussed Martyn's music and the experience of working with him in an interview with Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
.
Later that year McCabe founded a new band called The Black Ships
The Black Ships (band)
The Black Ships are an English rock band who formed in 2009 after Nick McCabe and Simon Jones, formerly the guitarist and bassist of The Verve, started rehearsing material with Davide Rossi, with whom they had collaborated previously on the 2008 reunion album Forth, and drummer Mig Schillace.The...
, with Jones, drummer Mig Schillace, and electric violinist Davide Rossi. The Black Ships released their first EP, "Kurofune", in May 2011, and performed their debut gig at Kings College Student Union on the 2nd June 2011.
Musical style
McCabe stood still whilst playing, with one reviewer in 1993 describing him as having "coaxed gorgeous, shimmering wodges of sound from his instrument while exuding all the enthusiasm of a man waiting for a bus."McCabe has cited artists such as Joy Division
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...
, John Martyn and Eddie Hazel
Eddie Hazel
Edward Earl "Eddie" Hazel was a guitarist in early funk music in the United States who played lead guitar with Parliament-Funkadelic...
as inspirations. He has also expressed his fondness of synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s and explained his 'psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
' sound as trying to make a guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
sound like a synthesizer by using effects pedals and valve Amps.
Producer Owen Morris
Owen Morris
Owen Morris is a music producer who has worked with rock bands such as Oasis, The Fratellis, The View and The Verve.He started working in the music industry as a sound engineer at Spaceward Studio in Cambridge when he was 16. He continued as an engineer until 1994 when he started producing some...
referred to McCabe as "without a shadow of a doubt the most gifted musician I've ever worked with", but also claimed he was "a complete and utter nightmare" to work with, saying "He'll never play the same thing twice. Now you can ask Noel Gallagher
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...
to play the same guitar line a hundred times, and as long as there's a good reason for him doing it, he'll do it. But with Nick you've got no chance. But that's what he does, y'know?"
Equipment
Amps (partial):- Mesa/Boogie Mark III combo
- Roland JC120 (daisy-chained to the boogie)
- Marshall solid state bass amp
Effects (partial):
- Alesis QuadraVerb+
- Roland RE-201 Space Echo
- BOSS OD-1
- Ibanez FL9
- Eventide H3000
- Roland GP-8
- DigiTech Whammy IV
Guitars (partial):
- Gibson Les Paul
- Fender Stratocaster (1979)
- Gibson ES-335
- Fender Jazzmaster (1959) 70's
- Fender Telecaster Deluxe
- Gibson Flying V
- Fender 12-String
- Mandolin
- Ovation acoustic
1997-2007
- The Beta BandThe Beta BandThe Beta Band were a British musical group who received much critical acclaim and achieved cult status amongst avid followers of the underground and experimental music scene...
- Champion Versions E.P.The Three E.P.'sThe Three EPs is a compilation of The Beta Band's first three releases, consisting of the EPs Champion Versions, The Patty Patty Sound and Los Amigos del Beta Bandidos...
(1997) - MellowMellow (band)The original concept came from founder Patrick Woodcock, a multi-instrumentalist, who had befriended Nicolas Godin while they were getting their architecture degree in Versailles...
- Instant Love E.P. (1999) - O.S.T.O.S.T.O.S.T. may refer to:*O.S.T. , by People Under the Stairs*O.S.T., alias of electronic musician Chris Douglas...
for Iain BanksIain BanksIain Banks is a Scottish writer. He writes mainstream fiction under the name Iain Banks, and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, including the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies...
' "Complicity" (2000) - Neotropic (project) - La Prochaine Fois/An Ambient Road Movie (2001)
- FaultlineFaultline (musician)Faultline is an electronic music project centred on producer David Kosten.This UK act's enigmatic music has background death threats, Dennis Hopper dialogue and cover versions sung by rock stars. Faultline is the recording moniker for David Kosten, who claims to have turned to samplers and...
feat. Nick McCabe - Lost Broadcast (2002/2004, released on Your Love Means Everything) - John Martyn feat. Nick McCabe - Walking Home (2004, released on On the CobblesOn the CobblesOn the Cobbles was the final studio album by John Martyn released during his lifetime , released in 2004...
) - Nick McCabe vs. The Music - The People (2004, released on The Freedom Fighters E.P.Freedom Fighters (song)"Freedom Fighters" is a song from The Music's second album, Welcome to the North. It was also the first single from that album, released in Japan in late August 2004 as an EP and in the UK and elsewhere in Europe as a single in early September 2004...
) - The Nova SaintsThe Nova SaintsThe Nova Saints are a Bristol-based band whose musical style is most commonly referred to as 'shoegazing' and 'psychedelic'.The band are currently recording their debut album, scheduled for a 2011 release.-Spencer :...
- Far Out (Nick McCabe Remix) (2007, released on The Draft EPThe Draft EPThe Draft EP is the debut release by Bristol-based band The Nova Saints, released on 28th May 2007. The EP was limited to 500 copies on its initial release but has been re-released twice since, most recently by Northern Star Records in a limited run of 200, to mark The Nova Saints’ signing to the...
)