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Nick Larkins

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Nick Larkins is an Australian rock musician who has played with various Australian acts, and solo. Nick was born in London but raised in Hobart, Tasmania. Larkins has been highly nomadic for much of his career. He has usually been based in the city of Melbourne, known as the live music capital of Australia, but has also lived and worked in Europe several times.

Career overview

As a teenager Nick Larkins fronted some of Tasmania's pioneering punk bands, most notably REJECT, who smashed at least one guitar at every show, replacing the guitar solo with the guitar-smashing solo. He has also performed solo and with the following acts:

  • Nick Larkins (1987–) Singer-songwriter.
  • Nobody (1989–1991) Electric guitar, vocal.
  • Checkerboard Lounge Blues Band (1990) Bass guitar.
  • Velvet Hammer (1992–1993) Bass guitar, backing vocals.
  • Joe Geia (1993– ) Electric guitar, backing vocals, recording engineer.
  • Stories And Songs of the People (1999, 2000, 2010) Electric guitar, co-producer/engineer.
  • Richard Gillard and House of Circles (1998–2006) Electric and acoustic bass guitar, backing vocals, electric guitar.
  • The Durga Babies (2001–2006) Electric guitar, Hammond organ, theremin, backing vocals, co-recording engineer.
  • Wild Pumpkins at Midnight (1984, 1993–1998) Guitars, vocals, bass guitar, Hammond organ, harmonica, sitar, theremin, co-engineer/producer.
  • Dan Rumour Band (2005–2007) Dan Rumour and The Drift (2007– ) Hammond organ, guitar, co-engineer/producer.
  • Nick Larkins & The Bones (2005– ) Vocal, guitars, theremin.
  • Monique Brumby (2010– ) Guitars, bass, recording engineer.

Wild Pumpkins at Midnight and Europe

In 1993 Nick Larkins re-joined ARIA award winning group Wild Pumpkins at Midnight and moved to The Netherlands. Until the end of 1998 Wild Pumpkins were based in the Netherlands, returning to Australia for brief periods, touring and releasing 6 CDs in Australia, Europe and Brazil. Roughly half their recorded output was produced with award winning studio engineer Tony Cohen. (Birthday Party, Nick Cave, The Beasts of Bourbon, The Cruel Sea, Hunters & Collectors). WPAM albums and concerts featured guest appearances by other influential Australian musicians including Chris Wilson, members of Weddings Parties Anything, Joe Geia and Tiddas. Larkins and other members of WPAM performed with Aboriginal songwriter Joe Geia on and off for years. In 1995 Larkins and Dan Tuffy from WPAM toured Europe with Geia for several months during a break in WPAM commitments. On that tour they performed live on German radio station WDR to a Friday night drive-time audience of over 3 million listeners. With Wild Pumpkins Nick performed at the prestigious Montreaux Jazz Festival (Switzerland); shared billing with Santana, Björk, Nick Cave, Dirty Three, Tricky, Rage Against the Machine, Porno 4 Pyros, Mick Taylor (Rolling Stones), David Crosby (Crosby, Stills & Nash), Link Wray and others. They toured extensively in former Eastern Block countries, including the Former Yugoslavia in 1994 during the war, and also played festivals and clubs all over Europe. Larkins also lived and performed in Czech Republic in 1997.

Return to Melbourne

Wild Pumpkins At Midnight ended as a band at the close of the 1998 European tour. In 1999 and 2000 Larkins performed with Native American, Tibetan and Australian Aboriginal musicians on a project called 'Stories And Songs'. An album was released in 2000 and two documentary films, shown on the ABC television show Message Stick, and at the various film festivals. Since 2000 Larkins has appeared on Australian television series The Secret Life of Us, the 2006 Melbourne Music documentary Sticky Carpet, and the Australian surf music documentary/album 'Delightful Rain'. Larkins lived in Barcelona, Spain, in 2004, performing solo, and also in the UK. He returned to Melbourne at the end of that year and from early 2005 began performing with his own band 'Nick Larkins and The Bones'. Since early 2005 Nick also plays hammond organ and guitar for Cruel Sea guitarist Dan Rumour, in the Dan Rumour Band. The instrumental combo changed its name to Dan Rumour & The Drift in 2007 with the release of their first, self-titled, album. Dan Rumour & The Drift also includes Cruel Sea drummer Jim Elliot and fellow ex-WPAM member Michael Turner on bass guitar. Larkins and Rumour co-produced and mixed the band's first album. In late 2010 Larkins began performing with fellow Tasmanian musician Monique Brumby as a guitarist, bass player, and engineer on her next studio album. In 2011 Larkins began working as a songwriter-producer with Melbourne musician Catherine Sheahan on a project called 'twentyfive'. twentyfive aims to write, record and release a new song every two weeks, with twenty five different singers primarily from the Melbourne independent band scene. Their studio is located in a restored 1957 train carriage called the Hobsons Bay, in Melbourne's historic Newport Rail Workshop, where the train was originally built. The site is also the home of Melbourne's Railway Museum operated by the Australian Railway Historical Society. The project is being filmed by documentary crew F-Reel.

Live and studio engineer

Wild Pumpkins At Midnight co-produced their own recordings, even when working with experienced producers like Tony Cohen. Often the whole band would be involved in mixing a song, with three or four people working the mixing desk at the same time. Each member of the band learnt recording skills and techniques in this way. Larkins began mixing live sound for friends' bands in Melbourne around 1999 and has since worked as a live and studio engineer for many acts and projects. These include: Dan Rumour and The Drift, Dandelion Wine, Duckdive, Wons P Phreeley, Even, Catnip, Renee Geyer (studio assistant), Paul Kelly, Chris Wilson, Lunars, The Winter Migration, Autumn Gray, Man Bites God, James Hazelden, I Dream in Transit, Slow Human Escape, The Triangles, Digger and The Pussycats, Immigrant Union, Brillig, The Shambelles, Stories and Songs of The People, Joe Geia, Big Low (Netherlands), Monique Brumby, twentyfive.

References

Discography

  • 1990 Nick Stuff, audio tape sold at gigs.
  • 1992 Keith Richards Is My Dad, Nick Larkins and The Government, independent music video, played on RAGE, ABC TV, and The Noise, SBS TV, Australia.
  • 1993. Taedium Vitae, Velvet Hammer, Siren Records (Aust.)
  • 1993. Going Sick, Wild Pumpkins At Midnight, Produced by Tony Cohen. Survival Records (Aust.)
  • 1995. Lo-Fi Lucy’s Mobile Temple, WPAM, W.O.T. records (Aust.)
  • 1996. Secret of The Sad Trees WPAM, prod. Tony Cohen. W.O.T. (Aust.)
  • 1996. Song Xavier on compilation East Timor benefit CD Love From A Short Distance, Shock Records (Aust.), also featuring Bono, Yothu Yindi, Billy Bragg, Silverchair, Screaming Jets, Mavis’s.
  • 1996–97. Sad Trees, WPAM, prod. Tony Cohen and WPAM. Hot Records UK, (Europe and Aust. re-release)
  • 1997. Small-Head Paul, Hip-Hop E.P., MouseMaster, Czech.
  • 1998. Instant Ocean, WPAM, Rocks Records, Euro.
  • 1999 Music As Medicine, Stories & Songs Of the People, Stories & Songs.
  • 2000 Stories & Songs of The People – They Came For Gathering, documentary film. F-Reel, Aust.
  • 2000 Oral Pleasure, (Radio only Single) NICK, Beatnik Records, Aust. & Germany.
  • 2002 Audioweave, Disasterware. Disasterware, Aust.
  • 2002 You Talking To Me, Various artists. PLACEBO Aust.
  • 2002 Swell.1, House Of Circles, prod. Kerryn Tolhurst and Tony Cohen, Laughing Outlaw Records, Aust.
  • 2002 The Grey Room, Sara Mitchell. MGM, Aust.
  • 2003 Love Comes, The Durga Babies. Rocks Records, Aust.
  • 2004 Crapola, Nick Larkins. Beatnik Records. Released on iTunes worldwide August 2007.
  • 2005 Nunga, Koori & A Murri Love, Joe Geia. Across The Borders, Aust.
  • 2006 Delightful Rain, CD/DVD (documentary film) Various Artists, Dan Rumour Band. Bombora, Aust.
  • 2007 Dan Rumour and The Drift, Dan Rumour and The Drift. Bombora, Aust.
  • 2008 Stories For Another Day, Duckdive, Laughing Outlaw Records, Aust. Mixed by Larkins.
  • 2011 Underground, (single) Monique Brumby. Co-produced with Brumby.
  • 2011 Railyard Songs, The Winter Migration. Produced by Larkins.
  • 2011 Lunars, Lunars. Produced by Larkins.
  • 2011 twentyfive, series of 11 singles with different singers, released on iTunes. Co-produced with Catherine Sheeahan.
  • 2012 The Deans, self-titled album, independent release on iTunes. Engineered, mixed and produced by Larkins.

External links

For more information see artist homepage – http://www.nicklarkins.com

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