Guitarist of The Ages, Nick Hill is currently in his second year studying Computer Science at the University of Nottingham. With the growing success of the band (they’re already on iTunes and Spotify!), Her Campus Nottingham met up with Nick to talk about the band’s music and what we can expect from them!
How did you get into music?
I first really got into music was when I was about 11 years old. I overheard my mum playing an Eric Clapton CD and it really just went from there. About a year later, I started to teach myself to play guitar by playing along to Beatles songs.
What’s the story behind the band name?
There’s no real story behind the band name. We originally intended to go with “The Back Pages” as our band name (after a Bob Dylan song) however we ended up changing it when we found out there were other bands with the same name. To be honest I dislike the name, but we’ve recorded so much material and played so many gigs under that name its probably too late to change it now.
Who would you say are your musical influences?
An obvious influence is The Beatles. You can tell! Especially when listening to the first few songs we recorded. As a band we do have fairly different music tastes so when writing a song there are many different influences and genres. We go from the more ‘rocky’ sound of Oasis, for example, to more folk influenced sounds such as Lindisfarne or Billy Bragg.
Who would your dream collaborator be?
The other members of the band may have different views on this but personally, I would love to collaborate with Jeff Lynne from the band ELO (Electronic Light Orchestra). He’s a terrific musician and producer! He comes across as a brilliant person to work with.
Why did you guys name your album Based On Some Truth?
The title track of the album is literally based on some truth. It’s a song based on my Nan who was caught looking through her neighbour’s letterbox while she thought they were away on holiday (she noticed builders in the house and wanted to see what work had been done). The others songs on the album are also based on true stories such as “Out Of Key” and a couple of others in some respects.
Do you have a personal favourite track on the record? If so, why this track?
My favourite track on the album is probably “Ballad Of The Bigoted”. It’s a very different song compared to the rest of the album. Our bass player Anthony wrote it and its quite political, influenced mostly by Billy Bragg. Aside from the politically themed lyrics the musical side is what I like a lot about the song especially during the chorus with the two almost harmonising lead and rhythm guitar parts.
Lyrically, can you describe what themes the band tends to focus on?
Lyrically most of the songs take on an almost story-like theme, usually based on things that have happened to us a band or to people around us. Although some songs lyrics are themed differently, such as “Contestant No. 3” which is about why we dislike shows like X Factor (sorry if you like it!) in the way it exploits and commercialises aspiring musicians.
What has been your favourite thing about being in a band so far?
There are many aspects to being in a band that I enjoy whether it’s performing at gigs, rehearsing or spending time as a band. However recording in a studio is probably one of things we, as a band, look forward to the most. We’ve been lucky enough to be recording in Studio One in Watford for over two years now where we get to work with some great people in unbelievable facilities.
Can you give us a little hint of what we can expect from your second album?
I like to think the second album is a step up from the first both musically and lyrically. Again similar to the first album there is a widespread of different influences of different songs but I think we maybe experiment into other genres. For example, we have a gypsy jazz based song on the next album. But as a whole I would say the next album is much more ‘mature’ album than the previous.
Can we expect to see The Ages make an appearance in Nottingham?
We hope to soon! The only difficulty is having three other band members at different universities around the UK. But we definitely want to get ourselves out onto the
Nottingham music scene! One of my friends up here in Nottingham also has a band called “Ça Caille” so we hope to maybe get a joint gig with them at some point!
Visit their website for amazing tunes: http://www.theages.co.uk