Nick Harper had a head start in the rock star stakes, and as Jackie Butler finds out, he has put it to good use
NICK Harper loves to ponder life, to talk about what he finds funny or the people who really matter to him – but most of all he loves to play the guitar, write songs and sing them. Fortunately he is rather good at all of it, a natural and sensitive minstrel who engages easily with his audience in both speech and song, and loves to mix humour with more serious and heartfelt subjects.
As the son of legendary British singer songwriter Roy Harper – a description forever used by others to underline his credentials – Nick had a head start in the rock star stakes, and while he’s not a household name he is highly respected by those who bother to do their homework and, indeed, among his peers.
He began playing guitar at the age of 10, with his father’s guidance, and saw nothing unusual in having chaps like Keith Moon, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and Dave Gilmour as family friends and frequent visitors. These days he hangs out with members of Squeeze and Levellers and has many other good friends in the music world.
He’s currently touring the UK with a fresh batch of tunes to share from his latest and 10th album – a collection that clearly illustrates not only his talents but also the quirky nature of his compositions. Titled The Last Guitar, it reflects recent meanderings in Nick’s 44-year-old brain.
“I had written the previous album about home and family and my emotions about the people close to me,” he explains. “But I didn’t only want to write love songs this time – I wanted to do something a bit different.
“You can’t help but think that a lot of the damage that’s being done to the planet is probably down to us. I wanted to pinpoint a tangible object that people could wonder about in that context – the very last guitar on earth being played, and the very last chord ever struck.”
So the title songs tells it like it is, but with a bit of sweetener to make it palatable.
“It’s a tongue-in-cheek style song because I didn’t want to be depressing. I take my music deadly seriously, but the persona not at all – that’s the balance I try to keep,” says Nick, who lives with his wife, daughter Lily, 14, and son Harv, six.
The album includes the track Pop Fiction – a gumshoe detective story about the murder of music – plus songs inspired by Nick’s Himalayan fundraising trekking adventures with the cancer charity Love Hope Strength Foundation.
It’s a cause close to his heart because his beloved mother Monica died from the disease 10 years ago. She is buried, as requested, in the family’s Wiltshire garden.
“It’s nice to know she is there. When I’m mowing the lawn I can have a word with her, although she’s really in my heart and my head and our genetics more than anything,” Nick says.
Speaking of family connections, the latest album also sees the emergence of the next generation of Harpers with Lily’s recording debut on Silly Daddy.
“I could have sung it, but it’s about your father being on the road and why doesn’t he come home. Lily did it brilliantly.”
Nick made his own debut on his father’s Whatever Happened to Jugula? in 1985. His own first EP, Light at the End of the Kennel in 1994, was followed by his powerful debut long player Seed a year later.
While he has always concentrated on original material, in his live shows Nick often strays from his own compositions to well-loved covers he makes his own, taking on the likes of Elvis Presley, Frank Zappa, Jeff Buckley, Led Zeppelin, Monty Python and Public Enemy – another opportunity to inject some humour into proceedings.
Nick may not be a household name, but he has been widely acknowledged as a brilliant entertainer and one of the finest acoustic singer songwriters and guitarists of his generation.
“Someone like me doesn’t get radio airplay or magazine covers. I’ve got my head above water, but underneath I am pedalling furiously. It’s still better than working for a living,” he says.
“I’m not bereft of ambition and I do try to better myself, but basically it’s a bit of fun and entertainment.
Nick Harper plays Exeter Phoenix on Thursday, April 8. To book tickets call 01392 667080 or visit www.exeterphoenix.org.uk.
