RALEIGH, N.C.
My name is Nick Hagelin. This truly is the most exciting time of my life. On October 29, 2008 I asked my beautiful girlfriend Christina Petrovick to marry me. The months that followed have been a whirlwind of celebration, recording, mixing, planning, singing, and dancing. Lots of dancing.
I am a professional ballet dancer. I dance in the corps de ballet at Carolina Ballet and have done so for three years. Every year during the holidays, going as far back as I can remember, I have been involved in a production of the Nutcracker. From party boy to Prince, Fritz to Rat King, Candy Cane to Cavalier, I have done almost every male role in the ballet.
Ballet dancers across the globe I'm sure will empathize with me when I say that so much Nutcracking can leave a person very sensitive to the oversaturation of Tchaikovsky's cheerful score in the malls and media of the Holidays.
Nutcracker is a staple (read: necessary evil) of every major ballet company and provides up to 60 percent of gross ticket sales for the season, depending on the company. A cash cow, yes. Happy kids and families filled with Christmas cheer, yes. Not so evil, after all.
But as a dancer, the 20 to 30 shows during the cold month of December can be grueling. And this year, for the first time in my life, the demands of Nutcracker season were trumped by another endeavor.
On Christmas Eve at 3 p.m. I finished the recording of my first full-length studio album -- an eight-month project/labor of love that finally came to fruition during the most busy and wonderful time of the year.
In 2007 I won first place in the North Carolina Songwriters Contest. I submitted two of my songs, "Strawberry" and "Paint This Room," to the contest, which was organized by Eileen and John Batson and the North Carolina Songwriters Co-o. I was chosen to be one of eight finalists who were asked to perform for a panel of industry judges and live audience.
Apparently, I did a good job.
Winning the contest was an incredible blessing that provided me the means to produce this entire album. I won a gift certificate to Sam Ash with which I bought myself all the gear to build a home recording studio.
Christina and I moved into our first house in July, and I monopolized a bedroom, converting it to a Pro Tools studio. I went to U-Haul and bought packing liners (those thick blue sheets that protect furniture when moving) and covered the closet from floor to ceiling with the material using a staple gun.
This contained the sound very nicely, and voila, I had my very own vocal booth. This Macguyver sound-insulation provided me with an incredibly warm and intimate sound which I can't wait to share with you when the album is released next month.
Along with the gear, and the wonderful press and exposure that surrounded the contest, I won a gift certificate to Oasis manufacturing, a disk duplication company. What this meant for me was that all I had to do was make the record, and I would receive one thousand CDs with jewel cases and full color inserts.
Sounded easy enough.
I called Oasis and got the deadline pushed back six months to November 2008, on account of me being a busy professional dancer. Come November, I was knee deep in recording, about halfway done with the project. Oasis was kind enough to extend my deadline to the end of the year.
Through some miracle of determination and the grace of Raleigh's very best instrumentalists offering their time and talent, I gave myself the greatest Christmas gift ever and finished the recording phase of my album, titled "Nice to Be Here," late afternoon on Dec. 24.
Now here I am three weeks later. I have made it through Nutcracker alive, and the album has been masterfully mixed by local music mastermind Sean Roux (www.seanroux.com).
The album artwork has been designed and looks amazing, provided by Raleigh's own art celebrity Clark Hipolito (www.art-company.com).
The very final stage of the process is the mastering of the album, and that is happening now. Then off to the presses!
The CD Release party will be at Five Star restaurant in downtown Raleigh on Saturday Feb 21 10pm. Stay tuned!
For now, I've embedded a little morsel of pop for y'all. Its a cover of T-Pain's number one hit "Can't Believe It" in my own style, with my own swag. Enjoy, Be Well, Nick Hagelin
www.nickhagelin.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWoOCeAKSHY
Myspace Contact Tables
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Video documentation of a performance piece by my friend Nate Kassel who rode around on his bike slapping high-fives to people who were trying to hail taxi cabs in NYC. Enjoy!
Steve and the band will be performing a full show at The Black Flower in Raleigh on Thursday, July 9. The band will be debuting some new material from recent recording sessions alongside songs from Running To Catch, Steve's debut solo album. Check out our shows schedule for more information about the venue and details about the show at SteveWilsonBand.com
LMAO! I'm a tard! Their sample on itunes sounded different and I always remember the acoustic intro...grrr. YAY! I have your cd now! Congrats on your wedding!
Hey Nick! I am currently playing with an original project that is looking to play some local shows with other original bands! We would be more than happy to do the foot work to get the shows if we can get some bands on the list! Maybe each band could play an hour or 45 min set!
Were looking to create a association for local bands to be used as a resource for (original bands) play shows, Record songs create Compilation CD's... Promote the local artist's! This project would require a band to have a DEMO! Or at least ONE song! If they do not have ONE and would like to be part of this, I would put up the recording time for ONE songs worth of studio time to get them into the fold! I'll put my MONEY were my mouth is!! to create something BIG! What do you think?
original bands/Singer Songwriters only!! If you are a singer songwriter and don't have a band! We can help you with tracks for studio time or a live set!! No RAP or Cover bands! Sorry!
Thanks MIKE Band Room Rehearsal Studios. 3630 capital BLVD Raleigh NC 919-850-2363 www.bandroomnc.com
ur a tacoma man huh? so am i? i play a martin right now.. my first tacoma got stolen and now my other is being worked on.. we totally should collab sometime...
LOG ON - www. CLUBBANGAZ. com/mp3 EVERY CLUBBANGAZ BREAK OR BLEND YOU COULDN’T FIND ON VINYL IS NOW AVAILABLE! SORT BY ALBUM – SONG - EVEN YEAR OF RELEASE! Just click below!
Nice work on your CD! It really sounds good. My favorites are "Costa Rica" and "Marmalade." Holly and I have been diggin' on it over dinner the past few nights :-) Congrats!
Happy Holidays Nick. Took my girl to Nutcracker last night and loved it. You're definitely a talented cat--Let me know when you're playing in raleigh again.
Nick, Thanks for adding me as a friend. I listened to your songs. I really liked what I heard -- great melodies, interesting lyrics and man, what a voice! I wish I could sing like that! All the best, Richard
Come out and help me celebrate my 4th annual 29th birthday this weekend....not once BUT TWICE!!!! We kick off at Slim's at 10pm Saturday 11/8 with The T's and Blood Red River. Then part two will find us at Deep South The Bar at 8pm Sunday 11/9 (my actual birthday) with Summers of Amber and A VERY SPECIAL GUEST!! The flyer for the Slim's show is below. Hope to see everyone out this weekend for one if not BOTH parties!!! xoxo Lisa
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