LIVING COLOUR
Shane Nicholson’s new album was recorded in his home studio over the past two years. By Brian Wise “I can’t think of any worse situation it could be for musicians at the moment,” says Shane Nicholson when we meet on Zoom to talk about his new album, Living In Colour. Nicholson, who is based on the central coast of New South Wales, was commiserating with me about the lockdown in Melbourne but just a few days after our conversation he was in the same position. “There’s just nothing you can do. It’s good that everyone was trying to be positive and hope for the best, book in more tours in the last six months when it looked like it might open up a bit. But it’s just a mad scramble now to cancel, postpone, reschedule all that stuff. I feel bad for all the managers around the country right now. I know my manager’s just about to have a nervous breakdown.” Nicholson was supposed to be hitting the road from August to December for a string of headline shows, playing at festivals including the North Queensland Rockin’ Country Festival, Gympie Music Muster and Deni Ute Muster. When we talk, all of that is still up in the air. “I’m still swamped. I just don’t have clients here,” adds Nicholson about his production work. In fact, as we talk, he is sitting in his home studio where he can work on musicians’ files sent to him in their 48
absence. “I had one here from Queensland and she had to quickly down tools and fly home before she got locked out of the State. There are no clients here at the moment obviously, but I’ve still got three or four albums underway with other people and we’re just working remotely now. “I’m in it now. It’s on the bottom floor at the rear of my house, where I live. It’s connected to the house. It’s just one large space at the moment - one large room, I have everything in there which is how I like to work, with everything set up. I try and eliminate the technical side when I’m working. Everything is set up and turned on and I can just record anything at any one time. It sort of looks like a music store. It’s just got everything, everything all in one room.” “There’s some really cool stuff happening,” he adds, mentioning that he has been listening to a lot of music sent to him and that he has found online. “I guess that everyone’s maybe at home writing. I’ve found that just about every producer I know is completely swamped and it’s a really good sign that it’s all being made. It just worries me about how it’s all going to be sold.”
