“I've been able to do some really cool things because I play bass”

Medway supergroup South Shore have released their first single, The Ballad of Rats Bay, produced by Medwayish. Steven met with bassist Nick Rice at the Mast and Rigging pub, where they talked about what brought Nick to Medway, how he came to be a member of South Shore and if he has raced a car around Brands Hatch.

What is your official occupation?  
I work in motorsport for a company that owns six race circuits in the UK and one in northern Spain.
My job is to basically sell the circuit for hire. That could be track days, race testing for manufacturers, filming, or all sorts of things. I'm based at Brands Hatch. I have a small team of people there. We try to let people have fun with their cars and bikes on our circuits. 

How does someone get into that line of work? 
Fluke. I originally trained as a PE and English teacher. I did that for six months, then I was going to take a break from teaching in my NQT [Newly Qualified Teacher] year and go back. Applied for lots of jobs and thought, 'I've done 20 years of learning about or being in education, let's go and do something different.' Basically, I was going to do something with cars or guitars. I was going to work in a music shop, but realised that was a dead end.
I got a junior track day sales assistant job 20 years ago last Monday and stayed. Evidently I didn't go back to teaching.

Have you raced the track? 
Yeah, driven it loads and formally raced a Ford Ka a few times, and took motorbikes out on track. My job is essentially an office job with emails and things like that, and sorting out issues, and trying to look after customers and staff.

How many bands are you currently in?
South Shore, These Guilty Men, Treasures of Mexico, my own band the Dutch Embassy.  I'm playing with Mick Cocksedge, Bruce Brand, and Dan Whaley in Honest Hal and the Buried Hearts, we do the recording sessions. That's five. Think that's it for the minute. I recorded with Groovy Uncle and played live, but Glenn [Prangnell] has drawn a line under that now, which is fine.
I was part of Pod. I was in the Deccas with Dave Sawicki for a while. My first band was the Effectives, which was 2007 to 2009. That was my first proper band. But then various things have kind of come and gone. Obviously, the Flat Earth Society. Stuart [Turner] and I have worked together for 14 years. I'm very lucky to be associated to that man. 

How did you first meet Stuart? 
I was a superfan.
I think we first met when the Deccas were supporting him at the Beacon Court. That's my earliest memory of Stuart. I just loved what he did and thought he was really striking and loved his music, and then followed him around wherever there was a gig. He was playing a gig at the Nags [Head, pub in Rochester] and their bass player had some alcohol issues and turned up battered. Stuart asked Dave Sawicki if he could play. Dave couldn’t remember any of the songs. Stuart was wandering around the bar afterwards. I think he did it as a two-piece. I popped him a message and said if you want a bass player, I'd love to give it a go. I'm really lucky because Stuart's amazing and all the stuff we've done together has been brilliant.  

What instruments do you play? 
I learnt to be a guitarist first, but I didn't get a guitar until I was 16. I wanted guitar lessons at school, but for whatever reason, it didn't happen, and then I just saved that money, and on my 16th birthday, New Year's Eve, I got a cheap guitar. I started playing guitar, but then I grew up in South Lincolnshire. There were only really me and my mate Graham, who I knew through a guitar teacher. We tried to get things going, and that never really happened. I played guitar and then went to uni, dabbled on bass, but didn't really do a lot. I had to play piano a bit from school.
The reason I got playing bass is that Ian Snowball said, “I'm putting together a band.” I didn't really play bass. I borrowed a bass, went along, played bass badly, got into that band and then thought, 'Fuck it, I better learn how to play bass.'  So fluked it, then ended up playing bass more. 

If a guitarist fucks up in a band, you could probably get away with it, whereas if a bass player fucks up, you can bring the whole song down

What's the difference between playing guitar and playing bass?
Number of strings predominantly, I always say that if a guitarist fucks up in a band, you could probably get away with it, whereas if a bass player fucks up, you can bring the whole song down pretty quickly, because it affects the rhythm. You and the drummer are driving things a lot, and even if everyone else goes to pot, you can keep everything else going, and you just wait for everyone to compose themselves. 
There's a bit more pressure on bass. You're holding down the rhythm, driving the song, and everything else sits on top, but that sounds like you're making bass players and rhythm section sound terribly important when everyone is.

If you're not going to do it, then who will? 
No, exactly. 
I remember thinking that I needed to play bass with my fingers to be a proper bass player. I remember bass players like Paul Moss from Billy Wears Dresses, and thinking he's a really good bass player and predominantly a finger bass player.

If you can learn how to play bass and people know you play bass, you're solid and reliable, and you've got a car, then you'll always get work

Doesn't everyone play bass with their fingers? 
A lot of people play with their pick, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. You choose, but you can get a lot more feeling out of playing with your fingers, and you can soften it. McCartney, brilliant bass player, predominantly plays with the pick. 
Someone said that playing bass is like a trade. There's lots of guitarists out there and lots of singers, and if you can learn how to play bass and people know you play bass, you're solid and reliable, and you've got a car, then you'll always get work. That's the way I looked at it. I've been lucky that I've been able to do some really cool things because I play bass. And I normally have a big car.
But if you're being reliable, you're halfway there. Because there's a lot of people that are really good at what they're doing, and they're just fucking flaky.