STOMPING NICK INJECTS SOME ROCKET FUEL INTO THE BLUES

Stomping Nick Jackman rewrites the rule book on how much ass one person can kick single-handed. Stomping Nick is a stylist from New Zealand who has created his own version of the one-man blues band, a tradition that dates back to the shadowy beginnings of the blues itself. Raw, primitive and dirty are words often used to describe Stomping Nick's music as he travels the common ground between punk, country and the classic Chicago and Memphis boogie of the 1950s. Taking as his inspiration the blues legends and one-man-bands of yesteryear, as well as a large dose of primitive rock & roll and garage band fury, Jackman unleashes a powder keg of distorted guitar, wailing harmonica and pounding drums. It's all played the oldschool way: live and unaided with nothing but his hands, feet and mouth. At no time does he resort to backing tracks, loop pedals, or any of those other fancy tricks.Harmonica is Stomping Nick's weapon of choice and he wields it like a blues ninja. A number of influences shape his harmonica style. As well as harp masters like Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson and Sonny Terry, other influences as diverse as Jimi Hendrix and Appalachian fiddle music can be heard when he gets his jaw swinging. Underpinning the harmonica, Jackman's feet and hands provide a solid rumble of drums and growling guitar to get the people in the groove, while he sings, amongst other things, songs of trains, loose parties, wild women, mythical alcoholic beverages, crimes executed badly, and bastards he has met. Stomping Nick is an experienced, battle-hardened performer, having played hundreds of shows in diverse places including bars, festivals, house parties, country halls, flatdeck trucks, beer tents, sheds, shacks and street corners. Over the years he has worked as a drummer, a guitar picker, a bassman, a harmonica player, a banjo plucker, a washboard scrubber, a tambourine jangler and a spoon rattler. Somewhere along the line he learned how to ditch the band and do it all himself.