Lay Your Soul Bare: Talking Folk With Nick And The Sun Machine

Stripped back to basics and boasting lyrics from the heart, today’s young folk musicians are reaching out to a new generation of fans.

Fronted by Nick Stephenson, a solo artist who’s popped up at Glastonbury in recent years, and fresh from following up their debut album launched with a support slot for Toploader, Nick & The Sun Machine are among the band’s enjoying the folk revival

Stereoboard caught up with Stephenson to discover more about their debut and try to determine just why folk music is so timeless.

Folk has exploded in popularity again. Why is that?

I think it’s proven to be timeless because acoustic music communicates very directly. I think there’s something about not being able to hide behind acoustic instruments and laying your soul bare that people continue to connect with. People will always love stories in songs and stories that resonate with their lives.

However, there’s been a real perversion of this in recent years where it’s become a standard requirement to know people’s ‘exaggerated for TV’ life stories. It’s become a huge part of celebrity culture, particularly through programmes like X-Factor and a lot of this has transferred over to acoustic music, with musicians like Ed Sheeran, which I don’t consider to be folk at all really. So, yes, I think folk is timeless, but there are a lot of people jumping on the bandwagon of what is thought of as folk, so there’s varying degrees of quality at the moment.

You launched your new, semi-acoustic album, ‘Wide Lying Smiles’, last year. What inspired the writing process?

A mixture, really. White Chalk is a song about letting a past experience - in this case a place I used to go walking with my family as a child - move you forward and inspire you. It’s also about embracing change. I wrote Acid Rain Clouds after I saw this woman having a very loud argument on her phone in St Albans town centre. So I guess anger is a theme, greed on a song like Winters Blazes, defiance on Baby A. I find I write best after having got out of a difficult experience and hopefully learned from it.

The album has diverse styles running through it. Which tracks do you most enjoy playing live?

I enjoy the quiet/loud dynamic of Baby A. The words still hold meaning for me even though I wrote it in 2008, particularly the line about not wanting to be confined to anything or anyone. I also love Mike’s [Scott] guitar solo on this song. Fast Learner is sometimes exhausting to play but can be a lot of fun when we nail it, especially the barbershop breakdown, then utter chaos! I love a bit of chaos, so I guess Stoned Aching would be another live favourite for me.

What inspires your sound?

I think we all bring a lot of different influences to the table but certainly interesting pop or rock bands like Blur, Jane’s Addiction and Radiohead. There’s the more acoustic side where I think you can hear groups like Midlake, Fairport Convention and The Beach Boys creeping in. The main inspiration is the constant need to do something that creates a euphoric sound or sometimes dissonant texture. We like the contrast between the two, sometimes in the same song.

Prior to launching ‘Wide Lying Smiles’, you had already released a solo album, ‘Dream Logic’, which included a song, Mountain, produced by Tony Newton (Iron Maiden/Voodoo Six). What was it like working with him?

He’s a really lovely bloke, very professional, supportive and down to earth. He got the job done quickly and efficiently without being pushy or stressing out. We were very pleased with the results. He made it an enriching and memorable experience.

Social media is swamped with new bands vying for attention. What do you consider to be the hardest part about starting out in a band these days?

I think the hardest part for me is remembering that I’m a creative person. A songwriter first and foremost, who shouldn’t lose sight of my original plan of being a good - and hopefully interesting - musician. The social media rubbish can be a huge distraction. People deem it as a necessary evil at the moment, so I think it will continue to be just that.

There is now a very saturated market of entrepreneurial people on the internet who are almost posing as good musicians or songwriters. Some become huge. These individuals are obscenely great at getting people interested in their personalities first and their music second, by telling their story and ingratiating themselves to everyone by being the everyman. There’s a trend of this being the main focus in their lyrics, the music being secondary, and mainstream music is suffering for it. I overcome it by holding onto the fact that I’m an experienced musician first, then a blogger. And hope it will work in my favour in the end.

What’s up next for the band?

So far, we’re appearing at a new festival called Wildwood in Lincolnshire, returning to Lubstock in Leicestershire and hopefully the Isle of Wight Festival again once the Whiskey Sessions Stage has been given the go ahead. Watch this space...

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