Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how your childhood impacted your musical direction?
A: My parents have always been music fans and naturally a lot of their choices helped shape my musical beginnings. My mum was a big Eric Clapton fan, and George Michael fan… I remember hearing their songs on repeat and just loving getting stuck in and singing along. My Dad was into Zeppelin and Pink Floyd but then we had best of’s Queen and Patsy Cline around the house too, so a real mix. I think the first CD I bought was Deep Down by East 17 which is a bit cringe now, but from that moment I started to get interested in buying my own music and discovering what was out there… I quickly moved away from what was on the cover of my sisters Smash Hits to guitar bands like Oasis and Stereophonics when I was in my early teens, that opened the door to The Beatles and the Who and The Jam and then Neil Young and Bob Dylan etc etc each artist opening a new door to other artists and bands… that hasn’t stopped since.
Q: How are you planning on growing your fan base and sharing your music with the world? What message do you have for anyone who is about to discover “Nixon Tate”?
A: Playing live is the most gratifying way to connect with an audience, that instant reaction is such a special thing. So, I’ll always try to get out and play as many shows as possible to grow things, and naturally in the current climate I’ll keep plugging away on Instagram and all the other socials. I guess if anyone was about to discover my music I’d say, tell all your friends and your mum and your uncle and your aunty and your nan and your nans dog etc and come to a show and help spread the good word.
Q: Who is the most inspiring artist for you right now? And where do you find inspiration for making music?
A: This changes day to day, I’ve been listening to a lot of Beatles recently and Bruce Springsteen, I love Blur’s new single and Jason Isbell’s new record is really great as is Loma’s album Don’t Shy Away. I don’t really look to other musicians for inspiration in terms of song writing, I try to find it all from somewhere else, but naturally that means I’m subconsciously stealing from everyone. I read as much as I can too, recently I’ve been reading Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, Shuggie Bain & Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart.
Q: Can you tell us about the story or message behind the song, “Feeble Hearts.”?
A: It’s about when the feeling of being wanted becomes reckless, desperate even. It’s a tale of dingy disco dance floors and the push and pull of attraction. It’s realising you don’t always have to look for someone to take you home at the end of a night, it’s OK to go home on your own sometimes…. ‘it’s all smoke and mirrors and false starts, heavy weight egos and feeble hearts’
Q: How would you describe your sound in one word for potential listeners?
A: Melting-pot
Q: Did you face any challenges while writing or recording “Feeble Hearts”?
A: Not really, the song kind of fell out of the sky pretty quickly, I wrote the basics in a ten-minute dash, but then kept re-writing and editing the lyrics until I had something that felt right. The recording process was pretty straight forward, we messed around with guitar sounds and intros etc, but decided to keep things simple and direct. We recorded the whole thing over 2 or 3 sessions and it came together quite quickly.
Q: What is the message of your music? And what are your goals as an artist?
A: There’s no message, I write what I know and I think that creates emotional connections with listeners, a common ground, hopefully there’s some hope in there along with empathy. My ultimate goal would be to do this full time.
Q: Who is your dream artist to collaborate with? (dead or alive)
A: I’d love to work with Rick Rubin, have him produce me.
Q: What is your advice for people interested in pursuing music as a career or for those trying to enter the industry?
A: Be prepared to be let down and knocked back, but don’t give in, believe in what you do and keep learning, push things forward.
Q: If you could go back in time and give a younger you some words of wisdom, what would they be?
A: I got into song writing a little late, I was always a front man for other bands and other people wrote the songs, I should have had the confidence to start writing much earlier…
