Nic Cester is delighted to announce that he will be playing two very special solo shows in Sydney (The Basement) and Melbourne (The Toff In Town) next month to introduce his forthcoming solo album and band to the world at large.
Best known as the frontman for Australian rock legends Jet, Nic is known for his extraordinary voice, songwriting smarts and powerful stage performances across a ten-year career with one of Australia’s most successful rock exports. Having sold six million albums worldwide, Jet recently re-united for a series of celebrated and celebratory shows with Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band across Australia and New Zealand throughout February and March. Those shows were a timely reminder of just how good Cester’s voice is, and it found him in the best form of his career and ready for more.
Which brings us to today. For the last six years Nic has been living in Berlin, Milan and Como, slowly and meticulously building a new canon of material that maintain the unmistakable blueprint of his songwriting ability and classic voice, while exploring a very different direction. Recording with the celebrated Italian band Calibro 35 and with producer Jim Abbiss (Adele, Arctic Monkeys, Queens Of The Stone Age), Nic’s new material is a mixture of soul, blues and lost Italian soundtrack music that sounds like nothing he’s done before, all the while retaining the melodic gift and knack for arrangements that marked him out as such a prodigious talent.
With his first solo album due for release later in 2017, Nic will introduce his all-Italian band, and his songs with two special shows at venues that allow the band to stretch out and show them in their best light. Cester with his band, consisting of two drummers, bass, keys, horns and guitar, is champing at the bit to get on stage and introduce his new songs in a live setting before releasing anything.
“It feels like the right thing to do with these songs,” says Cester. “Normally you would release music then go and play the songs live, but I like the idea of returning to the source, the live show, to let people who are interested come and hear the songs played with all the energy and human connection that make them come alive. I really want to do things differently to how I’ve done them before and challenge myself and the band, and this feels like a really exciting way to do it.”
Having just returned to the stage with Jet on a high, the chance to see Nic Cester live in two such exclusive settings is not to be missed. Nic will also be performing with his band at Byron Bay’s already announced Bluesfest.
NIC CESTER (JET)
April 2017
Wed 19 Apr – The Toff In Town, Melbourne, VIC (18+)
Thu 20 Apr – The Toff In Town, Melbourne, VIC (18+)
Fri 21 Apr – The Basement, Sydney, NSW (18+)