When you're blowin' in the wind, take a look my friend - It's The Bottom EP.

Of all the songs I’ve written and rewritten over the years, none has been done more than “The Bottom.”

I originally wrote “The Bottom” in 2005, shortly before moving to New York City for the first time. I was fresh out of college and ready for something new. I was transitioning into being a “singer/songwriter” after years of mainly playing in bands. When I first moved to NYC, I played just about every open mic there was to play across all 5 boroughs. Of the handful of songs I performed at those shows, I played “The Bottom” at nearly all of them. Because of its dramatic nature, it became a crowd favorite, and I often closed with it.

For most songs I’ve written, once they are recorded and played live a few times, that’s where the story ends. Over time, however, this song seemed to take on a life of its own. I began working with a producer in NYC who became a great mentor. One of the first things we did together was a radically different arrangement of “The Bottom.” When I moved back to Tennessee to find a band, my rock side came out again for another arrangement. Back in NYC, I revisited my softer acoustic side with my friend Renato Buchert adding piano for a different spin. In Nashville for a second time, I reworked “old faithful” into yet another arrangement for my band’s debut album, “Plunge.” I then reworked that (and all of the other songs on that album) for my solo work “Unplunged.” I've even used pieces of it in other songs (most recently I used the middle section in "Suicide Dive" off my band's 2018 Sink or Swim album). And in 2020, when this idea began to formulate, I decided there needed to be a new version to bring it all together.

Listening to all of these versions back-to-back, I can hear nearly my entire career in one song. Spanning 15 years from the original demo to the most recent version, it does sum up a lot of what I’ve done, and who I’ve been in that time. I hear the young kid in his mid-20s with a chip on his shoulder and everything to prove. And I hear what’s happened to that kid after hitting the bottom over, and over, lol.

I know what some must be asking themselves right now - “Why would I want to listen to 8 versions of the same song in a row?” Well, think of it as looking at 8 different pictures of yourself or someone you love from different ages, places and times. Every picture tells its own story. Every version of this song is actually quite different. There are different instruments, arrangements, feels, voices, even lyrics. (Some versions cut out the dramatic middle section, while I never could decide whether to say “thoughts” or “faults of an old generation” in the pre-chorus). And, though I sequenced this album mostly chronologically, it actually flows perfectly from soft to heavy, and back again. This isn’t even all there is. There are several discarded demo versions, a stab at a “Country version,” and I’m sure there will be more in the future. There’s been a discussion about the need for a “Funk version.” I'll probably be playing "The Bottom" on my death bed. But for now, I think I’ll let “The Bottom” rest for a while. Just when you think you’ve hit the bottom…

Tracks:

The Bottom (2020 Version) - When I decided to release all the different versions of this song as one album, I knew I needed to record another. And with everything that transpired in 2020, the world NEEDS “The Bottom,” whether most folks blowin’ in the wind know it or not… I wanted to go for a “stripped-down” feel here to fit the times. A military-style drum beat sets a solemn tone, and I added some nice string sounds. One difference in this version is that I changed the key from A to F. I no longer feel the need to yell the lyrics. I keep the chords steady throughout, aside from the solo section, which features a cool octave fuzz guitar. I’m also proud of the mix, something I’ve worked on a lot over the past year. Like the original demo, it was recorded in my hometown of Knoxville, TN, a full circle of the Bottom. Overall, though it’s the newest version, it may be my favorite.

The Bottom (Original Demo 2005) - I was pleasantly surprised by this version, along with some of the other older incarnations. I expected to be more embarrassed with myself, because of my voice or guitar playing or whatever. But the main thing I hear here is my enthusiasm. I recorded this in the upstairs bathroom of my parents’ house in Knoxville, TN. Fresh out of college, I was ready to “step off the ledge” into something new, though I didn’t know what just yet. Eventually, that “something new” would be New York, and I would fly into it like a full force gale. I played this song at nearly every stage I played on throughout Manhattan and the outer boroughs. It became one of my most-requested songs.

The Bottom (Den of Darkness Version 2006) - After playing around the city for a while, I met a producer named Robert Khozouri, who went under the name of Kaptain K. He was the first real producer I’d ever met, and he became a mentor to me and some of my other songwriter friends at that time. Working with him was an invaluable experience, and I grew as an artist exponentially. This recording was a momentous occasion in our relationship because it was the first of one of my songs that we worked on together. Prior to that, we’d recorded some jams and experimental stuff, and I’d played guitar on some things for other artists. We did this after a night of partying late into the night, and I think he may have “tricked” me into it. We never discussed recording this song beforehand; we simply started working on a chord progression, and then he casually suggested I try singing “The Bottom” over it. It worked. The song developed into a really cool soundscape that had the kind of space-y Pink Floyd/Radiohead vibe that we both loved. Some of my friends were angry after hearing this because they thought he “changed” my song and they liked the way it was. But everyone who heard it with open ears was blown away, and it’s always been one of my all-time favorite recordings. I didn’t release it for years out of respect to Rob, but he was fully supportive of this idea, and since neither of us are likely to make any money off it at this point, I figured it was time to let it out of the den. (Btw I jokingly called his studio the “Den of Darkness” because it was always so low-lit.)

The Bottom (Rock Bottom 2007 version) - After failing to find steady work to sustain a living in NYC, I moved back to TN and set my sights on finding a band in Nashville. I mostly played solo in the city, so it was good to be able to play with other people again. I began auditioning different players, and eventually settled on a bassist and drummer that were both pro-level players. Since I wanted to be as professional as possible myself, I made charts and recorded demos for most of my songs. This version is from a demo I made of the arrangement I wanted to perform with the band. I was using Pro Tools at this point (another area Rob helped me in tremendously) and programmed all the drums using another program called Reason. Long story short, the band (and my time in Nashville) ended up being short-lived, so we never got to record a proper album as I intended. I do have a recording of us doing this song in a rehearsal, but overall I felt like this version sounded better and represents what I was going for at the time.

The Bottom (Piano Duo Version 2010) - I moved back to the city in 2008, finally gained steady employment and started playing acoustic shows again. I made a lot of new friends in my new neighborhood of Washington Heights, played lots of shows up there and even ran my own open mic at one point. While I was there, I shared an apt. with my friend Abram Kaplan, who also played classical guitar. I enjoyed playing his so much that I eventually bought my own, albeit a much cheaper one than his. I used that guitar on this toned-down version, and brought in my longtime friend Renato Buchert to add piano. By this point he had made the same move from Knoxville to NYC, though I think we still recorded this remotely. Though I was back to playing more acoustic shows, I still wanted to have a band, and experimented with different lineups. Renato was a part of many of those. I never found the ultimate combination, but such is life.

The Bottom (Plunge Version 2015) - In 2012 I left NYC for a second time and eventually moved to Nashville, again, in 2013. I moved for many reasons - the weather, the “daily cycles that we all face” in NYC, and general homesickness - but the main reason for the move was that I felt I wasn’t playing enough guitar. My “day job” had provided financial stability and enabled me to survive in NYC, but not thrive. And though I did play a lot of live music in NYC and was able to do a lot of cool things, I didn’t do it nearly enough and I almost never got paid for it. I began to think about what I really wanted in life. It wasn’t to sit in an office all day only to ride the subway home in freezing weather. So I moved to Music City and began to try to establish myself as a “professional guitar player.” I began getting gigs fairly quickly, and eventually got more steady gigs on Broadway and weekend road gigs. This too grew tiresome though as I longed to play more meaningful and original music. So I decided once again to try my hand at forming my own band. Picking from an assortment of players I’d had chemistry with on cover gigs, I came upon a power trio with Rory Faciane on drums and Doug “Mug” Swanson on bass. It turned out to be great timing, because around that same time I also got a residency for a weekly gig at the National Underground downtown. Though we mostly played covers at these gigs, they allowed us to really gel as a band and form our own sound. Soon, I got inspired and started to write material with these guys in mind to record an album. I used some riffs that I’d had laying around for years, as well as completely new tunes. Of course, I thought of “The Bottom.” At this time I was really getting back into the music that I loved when I first began playing guitar. This included a lot of Grunge and Alternative from Seattle and elsewhere in the early 90s. I reworked “The Bottom” with this aesthetic in mind, keeping the key in A but dropping the low E to D for an extra sludge-y, Cobain-ish sound. It fit in perfectly with the vibe of the rest of the album, which was called “Plunge.” It still sounds badass today.

The Bottom (Unplunged Version 2016) - I must be eternally restless, because a year after releasing “Plunge,” I decided to rework all of those tunes into solo acoustic versions. I was proud of the songs, but I wanted a way to play them by myself, as well. Since “The Bottom” started out as an acoustic song, I wanted to do something completely different. I changed the key to D, used a looper to create a drone, and sang the lyrics in more of a monotone talking voice. I also put a vocal mic through a Space Echo delay pedal and a tube amp to create a completely different voice. There’s layers of weird, reversed guitars, as well. The result is definitely the most “avant-garde” version of “The Bottom,” but I still find it very listenable. Listen to it in the dark. On second thought, probably don’t…

The Bottom (Live at CBGB 2006) - We close with a live version, because this was a song that evolved a lot live, as well. As cool as the more fleshed-out arrangements are, this was a song that was born as a solo piece, and in some ways that’s how it is most powerful. It wasn’t originally meant to play to a set time - it speeds up and slows down as the song demands. Only a solo performance can capture that. There were several to choose from, including one from a 2009 gig in London that was also quite good, but I decided to go with an earlier version from the venerable CBGB club in NYC. I was part of a group of songwriters that had a weekly gig at a club called the Underground, which was uptown in the Morningside Heights neighborhood. It’s where I met Rob, and most of my best songwriter friends in NYC, including Daniel Wayne, James Terrell, Erin Sax and Megan Jean. The “leader” of this night was a guy named Mountjoy, and to this day he’s one of the craziest people I’ve ever met. Think “Cousin Eddie” with a speed habit. As crazy as he was, though, he was effective - up to a point. Somehow he was able to move this residency from uptown to downtown at one of New York’s most famous clubs. Though at this point it was no longer what it once was, the excitement we had to play these shows was through the roof. Several of us felt like we were on the precipice of something. Looking back, maybe it was the Abyss. Or the Bottom. But we had enthusiasm, and that made these shows feel really special. Though we were all friends, we were also competitive, and wanted to outdo each other. One night I played a bit of everyone else’s songs, just to show I could do it. At nearly every show, I would close with “The Bottom.” This night, for some reason, I decided to come out swinging and opened with it. At this point I had been playing solo gigs for a while, and wanted to figure out a way to show off my guitar skills more in that context. I didn’t have a looper pedal, so I couldn’t solo over a progression, so I just put the solo before the song. Here I’m using an octave pedal - the Digitech Whammy/Wah - that I’d had since high school. The energy in my voice and playing is palpable, and that’s how I was in those days. I was on my own in a big city for the first time, and I wanted to show the world what I was capable of. I really felt like I could be “discovered” at any moment and that I had to put maximum energy into every single performance. Luckily most of the performances were only 3-4 songs at a time.

Over the years I think I’ve learned to harness that energy better, and I’ve learned that there’s no talent scout “savior” out there waiting to discover me like in a movie. I’ve grown a lot and I think I’m a much better musician and artist than I was then, but looking back I have to admire young Nick’s energy and unwavering enthusiasm. Time has changed many things about the world and me, but I hope I can always retain that original spark. It’s what made me want to play. It’s always been there. And it’s because of that that I know no matter how many times I hit the bottom, I always get back up…