Nick Waterhouse knows what he likes, and as the old adage goes: “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” Recording entirely in analog on vintage equipment — including an original Muscle Shoals mixer — and performing with beautiful tube amps and old guitars, his attention to detail and historical accuracy pays off. The result is a classic R&B sound that at times is gritty and raw and at others smooth and viscous as warm molasses.
He is a sharp-dressed man, that Waterhouse, adorned in suits and ties, with an angel face framed by horn-rimmed glasses. I imagine he gets constant cliché comparisons to Buddy Holly, but when he and his new group, the Tarots, stepped out on stage for a sold-out show at the Knockout last Saturday, April 30, my first impression of him was of one of those characters in a Daniel Clowes Eightball comic who collects old jazz and soul records — on vinyl. He probably listens to NPR on a Bakelite radio, I thought, albeit a bit snarkily in retrospect. My apologies, Nick.
The vinyl-collecting part is not far from the truth, it turns out. A DJ and regular at any of the many soul parties in San Francisco, like The Make-Out Room’s Lost and Found or the O.G. 1964 at the Edinbugh Castle, Waterhouse clearly knows his stuff, and it should come as no surprise that his uber-knowlege and ear for sound should translate so nicely to his live sets — the music sounds authentic, yet somehow fresh and not dated — backed by a horn-driven band and three beautiful “divas” (that a little bit of Googling identified as The Naturelles) who belt it better than any cheeseball of the same self-declaration ever could.
His debut release, the 45 rpm “Some Place” — performed and recorded with the Turn-Keys, which includes the legendary Ira Raibon on sax — is currently available from Waterhouse’s own Pres Records. You can catch him tonight, Wed/5, performing with his new lineup for live sets, the Tarots, at the Asterisk Magazine anniversary party (see events listings).
Nick Waterhouse, “Some Place”: