Grant Nicholas

Grant Nicholas
On stage at the Cardiff CIA, 1 December 2005
Background information
Birth name	Grant Nicholas
Born	12 November 1967 (1967-11-12) Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales
Genres	Alternative rock, rock, Britpop, post-grunge, grunge
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, keyboards, piano
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Echo
Associated acts	Feeder, Raindancer
Website	www.feederweb.com
Notable instruments
Fender Jazzmaster, Fender Telecaster

Grant Nicholas (born 12 November 1967) is a Welsh musician, best known as the lead singer and lead guitarist of the rock band Feeder.

Early years

Nicholas was born in Newport, South Wales but grew up in Pwllmeyric, near Chepstow. He was educated at Monmouth School. He performed in public for the first time at the age of 11 at school, and gained four O-levels (now referred to as GCSEs), including an A grade in Art.

In school, Nicholas played the trumpet, and was in his first band, Sweet Leaf (named after a song by Black Sabbath, who were Grant's favourite band in his school years, and the first he saw play live, at the Colston Hall in Bristol). He was promised his first guitar by his parents, as an incentive to pass his exams. He received the guitar, an Aron Les Paul copy after passing them.

Guitars

Nicholas' "signature guitar" is a 1967 Sunburst Fender Jazzmaster. In addition to this, he also owns a 1964 Silver Jazzmaster (often tuned differently when used live) and another Sunburst 59 Jazzmaster. He is using Fender Telecasters more and more and has a 73 Sunburst Fender Telecaster a 63 Black Telecaster and a Blue Standard Telecaster. His other guitars include a Cherry Red Gibson SG, a Green Custom Jazzbird, a Green Jazzmaster (which he destroyed at Feeder's headline set at Download 2005 and later said he regretted it, but still has the neck to make a new guitar with), a Gibson Firebird,a custom ESP "Gibstang", a Sunburst Gibson J-200 Acoustic and a natural finish Yamaha acoustic (for recording). He uses a variety of different pedals and effects to produce the distinctive Feeder sound. His main amplifiers are: Vox AC30's, Fender Twins, Boogie and Marshall + Marshall and Orange Speaker Cabinets.

Formative years

After leaving school Nicholas worked as a bike courier in London. When Grant was 19. He joined a new wave band called Multi-Story as their singer. He released 1 album with the band called 'Through Your Eyes' and they disbanded soon after. After Multi-Story broke up, Grant joined Welsh nine-piece Temper Temper, where he met future Feeder drummer, Jon Lee. Grant then formed electric/acoustic rock band called Rain Dancer with Jon Lee. Then the two would later go on to form a band called Reel which later was changed to Feeder. Lee joined Nicholas when he moved to London to work as a sound engineer.

Songwriting

It was while in London that Nicholas learnt how to be a songwriter and formed Hum (soon to be renamed Real, Reel, then Feeder) with Lee, and Hirose, who was working in London as a graphic designer. A series of Reel recordings surfaced on ebay in early 2006.

In 2001 Nicholas also had success with the re-recording of "You Don't See The Signs", a collaboration with producer/rapper duo Mark B and Blade, who had released the original version as their first single. The new version, subtitled the "Grant Nicholas Remix", reached #23 in the United Kingdom.

Personal life

Nicholas has a wife Kana. They had their first child, Hanna-Sky, in 2005 and their second child in 2007. They live together in Crouch End, London. He is also follower of football and supports Arsenal F.C. although he also once admitted he does not follow the sport as much as his bandmates, but once gave praise for the United States national team.

Other work

Nicholas remixed the track "Ya don't see the signs" by the now defunct rap group Mark B and Blade, giving the rap a rock guitar background different from the original's hip hop sound. This was added as an extra track to their 2000 album, The Unknown. This version came to the fore when used for the opening credits of Sky Sports Saturday Morning show, Soccer AM. Nicholas spent the last few weeks of 2006 co-producing rock band EnjoyDestroy's debut album with Brian Sperber. Grant Nicholas was featured on an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks in 2008, his second appearance on the show after making his debut in 1999.

Setback

During Feeder's winter tour of 2005, a gig in Brighton was forced to be halted after only six songs when Grant suddenly lost his voice. He was later diagnosed with a severe throat infection with bleeds on his vocal cords. The tour was recheduled and completed the following year in late March.