Thomas Ian Nicholas

THOMAS IAN NICHOLAS
"WITHOUT WARNING"
(self-released, 2007)


Like most everyone else, I'm always skeptical when I see someone known for his or her acting try their hand at music by releasing an album (emphasis on the word "try"). That's why I hesitated buying this CD when I saw it in the Amoeba racks on my previous visit a couple of years ago, and why I ended up being so pleasantly surprised after listening to it. It turns out that Thomas Ian Nicholas (most notable for his roles in such films as "Rookie of the Year" and the "American Pie" movies) is a pretty darn decent musician and singer, too. Mind you, he doesn't break any new ground or particularly stand out as a musician, but that certainly doesn't mean this album isn't worth listening to.

On his debut "Without Warning", Nicholas delivers a set full of well-written and well-played songs in the tried and true tradition of the pop-rock-oriented "everyman" singer-songwriter. He rocks out like Springsteen on the opener "Wasting My Time", carries a mellower Mellencamp vibe on "Frequency", reminds me a bit of Billy Joel on "How Does It Feel", and gets all John Mayer sensitive on "Cry While Smiling". That's not to say he's entirely unoriginal; one can tell he's giving an honest effort to find his own voice, and even though he doesn't quite accomplish the goal on this album, his obvious potential keeps us interested and assures us that he'll get there in good time.

In my opinion, this album is good enough that it could have been released on a major label. Nicholas is a low-enough-profile actor that he probably would have avoided the "wannabe" stigma that (often justifiably) haunts bigger celebrities with recording-artist aspirations -- but it's probably just as well that he chose the independent route to avoid any questions that he might have used his notoriety to "buy" a major label contract. Apparently I hit something of a stroke of luck, finding this CD on the racks. I've been looking on the web and can only find it in digital form everywhere except on Nicholas' official site ... where, incidentally, his band's latest album is now available (which I actually didn't know until after I had decided to write this post).

Buy it digitally on iTunes
Buy it digitally on Amazon