Nick 13 : The Action Recon Interview

On June 7th Nick 13 who is the front man of punk band Tiger Army released a solo album that was a collection of country, americana and hillbilly music. The album covered the many different and vast musical influences that make up Nick 13 and proved that he is a very talented and accomplished song writer and musician. Action Recon reviewed the album here, if you have not heard the album yet have a read. Action Recon also got the opportunity to get an interview with Nick 13 and we covered a great array of things from music, touring, influences and what the future holds, check it out below.

1) How long has the idea of a solo album being building inside you? Is this something that was done because you had some time away from Tiger Army or has this being a plan of yours for sometime now?

The idea for this goes back at least a decade – recording the songs “Outlaw Heart” and “In The Orchard” were special experiences for me and I was touched by listener reaction to these songs, they seemed to mean as much to everyone else as they did to me. While on tour with Tiger Army in Nashville a few years ago, I decided that I would finally do this once I got a break from touring. It took longer than I thought to make it happen but I couldn’t be happier with how it’s turned out.

2) The album really seems to focus on the roots of country, rockabilly and hillbilly music of the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. What lead you to show such interest in this type of music?

Tracing the roots of 70s punk music lead me backwards to rockabilly, and listening to the catalogues of artists like Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and other Sun Records artists of that era was my gateway into pure hillbilly music. I’ve listened to all the greats in that field for many years now, but I dug even deeper in preparation for writing in recording – that started a few years ago and hasn’t stopped.

Nick’s embrace and understanding of the old music is really one of the things that makes his solo album feel so authentic.

3) The Tiger Army songs that you re arranged on your solo album turned out amazing, how did you go about picking what songs you were going to re-do?

The idea for redoing “Cupid’s Victim” actually came from Paul Roman of The Quakes – he sent me a demo he’d made with a slowed-down “Cupid’s Victim” years ago. The idea stayed with me and melded with my own to countrify it.

There were certain things I always disliked about the original recording of “In The Orchard” so I’d wanted to recut it for some time. Producer James Intveld had the idea of doing it with a Roy Orbison-influenced arrangement, which was something I’d always wanted to try in general.

Nick 13 “In The Orchard”.

4) Is your solo career something that we can expect to see more of as time goes on? Will there be other albums in the future?

Absolutely. Playing solo, playing Americana music is definitely something that will continue, along with Tiger Army. I’m having a great time doing this right now and I’ve actually got some new songs I’d love to record solo. After I tour this record I’ll decide whether it feels right to keep going or to turn my focus back to Tiger Army, but either way the future will see more of both.

5) Do you plan to do a full tour with this album and how would the bands you play with and the venues differ from that of Tiger Army if you did?

Yes, we go from LA to the East Coast in June. There’s a second leg that goes up the West Coast & back in August, and I’m going to attempt to hit as many other places as I can on another solo run in Sept-Oct.
Tiger Army is doing 2 shows in July, our 15th anniversary show at the OC Fair on July 30 and a show in Tempe, AZ on the 31st. The Facebook pages are the best places to see the dates, there’s one for solo and one for TA. I’d also very much like to get overseas on this record but we’re still figuring that out.

Venuewise, this project gives me a chance to play different towns and different kinds of rooms which is exiciting. A historic seated venue wouldn’t work well for Tiger Army, where as it could be perfect for this. Even the dives are different, they’re honky-tonk dives vs. punk rock dives. I’m also doing some over-21 shows, which I avoid with Tiger Army. I’d like the experience of seeing me solo to be distinct from seeing Tiger Army, a different ambience.

6) As far as country music is concerned who are those that you admire the most and who influenced you the most on the writing of this album?

There are so many artists I admire… some big ones are The Louvin Brothers, Ray Price, I could go on all day. Influences range from the Bakersfield sound (Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Wynn Stewart) to people like Ricky Nelson and Roy Orbison… of course Hank Williams is in there on “All Alone”. Western stuff like Marty Robbins, The Sons of The Pioneers…

7) You worked with a number of musicians on this album including steel guitar legend Lloyd Green, producers Greg Leisz and James Intveld and a slew of other great talent. How was this experience for you?

It was amazing. Greg I’d worked with before on each Tiger Army album, but that was only for one session on each album. It was great to spend more time and learn more from him. He and James are two of the most musical people you could meet and I learned an incredible amount from them both. James took me by a Dale Watson session in Nashville while I was there writing and I got to watch Lloyd Green track, I had no idea that in six months I’d be back and he’d be tracking on my record! He’s a living legend and on the short list of greatest steel guitar innovators of all time.

Nick 13 “Someday”.

8) How are you expecting Tiger Army fans to react to this solo project? You have played some solo shows how has the response been and were there a number of Tiger Army Fans in the audience?

It won’t be for everyone, but so far the audiences have been very open minded. There are a lot of Tiger Army fans at the shows and it means a lot to me that they’re giving these songs a chance, even though they may not listen to a lot of music in this style. Of course, there are the people who love this style, who’s favorite Tiger Army songs are the ones that pointed in this direction. It will be interesting as more Americana fans come into the fold who may not be familiar with Tiger Army at all.

9) If you could play one of your songs with any country music musician alive or dead who would that be and what song would you pick?

I’d love to hear someone like Merle Haggard or Dwight Yoakam do one of my songs without me playing, that would be really interesting to me. I’d also love to do a duet with someone like Emmylou Harris or Loretta Lynn.

10) Any last words or things you would like to mention before we sign off?

I’d like to thank everyone who’s supported by going out and picking up the new album, whether it’s at your local indie store, Amazon, iTunes or whatever… also everyone who’s come out to the shows! I’ll be playing all over the U.S. from now through at least October, I hope to see you all at a show soon!

Well that brings us to the end of the Action Recon Nick 13 interview. We hope you enjoyed it and are ready and willing to get into the music. For more inforamtion on Nick 13 please check out his Facebook and Twitter pages.

The Nick 13 Solo album is in stores now and available on iTunes and Amazon. Be sure to pick it up asap.

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