James Nisbet

About this episode

James grew up surrounded by the business rather than by players. His father ran a publishing company called Feldman's and had worked in Denmark Street since just after the war, back when it was sheet music and somebody at a piano. His mother worked in the publishing department at Apple. The first concert he was taken to was Bob Dylan, the first thing he learned to play was Adam and the Ants, and the first electric guitar was an eighty-pound Les Paul copy bought on the same street his father worked on. There was never a plan B.

What follows is a working session career told without much ceremony. A keyboard player's recommendation got him the Belinda Carlisle gig and he has been doing it on and off for thirty years since. There is Saint Etienne, Kylie, a Lily Allen call he said yes to before he knew what it was, Culture Club with no rehearsal and no soundcheck, and Brit Floyd in front of seven thousand people a night, learned in a fortnight. He is good on what the job actually asks of you. The gear is whatever gets you there quickest, the preparation is the part nobody sees, and the thing you are really paid for is the travelling.

In this episode

Every theme we put to every guest. Jump straight to it in the video.

• 3:10The Road InParents in music publishing, Denmark Street, and a childhood inside the business without a player in the house. Bob Dylan as a first concert, Adam and the Ants as a first song, and an eighty-pound Les Paul copy.
• 7:31The MachineHow the work actually arrives. A recommendation got him Belinda Carlisle thirty years ago, then Saint Etienne, Kylie, Kashmir in front of the Sphinx, and a Lily Allen call he answered before he knew what it was.
• 13:59The GearGear as the tools for the job rather than the favourites. Why there is no amp in a stadium, and Culture Club with no rehearsal, no soundcheck and a modeller.
• 16:32The CraftLearning a set. Chord charts as memory jogs, and the whole Brit Floyd show in a fortnight on three soundchecks, playing Money in unison with the other guitarist.
• 28:03The BodyDrinking far too much then, the gym and sleep now, and why a tour bus gets harder every year. A day that starts at three and finishes at half eleven.
• 29:56The MoneyOne line that reframes the whole job. You are not paid for the gigs, those are the easy part. You are paid for everything in between.
• 31:11The HeadBeing away, and the thing he says he has never seen anyone in this job avoid. Then imposter syndrome, and why getting on with people counts as much as playing.
• 32:38The ReckoningTwo or three creative outlets rather than one, and working with people who force you to raise your game. Plus the jam night that went badly and the year of practice it started.