JARED JAMES NICHOLS at Mojo's on Friday, December 4th!
About this Event
Brand New Album out Louder Than Fate!
www,jaredjamesnichols.com
Jared James Nichols was a small town Wisconsin kid, hopping a fence with his caseless guitar to play alone for hours on the final stage Stevie Ray Vaughn ever graced.
Now he’s a decade into a career that’s taken him millions of miles around the planet and made him a peer and jamming buddy of guitar gods like Buddy Guy, Zakk Wylde, Slash and Joe Perry.
Nichols’ new record Louder than Fate (Frontiers Music SRL) shows
a more song-driven approach, with upfront vocals and harmonies injected into catchy choruses. Of course, Nichols made his name playing roots-based guitar rock, so he doesn’t abandon big riffs and shredding leads.
Perhaps not coincidentally, since several songs were recorded at the Foo Fighters’ Studio 606 in Los Angeles, Nichols went for more of a classic guitar rock feel, intertwined with jagged, evergreen choruses. It’s not unlike early Foos or one of Nichols’ heroes, guitarist Leslie West, snarling about a “Mississippi Queen,” which still appears on rock radio 55 years later.
Foos’ keyboardist Rami Jaffee fits right in, with a guest spot on the record, on which Nichols’ drummer, Ryan Rice plays Dave Grohl’s slice-through-the-mix drum set. If the Foo Fighters aren’t enough of a connection to Nichols’ classic hard-but-catchy sing along rock, he played through amps belonging to Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen, tapping into the vibe of the kings of 1970s Beatlesque power pop.
Nichols says it’s about honoring the songs.
“That was a really conscious decision,” Nichols says. “It's being able to say ‘OK, cool. We have the riffs; we’re not going to smash people over the head and have them go ‘Enough is enough,’ as I feel I’ve done a little of in the past. We were careful with the structure of ‘How do we make these songs so the people can sing along but I can fulfill my crazy rock and roll guitar urges?"
“We were so hyped up about being there,” Nichols says, of Studio 606. “What we heard in there is the way you hear it on the record, which is amazing.”
Nichols was always laser-focused on becoming a guitar hero. From losing his scholarship from prestigious Berklee College of Music as a teenager for not conforming, to arriving in Hollywood in 2011 with no band and almost immediately winning a guitar competition at which his future manager was a judge (and told him to go find a band).
He spent much of the next decade as a regular in guitar magazines and playing with legends like Buddy Guy, Joe Bonnamassa, Billy Gibbons, and George Thorogood. Nichols is now mentioned alongside the greats, with a loyal worldwide
fanbase big enough to carry a long career for which most musicians would sell their soul at the nearest crossroads. But that's not enough. Nichols wants to evolve. While the Nashville resident has made his power trio’s reputation with hair-raising
live performances, Nichols is also a gritty and expressive vocalist, with a voice he shaped into a weapon as powerful as his six-string skills.
It’s only part of a dynamic package that’s steadily grown since his first release, 2015’s Old Glory & The Wild Revival. Nichols’ musical evolution is most evident in the songwriting. He admits his early recordings featured songs in which big riffs and bigger, showy leads were the emphasis. “What’s cool with this record is this is the first time I ever took my time as a songwriter and we did not rush any aspect of it, working with people who have their eye on the prize of the song ,” Nichols says. “It’s a totally different vibe.”
“Every record has another shade, it’s been like cutting a little deeper into the fruit-It’s like I know there’s more down there and I’m just trying to reach for it."
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 28.52
