Get in touch.........cuttingcrew2008@gmail.com "as fragile as Damien Rice, as honest as REM and as stirring as Starsailor...Cutting Crew live is the big surprise of the year"**** FutureRock Downtown/JKH Please click on this link for full press kit/biography/discogaphy for download: cuttingcrewpresskit2007 ..........and if you do not find an image suitable for your needs then please go to our photo gallery site on main page or for 100's more then click here: PLEASE NOTE THIS LINK IS BEING UPDATED AND WILL BE AVAILABLE SOON..APOLOGIES.
Broadcast: By Michael Sutton Cutting Crew never deserved the hacking they received from critics. Music reviewers lined up to throttle Cutting Crew's debut album, Broadcast, when it was released in 1986. The slick guitar rock on Broadcast may not have wowed the rock & roll intelligentsia, but it's a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, an underrated collection of simple, heartfelt love songs and up-tempo pop that reside between the stylistic boundaries of new wave and mainstream rock. "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" and "I've Been in Love Before" immediately thrust Cutting Crew onto the U.S. charts; however, both songs aren't sufficient in summing up Broadcast's appeal. Nick VanEede's soulful croon is mesmerizing on "Any Colour" and "Sahara"; instead of bludgeoning the microphone with vocal histrionics common to late '80s rock, VanEede is thankfully restrained, imbuing every track with ample emotion. "Any Colour" should've been Cutting Crew's third hit, a moving tale of loneliness that easily draws the listener in, while the lovely "Sahara" captures the subtleties critics claimed Cutting Crew wasn't capable of. "One for the Mockingbird" and "Life in a Dangerous Time" are armed with stellar hooks. Cutting Crew somehow manages to incorporate guitar solos with the propulsive rhythms of U2 and the Fixx and the moody angst of Tears for Fears without sounding forced. Broadcast is not a creative breakthrough; it's simply an LP absent of any filler. The Scattering: By Michael Sutton By the time Cutting Crew released their second album in 1989, they were viewed as irrelevant by both critics -- who always despised them anyway -- and the fickle public that elevated "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" and "I've Been in Love Before" onto the pop charts two years earlier. The cold shoulders which welcomed The Scattering were most likely due to the lack of immediately catchy songs; nevertheless, while The Scattering doesn't have ear candy like the band's hit singles, the music is less-blatantly commercial and more personal. It's still slick stuff -- big '80s synthesizers, glossy FM radio guitars, in-your-face drums -- but Nick VanEede's vocals have a frosty glow that creates a mood and sustains interest. (The resemblance of his voice to Rob Dickinson's of Catherine Wheel has yet to be acknowledged.) "Big Noise" and "(Between A) Rock and a Hard Place" aren't as heavy as their titles suggest; however, they sound great on the highway, as guitarist Kevin Macmichael lets it rip without pounding the listener into submission -- something the grunge groups who permanently jettisoned bands such as Cutting Crew from AOR stations in the '90s enjoyed doing. The Scattering will probably seem dated to anyone who isn't an '80s enthusiast, but it's tasty nostalgia for people who remember the decade fondly. Cutting Crew were obviously infatuated with the arena-sized riffs of U2 and Big Country, and while the group doesn't reach those bands' creative heights, hook-packed material such as "Everything but My Pride" and "Tip of Your Tongue" finds them walking tall.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Nick van Eede of Cutting Crew..has so many cool tunes here....great arrangements and voice as soaring and melodic as expected. Buy it Buy it Buy it!!! USA
Independent Syndicated Review ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rating
7/10 Classic Rock Magazine ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GRINNING
SOULS by CUTTING CREW Cutting Crew's Nick van Eede... whose blend of captivating Rock, mellow interludes and bitter-sweet melodies dictate the flow of this enchanting debut album. Propelled by a wealth of instrumentation and Nick's vocals, they sail effortlessly into the realms of audible class governed by the likes of Franz Ferdinand and White Stripes - different styles ok, but same class. Mark Deakin - Insight Magazine ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rating
4/5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GRINNING SOULS/CUTTING CREW **** The new band is a breath of fresh air & the CD is full of hooky pop tunes that jump to life. The vibrant playing energizes van Eede’s tunes, and he sounds like he’s having fun. The disc is full of sly pop influences. One standout track is “Understudies” pulsing with pop-rock energy. Adam Dowling’s drumming and Shehab Illyas’s bass lock-in tight while the soaring keys and grinding guitars electrify the track. ….Van Eede is still a big league singer and the energy from the band lifts everything to a higher plain. He finds a motivational message in GetupandGetoverit: ‘If you want it, you can have it, If you want it get up and get over it.’ Terry Brown, who produced The Driver’s album 20 years ago, reunites with van Eede for this project. The sound is vibrant and effortless, shifting direction with in the nimble arrangements. Acoustic piano and swirling Hammond organ provide a strong counterpoint to Asif Illyas’s always-tasty guitar playing. …but what’s most impressive is the depth of his song writing and arranging, creating lush sound textures. The track Grinning Souls has an ELO vibe, with a quietly rattling guitar and organ, while van Eede turns in an outstanding vocal!! Sandy McDonald HFX MUSIC April 2005 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cutting Crew/Grinning Souls CD Through the late summer and autumn two important figures of '70's and '80's rock music world turned up secretly in Halifax to record the first album of new songs by a chart-topping musical artist in over a decade.The artist was Nick van Eede; his producer none other than Rush and Blue Rodeo seasoned Toronto recordist Terry Brown. Ten years after the final Cutting Crew album and one year since the untimely passing of his Halifax-born-and-based musical partner Kevin MacMichael, the powerful singer, songwriter and guitarist is returning to the arena where he scored a worldwide #1 hit in the second half of the 1980's. Nick rose initially to fame with a scrappy post-new-wave trio called The Drivers. While touring Canada he met Kevin MacMichael, a fixture on the East Coast music scene who had specialized in Beatlesque pop in his widely popular band Fast Forward. Nick convinced MacMichael to make the big leap over to England for a new recording project called Cutting Crew. Signed to the new Virgin Records offshoot Siren Records, the band's lush but hard-driving single (I Just) Died In Your Arms took to the airwaves right around the world, reaching number one in at least 18 countries. The band's first album Broadcast sold promisingly in Europe, North America and in selected Asian markets. Tours, videos, several more hits including One For The Mockingbird and I've Been In Love Before, and two full-length successor albums along with several best-of compilations followed, making Cutting Crew something of an international sensation. When the group's run was finally over by the mid-90's, Nick moved into songwriting and touring with groups like Marillion and Simple Minds while MacMichael played with Robert Plant before eventually returning to Halifax for a less frenzied and more stable life. The two remained fast friends. Sadly, a few years ago, Kevin MacMichael was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Nick assisted in a massive fund-raising concert put on by Kevin’s friends in Halifax in the fall of 2003. Kevin finally passed away on December 31st, 2003; six months later Nick had solidified his plans to get back into the recording game with an album of at least eleven new songs. He contacted his old producer Terry Brown, a fixture himself in both the British, Canadian and world music scenes for producing the first twelve albums by progressive metal legends Rush along with the first landmark Blue Rodeo album, was ready to take up the challenge. Booking a studio in Halifax--first to cut demonstration tapes of the songs with the local pop group MIR--Brown and van Eede ended up in the same facility from August to November last year, even enduring the delights of Hurricane Juan which brought the city to a complete halt in the final few days of September 2003. His new album has a brash, organic feel that comes from recording live with a band rather than layering tracks over electronically-triggered rhythm textures. In a letter to a fan-run Cutting Crew Web site, he admits to not using click tracks or electronic metronomes of any sort. Consequently, there's a terrific dynamic to the group sound on the album that harkens back to the post-punk days of his former group, The Drivers. Ranging from lush pop to hard-driving political rock, the eleven songs see him in full control of his considerable musical powers. The owner of a ten-carat set of pipes, Nick’s voice is one the most remarkable in the contemporary pop world, able to handle anything from delicate balladry to full-out-screaming rock. Some of the songs on the new record rank with the finest he's ever recorded; even the titles (Shot of Democracy, Silhouette, Apparent Depth, Understudies, No Problem Child, Left of Heaven) seethe with a rare intelligence and integrity that should go far to re-establish him as a musical force to be reckoned with. Ron Foley Macdonald 2005 Halifax/Canada |
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The Ecstatic Farce by Nick (2004) Cornered, I knew I'd eventually get asked to write something for the site. I was trying to dodge it & say I was too busy, overseeing the artwork or mastering. But they finally cornered me and so here goes. I'm not so much awkward about my previous, it's just that I've been shuffling around in this fickle old business for around thirty years; so I'll try to be respectful, candid, but most important BRIEF! School I went to the coolest school (Imberhorne in East Sussex). The first of those trendy new Comprehensive schools that were replacing the old grammar and secondary. I had young and progressive English & Drama teachers and was given the opportunity at 14 to write and sing the narrative songs for the self-written school productions & and more important, most folk didn't think they were shite. Confidence can be a dangerous ally but at least I got an early glimpse of what really turned me on in life & apart from the obvious teenage pursuits. The inevitable school band was born: Twice Bitten, with Nick Muggridge, George Brinkhurst, Pete Birch & Steve Boorer. We wrote our own stuff and clumsily wedged it in between frantic Small Faces and obscure Free covers &!!!. But I was at least staying up far too late and hanging with older, cooler guys who gave me so much encouragement & in spite of my guitar playing! Chas Next. Big break. Signed to Chas Chandler's recording empire. Chas had earned his fame and fortune through a remarkable list of credentials. As bass player with The (brilliant) Animals & finder / producer / manager of J. Hendrix Esq. and then 70's record mogul who groomed and delivered to the world the awesome Slade. Within days (honest) of my signature I was touring Poland with the lads from Wolverhampton & from playing to 50 locals a night in the Sussex pubs to 12,000 (apparently) adoring Poles overnight. Now that's what I call a step up the ladder. It was all beginning to make sense and at the age of 20 I was gigging with the likes of the inimitable David Essex & the Jam, standing on stage at Wembley Arena & & and not a soul in the audience knew who I was! I had released four flop singles, done countless interviews, but here I was signing autographs from Glasgow to Warsaw & just so at least they could learn my name! The ecstatic farce had begun. Drivers The Drivers were a super-tight three piece band from Sussex, UK. Three skinny Brits & fans of XTC, the Police, the Stones, who had an uncanny knack of filling every pub and club they played in & right up to sell out nights at the Marquee in London. Steve Boorer was my old mate from school and Twice Bitten. He was the perfect rock / feel drummer, with tons of energy & he also sang all the high bits (mostly in tune). Mak Norman played the most solid, melodic bass lines I'd ever heard. He almost played his own tunes within our songs, and crucially, had the same sense of humour as me. We literally churned out the songs, hardly ever played a cover and it was undoubtedly the happiest time of my musical life. It was all sweat, sex, and so easy, and we were (again, apparently) making good money at the doors. Drongo our roadie would walk into the pub kitchens (our dressing rooms) after each gig with a bagful of fivers. We were rich for young guys and blew it all on girls and guitars. It was effortless and quite cool for three Sussex hicks. Titles like After Gdansk, Finchley Girl, Stolen Treasure, and the soon to be, mini-hit, Tears on your Anorak, cemented our minor place in that special department of the kitsch British new wave scene. Bernie Did you hear about the one-eyed, one-legged Jewish attorney from Toronto who walked into a bar (The Shelley Arms) and changed all that and my life forever? Signed, sealed and delivered, Bernie Solomon flew us to Toronto to record our album Short Cuts with Rush producer Terry Brown. We shot videos and flew into every major city in Canada to press the flesh and eat cocktail food. Anorak went top ten & it was still sweat, more sex and even easier & and this time touring in feckin' Canada & But outside of that beautiful country and the pubs and clubs of London and the South East, I ask you, had anyone really, truthfully heard of us? The ecstasy of the farce continued and I wasn't about to point it out to ‘nobody'. Kevin Backstage in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Drivers' gig. Support band guitarist enters our dressing room. Says he digs the band and what part of Australia do we come from? I ask him his name & Kevin. I ask him his surname &baffled look, he replies, Kevin. That was the day I met Kevin Kevin, or MacMichael, as it turned out. Another piece of the jigsaw from the box called life changing moments had just fallen into place. We stared at each other and some unspoken intent sparked between us. That day was the beginning of the end of the Drivers and to all that fun and laughter and pure rock'n roll. Kev moved to England and arrived with his precious L'Arrivee guitar and hand luggage. No suitcase & just the man and his music. We wrote / planned / set deadlines and pretty soon we'd invented Cutting Crew (as we had spent all those first months writing and not gigging, we named the C.C. after a journalist's reference to Queen (no attachment but I loved their early albums)who had ceased touring and spent all their time in the studio & a cutting crew). The Crew Colin Farley was a fab bass player from Surrey. Loads of ideas, tons of experience and very musical. He helped with every aspect of setting up and forming the band and crucially, he knew Frosty. Frosty (Martin Beedle) was a (relative) youngster from Hull, Yorkshire who brought with him hilarity, energy and confidence and was ready to step up to playing rock music, after having played big band music for a few years. My good friend Tony Moore joined as the coolest keyboard player, and there you have it. Kevin & I wrote 7 songs, the boys added a few others, and within the year we had a Number 1 hit single all over the world & the ecstatic farce continued. After all those years of chipping away at the music business, it wasn't supposed to happen like this & not so fast and furious. I never complained (obviously) but we were like frightened rabbits on those first Top of the Pops and Johnny Carson shows. All those years of waiting and suddenly you're not prepared & not that big & not now & maybe in a few months time??? All hell broke loose. It was frantic, painful, and to be honest all a bit of a blur. We gave Richard Branson his first US Number one record for his fledgling Virgin US Record Company. Six years of non-stop travel, pretty awards and the inevitable chemistry lessons!!!! I loved our songs and our gigs, every single one of them. I'd finally invented and steered my band to a position where the whole feckin' world had finally heard us & and it felt &sadly &empty. Frankly, apart from the love of the fans and the support we got from our friends/families and dearest allies in the biz, I found the so-called big time fickle and totally beyond any control. All those (apart from a few glowing exceptions) corporate managers, lawyers and accountants screwing and manipulating you because they had control of the money and contracts &the sad, inevitable, personal rows that sprung up & and then suddenly it was over. Cutting Crew RIP. Non je ne regrette rien!! Watchin' and Waitin' I filled my home with too much studio gear and for 6 years managed, wrote, produced and recorded with a variety of pure talent. Mark Scott (Cher), Julian Dunkley & Andy Mutter (Tar Babies), TJ Davis ( Sash/D:Ream/Gary Numan/Bjorn Again), Dennis Kadmon ( Australian musical genius), Mir ( Canadian multi-award winners), David Brooks (Sugarland), Cathy Burton, Steve Hogarth ( Marillion), Brett Ryan & the inimitable Rick Soanes. Hooked myself a few publishing deals and hilariously, was asked to audition for Genesis, after Uncle Phil had left. I watched my daughter grow into a teenager, and married Nikki. I was happy but knew deep down that all the time I was really watching and waiting. I moved to the Caribbean and re-discovered my love affair for live rock music through Desire and then the fab new band in Barbados>> Kite ®ularly played La Fete de L'Espoir in Geneva and even toured Germany with the Night of the Proms alongside Simple Minds and Foreigner & &I still didn't know what I wanted (for a change) BUT knew I wanted it so bad &. it turned out to be Grinning Souls.
ARCHIVED NEWS:Nick flew out to Berlin in Germany to appear on TV show HITGIGANTEN!!!!! The show airs DEC 4th on SAT1. He sings alongside Paul Young, The Scorpions and Midge Ure. Cool, fun show and free bar afterwards so all was good!!!!! (Some evidence below)
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Nick sang on UK primetime ITV show Hit Me Baby One More Time back in May 2005. "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" and a superb version of Macy Gray's "I Try" were his contribution!! See below for some reaction from the fanZZZ!!
"I
think that Nick Van Eede should have won.
"Didn't he used to be in Chitty Chitty Chiity Bang bang?" TruthSpeaker
"Nooo he was with C Crew,
he was singing last night on that prog...and he can sing!!! LoznCloz I
saw Nick Van Eede on Hit me Baby One More Time on ITV on Saturday and
was blown away by his brilliant voice. How do I find out about UK Tour
dates please? Nick Van Eede offered us a fantastic version of ‘Died in Your Arms Tonight’ which had most people swaying uncontrollably. And when he turned Macy Gray’s ‘I Try’ into nothing short of an awesome ballad, it briefly seemed that Chesney might not be the one and only after all. ITV.COM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22nd April... Nick filming on Brighton Beach for top Norwegian TV Show Gyldne Tider (Golden Years).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Debut gig in Barbados!!! Unplugged set on 17th March and full band gig on the beach 19th March..& some fond memories of two funky & memorable shows... “Nick did some cuts off of his new album… he played the Anti-Bush/Baghdad commentary "Shot Of Democracy" as well as the song for rebellious teens "No Problem Child" (he has an 18 year old daughter in the UK)… he had the audience in the palm of his hand… I now have enough material here for the next three weeks for my newspaper column.” Ian Bourne – journalist & broadcaster. BGI
“Somebody bloody well pinch me for Christ sake because it doesn't get any better than that... the unplugged evening we had - Great music, great vibe, something in the air that night for sure.” Kim– keyboard player.
“Ate fish, swam with fish and drank like a fish. So many memories all roll together to create more of a feeling than anything else. The island really leaves an indelible mark on you far more than anywhere else I’ve been. As I sat for dinner alone one evening, I came to realize that the odd instrument playing in the soca rhythm on the radio was actually a bird in a nearby tree. The bird would chirp a rhythm, in perfect time, along with the song, in the choruses only. I thought it was crazy coincidence until he did it again to the next song! Best meal I ever had” Adam– drummer.
“The trip was fab and the band had the 2000 packed crowd up in arms singing along to brand new material. A gig on the beach with a cool nights breeze…what else could you ask for?” Sheba– bass player. "my biggest musical memory…well, Nick's rendition of Silhouette at the acoustic show was breathtaking…it gave me goose bumps, the life that he breathed into that song was incredible." Carl-- sound engineer
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OOO I just died in your arms tonight.MMM MMMM MMM 
Yum
yum, He was soooo sexy back in the 80's and didn't look too bad last
night 
Brill!!
if he comes to Brighton I'll be there LOL!"
