Nick Larkins is an Australian rock musician who has played with various Australian acts, and solo. Nick was born in London but raised in Hobart, Tasmania. Larkins has been highly nomadic for much of his career. He has usually been based in the city of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, known as the live music capital of Australia, but has also lived and worked in Europe several times.

Career overview

As a teenager Nick Larkins fronted some of Tasmania's pioneering punk bands, most notably REJECT, who smashed at least one guitar at every show, replacing the guitar solo with the guitar-smashing solo. He has also performed solo and with the following acts: * Nick Larkins (1987–) Singer-songwriter. * Nobody (1989–1991) Electric guitar, vocal. * Checkerboard Lounge Blues Band (1990) Bass guitar. * Velvet Hammer (1992–1993) Bass guitar, backing vocals. *

Joe Geia Joseph Benjamin Geia (born 1959) is an Aboriginal Australian musician of Murri heritage. As a solo artist he has released three albums, ''Yil Lull'' (1988), ''Tribal Journey'' (1996) and ''Nunga, Koori and a Murri Love'' (2005). He has worked w ...

(1993–2003) Electric guitar, backing vocals, recording engineer. * Stories And Songs of the People (1999, 2000, 2010) Electric guitar, co-producer/engineer. * Richard Gillard and House of Circles (1998–2006) Electric and acoustic bass guitar, backing vocals, electric guitar. * The Durga Babies (2001–2006) Electric guitar, Hammond organ,

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named aft ...

, backing vocals, co-recording engineer. * Wild Pumpkins at Midnight (1984, 1993–1998) Guitars, vocals, bass guitar,

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

, harmonica,

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

, co-engineer/producer. * Dan Rumour Band (2005–2007) Dan Rumour and The Drift (2007– )

, guitar, co-engineer/producer. * Nick Larkins & The Bones (2005–2016) Vocal, guitars,

. *

Monique Brumby Monique Brumby (born 16 September 1974) is an Australian Indie pop/rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. Her debut single, " Fool for You", peaked into the top 40 in the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) ARIA Singles Ch ...

(2010–2016) Guitars, bass, recording engineer, co-producer. * The Grenadines/The Deans (2005– ) Hammond organ, bass, recording engineer, producer. * Hurrican Hearn (2016 – ) Guitar. * EchoZilla (2016 – ) Bass VI, Theremin, Guitar, co-engineer/producer.

Wild Pumpkins at Midnight and Europe

In 1993 Nick Larkins re-joined Wild Pumpkins at Midnight and moved to

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Until the end of 1998 Wild Pumpkins were based in the Netherlands, returning to Australia for brief periods, touring and releasing 6 CDs in Australia, Europe and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Roughly half their recorded output was produced with award winning studio engineer

Tony Cohen Anthony Lawrence Cohen (4 June 19572 August 2017) was an Australian music record producer and sound engineer. He worked with Nick Cave's groups the Birthday Party, and then the Bad Seeds from 1979 to 2001. In mid-1986 he followed Cave to Lond ...

. (

Birthday Party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, writer, and actor who fronts the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Known for his baritone voice, Cave's music is characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety ...

, The Beasts of Bourbon, The Cruel Sea,

Hunters & Collectors Hunters & Collectors are an Australian rock band from Melbourne, formed in 1981. Fronted by founding member, singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour, the band's other mainstays are John Archer on bass guitar and Doug Falconer on drums an ...

). WPAM albums and concerts featured guest appearances by other influential Australian musicians including Chris Wilson, members of

Weddings Parties Anything Weddings Parties Anything. was an Australian folk rock band formed in 1984 in Melbourne and continuing until 1999. Their name came from The Clash song "Revolution Rock". Musicologist Billy Pinnell described their first album as the best Austral ...

and Tiddas. Larkins and other members of WPAM performed with Aboriginal songwriter

on and off for years. In 1995 Larkins and Dan Tuffy from WPAM toured Europe with Geia for several months during a break in WPAM commitments. On that tour they performed live on German radio station

WDR WDR may refer to: * Waddell & Reed (stock ticker: WDR), an American asset management and financial planning company * Walt Disney Records, an American record label of the Disney Music Group * WDR neuron, a type of neuron involved in pain signalli ...

to a Friday night drive-time audience of over 3 million listeners. With Wild Pumpkins Nick performed at the prestigious Montreaux Jazz Festival (Switzerland); shared billing with Santana, Björk, Nick Cave, Dirty Three, Tricky, Rage Against the Machine, Porno 4 Pyros, Mick Taylor (Rolling Stones), David Crosby (Crosby, Stills & Nash),

Link Wray Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s. His 1958 Instrumental rock, instrumental single "Rumble (instrumental), Rumble", reached the ...

and others. They toured extensively in former Eastern Bloc countries, including the

Former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

in 1994 during the war, and also played festivals and clubs all over Europe. Larkins also lived and performed in

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

in 1997.

Return to Melbourne

Wild Pumpkins At Midnight ended as a band at the close of the 1998 European tour. In 1999 and 2000 Larkins performed with Native American, Tibetan and Australian Aboriginal musicians on a project called 'Stories And Songs'. An album was released in 2000 and two documentary films, shown on the ABC television show

Message Stick ''Message Stick'' was an Australian television series about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lifestyles, culture and issues. History The weekly half-hour show began screening in 1999 on ABC Television. It featured profile stories, inte ...

, and at the various film festivals. Since 2000 Larkins has appeared on Australian television series

The Secret Life of Us ''The Secret Life of Us'' is an Australian television drama series set in the beachside neighbourhood of St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is primarily a drama with some comedic moments. The series was produced by South ...

, the 2006 Melbourne Music documentary

Sticky Carpet ''Sticky Carpet'' is Melbourne's alternative Rockumentary of 2006, a community driven documentary film by Mark Butcher, co-produced by Glenn Waterworth and Pip Stafford. A cultural recognition to Melbourne's independent music scene, the film i ...

, and the Australian surf music documentary/album 'Delightful Rain'. Larkins lived in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Spain, in 2004, performing solo, and also in the UK. He returned to Melbourne at the end of that year and from early 2005 began performing with his own band 'Nick Larkins and The Bones'. From early 2005 Nick also played

hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

and guitar for Cruel Sea guitarist Dan Rumour, in the Dan Rumour Band. The instrumental combo changed its name to Dan Rumour & The Drift in 2007 with the release of their first, self-titled, album. Dan Rumour & The Drift also included Cruel Sea drummer Jim Elliot and fellow ex-WPAM member Michael Turner on bass guitar. Larkins and Rumour co-produced and mixed the band's first album. From late 2010 until 2016 Larkins performed with fellow Tasmanian musician

as a guitarist, bass player, and engineer on her self-titled album released in 2014. In 2011 Larkins began working as a songwriter-producer with Melbourne musician Catherine Sheahan on a project called 'twentyfive'. twentyfive aimed to write, record and release a new song every two weeks, with twenty five different singers primarily from the Melbourne independent band scene. Their studio was located in a restored 1957 train carriage called the Hobsons Bay, in Melbourne's historic Newport Rail Workshop, where the train was originally built. The site is also the home of Melbourne's Railway Museum operated by the

Australian Railway Historical Society The Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS) has been a railway organisation concerned with history and preservation of railway heritage at a national level. It has had divisions in every state and the Australian Capital Territory, althou ...

. The project ran out of funding before it was complete, but it was filmed by documentary crew F-Reel and director Fiona Cochrane. The documentary film was released in 2016 and toured international film festivals, picking up several awards. From 2005 Larkins played as a guest musician on Hammond Organ for Indigenous lead Melbourne band The Grenadines, appearing on their first album 'Story of Woe'. In 2008 he became their bass player and in 2011 the band changed their name to The Deans, focusing on a modern soul sound, and released a self titled album in 2012 recorded and produced by Larkins. In 2014 the band released a second self titled album, also recorded and produced by Larkins, for which they won The Age/Music Victoria Best Indigenous Act award 2014. The Deans continue to perform regularly at festivals and clubs with Larkins on bass and producing their releases. In 2016 Larkins joined blues band Hurricane Hearn on electric guitar. Also in 2016 Larkins formed an improvised instrumental soundtrack band with electric violin and mandolin player Jodi Moore from Dirty Lucy and Nick Larkins & The Bones. Larkins plays theremin, bass VI and electric guitars in the band. In 2017 EchoZilla released their first 3 albums as 24 instrumental tracks available on YouTube.

Live and studio engineer

Wild Pumpkins At Midnight co-produced their own recordings, even when working with experienced producers like Tony Cohen. Often the whole band would be involved in mixing a song, with three or four people working the mixing desk at the same time. Each member of the band learnt recording skills and techniques in this way. Larkins began mixing live sound for friends' bands in Melbourne around 1999 and has since worked as a live and studio engineer for many acts and projects. These include: Dan Rumour and The Drift,

Dandelion Wine ''Dandelion Wine'' is a 1957 novel by Ray Bradbury set in the summer of 1928 in the fictional town of Green Town, Illinois, based upon Bradbury's childhood home of Waukegan, Illinois. The first novel in his ''Green Town Trilogy'', the book devel ...

, Duckdive, Wons P Phreeley,

Even Even may refer to: General * Even (given name), a Norwegian male personal name * Even (surname), a Breton surname * Even (people), an ethnic group from Siberia and Russian Far East **Even language, a language spoken by the Evens * Odd and Even, a ...

, Catnip, Renee Geyer (studio assistant), Paul Kelly, Chris Wilson, Lunars, The Winter Migration, Autumn Gray, Man Bites God, James Hazelden, I Dream in Transit, Slow Human Escape,

The Triangles The Triangles are an indie pop band from Melbourne, Australia. Eleanor Horsburgh, Julie Conway, Katherine Simpson (née James), Matt Gormann and Robert Simpson met as school friends in Boronia, Victoria, Boronia, a suburb of Melbourne. They ...

, Digger and The Pussycats, Immigrant Union, Brillig, The Shambelles, Stories and Songs of The People,

, Big Low (Netherlands),

, twentyfive.

Discography

* 1990 Nick Stuff, Nick Larkins guitar and vocals, audio tape sold at gigs. * 1992 Keith Richards Is My Dad, Nick Larkins and The Government, independent music video, played on RAGE, ABC TV, and The Noise, SBS TV, Australia. * 1993. Taedium Vitae, Velvet Hammer, Siren Records (Aust.), Larkins – bass guitar. * 1993. Going Sick, Wild Pumpkins At Midnight, Produced by Tony Cohen. Survival Records (Aust.), Larkins – electric guitars & hammond organ. * 1995. Lo-Fi Lucy’s Mobile Temple, WPAM, W.O.T. records (Aust.), Larkins – guitars, bass guitar, hammond organ, vocals, co-engineer. * 1996. Secret of The Sad Trees WPAM, prod. Tony Cohen. W.O.T. (Aust.), Larkins – guitars, bass guitar, hammond organ. * 1996. Song ''Xavier'' on compilation East Timor benefit CD Love From A Short Distance, Shock Records (Aust.), also featuring Bono, Yothu Yindi, Billy Bragg, Silverchair, Screaming Jets, Mavis’s. * 1996–97. Sad Trees, WPAM, prod. Tony Cohen and WPAM. Hot Records UK, (Europe and Aust. re-release) * 1997. Small-Head Paul, Hip-Hop E.P., MouseMaster, Czech. Larkins co-writer, co-producer. * 1998. Instant Ocean, WPAM, Rocks Records, Euro. Larkins – guitars, bass, hammond organ, harmonica, theremin, piano, sitar, tamboura, vocals, co-engineer, co-producer. * 1999 Music As Medicine, Stories & Songs Of the People, Stories & Songs. Larkins – guitars, hammond organ, vocals, engineer and co-producer. * 2000 Stories & Songs of The People – They Came For Gathering, documentary film. F-Reel, Aust. * 2000 Oral Pleasure, (Radio only Single) NICK, Beatnik Records, Aust. & Germany. Larkins solo. * 2002 Audioweave, Disasterware. Disasterware, Aust. Larkins – sitar. * 2002 You Talking To Me, Various artists. PLACEBO Aust. * 2002 Swell.1, House Of Circles, prod. Kerryn Tolhurst and Tony Cohen, Laughing Outlaw Records, Aust. Larkins – electric and upright bass, guitars, vocals. * 2002 The Grey Room, Sara Mitchell. MGM, Aust. Larkins – guitar. * 2003 Love Comes, The Durga Babies. Rocks Records, Aust. Larkins – guitar, hammond organ, co-engineer. * 2004 Crapola, Nick Larkins. Beatnik Records. Released on iTunes worldwide August 2007. Larkins solo, all instruments and production. * 2005 Nunga, Koori & A Murri Love, Joe Geia. Across The Borders, Aust. Larkins – electric guitar, co-engineer. * 2006 Delightful Rain, CD/DVD (documentary film) Various Artists, Dan Rumour Band. Bombora, Aust. * 2007 Dan Rumour and The Drift, Dan Rumour and The Drift. Bombora, Aust. Larkins – hammond organ, guitar, bass, engineer, co-producer. * 2008 Stories For Another Day, Duckdive, Laughing Outlaw Records, Aust. Mixed by Larkins. * 2009 Nick Larkins & The Bones, self-titled album. Independent release on iTunes. Larkins – guitar, vocals, engineer, producer. * 2011 Underground, (single) Monique Brumby. Co-produced with Brumby. * 2011 Railyard Songs, The Winter Migration. Produced by Larkins. * 2011 Lunars, Lunars. Produced by Larkins. * 2011 twentyfive, series of 11 singles with different singers, released on iTunes. Co-produced with Catherine Sheeahan. Larkins – guitars, bass, keys, toy instruments. * 2012 The Deans, self-titled album, independent release on iTunes. Bass, hammond organ, backing vocals, engineered, mixed and produced by Larkins. * 2012 Constant Killer, self-titled EP, independent release, engineered and produced by Larkins and M. Brumby. * 2013 Rebuild The Universe, Winter Migration. Engineered and produced by Larkins, with M. Brumby. * 2014 Monique Brumby, self-titled album. Larkins co-engineered, co-produced with M. Brumby. Larkins – guitars, bass, keys. * 2014 Foam Covered Chairs / We'll Never Give Your Heart Away, Autumn Gray, split single, mixed by Larkins. * 2014 The Deans Re-mix, The Deans. Independent release, iTunes. Engineered and produced by Larkins. Larkins – bass guitar. * 2015 Live At The Toff In Town, Autumn Gray. Mixed and produced by Larkins. * 2015 The Deans, The Deans. Second self-titled album, independent release iTunes. Larkins – bass, hammond organ, engineer, producer. * 2016 Unity EP, The Deans. Independent release iTunes. Larkins – bass, engineer, producer. * 2017 EchoZilla, 24 tracks, independent release, Youtube. Larkins – theremin, bass VI, guitar, co-engineer, co-producer.

References

* Stories And Songs of the People, Message Stick, ABC Television (

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

) online. http://www.abc.net.au/message/tv/ms/storiesandsongs_170601.htm * Stories and Songs of The People, website. http://www.storiesandsongs.org * F-Reel documentary film makers, website. http://www.f-reel.com * Bombora label page on Dan Rumour and The Drift. http://www.bombora.net.au/danrumour.php * New Here Now Live music site. http://www.newherenowlive.com/profile.php?band=174 * Duckdive home page. http://www.duckdive.net.au/album.htm * Monique Brumby home page. http://www.moniquebrumby.com/ * IMDb listing. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2580337/ * 25 tracks website. https://www.25tracks.com/ * The Deans website. https://www.thedeansofsoul.com/

External links

For more information see artist homepage – http://www.nicklarkins.com * twentyfive project homepage – https://www.25tracks.com/ *Record label homepage – http://www.bombora.net.au *Dan Rumour & The Drift – http://www.myspace.com/danrumourandthedrift {{DEFAULTSORT:Larkins, Nick Living people Australian rock singers Musicians from Hobart Australian rock guitarists Australian rock bass guitarists Australian male bass guitarists Year of birth missing (living people)