Last night I was excited to see that Nicole Atkins was scheduled to play on Later Live…with Jools Holland.

A few months ago I was lucky to have had the opportunity to interview Nicole Atkins over the phone – and then the next day to watch her play an intimate show at the Soho Review Bar in London. I was able to see first hand what a talent she was and knew then that she had the ‘full package’ to reach out to many, many more people – with her excellent songs, charming stage presence and determination.

Originally from Neptune, New Jersey and having toured across the US, making appearances on shows like Late Night with Conan O’Brien and David Letterman, Nicole is probably more known in the States than here in England, however, after her strong performance last night on Jools Holland (her British television debut), I’m sure she’s gained even more fans from across the pond.

Other acts included:

Kings of Leon (”Sex On Fire”); when VV Brown came on, at first I wasn’t quite sure what to think, but then as the song went on (”Crying Blood”), her quirky soulful/punk grew on me and now I’ll be interested to hear more about her; Sway featuring Lemar (”Saturday Night Hustle”); and the First Lady of France Carla Bruni was interviewed by a flirtatious Jools Holland and then later was on with her “Tu Es Ma Came” single. It’s strange seeing a President’s wife hanging out with musicians and then singing live with a band…a first for me anyway. Has this ever happened before? With any other country’s First Lady?!

Nicole Atkins performed her dreamy pop single, “Maybe Tonight” off of debut album, ‘Neptune City’ and then Metallica closed the 30 minute night of varied music with their single, “The Day That Never Comes”. All members ended up taking solos, which was interesting on live TV, coming dangerously close to running over time. Now that’s Rock ‘n’ Roll…BBC style!

Later with Jools Holland Official Website

By: Jenny May

Nicole Atkins is one to watch – and I’ve found out why first hand.

The singer/songwriter New Jersey native has been on tour in Europe with her band, the Sea, and I was lucky enough to catch her show while she was in London.

First of all the venue, the Soho Review Bar (formerly the Raymond Review Bar), a place that some might consider seedy due to it’s erotic nature, was a brilliant room to watch a live performance. Just what I like – intimate, dark, the red interior was a plus and the sound was exceptional.

By the time Nicole started her set, the room was full with an expectant audience. She looked a million dollars, wearing a short white and black dress, she sounded great and her banter in between songs was friendly and humorous. At one point she invited people to go up toward the stage to watch – and a few did get up from their seats to sway along to songs that she played from her album, ‘Neptune City’.

The band was tight, and members on stage were Gillian Rivers (violin), Daniel “Cashmere” Chen (keyboard), Derek Layes (bass), Dan Mintzer (drums) and Dave Hollinghurst (guitar). Special guest Russell Simins from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion sat in on tambourine at one point.

Stand out songs of the night were “Brooklyn’s On Fire”, “The Way It Is”, “Party’s Over”, “Maybe Tonight” and their outstanding cover of the Doors’ “Crystal Ship”.

While in England, Nicole was able to squeeze in a phone interview with me for Band Weblogs the day before her show in Soho.

Jenny May: Do you have a favorite place to write music?

Nicole Atkins: I do. When the melodies of my songs come to me it’s usually when I’m sitting, but moving, so usually in the car or in a train is when they happen. But I really like to finish my songs in my parents’ living room at home. At least when they’re upstairs – but as long as they’re not in the room!

Are your parents musicians?

No. They like rock music, but none of them are musicians. We grew up with like, Frank Zappa as our ‘children’s music’.

Do you tend to write on guitar?

I write everything based on the vocal melody, and then I just put chords to that. It’s more fun and easier for me because instruments are limited, but on vocals, it’s not limited at all so I just layer everything through vocal melodies for every part.

What was the first guitar that you bought, do you remember?

I never bought one. My mom’s little brother, he passed away when he was thirteen and when I was thirteen I found his Yamaha Acoustic learners guitar in the attic. It was kind of a big deal. My mom was kind of reluctant for me to play it because she thought that I would break it, you know, because she got kind of sad when she would see it. Then I just kept going into the attic, I got this Grateful Dead guitar book, and taught myself how to play a bunch of Dead songs. So then after awhile they got really okay with it.

Do you still play it?

No. It’s a learner so it’s very short, and it’s actually harder to play than my guitar now!

And what are you playing now?

Now acoustic, I’m playing a Martin, and electric, I’m playing a Hagstrom Viking. It’s great.

I saw a video of you on YouTube singing “Be My Baby” – that was really good. It’s funny because that was the first song that I ever sang on stage with a band.

Nice. I love that song and I love singing that when my parents’ friends come to our shows ’cause you know, they have no idea what the hell I’m singing about, but when I start singing that, it’s just like, yeah!

I know what you mean. Ha ha.

Ha ha.

What are some of your favorite cover songs to play?

Three that we’re liking right now is “Crystal Ship” by the Doors, “Pissing In a River” from Patti Smith and “Under The Milky Way” by The Church.

I’m not sure if I’m familiar with The Church.

It’s a really pretty song.

I’ll have to look it up. I’m going to your show tomorrow night in Soho, London. Are you going to play that one?

Good. No we’re not…we’re still choosing, so maybe we will.

I was reading through your Myspace messages and noticed that your fan base is missing you in the States.

Yeah. Ha ha.

How do you stay in touch with them while you’re on tour?

Well, I always put out bulletins and I put up blogs of what’s going on out here, and little videos and stuff. So, I keep them fully abreast on the happenings.

I’m sure they appreciate that.

They do, and it’s always weird for me because I’m like, oh, they care!

I saw that video of you performing in Norway.

That was really fun. That was like, the funnest press thing that I’ve ever had to do.

It sounded great.

Yeah we met a bunch of people afterwards that were like super stoked on it. Like all these older people were like, “you have a very nice voice”. I was like, yeah!

How do you prepare for a show each night?

I don’t really do anything, I just kind of do brief vocal warm ups and just hang out with my band or my friends and then just go up and do it. I don’t really get into the mode until maybe 15 seconds before I sing the first note.

I would imagine that makes life easier for you.

It does. If you ever think it, you know, it will be weird and unnatural.

Some singers have all these rituals where they don’t talk or they don’t do certain things…

Yeah, I mean, unless I’m sick, you know, then I won’t talk. I always get on stage and I pick out the eight people that seem kind of skeptical or uneasy or unhappy in a crowd and kind of focus on them, kind of change their mood. I make them my personal mission.

Nice. I did read that you were sick on the road. Did you drink tea, or…

I’m always sick on the road. I just realized I’ve got the weakest immune system in the world. I do everything. I’m like a walking science project.

Ha ha. Is there any one thing that’s tended to work better for you?

Yeah…eight hours of sleep.

How did the David Letterman performance go (”The Way It Is”)? How was that for you?

That was the best day of my life. That was the day my record came out and it had been pushed back so much, I mean, it was, ahhh, finally we did it. It came off really, really well.

It was funny, the way he kept holding your hand at the end.

Yeah, he wouldn’t let go of my hand. It was cool, though, he liked us.

You could tell he liked you.

It was cool.

With your “Neptune City” single, it gives me the chills when I listen to it. What was the recording environment like in the studio?

We were in a barn in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere in Sweden and it was during the middle of winter. I recorded that song almost a year before I recorded it for the album and it’s one of those songs, that every time I sing it, I get the same feeling as I did when I first heard it. It was one of those things that…it was so much bigger than me.

What brought you to Sweden to record?

The producer lived there so it was much easier for me to go there alone then for him to come to New Jersey.

Did you enjoy it?

I didn’t. At all. I love making my records, and I love the music part of it, but it was the middle of winter so it got dark out at like 2 o’clock everyday. And I was in the middle of nowhere and I didn’t know anybody so it was very isolating…which might have been good because I was able to really focus on the music, but at the same time it probably didn’t do too well for my mental stability. I was very happy when I got home.

How long were you out there for?

A month and a half. Not too bad, but very, very isolating.

What normally is a good recording setting for you?

My idea of a good recording setting is very off the cuff, and very intimate, but it never really gets to work out that way now a days.

Is there a certain studio that you would like to work in that you haven’t yet?

Abbey Road. Who wouldn’t?

With your upcoming release, “Maybe Tonight”, I love it, the video is fun…

Thanks!

Do you have any input with the making of your videos?

Yes, I have full input. The video director (Josh Forbes) said let’s do this like you’re walking on your way to get ready for a late night TV show. I was like, oh, let’s get some circus freaks, you know, because I grew up on the boardwalk. There was a very big carnival culture. So he ended up getting us Vaudeville Cirque, which was way past my expectations, and we improvised everything and did it as we were, and it was just so much fun.

It looks really fun, and it definitely comes across.

It was. I choreographed it too.

That’s really good to know. Had you had experience with choreographing before?

No, I just did a lot of theatre.

Do you want to do more videos, directing, that sort of thing?

Oh yeah, I have tons of video ideas. It’s kind of a passion of mine to make up stories for a film.

Do you have a favorite festival that you like to play?

I’ve never really played any except for Austin City Limits. The one I’m looking forward to the most is All Points West. It’s in Jersey City and it’s with Radiohead. It’s an hour from my house too, so it’s really nice.

You’re playing Bonnaroo as well?

I’m really looking forward to that too, cause we get to play that with our good friends The Avett Brothers, that I went to college with.

Not only are you a singer and musician, but you’re an artist as well. Did you do the cover art for your album, ‘Neptune City’?

No I got my friend Nick to do it. He basically draws how I would draw if I wasn’t lazy and if I had the time!

Are you going to continue doing your art along with your music?

Yes, I always do. Comics and stuff. I put together a zine that goes to our fans so that we can actually mail them the comics and stuff like that. The comics will probably be ready in the fall.

Nicole Atkins Official Website
Nicole Atkins Myspace

“…slightly surreal folk-pop songs that evoke moonlit walks with the shadows closing in…a voice full of longing and Loretta Lynn elegance” – Rolling Stone, Top 10 Artists to Watch

Nicole Atkins is set to release her new UK single, “Maybe Tonight” on May 26th, 2008 on Columbia Records.

The shores of New Jersey are littered, quite literally, with small towns whose better days are far in the past. They’re towns that have been written about, and sung over; towns that have been mythologised and idealised; and they are the towns that Nicole Atkins, a native of Neptune City, located a stones throw from fabled Asbury Park, was born and raised in.

They can be places steeped in their own history, buried under the sense of their own pasts. Places of hey-days and what-once-was. And it’s that sense of something lost, and of what perhaps should have been, and what might be, that permeates Atkins’s debut album, ‘Neptune City’ (out 2nd June, 2008 in the UK).

Watch video – “Maybe Tonight” from ‘Neptune City’

“Neptune City is just this old place,” Nicole says. “There was this glory time, way back when, that I never experienced, but that you cannot escape if you live there. Everyone talks about it. They almost yearn for it, but I never experienced it. So maybe this album is my attempt to build something new on top of all that.”

The record calls to mind Roy Orbison if he were a woman; the bleak visions of Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen; the darkly mysterious girl group-on-acid musings of Julee Cruise and Lynch composer Angelo Badalamenti; the sorrow of Patsy Cline, the ’60s experimentation of Love and Nuggets; all with a redeeming sense of hope amidst the emotional wreckage that is all Nicole. A sense that’s perfectly captured on “Cool Enough,” on which she sings, “I don’t care where you’re going/You’re taking me with you/This place got nothing that I could want/But I think that someday, I might feel different/But still, that’s someday/Still that’s someday/So take me with you.”

And it’s that sound that washes over ‘Neptune City’, produced by Tore Johansson (Cardigans, Franz Ferdinand, OK Go, Saint Etienne, New Order), an album that sounds like it came from anywhere but the New Jersey Americana rock tradition made famous by Bruce Springsteen. Her music ranges far afield: at some times vaudevillian, at others psychedelic, a little bit country, a dash from early musicals, all under a cloud of pop-noir, often all coming in the very same song. Atkins writes songs that could have come from an episode of Six Feet Under, or an updating of Grease, as directed by David Lynch.

Over everything, Atkins brings a painterly quality to her music, fitting for a woman who studied illustration while at UNC Charlotte, and still has her own mural business. Her songs are aural paintings, mixing and matching colors and sounds.

In the end, ‘Neptune City’ comes across as a restoration project in a way, an attempt to build something new on something old. There’s an acute subtlety to the art of restoration. Do it wrong and you’re simply cribbing the past. Do it right and you’re actually, in a profound way, carrying it forward into today. And that’s what ‘Neptune City’ accomplishes. It brings its past with it, carries its heart on its sleeve, and strides hopefully into a better day it can hardly imagine, but hopes will be there nonetheless.

Live Date: 29th April, 2008 – London, Soho Revue Bar

Nicole Atkins on amazon.co.uk

Neptune City on amazon.com

Nicole Atkins Myspace
Nicole Atkins

After her successful performance on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”, Nicole Atkins will be kicking off her 2008 US Tour at New York’s Bowery Ballroom on January 25th.

Stay tuned for the video for Nicole’s upcoming single, “Maybe Tonight”, directed by Josh Forbes (The Shins, Cold War Kids). “Maybe Tonight” is the second single from her full-length LP, ‘Neptune City’.

In the meantime, here’s the video of Nicole Atkins & The Sea performing “Maybe Tonight” on Conan O’Brien:

Nicole Atkins & The Sea 2008 tour dates:

Dates could change! Go to Nicole Atkins’ Official Website for the latest tour dates and information.

January 25 – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY
February 14 – Algonquin Arts – Manasquan, NJ
February 15 – T.T. The Bear’s – Cambridge, MA
February 16 – Soundlab (Big Orbits Soundlab) – Buffalo, NY
February 17 – Lee’s Palace – Toronto, ONT
February 19 – Beachland Tavern – Cleveland, OH
February 20 – Blind Pig – Ann Arbor, MI
February 21 – Subterranean – Chicago, IL
February 22 – Cactus Club – Milwaukee, MN
February 23 – Cafe Montmartre – Madison, WI
February 25 – 7th Street Entry – Minneapolis, MN
February 29 – Doug Fir Lounge – Portland, OR
March 1 – The Triple Door – Seattle, WA
March 3 – The Independent – San Francisco, CA
March 5 – The Casbah – San Diego, CA
March 6 – The Troubadour – West Hollywood, CA
March 9 – House Of Blues – Dallas, TX
March 10 – The Mink – Houston, TX
March 18 – EARL – Atlanta, GA
March 21 – Snug Harbor – Charlotte, NC
March 22 – Local 506 – Chapel Hill, NC

For more information, go to:

Nicole Atkins on Myspace
Nicole Atkins Official Website

Fresh off of her fantastic tour with the Raveonettes, we’re excited to announce that Nicole Atkins will be touring North America with UK’s the Pipettes in support of her new album, ‘Neptune City’, out October 30th, 2007!

Also on October 30th, Nicole Atkins will be rocking your “picture radio” – catch her performance on The Late Show with David Letterman (11:35 EST).

The full tour schedule is listed below, including Nicole’s “Monster Ball” – a free record release show / Letterman after-party at Union Pool in Brooklyn! It’s a costume party, so dress up as your favorite “Hollywood monster”, be it Paris Hilton or Godzilla.

Nicole Atkins 2007 tour dates:

Dates could change! Go to Nicole Atkins’ Official Website for the latest tour dates and information.

October 30 – Union Pool – Brooklyn, NY (Monster Ball / Record release show!)

w/the Pipettes:

November 1 – Crocodile Cafe – Seattle, WA
November 2 – John Henry’s – Eugene, OR
November 3 – Plaza Club – Vancouver, BC
November 5 – Walnut Room – Denver, CO
November 7 – Paris – Austin, TX
November 9 – Vinyl – Atlanta, GA
November 11 – Sonar Club – Baltimore, MD
November 12 – Blender Theater – New York, NY
November 14 – North Star – Philadelphia, PA
November 15 – Great Scott – Boston, MA
November 16 – Petit Campus – Montreal, BC
November 18 – Lee’s Palace – Toronto, ON
November 19 – Diesel – Pittsburgh, PA

Nicole Atkins on Myspace
Nicole Atkins Official Website

Nicole Atkins is set to release her full-length album ‘Neptune City’ on October 30th, 2007 on Columbia Records. Produced by Tore Johansson (Cardigans, Franz Ferdinand, New Order), ‘Neptune City’ is at times vaudevillian, at others psychedelic; a little bit country, with a cabaret flair – all under a cloud of pop-noir. Her blend of melancholy lyrics over dreamy, theatrical compositions evokes comparisons to Rufus Wainwright, Jenny Lewis, and even Roy Orbison.

Before releasing her ‘Bleeding Diamonds’ EP, Nicole Atkins had become a fixture in New York’s anti-folk scene, spending many nights sleeping in her old Dodge Ram Charger on Avenue A. Since then, the New Jersey native has toured with Chris Isaak, the Long Blondes and the Raveonettes, and was featured along with her band and her song “Party’s Over” in a recent American Express commercial (mp3 link below).

Needless to say, Nicole Atkins has come a long way – ‘Neptune City’, however, is a tribute to her past. “This record is the history of my town; it’s the history of my family and friends in this town,” she explains. “From the time I was a kid I started collecting these sad little tragically beautiful personal stories from the people in my life, and my own as well. That sense of history really appeals to me as an artist.”

Download the MP3 of “Party’s Over” from ‘Neptune City’

Stream “The Way It Is”

Watch the video for “The Way It Is”

Catch Nicole Atkins & The Sea on tour with The Raveonettes throughout October 2007!

Nicole Atkins & the Sea with The Raveonettes tour dates:

Dates could change! Go to the bands’ official websites for the latest tour dates and information.

October 10 – Southpaw – Brooklyn, NY
October 11 – Maxwell’s – Hoboken NJ
October 12 – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY
October 13 – Mohawk Place – Buffalo, NY
October 16 – Magic Stick – Detroit, MI
October 17 – The Basement – Columbus, OH
October 18 – Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH
October 19 – Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL
October 20 – Mad Planet – Milwaukee, WI
October 21 – 7th Street Entry – Minneapolis, MN

For more Nicole Atkins, visit:

Nicole Atkins Official Website
Nicole Atkins on Myspace