Nice, James 1966

James Nice was born in Essex in 1966. He is a writer specialising in military history, modern art and the post-punk music scene. He writes under the pen name James Hayward.

In 1983, he set up the independent record label Les Temps Modernes, better known as LTM, while still at school in Edinburgh. The label grew out of a fanzine written by Nice and was influenced by the Manchester-based label Factory Records and the Brussels-based label Les Disques du Crépuscule.

Nice continued to run the label while studying at the University of Glasgow from 1984 to 1987. He released tracks and albums by Factory and Crépuscule bands, such as Crispy Ambulance, Section 25 and The Names.

Nice moved to Brussels in 1987, where he worked for Crépuscule and its imprint Factory Benelux. He left a year later to work for the artist and record label service PIAS. Throughout this time, Nice continued to operate LTM.

He returned to the UK in 1991, working as a lawyer and representing some Factory Records artists in resolving music ownership issues with London Records. The LTM label was dormant between 1991 and 1997.

In 2006, Nice directed the documentary Shadowplayers, about Factory Records and the post-punk music scene in Manchester. He followed this with a written history, “Shadowplayers: The Rise and Fall of Factory Records”, in 2010.

Nice revived Factory Benelux in 2012 and Les Disques du Crépuscule in 2013, adding them to the LTM label.