Hey CMC folks,

I hope you all had a great Xmas and New Year, and are all enjoying the summer. 

We have had a great few months in the Nicholson/Chambers camp. Most notably, we welcomed the arrival of our brand new little girl, Poet Poppin Nicholson on October 6. She has slotted into the family like a charm. She is a very placid little thing, and just lies around looking cute most of the time. I’m a super-proud dad.

We’ve enjoyed a bit of a break over the last month or so, after putting in a big year on the road, together and separately. Lately there’s been lots of backyard BBQ’s and swimming in the pool with the kids. Santa brought us a monster waterslide for our pool for Christmas, so the boys (and me!) are getting pretty waterlogged.

Last year saw us hit every corner of the country on tour. Some exciting highlights included the Byron Bay Bluesfest (my first time on the main stage), Gympie Muster (also my first time on the main stage), touring with KD Lang, spending a week in Fiji for the Oz Country Music Festival with some great people and artists, and Kasey and I making our way across the country on our “Little Birds and Bad Machines Tour”.

I did some production work throughout last year also, including albums for Beccy Cole and The Quarry Mountain Dead Rats, and an EP for TRTT finalist Nikki Jensen. Most recently I’ve been working with a local Central Coast singer/songwriter called Israel Cannan, and he is just unbelievable! A huge new talent to watch out for.

Kasey won the ARIA award for her Little Bird album, which meant that she beat my Bad Machines album, but I eventually forgave her. It was fun to be nominated against each other, and it gave us two chances to take home a pointy statue.But I felt completely redeemed when Bad Machines picked up 6 Golden Guitar nominations! I was over the moon. Also very happy for Bec, who picked up 7 nominations with the Songs & Pictures album. I’m really proud of the work we did on her album, so to receive so many noms is a nice pat on the back, especially for Bec. 

2012 is set to be another busy year. Starting in Tamworth next week, Whittlesea in Feb, CMC Rocks and Central Coast Festival in March, touring and more touring, writing and more writing, recording and more recording – which is just how I like it. 

Don’t forget, if you’re in Tamworth for the festival, my show is at The Family Hotel on Thursday 26 and Kasey is at Blazes on Friday 27. Then on Saturday 28, Adam Harvey will be using me to wipe the floor at the Golden Guitar Awards.

Thanks to all for a great 2011, and see you all on the road in 2012.

Cheers, Shane.

SHANE NICHOLSON – BAD MACHINES Album out through Liberation.

www.shanenicholson.com