with John Nickoloff
Song by Song
Singer John Nickoloff says his band makes “quality, catchy, middle-of-the-road rock songs that make you smile, dance, cry, drive faster, think about your past and-or your future. Our songs have even saved lives. THAT’S NO JOKE! I’m very proud of the songs I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of writing.”
Here John talks about some of his favorite original songs:
* “Get Out of My Way” – “This song is an all-out attack. This gets the crowd going right from the start. DON’T YOU WANNA LIVE . . . It’s truly special when the people in the crowd are singing your song back to you, with you and for you. GET OUT OF MY WAY, COMING THROUGH! What a special song!”
* “Back Where I Belong Again” – The crowd sings this song back to us and along with us. This was written by Reg Monsanto and I for the RainLord reunion show in 2014. Easy song to write, as it’s all about celebrating the band, the fans and the almighty stage. I used a ton of the old RainLord song titles in writing the lyrics to this song. The crowd, no matter if it’s the first or hundredth time they’ve seen us, are singing COME BACK, COME BACK, COME BACK, COME BACK . . . I’M HOME . . . BACK WHERE I BELONG. So awesome!”
* “Real Life” – “This is one of the crowd favorites. The lyrics and the music are both emotional and inspirational. One of my favorite songs I’ve had the pleasure of writing lyrics to and singing. Mark McManus and I created a real treasure here. CAUSE IT’S REAL LIFE AND YOU DON’T KNOW HOW IT ENDS . . . DON’T LET THE MIGHT HAVE BEEN, SHOULD HAVE BEEN, WOULD HAVE BEEN, COULD HAVE, BE YOU!”
* “I Like It” – Reg Monsanto penned this song 10 years ago. When I heard it, I approached him about me doing this with Nickoloff prior to Reg and I working together in Nickoloff. Ten years later, we tweak it a bit, and breathe new life into this. People love this song! It has such a swagger. It’s almost as if Reg wrote this song for me. I love performing this song, we as a band love performing this song, and the crowd, big or small. not just LIKES it — THEY LOVE IT!”
“There are so many more original songs I could speak about,” Nickoloff says. “We have right now about 13-15 we pull from and play, and we have such a huge catalog of original songs to pull from that we’ll be adding in the not-too-distant future. Not to mention all of the new songs we’re writing and recording. WATCH OUT!”
Here’s a glimpse at some of the band’s favorite songs to cover:
- Thin Lizzy – “Jailbreak”
- Poison – “Look What the Cat Dragged In”
- Bon Jovi – “It’s My Life”
- Velvet Revolver – “Slither”
- Sammy Hagar – “I’ll Fall in Love Again”
- Billy Idol – “Rebel Yell”
- Tonic – “If You Could Only See”
- Men At Work – “Who Can It Be Now”
- Deep Purple – “Smoke on the Water”