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Nicole Atkins Shoots Video for 'Cry Cry Cry' -- Road Report

Lucia Holm


Nicole Atkins is currently on tour in support of her sophomore album, 'Mondo Amore,' backed by a collective of musicians known as the Black Sea. Four years after the release of her debut record, 'Neptune City,' the 32-year-old singer-songwriter is back to showcase her unique blend of rootsy-folk and indie rock, exemplified by her latest single, 'Vultures.'

In her latest Road Report, Atkins talks about post-'Conan' euphoria and struggling to find her words when meeting Stevie Nicks. The singer also took a break from the tour to film her next video for 'Cry Cry Cry,' which she says was inspired by a Jean-Luc Godard film. Read more about her travels, and take a peek at Atkins' personal photos after the jump.

So after we did the 'Conan' show, which was a total blast, I came down with the horrible cough that Cotton Jones and my bass player, Jeremy, previously had. Awesome. I had no voice whatsoever, so we sadly had to cancel our San Diego show. I got a good day of rest, though, and we finished out the West Coast with a radio convention in La Jolla where I got to meet one of my heroes, Stevie Nicks. She had some really great stories and I was so jammed that all I managed to squeak out was an "I love you man. Can I hug you?" Awkward.

Caption: On the way to Montreal. | Photo: Nicole Atkins

The next day we shot a video for 'Cry Cry Cry.' It was loosely based on the Godard movie 'Breathless.' It involved the guy who was my "love interest" chain smoking Camels in a very small enclosed room with a fog machine. I'm pretty sure I secondhand smoked about 200 cigs. If you are trying to quit smoking, may I suggest sitting in a small room for 12 hours with a chain smoker. Anyways, the video was super fun and all of the cast and crew were real sweethearts. There is one scene involving a man-eating bed! It gave me a hankering to revisit 'A Nightmare on Elm Street,' where a bed eats a very young Johnny Depp.

Flew back to the East Coast. Had one night off in Brooklyn, so I wrote 265 thank you notes to send to our beloved Kickstarter donors. The next night we met back up with Cotton Jones in Boston. We played on the radio station at Emerson College and then at the Brighton Music Hall. My voice was still a little shakey having gotten over a cough, but I powered through it. Feeling like the band is really starting to gel and experiment with our sound more. It's been really exciting to hear everyone do different things with the songs on stage. We also have added Michael and Whitney from Cotton Jones on backing vocals for a couple songs. Michael's harmony on 'War is Hell,' pushes the song into total monster ballad zone.

Caption: Dumplings! | Photo: Nicole Atkins

Then we did Portland, Maine (cute town!) and headed to Montreal. Montreal was a great show. We had homemade Indian food courtesy of our friend Rishi Dhir of the band Elephant Stone. So delicious. The crowd was great and seemingly very drunk. I had to call out a "please shut the fuck up" to a very loving, yet very loud and yip-yappy guy in the front, which I hated doing but I actually did it so he wouldnt get punched by someone else in the crowd. Good times.

After that was Toronto, which was a good sized crowd. Very fun and dancey. Lots of singing girls up in the front. Met these really nice guys that put me on the cover of their magazine called Needle. Score! Had some dumplings with my friend Shaun Brodie of A.C. Newman's band and the Hidden Cameras. My friend Herbie of Valient Thorr was in town opening for Motorhead that night so he brought the band to our gig. He also brought me an old smushed chocolate donut. How sweet!

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January 06 2012 at 1:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply