Nick Talbot, who recorded music as Gravenhurst, has died, aged 37.
I just read the statement on Warp’s website, from them and his manager, Michelle Hilbourne. It’s here.
Nick and I were’t close; we were acquainted through our work (he a musician, I running a venue) and our outlook on the live music industry at the grassroots level. He played The Luminaire back in 2007, and was later moved to say kind things about us in Time Out. I lecture from time to time, and I used to use a piece he wrote to illustrate a point far more eloquently than I could, about the conditions we found for artists and audiences at small UK venues.
“Like the street cleaner who loathes but depends upon litter for his job, Toilet Venues need you but would really prefer it if you just didn’t exist. You will earn your stripes, you will pay for the privilege and you will promptly fuck off so they can put on a club night after your set.”
The full text is here.
I’ve just been reading back over some of our email conversations, always on the same topics, as we railed against a lack of funding, lack of respect, lack of care and attention, lack of organisation. In one of them he said “We should talk. Maybe we can do something. Can we do something about this? i think we can. Shall we try? I’m angry, you’re angry. We have a platform.”
He was a passionate, righteous human, a great musician, and although I didn’t know him well, I will miss him.
