Many moons ago Primo Pitino, the DJ of San Francisco’s legendary
Oldies Night, passed me a copy of his friend Nick Waterhouse’s
“Some Place.” Nick was a local vinyl DJ and the kid working at
our Shangri-la, Rooky Ricardo’s Records. Though he didn’t have a
band at the time, Waterhouse assembled some local musicians to
cut a one-off 45 in the vein of the electrifying mid-century
modern rhythm and blues he loved. I threw “Some Place” on the
Technics during sound check a few cities down the line and was
blown away from the howling falsetto all the way to the end! I
gave it a whirl every night from Texas to Tennessee and all the
way back home to New York. Not only were the dancers’ feet
responding, but they were also asking about the track on a
nightly basis. The Nashville Scene was so blown away that they
printed a piece on Nick after a single listen. DJs and collectors
everywhere wanted it so bad that the little record with the big
sound started fetching upwards of $300 on Ebay. The immediate and
unprecedented underground dance party success of Nick’s DIY
record resulted in a full band, gigs, and, after a number of
obstacles, the widely accled 2012 LP Time’s All Gone. Nick’s
music, vision, and fully formed aesthetic caught on globally and
he was instantly a fixture at nearly every major nightclub and
festival on both sides of the Atlantic, Australia, Japan, and
Russia – hitting stages everywhere from Primavera to Montreux
Jazz Festival and charting on college, public, and commercial
radio. Only a year after self-releasing his first single, Nick
Waterhouse was thrust into the chaos of leading a band, touring,
and in the big leagues! Pummeling high speed down a
bumpy hill of lineup changes, economic problems, and general
chaos without any breaks, Nick made it through and the challenges
made him more focused. 2014’s Holly captured a more experienced
artist upping the ante in writing, performance, , and
production, inspiring a new level of critical and commercial
success. In addition to a jam-packed five years on the road, in
the studio, and in the practice space, Waterhouse also produced
septuagenarian soul legend Ural Thomas, Los Angeles Latin stars
the Boogaloo Assassins, and garage rockers the Allah-las. He’s
currently collaborating with the likes of young Grammy-nominee
Leon Bridges and Steven Colbert bandleader Jon Batiste. The
Rolling Stones blast Nick’s version of “I Can Only Give You
Everything” at stadiums before they go onstage. Vogue hired him
to pose with Kendall Jenner. He hipped her to Little Willie John
while Anna Wintour complimented his shoes. While a lesser artist
would get lost in these distractions, Nick Waterhouse’s accl
only seems to energize him and make him work harder and push his
music to the next level. Nick’s latest Never Twice is a
culmination, intensification, and realization of everything he’s
been developing throughout this prolific frenzy. Catchier and
loaded with more hits than its predecessors, Nick’s new LP is at
the same time harder hitting, more rhythmic, more harmonic, more
diverse, and more adventurous than any of the excellent work that
already separated him from the pack. A cool and elegant
post-post-modern cocktail of 1950s r&b and club jazz, mixed with
1960s soul and boogaloo, and shaken with a minimal contemporary
sensibility, Never Twice finds the artist taking his time,
refining his vision, and speaking with new authority. In five
short years Nick Waterhouse has come a long way and it looks like
he may have just painted his masterpiece.