Nick McCabe
| Nick McCabe | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Nicholas John McCabe |
| Born |
14 July 1971 Haydock, Lancashire, England |
| Genres |
Alternative rock Psychedelic rock Shoegaze |
| Instruments | Guitar, keyboards, accordion, autoharp, piano. |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Labels |
Hut Virgin |
| Associated acts | The Verve, Black Submarine |
Nicholas "Nick" John McCabe (born 14 July 1971) is an English musician best known as the lead guitarist of The Verve.
McCabe is the son of a bus driver father and a social worker mother and has two older brothers, Alan and Paul. When asked what it was that inspired him to become a guitarist, he answered: "That was me, I just got a guitar, and I could play a few things on it, and I liked messing with it, and I liked making my own things up." He attended Haydock High School, and later met Richard Ashcroft at Winstanley College. Ashcroft described McCabe's guitar playing as sounding like "a whole other universe"; the two briefly played in a band whilst at college. After leaving college, McCabe began a career as a quantity surveyor. He later recalled: "I hated it. I used to sit there all day scribbling in my pad thinking about guitar sounds." He gave this up to be part of The Verve along with Ashcroft, Simon Jones and Peter Salisbury.
McCabe was generally an aloof member, being involved in relatively few interviews. Tensions and power struggles between McCabe and Ashcroft would later cause the band's dissolution. The first break-up happened in 1995 when Ashcroft left after the band's second album, A Northern Soul. Shortly thereafter Ashcroft reformed the band without McCabe, replacing him with Simon Tong. McCabe returned home to work on his own music and spend time with his daughter until Ashcroft asked him to return in 1997, for the band's third album, Urban Hymns. Despite the album's success, McCabe left in 1998, and although The Verve continued touring without him, the band later split for the second time in early 1999.
In early 2007, McCabe made peace with Ashcroft, and the band reunited. A new album, Forth, was released in 2008. However, the band broke up again in 2009.
Following The Verve's split in 1999, McCabe kept a relatively low profile. In 2001, he played on "Walking Home" for John Martyn's album, On the Cobbles. In 2002, he played on "Lost Broadcast" for Faultline's album Your Love Means Everything. In 2004, McCabe's remix of The Music's song "The People" appeared on their single "Freedom Fighters". In March 2009, following the death of Martyn, McCabe discussed Martyn's music and the experience of working with him in an interview with Mojo.
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