MURPHNICK – THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS NICK MURPHY –
RELEASES NEW SINGLE & VIDEO “DOUBLE AGENT” FROM HIS ALBUM STRANGE RIDE
NEW MUSIC FROM THE BELOVED MELBOURNE MUSICIAN & FORMER CO-SINGER/SONGWRITER FOR THE ANYONES,
WHO WAS FORCED TO CHANGE HIS PROFESSIONAL NAME FOR REASONS HINTED AT IN HIS PREVIOUS SINGLE “FAKIN IT”
“Nick Murphy is a talented man. He has recorded an album of stunning harmonic depth, divine orchestration and a gentle humanity.” – Toby Martin, Youth Group
“Such great singing and writing and playing. Shit, that’s not easy to do. Of course, it is easy for people to record and so many do but not many have Nick’s talents.” – Dave Graney
“(Murphy) has the melodic and instrumental gifts to match his transistor radio dreams and a voice that is pure enough to sing multiple rings around them” – The Age
Out today, “Double Agent” is the new single and video by Murphnick, the artist formerly known as NIck Murphy, co-founder and former co-singer-songwriter of much-loved Melbourne pop psych outfit The Anyones.
“Double Agent” is the second single from Strange Ride, a collection of songs heavily influenced by country rock, folk and soul, and referencing the likes of The Byrds, Stones, Beatles, Delfonics, Neil Young, Television and Pavement.
Nick says “Double Agent” was “loosely based on travelling alone through Asia when I was 19, meeting a friend from Denmark and having a ball.” And then it “turned into an espionage story…”
Strange Ride is also the first album Nick has released under his new name. The name change wasn’t something Nick wanted to undertake; it was something he was ultimately forced to do after the artist formerly known as Chet Baker, in 2016, reverted to his birth name, which also happens to be Nick Murphy.
Says our Nick of the name change: “(The other Nick Murphy) originally became Chet because of me. Friends and fans of his were attending my shows, seeing the wrong Nick. His transition back to being NM came with a big publicity push, online and on the street. He was everywhere. Images of him were next to my songs online, and before I knew it, I had been removed from a famous online music platform. My legal options were limited. I was lost to the determinations of dominant search engines, no one could find me.”
Hence, Nick Murphy became Murphnick.
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Before beginning his solo career, Nick Murphy had firmly established his reputation as a key founding member and songwriter for The Anyones, who toured the US and Australia with the likes of The Killers, The Vines, Jet, Sloan, Morrissey, The Music, Youth Group, Dallas Crane, You Am I, Even and more on the back of two highly acclaimed and internationally-released albums.
Nick released his debut solo album, Breaking The Light in 2006, and a second record, What’s In Your Mind? in 2011. Both records received wide critical acclaim, received lots of airplay on ABC and community radio as well as TV shows such as Home & Away, Neighbours and Tripping Over. Meanwhile, Nick’s solo bands toured the country with such local heroes as Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males, The Gin Club, Even, Ross McLennan and The New World Orchestra, Screamfeeder & 78 Saab.
After releasing the intimate, singer-songwriter album What’s In Your Mind?, Nick Murphy became a bit of a hired gun, helping out various buddies including Chris Altmann, Mia Dyson, Luke Sinclair, Ben Mason, Liz Stringer, Ross McLennan, Davey Lane, Ash Naylor and Suzannah Espie. Musically he found himself straddling the sounds coming from both sides of the Atlantic, both Americana and English rock, and hankering to again record something that sounded like a rock band.
By 2017, and hoping to put aside the trauma of his lost identity, Nick had a big swag of tunes demoed and ready to record. Drifting back to listening to much more Americana music, Nick was writing songs heavily influenced by country rock, folk and soul. A second big batch of songs came from Nick’s love of more European sounds, as well as daydreamy cinematic soundscapes. After culling and selecting the best, the final collection of material was an eclectic group of tunes with a prevailing sound of psychedelia and the early ‘70s. Uniting the new material with everything else he’s ever recorded is a love of melody and vocal harmonies, two elements which would take pride of place on what would become Strange Ride.
Having decided local studio wiz’s Marcel Borrack & Tim Harvey were the best team for the job, Nick was able to utilize some of Melbourne’s finest musicians, with a considerable cast adding cello, violin, piano, alto sax and harmonies. The initial drum sessions were completed in drummer, Al Barden’s basement, engineered by Marcel. Later sessions were recorded at Pow Wow, the studio run by Marcel and Tim.
Whilst stamping his own distinctive sound upon the material, Nick’s tragic obsession with this early ‘70s era can be heard in the many iconic references which are apparent on the album; references to songs such “Draft Morning” and “Wasn’t Born To Follow” by The Byrds, “Moonlight Mile”, “Winter”, “100 Years Ago” and “Shine A Light” by The Stones, “Yer Blues” by The Beatles, “Moonage Daydream” by Bowie, “Everybody’s Talkin’” by Fred Neil, the theme to Rosemary’s Baby, “Should I Take You Home” by Sunny & The Sunliners, “Didn’t I Blow Your Mind” by The Delfonics, “Marquee Moon” by Television, “Rattled By The Rush” by Pavement, “Down By The River” and “Cortez The Killer” by Neil Young.
Nick’s lyrics, not surprisingly, tell stories of loss, abandonment and mistaken identity, and, like so much classic pop, echo the yearning of childhood dreams.
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Photographer and Editor/Founder of AllMusicMagazine.com. My love of live music has taken me to incredible experiences with the top bands of all time in stadium shows to the smallest venues with equally inspiring musicians. Using the medium of photography and my publication, these memories will last forever.
