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SPOTLIGHT: NICK J TOWNSEND
- D.G. Torrens
- Aug 18
- 11 min read
WEAK13
BAND
VOCALIST
GUITARIST
BIO:
Nick J. Townsend was born in 1975 in Kidderminster. He founded the band WEAK13 late 1999 which paused after a few years. Nick then relaunched the band in 2010 with Wesley Smith and Neel Parmar. The trio continues to release original music. Two official WEAK13 studio albums have been released ‘They Live’ (2017) and ‘Aluminium’ (2025).
Nick became a key figure in the Midlands music scene after the millennium, he heavily assisted setting up the first ever Kidderminster music festival in 2003 which later became an annual event. He served as editor for several free music magazines including: 'PMT Magazine' (2002-2004) and ‘Nick The Mag' (2004-2006).
In 2008 Nick relocated to the Black Country. He was noticed by Wolverhampton based music magazine editor Shaun Ryan and was made chief writer for RGG magazine. Nick served the magazine till April 2020 when it was forced to cease publishing due to the lockdown.
Since 2015 Nick has filmed and directed music videos for many UK musicians and bands including The Humdrum Express, Don Powell, Rebecca Downes, Rain, Bleak December, Ivy Ash and Naked Sunday.
SUMMARY:
British 3-man low-tuned underground metal/punk /rock terror from Birmingham & the Black Country. The band is any genre or style it wants to be using metal overtones. WEAK13 is Nick J Townsend (singer & guitarist), Wesley Smith (Bass guitar) and Neel Parmar (drums).
In the wake of losing Ozzy Osbourne. Birmingham & Black Country band WEAK13 made the decision to delay their new single for a month: From the band: As we ourselves are based in the Midlands we felt that at a time of great mourning it would be disrespectful to promote our new single when everyone, including us, just wants to hear Ozzy's voice right now.
WEAK13 press release August 2025. Conceivably, one of the best independent ballads ever written, ‘Hey You Down There’ by British band WEAK13 is the ultimate love song saturated with dark tearfully sentimental lyrics and Pink Floyd-like attitude. An acoustic radio friendly masterpiece taken from the 2025 double album ‘Aluminium’. Single and music video out now.
Q&A
DG Q: You founded Weak13, a band whose gritty blend of metal, rock and punk has earned you fans across different countries. What was the driving force behind this band’s creation?
NICK: I began life as an artist and I slowly fell in love with music. My father’s vinyl collection introduced me to Boney M, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix and Elton John; as I got older I discovered the likes of Love/Hate, Nirvana, Snap, Soundgarden, Senser, Korn and
The Kinks. They all had something to say, they were my best friends when I was lonely. They were my educators, and like any good teacher they created a good student. I needed to make music, because I too had things to say. WEAK13 came out of all that I guess.
DG Q: Weak13 is powered by a trio: yourself, Wesley Smith (Bass guitar) and Neel Parmar (drums). In the dynamic of a band, each member brings their own strengths, vulnerabilities, and quirks. Could you shed some light on the dynamic between you three?
NICK: I’m quite fortunate to be working with two incredible musicians who both have faith in my abilities. I often come up with an idea and then present it to Wesley and Neel like I’m doing an audition. What happens next is they both analyse what I’ve done like engineers and then a song is created between the three of us. I can’t waste their time so they only get the best from me. A bad idea wouldn’t pass their musical scrutiny and they know what sounds good and when I’m really on to something brilliant.
DG Q: Weak13 has a brilliant new album out. Please tell us all about it?
NICK: Yes, if you’re brand new to WEAK13 then ‘Aluminium’ is the best example of what we do musically. It’s mischievous, deep, funny, ambitious, well engineered and very punk. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to like punk to like this; you just have to love good music.
It was written over the space of two years, then we spent another two years on recording in the studio in Coventry working with engineer John Stewart.
The reason it took so long was because we only wanted to work with John and we had to wait till he was available. Towards the last part of the recording sessions we were months into lockdown and we still hadn’t gotten the mastering arranged. We decided that releasing the double album during lockdown would be a huge waste of time and we made the correct decision delaying it.
As we celebrated the final day in the studio; one of our friends was releasing their album and because the entire world was fixated with lockdown their album pretty much disappeared without trace. Now, we’d already invested four years on this double album so we thought it would be better to plan the release for a better date in the future.
We had to give our fans something, so we recorded an extra few songs with John Stewart and released them as singles to bridge the gap between the album release, these were the cover songs ‘Mary’ and ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay’.
Another thing was that to sell and promote this double album we knew we needed to do something pretty big and original because the music industry was changing, and at the time most of the population was at home and visual media was going to be the future, everyone was glued to their phones and laptops. We didn’t have millions so I taught myself how to animate and worked on a claymation music video for the first single from the album.
I knew that it would take me a couple of years to make a decent claymation, so to bridge even more time for the album release we released a remix of one the first WEAK13 songs as a single called ‘Go Away’ and a satirical original single called ‘On The BBC’. Both did well, we had to give fans something new but the double album needed to be released.
So it wasn’t until January 2025 that fans got to hear the new double album and the first single was called ‘Unpopular’ and it was such a relief to finally have the music made public. Some of these songs were written years ago; we knew we had a great album coming so that was always at the back of our mind when we were waiting to release it. It was the best choice delaying the double album and we’ve had nothing but good things said about the songs.
DG Q: You're a talented videographer, and your recent animated piece 'Claymation' for the official 'Unpopular' video is absolutely brilliant. I've watched it multiple times. What sparked the idea behind its creation?
NICK: I’m always looking at the impossible and then figuring out how I can do it. When I first picked up a guitar many years ago, I never thought that I’d be able write a song; well that was once the impossible. Fast forward to today, I’ve had some of the biggest rockstars on Earth tell me that WEAK13 has great songs.
The claymation we did for ‘Unpopular’ was the only way I could get Jools Holland and Ed Sheeran to play evil robots in a music video for a song mocking the media and institutions that created them.
I had no idea how to do claymation so I just taught myself and looked at the work of the big animators, storytellers and filmmakers. Now, it ain’t perfect, but I think we said a lot visually in a four minute song. Unlike a silent movie, I have a killer song with vocals for the soundtrack. I had to juggle moving narratives forward and entwining it with the song lyrics. The short Tesla car chase was my favourite part to make because that section of the song is 100% driving music. Try driving a car to this song, it’s the best feeling ever’.
DG Q: I came across one of your earlier music videos on YouTube—set in the trenches of World War I, and was completely transfixed. It’s a powerful and brilliantly executed piece. What inspired you to choose that historical setting, and can you tell me more about how the video came together?
NICK: The acting that I did in the music video was under real harsh weather conditions and I totally enjoyed the challenge. I gave my utmost to the camera; the entire thing took about 18 months to plan and complete. It’s no secret but I didn’t get on well with the producer/director or the alleged Sony cinematographer on the set.
My lawyer friend informed me it could be argued that towards the end of the production some of them attempted to kick me out of the project. Also, my lawyer friend said that perhaps we could speculate that I thought some of them were crooks? Anyway, after working with them I decided to get a University Degree in film and handle the cameras myself in future, plus work with more honourable filmmakers and cinematographers.
There were so many egos in that trench; before filming started I was considered as the idiot by many on that film set mainly because of my appearance, me being a musician and also not coming from a filmmaking or acting background. So there was a them and us mentality. It hadn’t occurred to the main players until cameras begun rolling that I would give a solid standout performance. They were all hoping for as many shots of themselves and their WW1 reenactment buddies and hadn’t taken into account that I’m the frontman, of course I’m going to take lead and take my acting performance seriously in a music video.
DG Q: Who were the pivotal figures or moments that sparked your musical journey, and what influences have most profoundly shaped your artistic direction?
NICK: Real events in my own life mainly inspire my lyrics more than musicians that appeal to me. There’s subject matter all around me: people I loved who have passed away, seeing through corrupt media attempting to manipulate audiences. You know? Stuff like that”.
What’s grabbed my attention most or been a huge inspiration has been a lot of 70s
dystopian science fiction, 80s horror, British comics such as ‘Scream’, ‘Eagle’, ‘Death’s Head,’ and filmmakers like John Carpenter. I love the intelligence of the TV character Columbo. I like things that make me think outside the box. Things aren’t always what they seem”.
DG Q: How did the name WEAK13 come to represent your band’s essence, and were there alternative names that came close to capturing your vision?
NICK: That’s a long story and I really have no idea how to give a short answer. Yep, that’s my answer. As for other names, I did, at one point, consider the name ‘The Last Pirate’ if I wasn’t in WEAK13. I still love that name so TLP will one day become either a lyric, a song title, or be used in some artistic capacity.
I like to riff with a lot of concepts and when I was coming up with band and artist names there had to be a deeper layer and meaning other than just sounding cool. Now yes, WEAK13 is the best sounding band name ever; a three syllable word with the fewest letters but I embrace the mystery surrounding its meaning. It’s not obvious, it’s a very loaded and cryptic name - like a flashing neon road sign riddled in ambiguity.
Contrary to that, I didn’t go with The Last Pirate as I felt it was too on the nose. To me, The Last Pirate screams stakes, you’re the protagonist of the story, no one else is going to save you, and it’s all on your shoulders to do something amazing; but you’re still a pirate. The final one of your kind: your objective is to inspire the world so as to create a new generation of pirates. Thus ensuring that the villain of the story is, of course, a sinister elite music industry doing everything it can to silence you. Now what’s fiction and what’s real?
DG Q: At the heart of your sound and storytelling, what core message defines your band’s identity and creative mission?
NICK: So like what’s my propaganda? This is the part of the interview where I’m supposed to reveal the secret sauce. Tricky, but let’s just state the following. Nearly every WEAK13 song is encoded in some way. You might call these Easter eggs; you’re always getting rock music but we fit in something more.
Musically and lyrically we tease the audience with satire on different levels. There’s also occasionally fools gold where we purposefully emphasise strongly that we’re singing about one thing but actually focusing on a completely different topic. Our listeners are smart so we reward them.
You could be from the poorest background but be rich with ideas; I was never going to outpace musicians breastfed with billionaire vodka so I have always relied on my resourcefulness, imagination and creativity to move WEAK13 forward rather than financial fantasy.
In regards to creative mission, we strive to offer exciting alternative escapism from the cold-hearted dreary controlled output of the modern music industry. I look at it like the classic tortoise and hare story, I’m here to win the long race and I’ve never seen myself as the hare.
If the music industry is like a rigged slot machine then WEAK13 is seen as an oversized casino chip. Generally we’re not welcomed by many in the music business but that’s not our problem; we’re theirs.
DG Q: What’s next for WEAK13: musically and beyond? Are there any upcoming projects or creative ventures on the horizon that you can share?
NICK: We’ve always tried to be consistent and release new stuff every year or do something cool like a big music video. At the moment we’re slowly writing songs for the 3rd WEAK13 studio album; we take our time on our terms. Could be a few years before anyone hears it but it’s important to make sure fans get the very best and nothing less.
DG Q: You've been a passionate comic book fan for years, and your love for the genre clearly runs deep. What draws you to Dan Dare, and why do you consider ‘Eagle’ one of the greatest British comics?
NICK: I grew up reading a British comic magazine called Eagle, it was my window of escapism and I loved the beautiful detailed artwork and well written stories. It was responsible for science fiction heroes such as ‘Doomlotd’, ‘Computer Warrior’ and ‘Dan Dare’. In 1984 it merged with Scream magazine, meaning that sci-fi and horror had finally merged together in a weekly comic book. It was the perfect merger.
My favourite was a strip called ‘The Thirteenth Floor’, the tales of a tower regulated by a computer called Max. The high level of storytelling just opened my mind and that’s kind of how I hope WEAK13 is received by fans; that we open people’s hearts and minds’.
Every band needs a leader and I guess that’s where Dan Dare comes into play; he was the face of Eagle magazine and went through many different guises over the years but he was always a dependable hero. When you front a band you become a role model to others. It’s hard when you’re having an atrocious day, but if someone greets you for the first time asking about your music then you just have to do your best to not behave like a dick. First impressions are very important.
DG Q: Is there a lesser-known facet of your life or personality that you’d be willing to reveal, something fans might be surprised to learn?
NICK: I like cats and dogs.
DG Q: What’s one ‘no-BS’ truth you wish someone had told you when you were just starting out as an artist?
NICK: Don’t anticipate much help from your peers. In fact, prepare for the opposite. Man, that sounds like negativity, and I’m a realist optimist but the amount of BS I’ve heard from artists older than me is phenomenal. I’m in my late 40s, but thankfully look younger and still get musicians referring to me as Kid; it’s never a compliment. It’s usually them implying that you’ve got a lot to learn, but they’re not going to help you in any meaningful way. They see you as vulnerable and therefore easy to steal ideas from. Now that might all sound ridiculous but have you seriously got any close friends that refer to you as kid? I doubt it, if they do, then check them out for plagiarism.
DG Q: What raw and unfiltered advice can you share with new bands trying to break into the industry?
NICK: Invest in your own ideas. It’s easy to view the world starry eyed presuming others will fund your projects one day, but if you won’t put your own money into your music career then why the hell should anyone else?”
DG Q: Let’s end strong, what is one quote that deeply resonates with you and makes you think, ‘That’s me’?
NICK: If you can’t join them, beat them.
LINKS:
Follow WEAK13 and we’ll follow your pages back
Facebook: facebook.com/weak13fanpage
Instagram: instagram.com/weak13
TikTok: tiktok.com/@weak13music
Twitter: x.com/weak13
YouTube: youtube.com/weak13
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