We were lucky to catch up with Nick Cody recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nick, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I’ve always loved music, but I never imagined being a live performer or recording artist. At the age of fifty-five, fate decided I would achieve both of these, and this started with an unexpected baptism of fire in 2016. I started writing music with my first acoustic ensemble, “The Small Change Diaries” and out of the blue, I received what looked like a bogus invitation to play at an overseas festival in Lagoa, “The Lagoa Guitar Festival” The reason why I assumed this to be a joke was because firstly as a band we were pretty much unknown even in our home town Leeds UK. We’d only played two live dates in small clubs as a support act. My co-singer in the band the wonderfully named “Jessica Bowie” first encouraged me to sing, and without her, I would never have started performing or writing music. She is an exceptional teacher, and the world is better for such individuals.

I e-mailed the promoter for more details and asked for flight costs, believing I’d hear nothing back. To my amazement, a non-unsubstantial amount of money came into my account, but I was still convinced that something must be amiss. I started to look into detail about this festival and to my total surprise I discovered it was an actual event and now yours truly had just four months to get “match fit” to play the main stage to a sold out audience!

This was the first of many lessons in learning the craft of performing, and videos from the performance can be found online. I was playing all our material at “Ramone’s speed” I was so full of adrenalin, but in my defence, it was an extraordinary performance given my total lack of experience!

The second major baptism of fire in learning the craft of performing and recording was learning to sing. I realised that I needed to find some tuition if I wanted to progress. After several false starts with local teachers, I found Agi, a brilliant vocal coach, online. I picked her out because her profile suggested she had a great deal of technical skill and was more expensive than anyone else. Our initial lessons were hilarious for me; all I can remember was her suggesting ‘MORE EXPRESSION!” It was like first learning to drive, “mirror, signal, manoeuvre!” but gradually order appeared out of chaos and now I have been working with her every week for over seven years. She has contributed vocals to over 50 tracks, and I am recording my eighth album. Agi has become a great friend and a game-changer in my creative work.

The other major influence has been my longstanding producer, Carl Rosamond, who has been a massive support in delivering the best performances in the studio.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

In my non-musical life (the one that pays the bills!) I teach communication and problem-solving skills across the globe. This has taught me that if you want to develop any skill, you must have a great work ethic and invest a suitable amount of time and money in your craft. Always seek to work with the best people, buy the best equipment you can afford and constantly strive to up your game!

I have assembled a terrific creative team, including Sarah Patrick for illustrations, Karen Turner for photos, Mal Williamson for video, Carl Rosamond for production, Neil Atkinson for promotion, and a superb pool of musicians. I plan to create a body of work that I am proud of, providing some joy to the world, which is much needed in these times. Many professional musicians have supported me, including Martin Simpson, Jim Glennie from James, Jon Gomm, and Chris Catalyst from The Sisters of Mercy.

I set up Green Eyed Records as a resource for other musicians and conducted a great interview with world-class journalist Sylvie Simmons, talking about my aim to help other creatives, see www.greeneyedrecords.co.uk.
In recent times, I started working with a brilliant cellist “Liz Hanks” She is an A -list session player, having worked with everyone from The Pet Shop Boys, Smokey Robinson, James and Liam Gallagher. So far, we have recorded three tracks with her, two originals and one cover. I am blown away by the results and plan to release this material later in the year. We are also about to release “This is Love” a cover of a Towse track with Calverley Community Choir, which has been a massive project, Recording five musicians is quite a task. Adding in another 25 singers, requires all kinds of planning, but the results are great and the single can be found on the Green Eyed Records YouTube account.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Creative work has many rewards, but income would not be on my list. As the old saying goes, “Wanna earn a million dollars in the music industry? Start with two million…”

For me, the main reward is the pure joy of working with so many great creatives and seeing/hearing the results! The live shows initially were terrifying, but now I have found some peace in being in front of audiences. Similarly, the vocal tuition and recording process has taught me huge amounts about “state control” and expression and changed my life in so many ways I could never have anticipated. As Jerry Garcia once said, “What a long strange trip its been”

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Developing skills as a recording artist requires a vast amount of investment in time and energy. I upgraded my home studio so I could devote my time to developing vocal and recording skills. Sometimes, things don’t go to plan. In my second ensemble, “The Caravan of Dreams” one of my original songs was “All that Loving” The final line in the chorus was a huge challenge for me vocally as it meant hitting notes I was not used to. My vocal teacher, Agi, spent hours assisting me in getting this right. When playing live, I would see this on the set list and begin feeling unwelcome dread.

After what seemed like an endless investment of time and energy, I finally found the right balance of relaxation and vocal technique to sing this track, and now it’s become a regular feature in acoustic sets!

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nickcodymusicprojects/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@NickCodyMusic
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nickcodymusic
• Other: https://nickcodymusic.bandcamp.com/

Image Credits

Photos by Karen Turner and Sue Elton