Nick Magnus Talks New Album, Musical Influences And More

Keyboardist, producer and writer Nick Magnus will release his new album A Strange Inheritance’ on 16th September 2024 on Magick Nuns Records. We chatted to the man himself to learn more about the album, his musical influences and more:

When did you begin songwriting?

I dabbled with simple ideas as a child, but my earliest serious attempts were in a school band, when I was about 18. We attempted to write what we perceived as prog epics, but to be honest they were all a bit rubbish!

What is your earliest musical memory?

I would have been about 4 years old when I attended a pre-school There was a Dansette record player there, and one day someone put on ‘Apache’ by The Shadows. I was totally entranced – that record was played pretty much in rotation after that. The seed was planted…

Your new album ‘A Strange Inheritance’ is released on 16th September 2024. How did you want to approach the making of the album?

The concept for the album originally came from an idea for a stage musical that (lyricist) Dick Foster had been toying with. We quickly abandoned any thoughts of doing a musical (the world of musical theatre and its politics is no place for sissies) so we decided to take the setting and core characters and come up with a story that would work as a concept album. So there is a narrative to the whole thing based on the contents of an old chest – each object is featured in the songs, and they in turn tell the characters’ story.

Where did you record the album and who produced it?

It was recorded in my personal studio, and produced by me.

What two things do you hope to have achieved once you have left the stage?

There are no plans to perform it on stage, so two things I’d hope to achieve after anyone plays the album are that they greatly enjoyed it, and that they recommend it to all their friends!

Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones etc?

Back in the days when I toured with Steve Hackett, I had a large stage rig – eleven keyboards at one point! Of those, two stand out as my all-time favourites – the Roland Jupiter 8 and the Clavinet D6.

Now I’m purely studio based, my favourite instruments are all in software, so almost too many to mention! But I’d give shout-outs to Kontakt, Arturia Jupiter-8 V, Pianoteq, VB3, M-Tron Pro, Musiclab’s guitar sims and most of Audio Modeling’s and Samplemodeling’s instruments. My favoured microphone is a trusty old Langevin CR-3A. I use many different software plugins for effects rather than hardware pedals, so I use whichever of those best suits the particular task.

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

My hometown is in Twickenham, SW London. Five words? Like the countryside, yet urban.

How do you look after your voice?

I have no special regime or routine – I just point myself at the mic, sing and hope for the best!

Which of the tracks on your new album hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?

Happiest – the first half of ‘Welcome To The Island’.

Angriest – the first section (‘Boreas’) of ‘Four Winds’.

Reflective – ‘To Whom It May Concern’.

Who features on the album with you? Do you have any interesting, memorable or funny stories from the album recording sessions?

There are six guest artists. Tony Patterson, Louise Young, Ginger Bennett and Andy Neve all provide vocals; Steve Hackett delivers a terrific performance on the first track, unusually on the harmonica rather than the guitar; John Greenwood (from Unitopia) gives a brilliant nylon guitar solo as well as 12-string and electric guitars on track two. One unusual aspect – for me, at least – was that John Greenwood recorded all his parts in Adelaide, Australia – just about as far away as he could be! I was delighted at how well this long-distance file sharing worked. I’m wondering if there are any musicians aboard the ISS – how amazing would that be to get a performance beamed in from space!

You are given the opportunity to write the score for a film adaptation of a novel that you enjoy. Which novel is it and why?

Philip Pullmans’ Dark Materials trilogy. He writes so visually – it’s like watching a movie. I count them as the most captivating books I’ve ever read (with C. S. Lewis’s Narnia Chronicles coming a close second). All three books of His Dark Materials have been made into a stunning TV series trilogy, and I’d love to have written the music for that. Lorne Balfe was the composer, and a fine job he did too – so all power to him.

Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?

Like so many keyboard players, J. S. Bach has to come top of the list. His were the pieces that I found so compelling and delightful when I was learning the piano, and later the organ. There are many film composers who have undeniably inspired me – John Williams, James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith, John Barry, David Arnold and Hans Zimmer to name just a few. Growing up in the 1970s there was so much great progressive music to choose from – at school it was almost a competition to be the one to discover the next ‘coolest’ band! We lapped up all of it with relish – Gentle Giant, Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Greenslade, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Gryphon – again the list is endless. The soundtrack of your early years is burned into your psyche, so it’s inevitably going to have some influence on your own work. My recommendation is the album that ultimately inspired me to follow a musical career – Wendy Carlos’s ‘Switched On Bach’. It’s a flawless marriage of technology and Bach’s incomparable genius.

Do you have any live dates planned in the UK/Europe in 2024?

Performing the albums live would be unfeasibly expensive and complex, so unfortunately I’m unable to do so.

Who created/designed the album cover?

All the artwork and design was done by Dick Foster. He is also the mastermind and creator of all our promotional videos!

Was it a difficult album to write?

Every album has had its challenges – all of them were in various ways difficult to write! If they came easily, I’d know I hadn’t put my heart into it. Some of my (now) favourite tracks are those I struggled with the most, sometimes realising I’d gone totally up the wrong path, abandoning them halfway through and starting again from scratch. If I haven’t had to fight for it, it ain’t right!

What makes Nick Magnus happy and what makes you unhappy?

Happy – Any sense of achievement. Love. Friendship. Good food. Being surrounded by mountains.

Unhappy – Being exploited. The celebration of mediocrity. Politics. Rewards for incompetence. H Entitled people. Bad drivers!!