K&K's Artist of the Month: Sturgis Nikides
November 2004
Sturgis
Nikides is a recording artist with a unique lyrical vision and a hauntingly
beautiful sound that breaks the genre barrier. Some call it blues, others
call it alternative country, and some just hear good old rock and roll.
No matter how they describe it, they all agree on one thing: it sounds
fantastic. Sturgis has had an impressive career as a singer/songwriter,
as a guitarist, and as a budding producer. He began playing the guitar
in 1965, after seeing The Beatles at Shea Stadium. He made his first professional
appearance in 1969 and by the mid 70's he was lauded as one of the best
guitarists in NYC's burgeoning underground punk rock explosion; playing
sold out shows at Max's Kansas City as lead guitarist in the legendary
Neon Leon Band and The SHARP, and unbelievable as it now seems, backing
Nico at the Squat Theater, right down the street from the historic Chelsea
Hotel . In 1979, thru the auspices of bandmate Joe Bidewell, he aced an
audition with John Cale (co-founder of the Velvet Underground, with Lou
Reed). Shortly afterward, he made his vinyl debut on the 7" single "Ready
for War" (Spy/IRS Records). He made his major label debut in 1980 with
John Cale's "Honi Soit", on A&M records. Continuous recording and touring
followed in the ensuing years. Sturgis has appeared onstage with Sterling
Morrison (Velvet Underground), Kevin Ayers (Soft Machine), and Chris Spedding,
among many others.
Needing a change of scenery, he moved to Miami in 1989. When his critically acclaimed band Voidville, featuring the voice of Diane Ward, split in 1991 he decided to move in a new direction: Producing other artists, composing instrumental music for film and TV, and for the first time ever, singing. A prolific songwriter, Sturgis had never sung any of his own songs, preferring to leave the honors to various bandmates over the years. Like many others, Sturgis developed a keen interest in the World Wide Web, computers, and hi tech audio hardware and software. In the pursuit of putting these applications to work in the modern recording studio, in 2002 he became a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. He proceeded to put his newfound skills to the test, producing and recording various artists in studios from New York City to Miami Beach. Ultimately, he decided it was time to put all of this experience to work...for himself, and the result is his stunning solo debut on rezonate records, Man Of Steel. Hear it for yourself.
Eric uses K&K's Pure Resonator BB and says: "Finally, a pickup for the National Steel that works!! It's the hardest guitar to design a pickup for, and K&K has come up with a solution that sounds great, and even more importantly - it is reliable."