Nick Seymour
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Australian English Template:Infobox musical artist
Nicholas More Seymour (born 9 December 1958) is an Australian musician and record producer. He is the founding bass guitarist and a mainstay of the rock group Crowded House, and is the younger brother of Mark Seymour, singer-songwriter-guitarist in the rock band Hunters and Collectors.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
BiographyEdit
Nicholas Seymour has two older sisters, Hilary and Helen, and an older brother, Mark (born 1956).<ref name="Seida" /><ref name="Birth Notice" /> His mother encouraged all four children to learn musical instruments and sing.<ref name="AMO Bio" /> When he was a young boy they all toured country Victoria,<ref name="Seida" /> as the Seymour Family Singers. In 1972 the family moved to Melbourne, where Nick attended Yarra Junction Primary School.<ref name="Denton" /> He taught himself to play bass guitar. After finishing secondary education he studied Visual Arts at a tertiary institute.<ref name="Seida" />
Seymour was a member of various local bands, starting with The Glory Boys in 1979, then The Romantics in the next year, and Scratch Record Scratch.<ref name="Seida" /><ref name="Holmgren" /> In 1981 he became the bassist in Plays with Marionettes, which had formed in 1980 with Robin Casinader on drums, piano and Hammond organ, Edward Clayton-Jones on guitar and vocals (ex-Fabulous Marquises), and Hugo Race on lead vocals and guitar.<ref name="Holmgren" /><ref name="McFarlane TW" /> The group performed an "aggravating style of jazzy no-wave noise" and broke up in February 1984.<ref name="McFarlane TW" /> Their recordings include one side of a shared single, "Witchen Kopf" (1982), and "Hellbelly" which appeared on a various artists' compilation, This is Hot (1984).<ref name="McFarlane TW" /> Seymour, Casinader, Clayton-Jones and Brian McMahon (keyboards) formed a group called The Horla, but it had disbanded by the end of 1984.<ref name="McFarlane TW" /> Soon after Casinader and Clayton-Jones formed the Wreckery.<ref name="McFarlane TW" />
Seymour also worked as a set designer of films including, The Leonski Incident (1984), and on the TV series, Carson's Law.<ref name="Denton" /> At the end of 1984, he auditioned with "a long line of bass players" to become a founding member of The Mullanes alongside Neil Finn on lead vocals and Paul Hester on drums (both ex-Split Enz).<ref name="Sutton" /> Seymour had played to a taped series of tracks previously recorded by Finn and Hester.<ref name="Sutton" /> The group formed early in the next year and included Craig Hooper on lead guitar (ex-The Reels).<ref name="Sutton" /> Hooper left the group and remained behind in Melbourne when the remaining trio travelled to Los Angeles to start recording sessions, where they were renamed, Crowded House.<ref name="Sutton" /><ref name="McFarlane CH" />
As a member of Crowded House, Seymour provides bass guitar, backing vocals and song writing, as well as artwork for album covers, costumes and stage sets.<ref name="Seida" /> With their second album, Temple of Low Men (July 1988), he won the ARIA Music Awards of 1989 category for Best Cover Art.<ref name="ARIA list" /> He was nominated for the same award for Crowded House (June 1986) in 1987, Woodface (July 1991) in 1992, and Together Alone (October 1993) in 1994.<ref name="ARIA list" /> In early 1989, after a tour of Australia and Canada, Finn fired Seymour from Crowded House.<ref name="Denton" /> According to music journalist, Ed Nimmervoll, Seymour's departure was due to Finn blaming him for causing the latter's writer's block.<ref name="Nimmervoll" /> However Finn cited "artistic differences" as the reason.<ref name="Denton" /> Seymour said that after a month apart, he contacted Finn and they agreed that he would return to the band.<ref name="Denton" /> He subsequently stayed with the group until their disbandment in 1996.<ref name="Seida" />
In 1986 Seymour, Finn and Hester were also members of The Rock Party, a charity project for The National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NCADA), which included many fellow Australasian musicians including Finn's older brother, Tim Finn; GANGgajang members Geoff Stapleton, Robbie James and Mark Callaghan; Models members Jenny Morris and Sean Kelly; Reg Mombassa (Mental As Anything), Eddie Rayner (ex-Split Enz), Mary Azzopardi (Rockmelons), Andrew Barnum (Vitabeats), Lissa Barnum, Michael Barclay, Peter Blakeley, Deborah Conway, Danny De Costa, Greg Herbert (The Promise), Spencer P Jones, John Kennedy, Paul Kelly, Robert Susz (Dynamic Hepnotics) and Rick Swinn (The Venetians).<ref name="Holmgren" /> The Rock Party released a 12" three-track single "Everything to Live For", which was produced by Joe Wissert, Phil Rigger and Phil Beazley.<ref name="Holmgren" /> In 1990 Seymour and Hester joined Chris Bailey Combo with Bailey on lead vocals (ex-The Saints), Dror Erez, Tony Norris and Chris Wilson.<ref name="Holmgren" />
After Crowded House separated in November 1996, Seymour joined former bandmate Peter Jones (who had replaced Hester in 1994) in a pop rock band, deadstar.<ref name="Holmgren" /><ref name="McFarlane d" /><ref name="AMG d" /> That group had been formed in August 1995, as a side project, by Jones (drums and percussion), Caroline Kennedy (lead vocals and guitar), and former Hunters & Collectors member Barry Palmer (lead guitar and, initially, bass guitar).<ref name="Holmgren" /><ref name="McFarlane d" /><ref name="AMG d" /> With Seymour aboard they toured the United Kingdom and recorded their second album, Milk (August 1997).<ref name="McFarlane d" /><ref name="AMG d" /> At that time, Seymour had worked on his brother Mark's debut solo album, King Without a Clue (October 1997), alongside bandmates Jones and Palmer.<ref name="Seida" /><ref name="McFarlane d" /> Seymour left deadstar at the end of 1997.<ref name="McFarlane d" /><ref name="AMG d" />
Seymour moved to Dublin and produced the debut album, Neither Am I (October 2000), for Irish band Bell X1.<ref name="OSullivan" /> He also helped establish Irish bands, Juno Falls and Vesta Varro, as well as recording a rock band, The Walls. In 2003, he re-teamed with Hester to form another group, Tarmac Adam.
Following Hester's death in 2005, Seymour reconnected with Finn and performed on the latter's third studio album. Over time, that project morphed into the fifth Crowded House album. In 2007, Neil Finn, Mark Hart and Nick Seymour reformed Crowded House, adding Matt Sherrod as drummer. The album Time on Earth was released in June 2007 and the group started a world tour in support of it.
Crowded House also released Intriguer in 2010. It reached #1 on the Australian charts.
Seymour composed the score for the 2012 documentary The Summit. In 2013 he guested, along with Pete Ruotolo, Steven Mogerly, Conor Murray and Hot House Flower Liam Ó Maonlaí on Rónán Ó Snodaigh's album of songs in Irish, Sos. The band was called The Occasionals. He also played bass on the 2013 "Sticky Wickets" album by Irish band The Duckworth Lewis Method.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} </ref>
Personal lifeEdit
Nick Seymour was married to Brenda Bentleigh in 1989 but they separated in 1993.<ref name="Seida" /> In 1997 or 1998 Seymour moved to Dublin, where he had bought a home.<ref name="McGreal" /> He later established a recording studio, Exchequer Studios, with Brian Crosby of Bell X1 and producer Rob Kirwan.<ref name="McGreal" /> Seymour and his current partner have a daughter, Lola. He now lives in Sligo.
Further readingEdit
- Bourke, Chris, Something So Strong, Macmillan Australia, 1997, Template:ISBN
- Dix, John, Stranded in Paradise: New Zealand Rock and Roll, 1955 to the Modern Era, Penguin Books, 2005, Template:ISBN
- Template:Cite encyclopedia Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
- Twomey, Chris & Doole, Kerry, Crowded House: Private Universe, Omnibus Pr, 1998, Template:ISBN