Project Description

Interview with
NATHAN KAYE

(October 2020)

Interviewer – Dave Bruce

.

.

Have you always wanted to be a musician? When did you get the song writing bug?
I started writing songs from the age of 11 years old after my mum took me to an Aboriginal Land Rights protest. It was intense and I needed to express what I witnessed and felt about it.

How would you describe your sound?
My sound is a fusion of many eclectic influences absorbed from years of touring. Something akin to a slide guitar slinging, didge blowing blues-rock-triphop vibe.

Why do you think people resonate with your music?
If I’m honest, people tend to say they are drawn to the energy I put into a music  journey combined with raw honesty, I guess. I had one follower say that when she was on her first ever overseas flight, which had hours of turbulence, she had one of my tunes on repeat to keep her feeling safe and grounded.

Which artist’s music and/or performance, past or present, inspires you today?
Look, if I was at your place and you were to put on a record from either Ben Harper, Radiohead, Massive Attack, Peter Gabriel, or local indie artists like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Ziggy Alberts, Garret Kato, Ash Grunwald, etc I wouldn’t be leaving in a hurry…
But seriously, so many musicians and performers inspire me. One particular performance that stood out to me was by slide guitar genius, Bob Brozman at Woodford Folk Festival. He was switched ‘on’ from start to finish, even during soundcheck. It was riveting to witness and I learned an incredibly valuable lesson. You see, when most musicians get on stage, they take a song or two or three to kinda warm up before they switch gears up, but he was already in ‘on’ mode. Since then I’ve always tried to be completely on from the get-go when I hit the stage.

Your new single has just been released/is about to be released! Describe its origin and evolution.
I first started exploring the philosophical notion of being ‘the watcher’ of my own life when I was 17 years old during a performance of a play where I lost all sense of myself as the actor and was just observing the character’s lines and behaviours falling out of my mouth and body. It seemed like the character I was supposed to be acting as became real and took over me like I was just an observer inside on the ride. It really shook me up at the time, because it made me question the realness of my own identity or ego, which led me on a lifelong quest to find out who it is that thinks these thoughts I am having and who is it that is listening to me think them. Who is the watcher that is watching the watcher that is watching me.
So the philosophy which underpins this tune has multiple levels.
Firstly, it is about how our mind controls the perceptions we have of our existence & that what we think and believe governs our positive or negative experience of life.
Secondly, we can train our mind or invest 100% of our attention into something to the point where we can transcend our base egoic nature and rise into a different state of being to discover that we are the observer of whomever we think we are.

.

.

Is there an EP or Album on the drawing board?
Yes, this is the first single off my forthcoming album, Movement of Change, Which is looking to be released early next year.

Any tours or events coming up soon?
Given the unprecedented circumstances we all find ourselves currently in, the landscape of touring has changed immensely.
I do have shows in Byron Bay and the Gold Coast, but venturing further afield at this stage has all been put on hold. Hopefully not for too much longer.

What are you looking forward to, and what can the fans expect?
I am really looking forward to putting all these new tunes onto a vinyl record release. The followers that are familiar with my work know that I love putting extra special effort into adding surprise extras hidden into my physical media releases.

If you could perform with any music artist, Alive or Dead, who would you choose? And why?
Wow! That is such a big question for me. My list is long actually, and I’ve already had the good fortune to have manifested some of my dream collaborations over the years, such as being invited to play onstage with John Butler at the Fatherhood Festival, jamming until the wee hours in the morning with guitar maestro Jeff Lang, having had Ben Lee invite me to perform with him on one of his songs and then had him play and sing on one of my songs, plus Ben Harper played my first slide guitar backstage of East Coast Blues Fest.
Buuuuuut, Alive? I’d be honoured to play with Hindustani slide guitar legend, Debbashish Battacharya because he’s been a huge influence in my playing for a couple of decades.
Dead? I would’ve loved to have performed with Chris Cornell. I mean what a vocalist and what a songwriter!

Do you have any long-term aspirations as a music artist?
I want the music I create to help get someone through a hard night. I know it can sound a bit airy-fairy, but I think every single person is here for a good reason and if my music can keep some good people alive, through tough times and get the cogs of their brain and mind turning over to make better choices for our communities, planet and future generations, then my sense of purpose will continue to be fulfilled in this world.

.

.

What is the best thing about performing to a live audience?
Connection. Performing to a live audience is a tradition that has been going on for thousands of years. It’s in our DNA to gather around a musician, actor or storyteller and get taken on a journey. We humans need it and every time I’ve stepped onto a stage I feel the deep honour of being connected to thousands of generations of artists that have treaded upon the boards before me.

What’s been the career highlight so far?
Dude! I just had my single mastered at Abbey Road Studios by the engineer who cut Radiohead’s Kid A record to vinyl! That’s a highlight!
One of my other career highlights was during the shooting of the feature film, One Less God. Midway through the shoot of such an intense film, I had to fly over from Sydney to Perth on the weekend to support Birds of Tokyo.
Well, there I was, playing to almost 15,000 people on this mega beach stage, but I was in such an internal zone from acting in the film, which also happens when I play the didge, that the whole scene in front of me all seemed completely surreal, almost unreal, until I was jolted out of my dreamlike state by tens of thousands of people screaming in applause.
In that moment I knew I was living the dream scene I’d visualised in my mind for years; To act in an award winning film and also be playing my music to thousands of appreciative people.

Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –
FAVOURITE:
Album – Radiohead – In Rainbows
Artist – Jeff Buckley
Movie – Baraka (1992)
Place to visit – Hintchinbrook Island, FNQ
Venue to play – Hotel Café, Hollywood, LA, USA
Food – Borsht
Drink – Carrot, Beetroot, Celery, Ginger, Turmeric, garlic, bush lemon juice
Person in History – Leonardo Da Vinci (I mean, he was an artist, scientist, inventor, etc)
Tattoo – My first tattoo, which is on my right shoulder

.

.

Check out NATHAN KAYE below
Website – Facebook – Instagram

.

.

AMNPLIFY – DB