Grant Nicholas

In addition to this, he also owns a 1964 Silver Jazzmaster (often tuned differently when used live) and another Sunburst 59 Jazzmaster.

He is using Fender Telecasters more and more and has a 73 Sunburst Fender Telecaster a 63 Black Telecaster and a Blue Standard Telecaster.

Grantley Jonathan Nicholas (born 12 November 1967) is a Welsh musician and the lead singer and guitarist of the rock band Feeder.

Nicholas' "signature guitar" is a 1967 Sunburst Fender Jazzmaster.

This saw bassist John Canham part ways with the band, before Simon Blight followed soon after when they reformed as Hum, which was changed to Reel, before then changing their name once again to Real in 1994 with their final name of Feeder being decided on that same year.

The band signed to The Echo Label in November of that year still under the name of Real, when this was changed to Feeder shortly afterwards, with London-based graphic designer Taka Hirose taking over bass duties in 1995.

A year later in 1996, their debut single proper "Stereo World" reached number 128 in the UK charts during October 1996, while the second single "Tangerine" reached number 60.

The first full-length album, Polythene, was released in May 1997.

Metal Hammer magazine included it in its Top 20 Albums of 1997 list at number 1.

The follow-up album, Yesterday Went Too Soon, was produced by Nicholas.

Released in August 1999, the album was a much quicker commercial success than its predecessor (entering the UK album chart at number 8 and certified Silver in 2001, with this being upgraded to Gold in 2003).

Nicholas has won two Kerrang Awards for Best British Live Act 2001 and Best British Band 2003.

Nicholas was born in Newport, South Wales, but grew up in Pwllmeyric near Chepstow.

He was educated at Monmouth School.

He performed in public for the first time at the age of 11 at school, and gained four O-levels (the predecessor to GCSEs), including an A grade in Art.

In school, Nicholas played the trumpet, and joined his first band, Sweet Leaf (named after a song by Black Sabbath, who were his favourite band in his school years, and the first he saw play live, at the Colston Hall in Bristol).

He was promised his first guitar by his parents, as an incentive to pass his exams.

He received the guitar, an Aron Les Paul copy after passing them.

Grant says he did not like the "cattle market" aspects of school and didn't work hard.

His favourite bands at school included heavy metal bands such as Judas Priest and Black Sabbath.

Produced by Chris Sheldon, it charted at number 65 in the UK and was certified Silver for sales over 60,000 copies in 2003 when the band had already broken through (then upgraded to Gold status for 100,000 copies in 2017).

His other guitars include a Cherry Red Gibson SG, a Fender Bellmaster, a Green Custom Jazzbird, a Green Jazzmaster (which he destroyed at Feeder's headline set at Download 2005 and later said he regretted it, but still has the neck to make a new guitar with), a Gibson Firebird,a custom ESP "Gibstang", a Sunburst Gibson J-200 Acoustic and a natural finish Yamaha acoustic (for recording).

He uses a variety of different pedals and effects to produce the distinctive Feeder sound.

His main amplifiers are: Vox AC30s, Fender Twins, Boogie and Marshall + Marshall and Orange Speaker Cabinets.

After leaving school Nicholas worked as a bike courier in London.

It was while in London that Nicholas learnt how to be a songwriter.

When he was 19, he joined a progressive rock band called Multi-Story as their singer.

He released one album with the band called Through Your Eyes and they disbanded soon after.

The album was not given any backing by FM Records, due to internal problems during and after recording.

Original singer Paul Ford left, leading to Nicholas being recruited from local band Silent Partner: the latter re-recorded the previously laid-down vocals, while re-writing some lyrics to suit his style.

It was the band's second and final album.

After Multi-Story broke up, Nicholas joined Welsh nine-piece Temper Temper, where he met future Feeder drummer, Jon Lee.

During these years.

Nicholas found influence in alternative rock bands such as Nirvana, the Eels, Dinosaur Jr and Foo Fighters.

He also enjoys movies such as Angel Heart and Taxi Driver.

The band were formed whilst Nicholas was a producer, before moving to London to gain more experience.

He had already met Jon Lee in Newport who moved down afterwards.

They formed an electric/acoustic rock band named Raindancer, who despite winning a TV slot never gained a record deal.

A series of Reel recordings surfaced on eBay in early 2006.

In 2014, Nicholas released his debut solo album Yorktown Heights. In the following year, a released a mini-album titled Black Clouds.