| Scott
D. Brown: So Nic, were you born in Canada? |
| Nicolas:
No, I wasn’t. |
| SB:
Where were your born? |
| Nicolas:
I was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. |
| SB:
So you came here when you were a little kid? |
| Nicolas:
No, I actually moved here when I was 15, because my father found
a job here and I thought that for the music, I wanted to make
albums for a living, it would be a good opportunity for me if
I moved here. |
| SB:
What year was that? |
| Nicolas:
1999. |
| Nicolas:
21 in two days; on Thursday. |
| SB:
When did you start to play music? |
| Nicolas:
I started when I was a little boy. |
| SB:
Piano? |
| Nicolas:
Piano was my first instrument. I was about six years old when
I started. I took lessons in theory and history and continued
here with the Royal Conservatory of Music. |
| SB:
Royal Conservatory of Music? |
| Nicolas:
Yeah. With the piano, I studied for 12 years and went up to
grade 10. |
| SB:
Well, I noticed when you were playing keyboards at the show
we went to (at Zaphod’s on the July 31st, 2004) that you
were quite talented on the keys. It was great! |
| Nicolas:
Oh, Thank you. |
| SB:
When did you pick up the acoustic guitar? |
| Nicolas:
Oh that was later. That was when I was about 11 or 12 when I
started playing. |
| SB:
Playing guitar was more fun and the piano was more serious? |
| Nicolas:
Exactly! I wasn’t doing a lot of writing on piano because
I was training classically and I had to practice a lot of classical
music. Playing guitar was a chance for me to try out different
things and play Rock ‘n’ Roll. |
| SB:
What other instruments do you play? |
| Nicolas:
I used to play a bit of bass, when I picked up a guitar, I started
playing some bass. Then I stopped playing for a long time, and
when I was doing the record, I decided I might as well do the
bass tracks. |
| SB:
Yes, when I read the liner notes to the CD (his self-titled
debut) it mentions that you played all the instruments except
drums? |
| Nicolas:
Yeah that’s right. The only instrument I didn’t
play was the drums. |
| SB:
So whom did you get to play the drums? |
| Nicolas:
This guy we know, his name is Matt Laug. |
| SB:
Is he from California? |
| Nicolas:
He’s not originally from California, but he lived in L.A.
for a long time. |
| SB:
Tell me a little bit about your producer. What is his name? |
| Nicolas:
His name is Leslie Howe and originally he is from Canada but
he lives in L.A. right now. He has his own studio. It’s
called The Park! |
| SB:
In L.A.? |
| Nicolas:
In L.A., in Studio City. It’s part of L.A. and basically
we did the album there |
| SB:
How did he end up meeting you? He came to Canada and caught
a show? |
| Nicolas:
Yeah, he comes here once in a while to visit friends and family
here in Ottawa. We have a bunch of mutual friends. I was doing
music here for a few years, back then. I was in a band and our
mutual friend Jack came out to Zaphod’s, I didn’t
meet him at that time, but my manager said, “Hey, this
guy wants to meet up.” So he set up a meeting at the Distortion
Studios. |
| SB:
Distortion Studios? |
| Nicolas:
Distortion Studios. |
| SB:
Is that here? |
| Nicolas:
Yeah, that’s here. Do you know that studio? It’s
a good studio. So I played some of my songs for him; some on
the guitar and some on piano. We thought, “Hey, let’s
try doing a record and see what happens.”. |
| SB:
So the mutual friend owns Distortion Studios? |
| Nicolas:
It’s our friend Jay, (Jason Dahl) he used to live here
and do work at Distortion as an engineer and producer but now
he lives in L.A. too. |
| SB:
How long did it take for you to record the album? |
| Nicolas:
It was on and off. Sometimes I spent a month there and a couple
of months here writing. On and off for about two years? |
| SB:
Two years? |
| Nicolas:
A long time! I can’t believe that it took so long though. |
| SB:
Well, if you are travelling from here to there and there to
here… |
| Nicolas:
Yeah, it takes a day to get there, nine hours, by plane. I don’t
really like flying. |
| SB:
No? |
| Nicolas:
No. |
| SB:
Get a bus? |
| Nicolas:
No I don’t. The first time, flying the first time, it
gets really boring; especially when you’re flying by yourself. |
| Nicolas:
One time flying, there was a storm. I got really scared. |
| SB:
Turbulence? |
| Nicolas:
No, when we were landing in L.A. The plane
was going, I could see the lights moving up and down. The guy
in the seat beside me was covering his face. He began to scream.
There was quite a thump when we landed. I felt it in my back. |
| SB:
You could have been Buddy Holly before becoming Buddy Holly!
Plane crashes, so many musicians have died in plane crashes;
either that or a drug overdose. So you have to stop taking planes
and don’t use drugs! |
| Nicolas:
I’ll try to stay away, I don’t do drugs anyway. |
| SB:
What are you doing now? You are writing new songs? |
| Nicolas:
I’ve been writing new material full time for the last
month. You know writing can be weird. It is totally luck. Some
days you will have a good day. You’ll come up with something
great. But other days, like the past few days, weren’t
good. It’s stuff that I will keep on my CDs at home. But
it is material I wouldn’t show you. It’s nothing
to be proud of. |
| SB:
I like the songs on the last album. Actually, when we spoke
previously, you mentioned that their were 19 songs for the album. |
| Nicolas:
Yeah, there are more songs. |
| SB:
You cut six or seven of them? |
| Nicolas:
Something like that. I can’t say for sure as some were
left unfinished. Say, drums were missing on a song and we decided
not to keep going because we weren’t proud enough of the
song to continue it. |
| SB:
If someone wants to buy your CD, how do they do it? |
| Nicolas:
They can go do it through the website (www.nicolasjohansen.com).
It explains where to buy it. But, for the people in Ottawa,
CD Warehouse has my CD. Also, CD Baby, mainly for people in
the States. |
| SB:
CD Baby? |
| Nicolas:
cdbaby.com, on my site there is a link. |
| SB:
Obviously they can pick them up at your shows right? |
| Nicolas:
Yes, I got some more copies in. |
| SB:
To finish, do you have anything to say to your fans? |
| Nicolas:
Stay off the drugs (he smiles). No skip it. |
| SB:
and buy your CD! |
| Nicolas:
Buy my record. So I can make money and then I can make a second
record and third record. |
| SB:
Thanks Nic. |
| Nicolas:
Thanks. |
