Nick Garrie

2005

In an IT course, as a joke, Nick types “Nick Garrie” into a search engine (remember that he hasn’t used this name since putting out his first disc) and is surprised to discover hundreds upon hundreds of pages marveling over the wonders of “The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas.” In response to this, those closest to him encourage him to return to singing and he presents himself in a singer-songwriters contest. Since it couldn’t be any other way, he wins first prize, which is a webpage to help promote his material. This webpage puts him back in touch with the music world and he starts to receive offers to re-release his debut album. He decides on Joe Foster, head of Rev-Ola and also, in its time, of Creation Records (one of the most important and influential independent labels in the world, that had signed artists PRIMAL SCREAM, FELT, THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN, OASIS, RIDE, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, HOUSE OF LOVE, TEENAGE FANCLUB, THE BOO RADLEYS, ST ETIENNE, THE PASTELS, MOMUS and PACIFIC).

The result is the re-release of his album, as well as the release of the single “Queen of Spades”, and some of the acoustic songs he recorded in Belgium in 1968; and Nick hits the road again, touring and playing the songs from that mythical album.

2006

The album “The Lost Songs of Nick Garrie-Hamilton”, a compilation that puts together the best songs from all of his albums, is released on Rev-Ola, as well. Also this year, the Spanish label Wah Wah Records re-releases “The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas” on vinyl.

In June Nick plays in the U.S. for the first time, where he captivates the audience in a concert at Club Tonic in New York with THE LADYBUG TRANSISTOR, organized by Hatch from the independent radio station WFMU.

2007

Nick Garrie continues to perform sporadically in cities such as Paris; he played in Spain in April 2007 as well, a mini-tour organized to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the radio program “Trilogy Rock”. The tour consisted of three concerts in Banyotes, Barcelona and La Roca del Vallès. It was there that he recovered a renovated version of “Queen of Spades” that he hadn’t played live since it was first released. Regarding that concert, Santi Comelles writes in June’s Ruta 66 Magazine: “There was so much charm, skill and emotion on that stage, above all when Garrie played the more peaceful songs (“Deeper Tones of Blue”, “Suitcase Man”) with an essence that remembers the Everly Brothers’ way of making a dreamy ballad a colossal monument”. The Englishman returns to Spain in June to play in El Prat.

2008

Joe Foster introduces Nick Garrie to the Scottish singer Ally Kerr. After a series of phone calls, in which Nick reveals the existence of new songs, Ally Kerr invites him to do a concert in the club he runs, Viva Melodia. This whole story ends one weekend, months later, in Glasgow’s Riverside studios, with a handful of other musicians from the Scottish scene, recording five new songs. Some of the more important people included in these sessions were Norman Blake (TEENAGE FANCLUB), Francis McDonald (NICE MAN, TEENAGE FANCLUB), obviously Ally Kerr himself, Duglas T. Stewart (BMX BANDITS) producing, and Duncan Cameron (DELGADOS, TRAVIS, TRASHCAN SINATRAS) as the sound engineer, as well as the still unknown DOGHOUSE ROSES, Spain’s Sandra Belda Martínez (CALIFORNIA SNOW STORY, SUPERÉTÉ), Rachel Allison, Iona McDonald and many others from the Scottish indie scene.

These songs find their way to the hands of Elefant Records, followers and die-hard fans of “The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas” and they decide to sign Garrie to release new songs, as well as re-release part of his old material. To begin with, in November the limited edition single “Twilight” with the B-side “In Every Nook and Cranny” is released, a delicious teaser for his new album “49 Arlington Gardens”. Two weeks before the single is published, at the beginning of November, the album’s first video clip is recorded. The images that accompany “Twilight” are created under the supervision of David Roberts (responsible for THE SCHOOL’s first two videos) in the outskirts of London, in Nick’s home, starring his sweet daughter Ellie.

2009

Elefant Records publishes “49 Arlington Gardens” in January, the fifth full-length of Nick Garrie’s career. Aside from the “Scottish sessions”, the disc includes the marvelous “Lovers” written with Francis Lai for the soundtrack to the Korean film “Plastic Tree”, and “Stay Till the Morning Comes”, recorded in Villafranca (Portugal) with the Portuguese producer Quim Correia. A delicious disc that combines precious arrangements with the off-beat and elegant melodies of Garrie. From the dreamy romanticism of “Lovers”, to the clear Frenchification of “Le pont Mirabeau”, the precociousness of “Twilight” the incredible voice of Rachel Allison in “When Evening Comes” or the fantasy that evokes a children’s choir in the closing track “The Clockmaker”.

In July, Nick Garrie performs in the British festival Indietracks and leaves everyone amazed by his tenderness and romance-filled songs. The most exciting and touching moment of the show is when several boys and girls who study at the school where Nick teaches join him onstage to sing the choruses of some of his songs.

Elefant Music Supervision, the division of Elefant Records devoted to developing soundtracks for films and commercials, includes the song "On a Wing and a Prayer" in the soundtrack of the Spanish film "Yo, también” (Me, too). The song is also heard in the movie.

Nick Garrie is a living legend, and "49 Arlington Gardens" is an album which generates positive commentaries among the German, Italian, American and Japanese press.

Nick Garrie plays at the Lemon Pop Festival in Murcia in Spain, where he gives one of the best shows of this year's festival. Duglas T. Stewart of BMX Bandits, another heavyweight in the music world in the United Kingdom, accompanies him on some songs.

In November he shares the stage with Camera Obscura in a concert held at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London.

He returns to Spain in December to participate in the Alta Fidelidad (High Fidelity) festival in Madrid. Attendance at the concert is nearly full, and Nick gives a solo performance that is incredibly warm and melancholy, evincing all the professionalism of a veteran showman. It is a resounding success.

2010

Elefant Records is currently working on a re-release of “The Nightmare of JB Stanislas” to celebrate the album’s 40th anniversary. The new release will include important extras and a biography written by Nick himself. Which includes the original album, those demos that so impressed the people at DiscAZ, his first single, some recordings done in Portugal in 2002, and above all, “The Cuts”, the recuperation of some of the compositions from that era that were never recorded, and that are now recorded by Garrie himself accompanied by the Scottish crew from “49 Arlington Gardens”. And to all of this we have to add the detailed and deluxe edition of an incredible 44-page book in which Garrie tells the story of his own life, and with it, the story of an album that will never again be called cursed. This work is what has won over people like Gary Olson (LADYBUG TRANSISTOR), Francis McDonald (NICE MAN, TEENAGE FANCLUB), Guille Milkyway (LA CASA AZUL) and our beloved Tracyanne Campbell (CAMERA OBSCURA), and now it’s time it gets its what it deserves, and this incredible edition is the first step.

CD1 THE NIGHTMARE OF J.B. STANISLAS - 1. The nightmare of J.B. Stanislas 2. Can I stay with you 3. Bungles tours 4. David’s prayer 5. Ink pot eyes 6. The wanderer 7. Stephanie city 8. Little bird 9. Deeper tones of blue 10. Queen of queens 11. Wheel of fortune 12. Evening
CD2 THE CUTS - 1. Seashore 2. Josefina 3. St. Tropez whore 4. Three old men 5. Que sera, sera (Whatever will be, will be)
LOST AND FOUND - 6. Summer nights 7. Wine and roses 8. Love in my eyes 9. Queen of spades [First single 1968] 10. Close your eyes [First single 1968] 11. Cambridge town [demo 1968] 12. Stone and silk [demo 1968] 13. Bungles tours [demo 1968] 14. Deeper tones of blue [demo 1968] 15. Little bird [demo 1968] 16. Stanislas [demo 1968] 17. Evening [demo 1968]

2012

27/09/2012

NICK GARRIE: “The Nightmare of JB Stanislas” Documentary 

 Documentary "The Nightmare Of J.B. Stanislas [40th Anniversary] A film by Ally Kerr Ally Kerr is ...

2013
 

25/02/2013

NICK GARRIE: “Rainy Days In Sunny Sydney” Single and Video   The cliché of a second youth turns into something magical and marvelous in the case of Nick Garrie....

04/12/2013

NICK GARRIE: Gives us a song for Christmas! [FREE download MP3]  Nick Garrie keeps on creating delicious songs that he records with different collaborators all over...

2015

20/05/2015

NICK GARRIE: Digital Single "Evening" [Live] "Primavera Sound 2012 Remember" [Fr… It is getting close to time for one of the most important festivals in our country - maybe even one... 

13/07/2015

NICK GARRIE: "Lone Ranger In The Sky" [Digital Single]. Nick Garrie is still slowly working his way through writing new songs and recording them all over the planet, with the help of the friends and fans that he is collecting in every corner of the globe. Just a few months ago we were talking about his precious song recorded with PIGMY, and now we are talking about the work he is developing in New York, at the Malborough Farms Studios of Gary Olson (LADYBUG TRANSISTOR), where he is taking over to record this precious “Lone Ranger In The Sky”