Review Fix Exclusive: Nemo James Talks ‘The Minstrel’

November 4, 2015 Patrick Hickey Jr. Music 0

Review Fix chats with guitarist and vocalist Nemo James, who discusses his new album, “The Minstrel.”

Combining elements of classic folk and the type of acoustic guitar work that made people the likes of Jim Croce and James Taylor household names, Nemo James’ “The Minstrel” is a warm, yet beefy collection of 17 tracks that has its share of hits and misses, but never lacks polish and heart.

A former studio guitarist, James walked away from that world in order to focus on his own music. There’s a level of poetic beauty to a variety of tracks as James’ writing ability, combined with smooth guitar licks make for some tracks (The Poet and Marie are great examples of this) that draw the ears in and create their own world around the words. In a world encompassed by music with filler and pizzazz added in the studio, it’s obvious that he’s a natural talent.

That heart on the sleeve, no strings attached approach is the strongest element of the album. From stories on love and friendship and life, the entire collection feels like a conversation between James and you.

Review Fix: How did you get into music?

Nemo James: If you are a serious musician then you don’t get into music. Music gets into you. You do it because you have to.

Review Fix: How was the album’s title track written?

James: I have no idea. Good songs write themselves and most of the time it is a mystery to me where they come from.

Review Fix: Is there a story behind it?

James: All my songs have stories. In the title track a minstrel speaks to his king for the last time before retiring. He seeks justification for a life spent in a profession some may say is trivial. If you want to know the ending, listen to the song.

Review Fix: How do you want this album to affect people?

James: I would like them to visualize the story I am telling.

Review Fix: How is your live work different from your studio work?

James: When I am playing live the storytelling aspect of my music and the subtlety of my guitar playing creates a real connection with my audience that is difficult to get with recorded music where people are distracted with other things.

Review Fix: Bottom line, why should someone listen to this album?

James: Because it has depth.

Review Fix: What are your goals for this album?

James: I don’t have any. I produced the album  because I had to and I am delighted with the result. That was my only goal.

Review Fix: What’s next?

James: I am doing a concert in December to be televised by Croatian TV.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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