Ahead of appearances in Cardiff and Bristol next week Feeder Front man Grant Nicholas chats to Andy Howells about his debut solo album.

When I chat to Newport born singer/songwriter and front man of Feeder Grant Nicholas, he’s in an excited mood. He is currently playing 12 dates across the UK to support the release of his first solo album Yorktown Heights.

“I thought after twenty years of Feeder I needed to do something different for a while and have a break,” says Grant, “It had been album, tour, album, tour and there was a need to break that cycle and have a little time out and do some writing for other artists.”

“I started working at home and realised I had quite a lot of material and played it to friends and family. They all loved it and said “You should do a solo record”. It’s nice to show a different side, the kind of acoustic side of how I write stuff.”

Grant goes to great pains to tell me that Feeder renowned for their loud guitar sound are far from over, and speaks of his work with the band very much in a positive light. I ask him if he found working on Yorktown Heights much of a different process to working within Feeder.

“The only official members of Feeder now are myself and Taka (Hirose),” he says, “I tend to still write the songs at home, so the process isn’t very different. With Feeder you work with that kind of sound in mind. With this record I was kind of starting off with a blank canvas, it was a similar process but in a very different headspace.”

YorkTown Heights is a beautifully crafted, insightful set of tracks that underline Grant’s deft song writing abilities. “This is a much more laid back record and more in-keeping with the kind of stuff from the 60s and 70s that I grew up with like Nick Drake Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac and Simon & Garfunkel. I've always had that side to my writing. I have touched on it with Feeder but they were always pushed onto an album track or a b side. This is a different beast really and probably a bit more personal. I was able to write about things probably a little bit closer to home.”

“The songs themselves are much more old school classic acoustic tracks Some are very stripped back like the opening song on the album which is called Soul Mates. Then there are and more anthemic tracks like Joan of Arc, Silent in Space and Vampires.”

Joan of Arc has already drawn comparisons in style to the late Johnny Cash, “It’s got that big verse and then goes into the chorus,” says Grant of the song, “it’s something that people picked up on, that’s quite a compliment, so I'm not complaining.”

Grant’s tour brings him to Cardiff Globe and Bristol’s Fleece next week; both venues will see him accompanied by his stage band. “There’s still a band sound, an acoustic vibe and it’s very quirky in places as well,” continues Grant, “I’ve never done gigs as intimate as this, not to this scale. Hopefully they (the audience) will hear some songs that they'll feel a connection with. It’s quite a different style, and much more exposed you can hear everything on stage. I think if people will like the album they’ll enjoy it.”

Grant tells me that the band will perform every track from Yorktown Heights (which gets a 13 track standard release and a 15 track deluxe edition). “I like the 15 track version which is the whole journey,” says Grant, “there’s one track called Father to Son which is written about my six year old. I’d never written about my son before and I thought as I’m doing a solo record this is a good time to do it.”

Another song which will be aired on stage is Hope which recalls Grant’s days growing up in Chepstow, “It’s about the importance of going back,” he says, “You’ve always got your roots there. Its one of the more upbeat poppy songs on the album, I still have really fond memories of Chepstow and I always go back when I can.”

Catch Grant at The Globe, Cardiff on September 29 and The Fleece, Bristol on October 2. Visit www.grantnicholas.net for details. Grant’s debut solo LP ‘Yorktown Heights’ is out now.