Artist of the Day | SCOTT NICHOLLS
ARTIST OF THE DAY
17.05.2021
SCOTT NICHOLLS
LOCATION
London, England
GENRE
Country/Rock/Pop
CURRENT MEMBERS
Scott Nicholls
Jack Watson
Phil Nicholls
Ben Willis
With the current pandemic, the state of the music and touring industry has dramatically changed. Where were you when everything was brought to a halt?
I remember driving to a friends house when Rishi Sunak announced the furlough program and that was when I thought... oh no. This could be really bad couldn't it? Then the pubs had to close... and then the message on TV I was at home watching with family. Didn't seem real.
How has that affected your plans for the coming year? Did you have a tour planned, upcoming album release?
Oh yeah it really did mess up a LOT of stuff. I'd been working toward 2020 since 2018 when I started recording the 5 singles -- four of which are out now -- and essentially... everything stopped as it got going. I'd been on tour with Deanna Wheeler (USA) all over the UK, had booked shows at places like Stramash in Edinburgh with other artists, support slots on a few tours that would've been amazing experience for me but sadly that ALL got cut off. So when we released Cinderella... we couldn't tour it around the country... and it gets exhausting posting constantly to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Mailing Lists. You're trying to keep people engaged but its not always possible when theres no sorta... promise of a live show at the end of it! It's hard.
What have you been doing to fill/make the most of your new-found free time at home? How are you supporting your mental health through all of this?
Honestly at first I sorta took the time to relax a bit... it was the first time I could ever remember having no work but not feeling stressed about it purely 'cause everybody else was in the same boat. I locked down with family and we watched Tiger King together, I watched seven series of Sons of Anarchy in about 3 weeks, helped Dad build a floating deck with electricity and everything in the back garden and I walked a LOT too! I get that i've been luckier than most as I have a house, a garden, etc but its still really difficult to look after your mental health when there's this feeling of "I know its coming back, but when"? Kinda thing. It's especially frustrating when you're trying to do everything you personally can to get your livelihood back and see people -- sometimes in the same industry -- actively working against it because they're spoiled brats, stupid, or both. HOWEVER! I have been doing some acting and stand-in work, and some work as a COVID-19 tester in the meantime while we wait for shows and such to come back in a proper way -- I can't be dealing with online ones!
How are dealing with the Covid third wave?
Ermm I think the third wave has been the worst one for musicians in a way because you can see so many other industries coming back into... not full swing... but people are going to work again... and you're not. Unless you're busking. It just makes you feel a bit useless in all honesty and you have to remember that you never asked for this, and that you can't help it either, but that anger and embarrassment just sorta grows until you let it go. I've been reading, walking working out and about 10-12 weeks ago started therapy which has been great, too.
Do you have a message for everyone at home reading this?
Thanks for reading this! It's not often people like me get to speak directly to you so I want to say THANK YOU for supporting local musicians, indie musicians, any musician you've bought a t shirt from or a blank CD with their name in sharpie on the front. Even if you've just left their EP/Single on stream for a few hours. It all helps, it keeps us going, it keeps our spirits up and we love it. But we need you to start taking this energy and translating that into coming to shows. A ticket to a local show is what? £10 or less? Drinks are cheaper and lets be honest -- the music is great too, but if you keep not coming and spending £100 on Garth Brooks for the 20th time then it hurts us. We love you, and we know you love us. I hope we get to see you really, really soon.
If you would like to be our next ARTIST OF THE DAY please email us at:
JEN@CONCERTWORKS.CA
