Nic Dalton

Nicholas James "Nic" Dalton (born 14 November 1964) is an Australian multi-instrumentalist and record label owner. He was a member of various Australian bands including, The Plunderers (1984–95), Godstar (1991–95) and Sneeze (1991–present); as well playing with Ratcat and The Hummingbirds. He was the bass guitarist for American band, The Lemonheads in the early 1990s. He also runs the record label Half a Cow, which he co-founded 1990. His current bands are The Sticker Club and, until recently, the Gloomchasers (who disbanded in November 2019).

Nic Dalton
Birth nameNicholas James Dalton
Born (1964-11-14) 14 November 1964
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • record label owner
Instruments
  • Guitar
  • bass guitar
  • mandolin
  • Casio MT-65
  • drums
Years active1983–present
LabelsHalf a Cow Citadel Records
Associated acts

Early bands

Nic Dalton was born on 14 November 1964 in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.[1] He showed an interest in music in his pre-teens and started an informal group with Charlie Owen.[1] One of Dalton's early bands was Girls With Money.[2] He was in a folk-pop group, Get Set Go, with Anthony Hayes (later known as Stevie Plunder) and a pair of sisters, Jenny and Suzie Higgie.[3] Suzie later recalled "down at Commonwealth Park there used to be a tunnel with a power point ... My first band with Nic Dalton and Stevie Plunder...we wrote most of our songs down there".[4]

In May 1984 Dalton on bass guitar and vocals, and Plunder on guitar and vocals, started the Plunderers, with Lindsay Dunbar on drums.[2][5] Soon after Dunbar left and the group went into hiatus while Dalton and Hayes joined cover band, the Gadflys, for six months.[6] The line-up was Dalton on bass guitar, Hayes on guitar, Mick Moriarity on guitar and vocals, his brother Phil Moriarty on clarinet, and Pete Velzen on drums.[3][6]

In June 1985 Dalton, Velzen and Plunder left the Gadflys and revived the Plunderers.[2] In October of that year they issued a single, "Into The Ice"/"Strange Affection".[5] The group relocated to Melbourne late that year when Andy Lewis joined on keyboards, guitar and harmonies.[2][5] They moved to Sydney in July 1986. Lewis left the band in 1987. In January 1989 Velzen was replaced by Geoff Milne (ex-Eastern Dark) on drums.[2][5] The trio also played gigs and released records as Hippy Dribble and Captain Denim.[1][5] In 1987 Dalton's parents opened a book store, Dalton's Books, in Glebe, Sydney. In late 1989 Dalton and his friend, Miles Ferguson, took over the store, renamed it as Half a Cow and expanded its stock list to include comics, records and T-shirts.

In 1990 Dalton and Ferguson founded a record label, Half a Cow. In 1990 Robyn St Clare, the bass guitarist for the Hummingbirds took leave from that band during her pregnancy, and Dalton filled in during their tour of Australia supporting visiting American band, the Lemonheads. Lemonheads' lead singer, Evan Dando, formed a friendship and musical collaboration with Dalton and his Sneeze bandmate Tom Morgan, and the results of Dando and Morgan's song writing collaboration contributed two songs to the Lemonheads' 1992 album, It's a Shame about Ray and formed much of the Lemonheads' 1993 album, Come on Feel the Lemonheads.

The Lemonheads

It's a Shame About Ray featured Juliana Hatfield on bass and backing vocals, as Dalton was unable to get to the US in time for the album's recording schedule. When Hatfield continued with her solo career, Dando asked Dalton to join the band as its bass player. Dalton agreed, despite having formed the bands Sneeze and Godstar around the same time.

Dalton played with the Lemonheads for two years, and played on the band's 1993 album Come on Feel the Lemonheads. He co-wrote the song "Dawn Can't Decide" with Dando. Most of the remaining songs on the album were written by Dando and Tom Morgan, except for the album's hit single "Into Your Arms", which was written by Robyn St Clare and originally appeared on the Love Positions' Billiepeebup album (a collaboration between Dalton and St Clare released in 1990).

After touring with the Lemonheads for the Come on Feel... album, Dalton left the band in August 1994 and returned to Australia. He rehearsed with Dando and Dinosaur Jr. drummer Murph for the recording of the Car Button Cloth album in 1996, but ultimately decided to decline Dando's offer to remain in the band.

Dalton was due to play bass for Dando during his 2003 solo tour of Australia, but had suffered a brain haemorrhage two days before the first show in Melbourne. Reviews of the show noted Dalton's demeanour,[7] and reported that Dalton had been sacked and not replaced in the subsequent shows,[8] but according to Dalton, he was sent back to Sydney, spending a week with an undiagnosed brain haemorrhage and then admitted to Royal North Shore Hospital for two weeks.[9]

Solo work and other bands

In January 2000, Dalton left Sydney and moved to a farm on the outskirts of the village of Morongla (near Cowra in central west New South Wales) with his girlfriend, writer Lucy Lehmann.[10] He closed the Half A Cow bookshop (in January 1998), but continued to run the record label from the farm, while working on a new album. Dalton and Lehmann ended their relationship in April 2003, and Dalton continued to work on the album, setting himself a deadline of his 40th birthday for its recording. The album, titled Home of the Big Regret, was recorded between July and November 2004 with a folk-rock and bluegrass band Dalton called the Gloomchasers. Despite their break-up, Lehmann remained involved with the album, having co-written several of the songs and writing the liner notes for the album.[11] A second album Play All Night was released in December 2010 and the band continued to play - with a revolving line-up - until November 2019.

Dalton joined Ratcat on bass guitar in 1998.

After a year in Melbourne, Dalton moved back to Sydney in 2006 and formed a new line-up of the Gloomchasers, as well as joining lounge act the Handlebars. In 2011 he formed a "bubblegum band for kids" called The Sticker Club with Alison Galloway, Ben Whitten, Nellie Afford and Damien 'Dizzi' Cassidy. Their album Scratch 'n Sniff was a joint release by ABC Kids and Half A Cow Records. Dalton also released two albums, in 2015 and 2017, under the name Chewee.

Documentary

Melbourne film maker Jarrad Kennedy is completing a documentary about Dalton, covering his work as a musician and label boss for Half A Cow. If It's Catchy, It Means You Stole It has no set release date.[12]

References
General
  • McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Whammo Homepage". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-072-1. Archived from the original on 5 April 2004. Retrieved 28 February 2017. Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
Specific
  1. Leigh Ann DeRemer, ed. (2001). "Dalton, Nic". Contemporary Musicians. Gale Cengage. 31. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2017 – via eNotes.com.
  2. Nic Dalton at Australian Rock Database:
    • Nic Dalton: Holmgren, Magnus. "Nic Dalton". hem.passagen.se. Australian Rock Database. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
    • The Plunderers (1984–92): Holmgren, Magnus. "The Plunderers". hem.passagen.se. Australian Rock Database. Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  3. Uhlmann, Mark (10 November 1988). "Good Times: Some Plunder and Pillage". The Canberra Times. National Library of Australia. p. 33. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  4. Dwyer, Michael (9 March 2013). "Rock Celebration of the Capital's Gains". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  5. McFarlane, 'The Plunderers' entry. Archived from the original on 15 June 2004. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  6. McFarlane, 'The Gadflys' entry. Archived from the original on 28 August 2004. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  7. Dwyer, Michael: Lazy twist of Lemon, The Age, 5 August 2003.
  8. Roberts, Jo: And what the Evans happened on Saturday?, The Age, 5 August 2003.
  9. Simpson, Roo: Interview with Nic Dalton Archived 13 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Evan Dando & The Lemonheads, June 2005.
  10. In Lehmann's terms, The Age, 21 December 2002.
  11. Nic Dalton invites you to his Home of Big Regret, FasterLouder, 27 September 2005.
  12. Mannan, Aniqa. "'If It's Catchy, It Means You Stole It' (Nic Dalton/Half A Cow) fundraiser". The Thousands. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
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