Nick Bracegirdle

biography

There are many misconceptions around Chicane. One of which is, because Nick Bracegirdle is one hell of a petrolhead, the name is somewhat related to his love of F1 and all things fast.
Truth is; it was picked out a hat. There is however, a certain amount of fortune as he cannot remember the other candidates and the name fits so well.
It’s been some fourteen years (if you include Disco Citizens tracks) since he arrived as the ‘God of the Ibiza anthem’. Some records are of their time and stay there, some somehow form a bedrock in musical consciousness, ‘Offshore’ certainly has done that: millions would have heard the track and most likely not know who it was by; as with other Chicane tracks, their usage as incidental tunes on TV around the world is phenomenal: ‘No Ordianary Morning’ as the theme tune to a soup opera in the Philipinnes!

If that wasn’t enough more ‘Ibiza Anthem’s’ followed, ‘Saltwater’, Autumn Tactics’, ‘Halcyon’, in that golden period through to the millennium Chicane, was trance, and trance was Ibiza, or at least the Ibiza dance tourists brought home. Blissed up kids returned from the island and wanted to play the tracks that reminded them of sunrises, sunsets, Cafe del Mar and all that was inbetween.
‘Behind the Sun’, which featured a track called ‘Don’t Give Up’, featuring Bryan Adams, was a turning point. Originally the single was white labelled without acknowledgement of Bryan’s involvement, however, that only intensified the interest in both the track and who the vocalist was. ‘Don’t Give Up’ became a UK and international hit, indeed number one on the UK chart.

Nick, who has always insisted he was as much live act as a writer producer, spent the next two years touring the album worldwide, Ibiza, and 6am sets seemed a long way away. The band played their last gig on the island back in 2002.

Having satisfied his wunderlust Nick set about writing and recording a new album, named ‘Easy to Assemble’. Perhaps it was, but to his cost he found it was even easier to pirate and place on peer to peer sites. The album was never officially released. A good years work stolen, with one upside, it became one of those sought after bootlegs, a real word of mouth snowball, and perversely the reputation of Chicane grew and grew. A small consolation if like Nick, who runs what he calls a ‘cottage industry’ with his own label, you don’t get paid for the work you do. ‘It’s still hard when I’m asked to sign copies of ‘Easy to Assemble’, I feel like someone trying to sell me my own car or something, it is a weird experience’.
Chicane put’s its head down and went and played some more, although it was strange hearing people singing along to tracks that Nick knew hadn’t actually been released.

Nick’s reputation as a writer and producer got calls from established acts that wanted to induce some of the Chicane sound into their own. He has either, written, remixed, performed with, or produced for acts as diverse as; Cher, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, BT, William Orbit, Bryan Adams (East Side Story), Natasha Bedingfield, Jewel, and Sir Tom Jones. His music seems to have some large generation spans; Sir Michael Caine is a big fan and recently played, ‘No Ordinary Morning’ on Desert Island Discs, as well as featuring Chicane on what must have been one of the most bizarre compilation albums of all time ‘Cained’ (Mr Caine is somewhat of a fan and expert of trance and chillout music). ‘I love his films, watched them a kid, and to think one of the great British icons, is a fan, well, that would bowl anyone over’ said Nick.
The next studio album ‘Sommersault’ was perhaps a challenge to the Chicane hardcore fan. It was Nick experimenting with more song based tunes, it did bear fruit in the top ten UK hit ‘Stoned in Love’ featuring another icon and legend, Sir Tom Jones. Tom even took time out to perform with the band live at Islington Academy, much to the shock of the packed audience. Understandably, he brought the house down, and still performs the track in his live shows today, albeit in a slightly different style.
‘I’ve always thought Chicane was a sound rather than a style, so whatever genre I worked in there was a coating of me somewhere, I thought that everyone would understand with Sommersault, but perhaps it was a step to far too quickly?’.

In 2008 Chicane released a ‘Best Of’ album, which to date has sold around the 200,000 mark.
The album included the UK top ten hit ‘Poppihola’, which, is a rework of the Sigur Ros track, Hoppipolla, as well as a ledger of tracks from 1997 to present day.

Through 2008 to 2010, Chicane toured the album worldwide; Australia, Russia, Europe, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Ukraisne , Africa, Scandinavia, Singapore (inaugural F1 race), and of course the UK.
Now, July 26th see’s the release of both the new studio album and the single. The album is called ‘Giants’ and the single ‘Middledistancerunner’(featuring a vocal from Adam Young, singer of ‘Fireflies’ and artistically known as Owl City). Actually, the album has a few guest appearances some uncredited, Lemar boldly makes an appearance on ‘What am I Doing Here (part 2)’ and Tash Andrews, sometime live vocalist with the band appears too on ‘Hiding All the Stars’.
This album is an updated but voracious return to the Chicane of old. Nick describes it as ‘related but evolved to the older albums’. Certainly tracks leaked through official websites have sparked more than a wave of excitement. In some ways it is isn’t what people expect, but it is maybe what they want.

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