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Nikolaj Andersen Danish One Man Blues Band A farm in Denmark may sound like the unlikeliest place to find a Blues inspired musician, but it is home to Nikolaj Andersen. His parents, his father a classical pianist, and his mother, both taught him of the folk music of Russia, as well as the folklore of composers such as Bela Bartok. Both of them emphasized strongly how in their view all music derives from, and can be traced right back to the folk music of various countries. As most children do, Nikolaj aspired to play in a band and become a "Superstar." As with most musicians in this country, he discovered rock n' roll and traced its roots back to their beginnings. In so doing, he discovered the idea of creating his own music utilizing things that were readily available to him--wine and cigar boxes. An introduction to an artist who was part of a cigar box revival inspired him to become a one man band, and further research unearthed for him the early Blues of Joe Hill Louis, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Sid Hemphill, Jessie Mae Hemphill, and Jesse Fuller. Nikolaj has recorded two CDs of his music. He may single-handedly spur an interest in one man bands. The basis of his music, the folk music of another country.
You know.. I grew up (and today also) live in a
very rural farming area in Denmark fields: cows,
pigs, chickens and in the spring; summer and autumn,
the sounds of tractors and other machinery with farmers working the fields.
In my childhood home my (Danish) father played
the classical piano and my (Russian) mother introduced me from early childhood
to folk music of Russia, as well as the "classical folklore" of composers like
Bela Bartok, Kodaly and others. Both of them emphasized strongly how in their
view all music derives from, and can be traced right back to the folk music of
various countries.
Later on (like most youngsters) I wanted to play in a band and become a "Superstar" So I started to look into this music (as taught by my parents), trying to research where these rock- and pop bands derive their material. Quite fast it became obvious that a lot of it came from early blues music and blues musicians. ---------------------------------------------- Yes! I believe one could say that this is some kind of outdated, no good, basic approach for me in all areas of my life - If you want something done, do it yourself! Don't expect anybody to do it for you. Or something like that.... ---------------------------------------------- I remember vividly how my younger brother who, at that time, played the piano (very classical - Beethoven, Bach and Mozart) suddenly took up the blues harp and began performing a lot in a kinda "Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee" setup with a guitarist friend. With him I worked my way through all the records we could find at the local library of the blues greats like: Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Rev Gary Davis and many, many more... I guess this has just stayed with me . Unfortunately, my brother died much too young - just 24 years old--after a short time of illness. My most remarkable memory of him and the power of the blues music (which I will keep in my heart forever) was at our high school when he during one of the yearly spring concerts. He made a solo harp stunt -you know-here you had brass bands lined up, the usual four young rocking guys with their telecaster, their expensive drum set, bass and keys ready to impress the waiting crowd - and as the first my kid brother stepped up and announced "I am gonna play for you a little harp the way it was done in the streets a looong time ago, faaaar away from here" And then he launched a harp groove which, within thirty seconds, had the whole audience captivated. Me too. Suddenly he breaks off, and announces*Well that's fine! I was just testing the sound." The audience was just like.."Heyyyy! Don't stop! we want more.. " 
I guess that's what got me started.
I just wanted this feeling of the groove to kinda feel free,
and really touch people with my show and my music.
That's my quest and
nothing does it in the same way as does this early Delta
and hill country blues. This is how it started and has been with me
until this day, and always will.
Now, you perform as
a one-man-band. How did you start? Have
you ever played with, or considered performing
as a member of a band?
Actually I started playing the piano,
and later on, the violin and viola. I have
performed in various bands and orchestras and even played in symphony
orchestras and chamber music - which I actually still do occasionally.
But the one man band idea
came along during a cold Danish winter of 2005 when I read about the cigar box
guitar revival and notably, by "accident,"
came across the homepage of one man
band B.O.M.B (Big One Man Band).
He is definitely NOT what you could call blues,
but then I started going backwards from him, and these two things combined:
the cigar box guitar revival led by Shane Speal,
and B.O.M.B made me discover from the early blues era Joe Hill Louis,
Mississippi Fred McDowell, Sid Hemphill, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Jesse Fuller and
these cats. It all,
once again, fell into place.
They just so strongly again reminded me what I had
experienced and heard my parents tell me before. In
a way this inspired me to kinda combine the two - this,
should we say, slightly Punk rock, Rockabilly,
Psycho Billy "painting outside the lines" of
B.O.M.B,,
and the Country blues masters.
Now, I have never ever
owned a guitar. So,
what I do? The way I
do this is completely self-taught. I seriously doubt that anybody would ever
want me to join their band - I am simply too bad a
musician in this field. I play by my gut feelings
and sing what I feel, and how I feel it should be sung and accompanied.
Right or wrong, it doesn't matter. So and so
many bars and these chords - I don't know. The
one man band setup gives me the perfect form and freedom to do this.
You have/or will shortly, release your
second self-produced CD. Tell us about this release, and what we can expect
to hear.
Well, it's my second
CD. The first one I did in 2007 was called "Cranium
of a One Man Band 2007" It's out of stock now so I felt the time was right to
make a second CD. It's all recorded in my basement
after the kids were put to bed, with just one or two overdubs here and there
for a fiddle. As for the rest, I play everything as if it was a live show.
It's fun to hear these recordings as they always seem to me as a sort of musical "snapshot" of that particular moment. So, one might say that my first CD was kinda like a "budding flower." In this second one, called "Shout & Scream," which is also the title of the #1 track (because that's what I do) the flower starts to open itself and blossoms. You are gonna hear 12 tracks - actually a lot of people might have heard some of them already on my homepage, and MySpace page as I've had four or five tracks there since early February 2009. Some of these tracks have also been featured in podcasts and on internet radio stations as "pre-runs" Anyway...hmm.. twelve tracks, eight of them are my own self penned songs. Then there is this instrumental version of "I'm Glad Salvation is Free" I always play it, at all my live shows. I picked it up watching and listening Jessie Fuller perform it on "Legends of Bottleneck Blues Guitar" - (you probably know the video/DVD). I really like the title...probably going to depend on it when my time comes, as I am not getting particularly wealthy playing music or making CDs the way I do. Then there is the other spiritual "Motherless Children" (Every time I perform it, it reminds me of my mother who died when I was 22) and two ..hrmm well... not really blues but folk tunes with fiddle and foot drums, where I`ve been listening to a lot of cats like Sid Hemphill, Tampa Joe and Macon Ed and really trying to hit the rugged sounds and ambience of this rusty, ragged folk feel - dunno if I succeeded, but lord knows I tried.  Many of the instruments you play are unique
in so much as they are self-made. Tell us about your musical instruments;
what do you play and how you go about building and creating these instruments.
I can state that I play the violin and the
balalaika (which is a Russian three stringed folk
instrument), but inspired by the cigar box guitar movement initiated and led by
Shane Speal, amongst others.
I read about these cigar box guitars and said to myself: "Well, just
three strings is fine with me. I can manage to play
that!" So I built myself two 3 stringed Diddley bow
guitars which again - as I didn't have a cigar box laying around,
I made with what I had. I
named them after the boxes for their bodies:
”Clementine” (made out of a box of clementines which me and my kids had eaten
for Christmas. It's played
lap style), and then ”Wine” (made out of a gift box which contained two nice
bottles of red wine, winch I play ”spanish” style).
I then chopped off the necks of the wine bottles and that’s how I got two
perfect glass slides to play with, added foot drums which is just an old beat
up bass drum, a snare, and a hi-hat, and on top of all this,
the only "regular" instrument, my electric
five string fiddle. What
do you know, I suddenly had my very own band.
It can be said that you perform mostly your
own stuff which draws heavily from the traditions of the rougher sides of the
hill country blues styles like R. L. Burnside, Jessie Mae Hemphill. Tell us
what this music means to you.
I know this is going to sound like a cliché
which everybody repeats, but it really is a fantastic and awesome music which
emanates from this area and special branch of blues.
I just feel like I want to dig into these one
chord grooves and boogies. Only R. L. Burnside can make one chord sound like
ANY necessary chord anytime in ANY given tune where most other musicians would
need at least two or three chords to achieve the same progression, He just
achieves it all with this one chord, his voice, energy and the groove. This
hypnotic feel for rhythm is what fascinates me, and I believe works so well in
a one man
band setup too. Jessie Mae
Hemphill is just amazing - I mean listen to her singing "Streamline
Train". She creates again this feel for groove and
rhythm and melody with her guitar, puts a tambourine on her foot which (to my
ears) sound wise equals a full drum set, and her voice tinged with her life
experiences. It cannot be rendered better than
what these cats do, and they are just such an immense inspiration for me to
build and develop my own stuff around, I will
never grow tired of listening to them and their music.
Hmmm, self-created, self-built instruments
and a self-produced CD. Is this independent, self-reliant approach reflected
in other areas of your personal life?
I believe it comes from my upbringing in the
country. The way I grew up I was quite often forced to rely on myself and my
skills to create and make whatever I needed. Just
make all things myself. I mean, if
I wanted to go fishing, I simply had to find a
suitable stick, attach the fishing line to the hook,
and find some suitable bait. If I wanted to
play the bass guitar, as I did in my teens,
there just were no music stores available.
So, I made one myself from
an old piece of plywood, a rod and some nails cut in the right length for
frets and for sound my super pickup! made of an old gramophone pickup which
had four thin metal wires attached going one to each
string and then amplified through a cable into a small radio amp.
Please don't ask about the sound of it. Yeahh!
I guess I just had to, and so I did, and it has kinda followed me until this
day.
I guess all this
stuff that is officially marketed and sold from a store I could never count on
it because they never sold it close to where I lived (I guess not enough of a
customer base in the rural
Denmark.) Partly this is why I only sell
CDs at my shows.
If people order it from me and ask me to send it to
them. Fortunately, until
now, it has been just about fine. I sold 200
of my first CD, and I'm counting to do the same with
this second one. Together with my live gigs this should keep the wolves from
the door for a while.
Yes! I believe one could say that this is some
kind of outdated, no good, basic
approach for me in all areas of my life - If you want something done,
do it yourself! Don't
expect anybody to do it for you. Or something like
that....
Discography: Nikolaj Andersen, Shout & Scream (Self- Release march 2009) Nikolaj Andersen, Cranium of a one Man Band 2007 (Self-Release, December 2007)
Where you may find Nikolaj on
the web:
http://nikolajandersen.bravehost.com www.myspace.com/nikolaj1manband www.reverbnation.com/nikolaj1manband
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