"An emotional journey": Feeder’s Grant Nicholas promises nostalgic fun at upcoming Cork gig
Grant Nicholas and Feeder play in Cork on Friday. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)
Welsh band Feeder started things off on the wrong foot. A rock band amidst the suspicious tide of the Thatcherite 1990s, much of the music world –an industry obsessed with box-assigning – couldn't quite make up their mind as to where they fit.
“We were never really one of those bands that were pushed in front,” Grant Nicholas, the band’s longstanding frontman, muses from his north London kitchen on. He's on a break from a tour that takes in Cork City Hall on Friday, October 24. “Because we were kind of around Britpop, but weren’t really involved. We had this sort of mid-Atlantic sound; we were actually regularly billed the British Smashing Pumpkins.
"So yeah, we never really quite fitted any particular trend… but honestly, I think that’s been the secret to our longevity. You know, sometimes being seen as the coolest band in the world… doesn’t always give you a long career.”
Feeder were originally formed in Camden in the hazy early 1990s. It started amongst friends Nicholas, Jon Lee and Julian Smith, who travelled from Newport, Wales, for the chance at a record deal.
When Smith suddenly left, the duo found Taka Hirose, a graphic designer and Japanese ex-pat, to take his place on bass. Immediately, their sound shifted to become something like The Police, but heavier, The Jam, but louder. Their flowers came, finally, with a bang; their third studio album, would propel them to heights unknown right around mid-2001.
Around that time, Nicholas was in his mid-thirties and wore the trappings of alt-rock pinup well. (As part of a 2023 TikTok trend, his daughter, Hana Sky, posted a video of the frontman at work, writing beneath: “My dad told me he rejected all the girls in the '80s and '90s”.)
Despite this, looking back brings with it a mess of complicated feelings. In 2002, bandmate and close friend Jon Lee took his own life, something Nicholas still reckons with “every single day”.
“It's been quite hard,” he says. “There are a few songs [on tour] where I’ve had to hold it together a little bit. And it's quite weird that something you've written yourself has that impact on you; it does slightly take me back.”
Today, in his fifties, Nicholas is youthful and generous in a way one mightn’t expect from a rockstar with 30+ years of music industry bruising. Neither brooding nor unafraid to excavate from the deeper topics, his manner is nonjudgmental and lighter than air.
Perhaps this comes from gratitude, and a packed schedule. In 2025 alone, Feeder have toured Singapore, Australia, Japan and Taipei and also reissued their multi-platinum selling Comfort in Sound, a remastered version of the 2002 record with additional tracks. “I said from the off, I’d always wanted to rerelease this one,” Nicholas says. “Because on a personal level, it was a huge album for us. It was our first after we’d lost Jon and our biggest-selling album as well. It wasn’t for financial reasons or anything; it just felt right after years of consistently putting out records. It has been a challenge... But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The reissue is now being toured across Ireland and the UK. “Finding the right stages has been hard, and Brexit makes everything harder,” says Nicholas.
“It’s a very different show from a normal Feeder show,” he says. “We have a lot of visuals and animation, and then all the Best Of songs, which get things back to basics. It does bring me back to thinking about Jon, and those feelings… In that way, years and years of work have gone into this production, and I think it’s the best show we’ve ever done.”
As the final notes of Nicholas’ washing machine go off. “I’m home for a few days so I’m washing everything before I head back out,” he confesses.
What does he want punters to get from his upcoming Cork gig? “An emotional journey,” he laughs. “It’s a bit of a rollercoaster ride, because it starts off with highs and goes right back down into melancholy, only to go right back up again. Those were the emotions that were going on at the time: loss, love, hope, friendship, frustration...
"After all these years, I’ve realised that’s why it connected with so many people, and I’m really pleased with that. So, for those coming to see us, be aware that it might bring you back to certain points in life. But that would be nice, wouldn’t it?”
- Feeder play their first ever Cork city show at Cork City Hall on Friday, October 24. Tickets available from Eventbrite.ie
