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Life Begins At Fifty With NICK NORTON From THE ANGELS · HEAVY Music Interviews

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  Hey folks. Nick Norton from the Angels, I am the vocalist of the
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  last year onwards and upwards with the band. We have a brand new single
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  out called ninety nine. It's the title track of the upcoming album ninety nine,
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  which is coming out on June twenty eighth, at the end of this
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  month. We're very excited about the album and the single, and we're about
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  to go on tour in that same weekend last week in of June, we're
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  hitting the entire country. So fifty years fifty years not out as the name
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  of the tour because the Angels have been around for fifty years. Of course
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  they have. Of course we have crazy days, so we wait to see
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  you on the road. Yet it for neck, thanks to join us today.
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  No worries, thanks Chris, things haven't we before? We get going
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  there? Mate? Like by the looks to you, you wouldn't have even
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  been born when they started fifty years ago. Yeah, I mean that's correct.
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  Yes, I think the band started in seventy four. I was there
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  for the fortieth anniversary, but yeah, I came to the band about well
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  at the same time as Dave Gleason as Gliso. I'm in about twenty eleven
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  on drums with Dave singing. But yeah, I sort of grew up like
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  a lot of people in Australia with kind of on the tail end of that
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  first classic era of the Angels, and then I guess I was a younger
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  kid when all that sort of second round stuff was happening with Beyond Salvation and
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  Both and Howling and those albums. And then and then sort of met John
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  around the time I finished high school and started doing stuff with him, and
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  he was kind of working with my old my original band straight out of high
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  school as a kind of mentor and then or as a sort of a producer,
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  a mentor type guy. And then I started doing the Brewster Brothers thing
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  with with Rick and John much later on again as a sort of sidemn in
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  that band. And then twenty eleven they called me up and said, we've
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  offered the tour to Buzz, but we we think he's going to say no,
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  So are you interested in playing drums in the Angels, to which I
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  responded with what who w what? What? That? So yeah, I
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  very quickly strapped my rock boots on and yeah, the rest is history.
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  We've just been big going hard ever since. But yeah, it's brilliant.
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  Like I've I've known John forever and done hot, you know, heaps of
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  stuff with him songwriting and Rick the same length of time, and now we're
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  all all writing. We've just written a full album of songs together. Yeah,
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  fantastic mate. So, as you say in the intro, Angels have
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  announced your fourteen studio album ninety nine for release on June twenty eighth. So
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  how you spilled about it? Made like he's confident. Yeah, well,
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  I mean we're stoked about the album. I actually haven't been this excited about
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  a new album since I was I mean in at least ten plus years.
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  I mean, it's always good to be on recordings and it's an exciting thing,
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  but this one, I've repeatedly said it to the band. I think
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  I keep surprising the guys how kind of excited I am about it, because
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  it's like I've just really satisfied with the way the tracks have gone down,
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  the way we've sort of really made sure that everything has just been done to
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  a t exactly as we wanted. And even from a vocal perspective, it's
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  the most time I've ever taken to really nail parts and lay it up all
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  these interesting harmonies and kind of got it exactly as I was hearing it,
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  and you know, we're taking time with some of these tracks. We recorded
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  the rhythm section stuff four years ago and we've then layers and guitars up since
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  and then kind of since not long before Christmas last year, we went on
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  this whole extra kind of thing to get the album finished, and we did
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  a couple of big sessions down in Melbourne at Lighthill Studios with Ricky Ray to
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  kind of get the album all finished up for the fiftieth year. And suddenly
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  it's gone from me and it's kind of, oh, yeah, we'll get
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  around to finishing the album to just like this is we actually have something here.
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  Let's do this. So yeah, we're all we're super stoked about it.
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  As you say, you've released the title track ninety nine as the first
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  single, So why shoo is that one to open now to? Now's the
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  album? I guess, yeah, Well, I think I wrote that one
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  with Sam actually, like he wrote the riff quite a while back. We
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  demoed that, put that down a few years ago, and then I kind
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  of wrote a lyric and melody for a while back, and as soon as
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  that was completed, I think around just went, oh, that's that's got
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  to be the single. This was you know, probably four or five six
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  months ago, like that, that'll be the single obviously, and I was
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  like, oh, well, look, okay, great because it's it's just
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  got that kind of punk rock energy. It's like faster tempo. It's got
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  that Angels well John I Rick call that, you know, the knick Knicks.
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  It's got a little bit of the nick Nick action, which a few
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  of the tracks on this album have, and they'll never that'll never go all
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  together from the Angels sound, and yeah, I think it just has that.
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  It's high energy, it's kind of punk rock, and you know,
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  it reminds people the Angels are still a rock band, hard rock band with
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  a kind of an aggressive thing, which is I don't know, like for
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  Sam and me, as younger dudes in the band, that's important because we
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  don't you know, some rock bands, maybe heritage rock acts, get a
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  little bit it gets all a little bit songwriter ish and it gets a little
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  bit relaxed, whereas it's still a rift driven band and still a hard rock
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  band, you know, and we want want to kind of remind people of
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  that. Yeah, so is that a good representation of the album as a
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  whole of what people can expect. Yeah, well, it's a there's another
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  three tracks on there that are right up in that vein of that sort of
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  tempo on that heaviness, but then there is there's a mixed bag on the
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  arm that still very rock. I mean, we you know, we've put
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  out a few little things in twenty twenty during that Lockdown year. We put
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  out an EP that was a little bit more sort of laid back and that
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  that flew under the radar a bit, it was less of a public announcement.
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  But this this album is a full blooded rock that's sort of rift driven.
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  And so yeah, that's I think if you if you like the single,
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  you love the album for sure. Just coming back a little bit.
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  Bro Like you said, you've been with the band for about ten years now,
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  starting as drummer, So you've been writing with the band the whole time.
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  But what was it to take a while to sort of because John and
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  Rick could have their style, you know, they've been doing it for so
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  long. Did it was it hard for you to come in and did you
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  have to adapt to their style or do they encourage you to bring your own
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  sort of a bit of both, Like, yeah, they're really open to
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  to anything. John a Rick like there, I mean, yeah they are.
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  They definitely after fifty years, do things their way. They've got certain
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  systems and that that definitely applies to kind of the live thing as well.
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  The live shows really particular about how they especially you know, Rick has ideas
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  about how things should translate love. John's maybe a little bit more kind of
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  open and experimental, but Rick's really regimented with that stuff. But then when
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  it comes to the creative thing, I think Rick just gets excited by any
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  anything that's kind of a new idea that's fresh and exciting, and he I
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  think they're just anytime they hear brand new music that is good, they're just
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  like, oh, what's that. So when we kind of I come with
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  a melody or a riff of Sam comes with a demo that he's put together
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  at home that's kind of riff driven. And there's even stuff on here like
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  well, we've got Tom Tom Brewster, who is John's other younger son,
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  sam younger brother. He's now drumming in the band as well. He's he's
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  manning my old drum stool, and so he's bringing in his kind of Angels
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  DNA into the band. And yeah, it's just been with sar As Goes.
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  I think John Rick are very open to anything, but it's sort of
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  us Sam and Either are going, well, here's something in the style of
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  the Angels, you know, because we kind of wanted to have that that
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  the nick Nicks still, you know, so because we love that so yeah,
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  and we know it works. We know the punners love it, and
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  it's worked for fifty years, so you don't want to change that formula,
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  you know. Yeah. Now, John has been quite saying that there was
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  a lot of spontaneity with this album. If someone had an idea, then
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  we recorded it, Like can you laborate on that? Like does that mean
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  you wrote it in the studio a lot? Or Yeah, there was a
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  bit of that, like where we're just putting ideas down on the FLA.
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  There'd be things like Rick hauld just come with a partial demo or just a
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  riff, and then the four there were four of us there in January,
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  that would just be we were like smashing out Rick's arrangements, you know,
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  assembly line style. But then Rick didn't necessarily have full songs completed, so
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  I then take you demo away, and well, at that point it wasn't
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  a demo. We had a track, but i would sort of listen to
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  that and I've got quite a lot of sets of lyrics already written, and
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  then I just kind of fashion a melody from lyrics around that song. But
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  yeah, it doesn't take me long these days to sort of hear an idea
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  and then go that will work actually, And some that can come down to
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  just hearing, like if one of Rix's rips is really strong or just you
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  know, he might have been just more of a chord driven song, but
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  I'd be like, oh, that's kind of cool. It's got this hip
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  thing happening here. I want to work that into a tune. And so
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  yeah, it was like there was yeah, they're not. Rick's definitely not
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  presious because I think he's realizes he's kind of got these these skeletons or you
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  know, the bare bones of songs, and then he's like, this is
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  pretty good. He's an idea. Now let's just get this completed as a
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  band, and everyone just kind of goes and then it just works, you
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  know, so yeah, it's it's good. It's got to be that way
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  these days, I think more and more because I mean back back in the
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  in the day, obviously, John and Rick were super creative young dudes,
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  and they were writing all this stuff and they would do the you know,
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  go thirds with Doc and sort of Breus, Denise and Brewster, and they'd
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  have even sometimes if someone had kind of almost written the whole song themselves,
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  they would quite often just split it three ways because it was sort of a
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  collaborative thing. But that always worked because they were these sort of hungry young
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  men that were like writing these amazing songs that became like iconic to like a
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  couple of generations of people. But now they you know, they're not maybe
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  writing as prolifically as they were back then. So when there's an idea there,
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  there's just this thing of like, if anyone's got something valuable, bring
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  it to the table, you know. So yeah, it actually works.
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  Yeah, very good. Now, this is your first album as frontman for
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  the Angels, mate, So did you feel the pressure of fifty years of
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  history going into it? Well, not really. I think it's kind of
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  like because you know, I just love the creative side of all being a
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  musician, and I mean the whole job is creative obviously, but like,
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  yeah, I songwriting and kind of coming up with parts and especially something like
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  lyric and melody writing is sort of more my forte. So I kind of
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  just knew, well, I can do this stuff and it's what I do.
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  And if I'll just throw ideas at Rick when he'll he'll just either like
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  it or not, because Rix, you know, he knows what he wants
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  if it's something he wasn't into, be like that. Yeah, So it
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  was just really like for me easy and yeah, I haven't felt any maybe
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  when I first got the gig in the band, which is coming up on
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  a year ago, but when I first started throughing with the band as singer
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  in September last year, you know, for a couple of weeks there,
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  it was a bit like this is kind of interesting. I wonder how fans
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  will respond. You know, they've had two pretty iconic front men in the
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  band over the years, and you know, they've been a real American career
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  front man. Stop being this iconic, internationally renowned front man. So I
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  was like, but then I never sort of thought about it, you know,
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  Okay, the songs are here, the riffs are here, This band
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  kill and you know, the fans will hear those songs and just go nuts,
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  which is what they've done anyway, because how many how many more decades
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  are left, you know, how many more anniversaries are left, so that
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  people just come shows and go, this is amazing. You know. Actually
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  along those lines, pro like you did step into the front man role,
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  taken over from Dave Lisa after he left. So fans of the Angels have
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  always been very loyal, are very patriotic. So of people say, how
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  did they Did you find there were certain elements of the fans that you had
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  to win over more than others. Yeah, I mean there's probably there's always
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  going to be nay sayers, and I think that's yeah. I mean,
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  the best thing to do is a you know, is to just kind of
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  it's easier than said than done. But obviously you just kind of shut all
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  that out or ignore that and just get on with the job of like playing
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  music, because that's you know, the people do often forget that at the
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  end of the day. John Rick and the Angels have always just been musicians
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  and they just need to get on the road because it's their jobs. So
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  one way or another they find a way to just get back out on the
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  road and keep playing. So yeah, audiences were have actually been pretty bloody
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  good. And it's that whole thing. It's the live thing, you know,
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  Like the naysayers are usually sitting at home on social media tapping away on
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  the keyboards, so they aren't. They're not, And I get it.
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  They're pretty protective of their brand, like you say, you know, like
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  I've I grew up with bands that I love that are not quite the same
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  since lineup changes and stuff. But you know, then the people that come
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  to the gigs get to the gig and within the first time and a half,
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  they're like, oh, oh, okay, this is a this is
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  seriously good. And there might be that one song. You know, we
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  do these big two set shows, there might be one song at the start
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  of the first set where they're like, there's a few blokes sort of doing
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  these ones at the front trying to work out. They're kind of computing what's
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  going on. And then by the third song there's the smile and they're looking
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  at their mate Bob in their head because they hear a tune that they haven't
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  seen live in six months and they just their hair stand up on the back
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  of the neck. So it's like the hard part's always done because when you
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  start those songs, people just lose their mind anyway. So it's good.
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  Yeah. Well now, speaking of playing live mate, the band has also
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  announced the fifty Not Out Tour, which kicks off and see Kilda on June
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  twenty eighth, goes to Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, back
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  to New South Wales, Wa Queens and finishes at the Alexander had Hills Hotel
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  on August third. Quite a few days there. Instead of making yeah it's
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  a solitude, it's yeah. This is kind of more like the traditional touring
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  that I've done in the band the last the last of twelve or so years.
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  I mean, we had after I got the singing gig, we had
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  this insane run of about seven months straight because we had about four tours run
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  back to back into each other, which was just sort of an unusual timing
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  thing that it was good for the new lineup because it was like a real
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  kick up the arse and it was like a you know, a bit of
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  a a got my arm in a sense that it was a vote of confidence
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  from all the promoters and all the bookers to book seven months worth of gigs
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  in a row with a new lineup. But yeah, this this tour,
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  it's about six seven weeks and we're just hit the whole country and do what
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  we do. And yeah, it's a double we'll playing. It's a one
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  set show. But we got my Sex in support, who we've toured with
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  in the past as well, and they make a really nice kind of compliment
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  to what we do. So it's a different style, but they're still a
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  killer rock band, you know. So yeah, we're looking forward to it
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  and what con fans expect from the shows made? Is it going to be
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  any special birthday treats like cakes, dancing girls? Yeah, fifty to fifty
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  years you know, that's that's a good question. I think just very good
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  classic angels rock songs will be the main birthday present. And I don't know
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  who knows what John and Rickle have installed there the Kings of Chaos, so
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  they you know, they might just do something chaotic or we'll see what happens.
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  No, it's all right, Nick, what taste of your type?
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  Rope and the pleasure speaking with you? The album ninety nine is out Tune
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  twenty eight. I've had a listen before this interview made, and he is
• 16:22
  a fucking cracker. He's gone really well. Thanks Chris singles out now,
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  Chalk kicks off and she killed at June twenty eight. So June is a
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  month of the angels, get amongst it, bro beauty. Yes, we'll
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  see on the road. He's the money for zero confictions to surrender, collect
• 17:07
  r soaking class school, pictures of people and plastic. You trade your gluey
• 17:14
  for gold, Thank you, exces politician success. It's the ship, the
• 17:19
  getting home. Why don't we got for Cooke no ceiling to the creed o
• 17:27
  the choice voted not in naa it's super counttent. Please why don't we don't
• 17:34
  for Pok no ceiling sou the greed, Oh the choice boy, not inn
• 17:42
  it's still cutting down thing. You dict the wrong profession telling it is some
• 17:51
  We ain't an incline to the Wall's reason. It's a game within the zero
• 17:56
  song waxworks and glass towers inject confected currency school to over come the gol for
• 18:33
  Coke, no ceiling, souther breed all the choice. Cather N in nine
• 18:42
  is to Cutta. Please w the dol for Cooke, no ceiling, souther
• 18:49
  breeze, all the choice bother n night it's still Judy. All the dole
• 18:57
  for Cooke no ceiling too, the brief or the choice more than nine and
• 19:04
  night they still got dea