Bass & Vocals
John Bigwood
If Nickoloff ever decides to cover Bach or Beethoven, the band can turn to their bassist, John Bigwood, for guidance.
“As a kid, I learned music playing cello, violin and piano,” Bigwood says of his younger days growing up in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was Mr. Smith, his music teacher at Columbus Park Elementary, “who got me started playing music,” Bigwood says.
But sometime later Bigwood rolled over Beethoven and told Tchaikovsky the news: His musical heart was being shaken, rattled and rolled by the likes of The Who, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, “blues-influenced music” and the early J. Geils Band, who had formed in 1967 in Worcester.
“I played my first live gig in 1985 at a New Year’s Eve party,” says Bigwood, who also sings and plays acoustic guitar.
After moving to Daytona Beach, where he’s been working in the commercial painting business for 25 years, Bigwood played with the band Boneroller from 1992-1996, frequently gigging at the Main Street Pier. During his tenure with Back of the Bus from 2000-2008, the group served as the house band at Marker 32, along with some Main Street Pier gigging. During his stint with the band Queens Ransom from 2013-2015, Daytona’s famous Boot Hill Saloon was a favored venue.
From 2015-2021, Bigwood played with the Not Brothers Band, who were “a corporate event band, not so much anything bar-related,” he says. “We played Rockefeller Gardens (the riverside park in Ormond Beach) every year for their July 4th celebration and-or their Summer Sounds series.” The group also served as the all-star band for the radio station Rock of Daytona 104.7.
Bigwood joined Nickoloff in 2021.
On the cover-song side of the street, Bigwood says his favs to play with Nickoloff are Men at Work’s “Who Can It Be Now” (“love the vocals and catchy rhythms”), Velvet Revolver’s “Slither” (“because it rocks”), and Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” (“a fun classic to play”).
Nickoloff’s original music, Bigwood says, “is pure fun, high energy and very catchy lyrics and choruses. Just fun to play. The songs are well thought-out and written.”
When Nickoloff takes it to the stage, “We’re all well-prepared,” Bigwood says. “The funnest part about a Nickoloff concert is playing the original songs and watching all the people sing the songs with John and the band. The lights, the PA, all the different professional sound guys we have used makes the whole experience great. John makes everyone around him better.”