Where Time Stood Still

I recall saying that I'd post my 'Signpost' article on Nigel Griggs if it were published and it was.

                                                                  Where Time Stood Still

In 1995 Nigel Griggs was attracted by the green countryside and trees at Emerald. His passion for steam trains in childhood was a factor, as was the clock outside the National Bank. Whenever he looked the hands were in the same position.

“I was looking for peace and quiet after thirty years travelling and staying in hotels, and living in cities. I needed a change, a new life. The National Bank clock showed this was a place where time could stand still. The first home I was to own would be in Emerald.”

Nigel grew up in Hatfield, a small town not far from London, in the 1950’s. His older brother Paul, five years senior, was a big influence. Nigel reflects, “Older brothers tend to ignore kid brothers, but Paul involved me and accepted me into his own friends. When I was seven years old I was playing washboard in his skiffle group. We were both crazy about steam trains and spent all our time behind the factories train spotting.”

On Nigel’s fourteenth birthday in 1963, Paul persuaded him to buy a bass guitar. “He had a band but no bass player. I had been studying classical piano for several years but it was a chore. So I gave up piano for bass, a symbolic change because the piano represented the conformity and discipline I had lived with, whereas bass was in a band with no written music and no rules. ‘The Beatles’ had arrived; and like other kids I could feel the world changing, with music leading the way.”

 ‘The Cortinas’ performed locally for two years while Nigel was still at school. Nigel explains, "The Beatles may have had tens of thousands of girls screaming at them, on a local level ‘The Cortinas’ had three or four hundred doing the same thing. I was getting screamed at and chased in the Hatfield shopping centre, fan letters arrived every day, and Mum was always chasing girls from our garden. Mum and Dad took it well; Mum became our manager and Dad built most of our equipment and became our roadie.

Nigel left school, got a job as clerical assistant at the Ministry of Social Security and continued with ‘The Cortinas’, who by now were travelling further afield.  In 1968 the band changed its name to ‘Octopus’, Paul and Nigel quit their jobs and the band went full time. Nigel began writing songs and they recorded a song called 'The River' which became a hit in Italy.

By now they played much of their own material and had followings in many parts of England, but all was not right. “There were differences of opinion and at the end of 1971 we decided to break up. The band had lasted more than eight years.”

Almost immediately Nigel had a call from a drummer friend who lived in America, offering him a job in a Flamenco/Rock group. In Nigel’s words, “Fantastic band but after a while there were problems and maybe I was a bit homesick, so I returned to England and stepped straight into another band which didn’t work out either, then another. After 8 years with one band, during 1972 I spent time with six different bands."

Nigel teamed up with Paul again and they did a few pub gigs around London. In an odd twist, John Carter from the ‘The Ivy League’ was writing and recording pop songs under the mame of 'Kincade' but had no desire to tour or perform. When “Jenny, Jenny, Dreams are Ten a Penny’ went top ten all over Europe, the record company needed a face for the product.

“Paul, I and a guitarist friend became the face for ‘Kincade’. Every few weeks we’d fly to Holland, Spain, Portugal or Germany where we were treated like VIPs and mime songs for TV shows and discos. It was a peculiar situation; fame and the appearance of success but in reality hating the music and struggling to pay the rent."

Disillusioned with the music business Nigel became a 'cabbie' before his luck changed in 1975, playing bass in a millionaire’s band in the south of France. It was, says Nigel,  the best time of his life and the worst. In April 1977 after an arduous audition process with a funk band heading for Greece, he was gutted when he missed out in the final play-off.

However three days later he met 'Split Enz' in London and after a couple of auditions was offered the job. Success followed, relentlessly touring throughout Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America until 1985 when they decided to call it a day.

Today Nigel still creates music, gardens, and looks after abandoned animals including three goats and two sheep and his cat Voodoo. He visits his Mum, Phyllis, in Hatfield every year or two; she is 92 and still lives in the same house.

After 17 years the NAB clock has gone.... but Nigel is staying.