Chicane Announces Shows In London And Manchester & Tickets
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Written by Jon Stickler
It’s been some fourteen years (if you include Disco Citizens tracks) since Nick Bracegirdle arrived as the ‘God of the Ibiza anthem’. Some records are of their time and stay there, some somehow form a bedrock in musical consciousness, ‘Offshore’ certainly has done that: millions would have heard the track and most likely not know who it was by; as with other Chicane tracks, their usage as incidental tunes on TV around the world is phenomenal: ‘No Ordinary Morning’ as the theme tune to a soap opera in the Philippines!
If that wasn’t enough more ‘Ibiza Anthem’s’ followed, ‘Saltwater’, 'Autumn Tactics’, ‘Halcyon’, in that golden period through to the millennium Chicane, was trance, and trance was Ibiza, or at least the Ibiza dance tourists brought home. Blissed up kids returned from the island and wanted to play the tracks that reminded them of sunrises, sunsets, Cafe del Mar and all that was in-between.
‘Behind the Sun’, which featured a track called ‘Don’t Give Up’, featuring Bryan Adams, was a turning point. Originally the single was white labelled without acknowledgement of Bryan’s involvement, however, that only intensified the interest in both the track and who the vocalist was. ‘Don’t Give Up’ became a UK and international hit, indeed number one on the UK chart.
Nick, who has always insisted he was as much live act as a writer producer, spent the next two years touring the album worldwide, Ibiza, and 6am sets seemed a long way away. The band played their last gig on the island back in 2002.
Nick’s reputation as a writer and producer got calls from established acts that wanted to induce some of the Chicane sound into their own. He has either, written, remixed, performed with, or produced for acts as diverse as; Cher, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, BT, William Orbit, Bryan Adams (East Side Story), Natasha Bedingfield, Jewel, and Sir Tom Jones. His music seems to have some large generation spans; Sir Michael Caine is a big fan and recently played, ‘No Ordinary Morning’ on Desert Island Discs, as well as featuring Chicane on what must have been one of the most bizarre compilation albums of all time ‘Cained’ (Mr Caine is somewhat of a fan and expert of trance and chillout music).
The next studio album ‘Sommersault’ was perhaps a challenge to the Chicane hardcore fan. It was Nick experimenting with more song based tunes, it did bear fruit in the top ten UK hit ‘Stoned in Love’ featuring another icon and legend, Sir Tom Jones. Tom even took time out to perform with the band live at Islington Academy, much to the shock of the packed audience. Understandably, he brought the house down, and still performs the track in his live shows today, albeit in a slightly different style.
In 2009 Chicane released a ‘Best Of’ album, which to date has sold around the 200,000 mark. The album included the UK top ten hit ‘Poppihola’, which, is a rework of the Sigur Ros track, Hoppipolla, as well as a ledger of tracks from 1997 to present day. Through 2008 to 2010, Chicane toured the album worldwide; Australia, Russia, Europe, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Ukraine, Africa, Scandinavia, Singapore (inaugural F1 race), and of course the UK.
Now, this month see’s the release of both the new studio album and the single. The album is called ‘Giants’ and the single ‘Middledistancerunner’ (featuring a vocal from Adam Young, singer of ‘Fireflies’ and artistically known as Owl City). Actually, the album has a few guest appearances some un-credited, Lemar boldly makes an appearance on ‘What am I Doing Here (part 2)’ and Tash Andrews, sometime live vocalist with the band appears too on ‘Hiding All the Stars’.
This album is an updated but voracious return to the Chicane of old. Nick describes it as ‘related but evolved to the older albums’. Certainly tracks leaked through official websites have sparked more than a wave of excitement. In some ways it isn’t what people expect, but it is maybe what they want.
To see Chicane live in the UK:
Friday 5th November - London HMV Forum
Saturday 6th November - Manchester Club Academy
Tickets For Chicane are onsale now priced at £14.00 for the Manchester show and £16.00 for the London show.
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