The Beatles, The Who, hell, the whole British invasion! Greg Brown, Ellis Paul, Don Conoscenti, David Wilcox, Jerry Palmer, Lucy Kaplansky, John Gorka, Jeffrey Focault, Patty Larkin, Patty Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Stuart Davis, John Mayer, Peter Mulvey, Christopher Williams, Dar Williams, Andy Williams, William Shakespeare, William Shatner, Bo Ramsey, Bo Hopkins, Charles M. Schultz, John Grisham, Stephen King, Charles Dickens, Willy Porter, Duncan Sheik, Beethoven, Sharon Isbin, everyone I've ever met, if its musical, whimsical, written, it has influenced me in some way.
I sound like me, but people compare me to singers like Ellis Paul, David Wilcox, Don Conscenti, Darryl Purpose and others. I may sound like these artists, mostly because they were major influences on me when I was getting in to acoustic music, but I sound like me!
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Well, what can I say? I've played music as long as I can remember. When I was born, the doctors said,'can't you make him stop crying?' My mom just said, he's not crying, thats Little Richard! Well, maybe not, I think I was crying. I knew that when I picked up my dad's guitar and he told me don't ever get involved in this, I think that's when I knew that music would be my life. It's taken me a while, but here I am, making my living playing my guitar and singing for people. I couldn't ask for a better job. I've been a network administrator and software developer for a fortune 500 insurance company and MCI, sold guitars, sold radio advertising, through it all, the one constant has been music. In 2003 I released my first CD called 'Big Ol' Moon' which is available at www.cdbaby.com/nickstika and I'm working on my follow up. I've been doing this gigging thing for going on thirty years and funny thing is, I don't think I've forgotten a single song I've ever done. It's funny when someone yells a request at me and I start playing it, the looks on their faces is quite amusing. I'll sometimes start singing a song about people as they come in to the room, too. Sometimes they catch on, its more fun when they don't. I'll describe them, what they're wearing, what they're doing. People in the venue who catch on have fun with this too, but mostly its for my own entertainment and it keeps the night moving and fresh.
I started off as an electric player, mostly playing in cover bands doing Beatles and Stones and such and once played with a punk band in the early 80's releasing an ep of originals, but in 1989 I joined up with one of Iowa City's more popular bands. Trouble with that was, they didn't play that often. Maybe twice a month. I didn't know this when I joined, but I guess at the time, they looked at gigs like an 'event' and didn't play every week. Well, I'm way too restless for that, so I went out and bought an acoustic and p.a. system, and off I went. Odd thing is that I'm still with the same band, now we play every Saturday night, and I play acoustic gigs the other nights of the week.
I'm based in Iowa City, but I'll travel to St. Louis or La Crosse, maybe a gig in Galena, IL. once in awhile. I just love that. I love to travel, so when I can travel and get to sing and play for people at the same time, I really feel like I've hit a home run. My ambition is to travel more and play more cities, spread the music, help people forget about their troubles for a little while. I hope to release my second CD this year and perhaps shop it and my first CD to some indie lables.
I know I could say more, maybe someday..... I will.
