Feeder's Grant Nicholas: Being a dad has made me more creative

Aug 1 2008 by Andy Welch

FEEDER is one of those bands who’ve gone about their business with the minimum of fuss since making their debut 11 years ago.

While some may think they don’t know anything about the group, chances are anyone who owns a radio will have heard more than a handful of their songs.

The Singles, the self- explanatory compilation released in 2006, is a case in point. It features 20 tracks, about half of them, including Just The Way I’m Feeling, Buck Rogers, Yesterday Went Too Soon and Just A Day, were huge successes and were played and played on radio at the time of their release.

Music buyers weren’t the only ones surprised by how many hits Feeder had in their back catalogue. The band’s frontman and main songwriter, Grant Nicholas, was, too.

"I was amazed, actually! I think we’ve released 28 singles now," he says. "It shows we’ve got longevity, and that we don’t have to copy any trend.

"I was worried about doing The Singles at the time, and we were worried it was going to give out the wrong signal to people.

"When you bring out a compilation like that, people think you’re stopping or splitting up and I was misquoted on the subject a few times in the press.

"But the album worked in our favour – it’s our second biggest- selling album after Comfort In Sound – and it connected us with a load of fans who maybe didn’t know we’d done so many songs, or maybe hadn’t realised a song they liked was by us.

"It was good for people to hear our earlier tracks too. It means now we can play a bit more of the older back catalogue live.

"It was a weird time, but it was a good thing to do and we timed it right."

Their current album Silent Cry is among the band’s finest; not as immediate as Echo Park which spawned their most chart- friendly songs, and understandably not as emotional as Comfort In Sound – that album was written after the suicide of original bandmember Jon Lee in 2002 – but it is an epic, melodic record, and sees Feeder return to a more rock-oriented sound.

"There’s a lot of relationship stuff on the album – songs about break-ups – as well as songs about change and unity, and the world," says Grant. "A lot of things have been going on in the world in the last three or four years since our last album; there have been natural disasters, wars, and a lot more interest in the environment.

"People are taking more notice of that now, and all the subjects go into the pot. That’s how I write lyrics. We Are The People is an idea I’d had for ages which is about unity, like a call to arms. It’s about everyone getting together to change, I know it sounds naive, but it’s just a positive spin on things, that could be uplifting."

Since Feeder’s last album, Grant and his wife Kana have had two children, and the 40-year- old maintains his young family have changed the way he works and writes songs.

"I’m far more miserable now!" he jokes. "Not really, but being a dad has made me more creative, and I worry less about things I did before.

"You always want people to like your music, and you hate it when you get a bad review, but my priorities have changed and I have a different perspective."

That said, don’t expect Grant to give it all up to become a stay-at- home dad.

"My family is the most important thing, but the band is a massive thing in my life too.

"I’ve got more to write about now in some ways, but I don’t want to lose the energy I had before. You can’t change totally when you have kids, as to give up on everything is unhealthy. You have to do your own thing still.

"My daughter is three and my son is nine months – I absolutely adore them and I’d do anything for them, but I don’t have to stop living because I’m a dad. It’s good for them to be around people that are doing things, too.

"I certainly won’t stop while I’ve got the energy to carry on, or we’ve got the energy as a band."

He adds: "I’m the last guy in the band to have kids – Taka (bass player Taka Hirose) has got three children, and I don’t know how he managed it.

"I think we’ll stop when our kids tell us to. When they say, ‘Dad, it’s time to stop’, I’m sure we will. I reckon that’d hurt more coming from our kids than anyone else!"

* FEEDER play Liverpool University on Wednesday October 29.