Nigel Dick: ‘Music, Video, and Mischief’
Interview By: Ginger Coyote
Nigel has released his long awaited book ‘Music, Video, Mischief’. The book explores long illustrious career. Please enjoy my interview with the talented Nigel Dick
Punk Globe:Thank you for the interview Nige. Can you give us a bit of background on where you were born and your early years.
Nigel: I was born in a military hospital in the North of England and spent my early years traveling back and forth across Europe after my father, who was an Air Force officer. Luckily radio in the UK at that time mixed genres constantly so I grew up listening to The Beatles mixed in with The Temptations, Status Quo, Aretha Franklin, and more.
Punk Globe: You studied architecture before being involved with music?
Nigel: True story, but I would have studied music instead of Architecture if I was allowed to. The first thing I did on arriving at Architecture school was start a band, become a DJ, and spend every available penny I had on records and going to gigs.
Punk Globe: You also studied Mime?
Nigel: After university, I studied mime for a year as a one-time student of the great Marcel Marceau. People assumed that my white-face character was modeled on Marceau, but I was much more interested in trying to look like Zal Cleminson, the guitar player in the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, who always performed in Clown-face!
Punk Globe: Tell us about your time working at Siff Records. I love Lene Lovich..Did you get to work with Tracey Ullman whom I love?
Nigel: I started as a motorcycle messenger, then moved into production, became the press officer for two years, and eventually became a video producer. working with all the artists you’ve mentioned in some way or another. I worked a lot with Les & Lene and Lene eventually hired me as her T-shirt sales guy on a US tour when I got fired from Stiff (which was the day after I worked on a video with Tracey Ullman).
Punk Globe Did you enjoy being in The Stiff – All Stars,Who are some of the people you backed up?
Nigel: It was a dream come true. People took the piss and thought we should concentrate on our record industry jobs, but we didn’t care and played at many of the notable gigs in London. We cut four singles, did a TV show, and eventually released an album. Which is probably more than some full-time bands managed. In addition I appeared on Top Of The Pops 3 times with Jona Lewie and once with The Snowmen. I was also in a video by Robert Plant. Subsequently, I cut four albums on my own and still make a bit of money every year from publishing. Now and again, I’ve been the guitar player, bass player, or drummer in a video I’ve made because we haven’t had the cash or the chance to hire a ‘real’ player.
Punk Globe: What other releases have you played on?
Nigel: I’ve inserted myself into videos by Ben E. King (guitar, double bass), The Turtles (guitar & drums), Eddie Money (guitar), Tina Turner (guitar), and Joan Osborne (mandolin). I recently appeared in a video playing bass for Alex Call, the guy who wrote Jenny Jenny 867-5309. There’s more too…
Punk Globe: Tell us about the Band-Aid Video about ‘Do They Know This Is Christmas. I recently saw a clip of Bob Geldof talking about that.
Nigel: All this is in my book about the jobs I’ve worked on, and Band Aid has an entire chapter so, as you can imagine, it’s hard to distill into a short answer. I’m often asked which is my favourite video, which is a bit like choosing a favourite child. However, I always mention Band-Aid because, though it’s not much shakes artistically, it saved lives, and I don’t think any other video I have done has achieved that. 39 years later, the Band Aid Trust still makes a decent amount every year and it all goes to charitable projects. Band-Aid has never had an office or a phone number or (to my knowledge) a paid staff member, so almost all of the money donated goes to where it’s needed most.
Punk Globe You are also an avid bicycle rider riding in many cycle tours. Do you ride a bicycle here in Los Angeles with all the crazy drivers and construction?
Nigel: I no longer ride in LA. I was hit by a car a few years back and sent flying through the air. I avoided the hospital but the curb I crashed into was not too kind to me and I had to sleep in a chair for a week while I healed. For two years, I was an accredited camera person at the Tour de France, and being on a bus for 3 weeks with some of the greatest riders in the sport gave me a new perspective on riding as they were crashing constantly. One of the guys I interviewed took me through the dozens of metal plates in his body as a result of the crashes and broken bones he’d had in his years in the sport. One ex-rider is famous for saying that crashing in a race is like throwing yourself out of a car at 40 mph in your underwear!
Punk Globe would like to thank Nigel for the fun and informative interview. He is a professional and a really badass guy