KING HAMMOND - Live & Direct

KING HAMMOND IS NICK WELSH!

* Nick played his first professional gig in July 1977 at The Roxy club in London with his band The Dead sharing a bill with Cock Sparrer, Dead Fingers Talk & DJ Don Letts.
That same week he was pictured on the front cover of the Melody Maker underneath the headline Teds Vs Punks!
Between 1978-1980 he appeared on many post punk singles including cult classics from Cuddly Toys & Steve Treatment.
* Nick began writing & recording as King Hammond in 1986 at the same time he was the bassist in Bad Manners.
The first three tracks he released under the name were “Skaville UK”, that was used as the theme music for the TV show British Tribes & then later covered by Bad Manners as a single on Blue Beat Records, “King Hammond Shuffle” & “Right On King Hammond” were both featured on Ska Compilation Albums.
King Hammond’s debut album “Revolution 70” was released in 1989 to great critical acclaim & today can occasionally be seen on eBay selling for a price of between £60-£80.
* Nick co-produced the Bad Manners album “Return of the Ugly” which featured the hit single “This is Ska” his collaboration with producer Longsy D.
Nick left Bad Manners in 1991 to join The Selecter, producing six albums for the band and two for the offshoot Selecter Acoustic. During his fifteen years spent with the band, Nick & singer Pauline Black were also members of two “supergroups” :- The acoustic 3 Men & Black alongside Jake Burns (SLF), J.J. Burnell (The Stranglers) & Bruce Foxton (The Jam) & The 2-Tone Collective where they shared many a festival stage with Ranking Roger, Dave Wakeling (The Beat) & Roddy Radiation, Neville Staple (The Specials). He also formed the Ska/Punk band Big 5 with Jennie Matthias (Belle Stars) & John Bradbury (The Specials) in 1992 releasing three albums in a five-year period.
Nick left The Selecter in 2006 to form Skaville UK with Louis Alphonso, Martin Stewart (Bad Manners) & Drummer Al Fletcher releasing 3 albums in as many years.
* Nick has worked with & produced music for some of the legends of Ska & Reggae music ; Prince Buster, Laurel Aitken, Dave Barker, Rico Rodriguez, Susan Cadogan, Judge Dread & Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry with whom he won a Grammy award for his work on the 2002 best Reggae album “Jamaican ET”. He also worked as the MD (musical director) on the follow up “Alien Starman” & the live DVD “The Ultimate Alien”
* You can hear Nick’s music on TV shows (Peep Show, The Osbourne’s, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Malcolm In The Middle) Films (Domino, The Magic Roundabout) & Computer games (Smackdown Vs Raw) & he claims one of the highlights of his musical career was when his song “Hey You” was used as WWE’s Brian ‘Spanky’ Kendrick’s entrance music!
* In 2010 Nick decided to resurrect his royal persona by releasing the first new King Hammond music since Trojan Records issued “Blow Your Mind” on their Receiver label in 1991.
That album “The King & I” was so well received amongst the Ska & Reggae audience it encouraged Nick to release more King Hammond music in fact in the ten years since his reappearance he has written, recorded & released over one hundred & forty (140) new songs!!
In the same time period he has taken the King Hammond live show to countries like (amongst others) : America, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica, Australia, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, Eire & of course Skaville UK!
* 2020 is looking to be a very special year for King Hammond In February he releases the album “Hate Culture 20/20 The Definitive Vision” described by Nick as “The greatest music I’ve ever made” & he will be touring with his band The Rude Boy Mafia to promote it.
He will also be issuing an acoustic album “Rough, Ready & Rude” later on in the year to support a tour of the same name where he will be performing songs from his five decade career with a stripped down ‘Acoustic Mafia’.
* Nick’s autobiography “The Life & Times Of A Ska Man” was published by New Haven in 2017.