It’s not every day
when you get to interview one of the greatest breakthrough acts in recent years
– Unless of course you work for a music magazine. We’ve opted to pass the reins
to one of you (details on the contents page) to speak to the uprising
revolution that is Nicholas DECRUZ.
The first time my path crosses with DeCruz is in Brighton.
He had arranged a meet up on the beach through Twitter, and I, like many of his
followers took this opportunity to meet him. This was when I realised what
appeal he had. People of different genders with an age range from eleven (with
their parents nearby) to early twenties had turned up, some bringing their own
instruments.
This was never going to be a prophet and his disciples,
before long DeCruz was playing instruments with everyone there – he and I did a
wonderful rendition of The Rolling Stones’ Street Fighting Man with him
managing to find an accompanying harmonica melody while I played his guitar.
It’s a Testament, then, that seven months later, soon after
his album’s release on ITunes and subsequent rise in the charts (almost unheard
of from someone who’s previous primary output a year ago were just acoustic
covers of Imagine Dragons) that the first thing he asks after I enter the
coffee shop we arranged to meet – ten minutes late – was if I was “The Rolling
Stones guy from Brighton”.
“Why wouldn’t I remember people from that day?” He says. “It
was fantastic being with everyone on that beach. I remember loads of people.”
Nick smiles, remembering. “I had never done anything like that before. I was
worried no one was going to turn up.” Unlikely to happen now, since his sudden
rise in fame. Nick nods in bewildered agreement, as if he isn’t quite able to
believe it himself.
“All I did was start posting videos on YouTube. I had a
guitar, I was practising with it and when I heard songs I liked I played them
myself and put them on YouTube. I just
wanted to see if anyone would listen.”
And they did. So what caused the jump from covers to writing
your own songs? I asked him.
“I had never found it easy to write songs,” Nick admits. “I
just felt I was trying to force them to be something they weren’t. Then… I
didn’t. I just decided to write, play and sing and I never looked back. I just
devised them naturally. From the…” He stops himself with a grin before he
unleashes a cliché.
“Sorry, I’m pretty new to this interview thing.” I remind
him that I am too. I have to steer the conversation back to him as he attempts
to ask me how I got to write this interview, reminding who people want to read
about.
“That is unbelievable too.” He adds. “It’s gone from
listening to my music to wanting to know things about me! I’ve never been in
that position before.”
On his first album release, The Light at The End, Nick has
this to say: “Well, some friends bought me a session in a recording studio for
my birthday. They all pitched in together and it was one of the best things I’d
ever got. This was when I started writing songs so I spent the rest of the
holidays working on producing the best songs possible that I could record. It
was intense, but great fun. With the digital copies it was just the matter of
pressing a few buttons to release some of my songs as free podcasts before the
reception offered me the possibility of selling an album.
In this time, it is so incredibly easy for musicians to put
out music. Unfortunately it means that the Small Fish in a Big Pond finds
himself in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, you know? And it’s just the hope
that people will fish you out and serve you with chips.”
So why did people take to the music so much? Nick pauses,
considering this.
“I already had people who would listen to my music.” He
notes, “I was releasing my covers on SoundCloud and YouTube. I suppose word of
mouth had something to do with it.” He suggests. “And, I guess it is just
proper old-fashioned music. I love Pop Music; Lady Gaga is a god amongst us,
but you don’t get as much music with people just… playing.”
