_ page 1i - March 1 9,

By GUILLERMO LAM

Nic Nicol. No, it isn’t a typographical mistake.

That’s his. name, and it’s as unusual as’ what he
has done. —

Last January the blond-
bearded, blue-eyed Nicol of
North Vancouver, hopped
‘aboard a jet bound for Japan.
. He was to confront what his
friends labelled a mission
impossible. .

‘Armed with a 6-inch reel to
reel recording tape of ballads |
and rock and roll songs, he
was determined to win a
contract. with a Japanese
recording company for his
group called “‘Pacific Rim’’
made up of semi-professional
musicians.

Nicol says he is aware of

the competitive market for
musicians in Canada, so it
isn’t hard to understand why
the enterprising vocalist (he
plays: no instrument, and
claims only to be a shi..y
guitarist) opted for a Japan-
ese market.

There, ‘‘respectfully dres-
sed’’ in a sports jacket,
Nicol, 36, strutted into’ the
crowded office of ‘“Tokuma
Musical Industries’’ in (TMI)
in downtown Tokyo.

FLUENT JAPANESE

There were lots of people.
inside and there were posters

Come t

oO

duced himself and said:

Sings, writes in Japanese

of Japanese artists all over

the wall,”’ Nicol . remembers.

In fluentJapanese which
‘took the clerk by surprise,
the Welsh-born singer intro-

‘“‘T have some music here

that I wrote in Japanese,’’ he
said convincingly. Nicol was
introduced to the studio’s
director.

“‘T went with the director
into the listening room.’’ As
the tape unwound on the
recorder the unusual sounds
of two hudred beluga whales,
which Nicol recorded earlier
during a whaling expedition,
echoed inside the room. The
directur stopped the recorder
shortly after, and left the

‘room.

ROCK AND ROLL

‘‘Was it a futile effort?’’,
Nicol: asked himself, as he
stared at the demonstration
tape, containing ballads and
rock and roll. Among them
were. two songs about
whales, both of which Nicol
says he wrote from personal
experiences, He has worked

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. “The director returned to
the listening room,” conti-
nues Nicol, ‘‘this time he had

the studio’s head honcho

guaranteed cleaning

~

sing ex Nic Nicol listens to demonstration hours before hk to.
master tape to be sent over to Tokyo for pressing [G. ™ tape © was to cut the

with him.’’ Of the eight

songs they heard the men

accepted the two. whale

7 songs.

“My first reaction?’’ I was

really happy. I knew the guys

ry

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~

Adrian Duncan, ‘‘musical
genius’’ and arranger; Fred
Koch, base; Ed. Cherry,
drums; Brian Barrington,
lead guitar -- wanted to know
too. I said if only I could get
to the phone and teil ‘them
right away. But I didn’t. I
waited till I returned to give
them the good news.

N DOORS

wWwarnews ON
RALN UA ur

‘‘When I went over to
Japan I was prepared to
knock on many decors.
Strangely enough the first
company that gave us our
two-year contract was the
first one I walked into,”
Nicol says.

Several times during the
interview, held only a: few
hours befoe he was to cut his
first Japanese song, Nicol
muttered, with a far away

look in his eyes: “Tonight’s
the big night. ”

According to the contract
the group will record the
songs at Total Sounds West
recording studio in Van-
couver. The Tokyo studio has

given Nicol’s group an

undisclosed sum of money to

cover recording costs: The
recording then will be sent to
Japan, where copies will be

CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

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