I’ve been entertained by JJ’s ongoing commentary as he’s read my novel over the last couple of months, it’s lovely to finally see what he really though! I think I’m a little bit in love with this statement: “She has a way with words that puts you at ease, brings you your tea, tells you to put your feet up and simply enjoy the story being told.”
Counterfeit Magazine – Neil Chapman
I have to confess to being a little fan-girly excited about this entry to my wall of awesome. Now I suspect that for most people, the last thing they’ll think when they look at Erica Nockalls is ‘nerd’, but if wikipedia is to be believed then:
“Nerds can be described by their hobbies” and “Some interests and activities that are likely to be described as nerdy are: Interest in the fine arts, non-mainstream music such as classical, techno, or folk music.”
So I put it to you that a conservatoire trained violinist and artist falls into the nerd camp and as she’s rocking it in her own band – EN, in her acoustic duo with Miles Hunt, and as a member of The Wonder Stuff, she’s proof, if ever it was needed, that nerds are cool!*
The violin is a difficult instrument to learn, there are no two ways about it. Because it isn’t as instantly gratifying as an instrument such as the piano, for example, it is incredibly frustrating for about the first ten years, and it’s something you really have to stick at. I was encouraged to chip away and practise every day when I was younger, even if it was only 15 mins a day. As a beginner, this is essential for developing muscle memory – I believe it’s how often you practise, rather than how long you practise for, that is important.
As a teenager I began playing in my first bands, which is a healthy thing to do. I knew I needed to practise my violin regularly if I wanted to be any good, so I just got on with it, but of course I grumbled about it from time to time! I felt like music was the only thing I was any good at, so it made perfect sense that I should stick at it, and yes, that sometimes meant not getting drunk on a street corner with mates. Being a professional musician in a rock forum often means you have access to free booze frequently, so I kinda made up for missing out over the years.
It know it sounds odd, but I don’t really have an approach to writing, other than getting the lyrics written first, then I fit them to music. I stop layering things up and adding new sections when I think the piece has gone as far as the song can go, then I call it a day and move on.
Stylistically I love listening to and playing heavy music, and that might be from anything to a Shostakovich string quartet to doom goth metal, but it has to be at least slightly progressive otherwise I get bored incredibly quickly and lose interest. I have dark tastes in music.
My lyrics and music could be considered rather angular at times, and the lyrics, particularly on EN2 are feisty and uncompromising. I’m certainly not painting by numbers and trying to sound like anybody else here, I never have done that. If you’re not adding anything to the development of music, you’re wasting everyone’s time, not least your own.
100%. EN2 is entirely self produced, self funded through selling my artwork, and it is also self released, and all through choice as I wanted complete control over this record. It’s my intention to make some music videos for EN2 – it’s next on my to-do list. I enjoy making videos – it’s a relatively recent creative outlet for me. I’m not bad at editing and I actually find it quite relaxing and rewarding!
I like it. I think people need to put their phones down occasionally so as not to waste their entire lives online, but as a musician you need a platform from which to air your wares, and as such social media is invaluable. I use predominantly Facebook and Twitter to make announcements and post gig details. Generally I try to be as engaging as possible without ramming my music down people’s throats. You have to treat people as you’d like to be treated yourself, which is absolutely the way forward in real life too.
It’s difficult to say, but I’m not going to measure highlights of my career in audience numbers. I’ve played to hundreds of thousands of people at a gig, I’ve played to 10 people at a gig – the number of people you play to rarely translates into whether it was a good gig or not. I think the highlight of my career so far is being able to say I’ve travelled the world and avoided getting a ‘proper’ job as a result of being good at doing something that I love. It’s been hard in places and I’ve had so many knock backs I’ve lost count. If you believe in yourself and get your head down though, it’s possible to achieve virtually anything.
Make more EN videos, I’m seriously thinking of putting a US version of my band together and decamping over to NYC for a bit in 2015 – the music industry seems sewn up in this country, so I’m going to see if the yanks will have any of what I’m doing…see if they ‘get’ it.
The Wonder Stuff tour acoustically in December 2014 for our Sleigh The Uk Tour.
Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls are gigging acoustically across the UK seemingly constantly!
And I’ll hopefully be painting more in the new year and having more EN art exhibitions.
Through choice, EN2 is only available from my website and nowhere else. I’m bypassing all online platforms for streaming and selling until musicians are awarded a fairer deal for their music in an attempt to give value back to music.
If you haven’t already been to check it out, head over to Erica’s website www.ericanockalls.com
You can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
* Okay, I’ll admit it, I just really wanted to interview her, nerd or not!
My fellow Xcite stablemate, Danielle Austen shares her thoughts on Inspired by Night… And on my birthday too! Thankfully it was a great birthday present!
November is probably my favourite month of the year because, apart from all the awesome fireworks, it is also my birthday.
So this year, to celebrate my birthday I’m giving away another Olivia Jones inspired charm bracelet.
The chunky link chain includes a cupcake, slice of pizza, a basque, a teapot and a laptop.
To enter, just leave a message in the comments below, on Sunday 9th November and you’ll be entered in the prize draw.
winner will be drawn at random and announced in Monday 10th November.
Ever since I posted about NaNoWriMo I’ve been bombarded with cold-emails from PR agencies and such like, with lengthy details about how they support National Novel Writing Month and how they can help me stay on track towards my target of 50,000 words and give me feedback on my story.
I hate these kinds of targeted spamming. For one thing, the excitement I feel when I get an email to my author account is indescribable and these soulless mass mailouts completely kill my buzz.
But the reason it really winds me up is that I just wasted time reading their lengthy email inviting me to visit their website to read even more information, or to get in touch for further details.
You know, if they spent two minutes on my website they’d see that, not only am I not taking part in NaNoWriMo, I’m not even based in the same country as them so why would I want to use them for any PR I might be tempted to pay for?
I’m only 700 words away from 50,000 anyway… But that puts me just past halfway into my novel. I’ll have much more chance of finishing my novel if my time and patience wasn’t being worn down by irritating spammers.
Trust me, People… With a royalty cheque of £14.90 – I cannot afford your services so stop wasting our time and leave me to enjoy my hobby of writing!
Following on from my recent interview with Charlotte Pingriff of Perfectly Cast, the lovely lady has returned the favour and featured an interview with me in her latest Quirky Beauty Brigade newsletter.
You can read the interview (and sign up for her newsletter) here…
I’ve been following the countdown to the start of NaNoWriMo with much interest and although I’m not officially taking part in the event, I do feel motivated to try and finish my current novel – working title ‘The Double Life of Molly Flockhart’.
I’ve reached that half way point where the story has taken hold and my desire to write is much stronger now than when I first started. I know my characters now, they feel like old friends and I’m curious about whether any of my characters are going to fall in love with each other or whether the antagonist is who he appears to be.
It’s fun writing these stories organically, I am still capable of being surprised by the plot twists because sometimes I’m not really expecting it. I always think I know exactly what is going to happen, but as I start writing conversations I find secrets being shared and plots being twisted without any prior knowledge of my own. It means that although I’m the author, I still get some of the suspense and mystery that my readers will hopefully experience, should this novel ever see the light of day.
But I couldn’t commit to writing a novel in a month. For one thing, my birthday is in November so at least one of my weekends will be lost to alcohol and celebrations. But also, the moment I give myself a deadline, is the moment I start busying myself with other things.
Despite that, I’m going to try and recognise National Novel Writing Month by completing this latest offering. But if I fail, at least no one will be monitoring my progress – besides which, in the UK it’s not NaNoWriMo, it’s National Vegan Month… I’m not observing that either!
