Radio BurgerFuel Interview: Nathan Grey

An Intimate Loop

The debut release from Nathan Grey is primed and ready to go. As a young kid from the central North Island, it might not be what he thought he would do with his life. But, after a musical awakening, Nathan's R&B stylings see him come full circle.

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I don’t know why I should be surprised as I reckon it applies to about 40% of NZ musicians, but as soon as Nathan mentioned, “Oh, I used to work at BurgerFuel,” everything made a bit more sense. Kindred spirits and all that!

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So, the Nathan Grey story starts in Taupo. He is not at BurgerFuel Taupo just yet (but for the record, a Bacon Backfire with added avo is his jam). But with him growing up with music all around. “In the car, singing with my parents. My grandparents sang anywhere they could, with little songbooks that they carry around,” he says.

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Some of it is typical: getting your first guitar lesson from Mum at nine (Nothing Else Matters by Metallica), picking up a few instruments with parental encouragement, and using YouTube as a teacher. But then came the video that would alter his life and set him on the current course. Nathan says, “It’s a memory I hold quite close to myself.”

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“I was watching a video by the artist FKJ, and he does this live looping set on this salt lak, and I was just blown away. I cried watching it. And I was like, ‘damn’. If there's anything that I really want to do, it's that. So I just pictured in my head the process and the road for me to be able to do that.”

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From that point, I was like, OK, I needed to go to school to actually study how to produce music because I didn't know how to make music on a computer. I knew how to play instruments but didn't know the technical stuff.

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The following year, Nathan made it to MAINZ (the Music & Audio Institute of New Zealand) in Auckland”. He explains how this taught him how to fulfil his dream. “At the end of MAINZ, we had to do an assessment. I had pictured myself doing a loop set from that video, and then at the end, I could do this looping instruments and stuff. That was my goal and what I really wanted to do.

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Since then, Nathan has busied himself producing more music. “I learned just to get better and express myself making beats and find what my genre looks like,” he says. “I went through hurdles and made trash songs, but that's part of that journey.”

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Digging in a little into what attracted him to live looping, Nathan says, “I think just having the ability to create something out of nothing.” He also attributes it to not being involved in groups or bands but still wanting to have that experience – just on his own.

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Their musical upbringing means he can translate what’s in his head to an instrument and has helped with his creative process. “Mum playing the piano allowed me to express those chords and feel those keys while playing. It means I can layer stuff and put it into the program so I can arrange it.”

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Nathan recalls soulful R&B music like Boyz II Men or Eric Benet and old standards like Ten Guitars or from The Temptations or The Drifters.

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It’s no real surprise then that he’s come back to this as he has found his place as a musician and is getting ready to release his debut single ‘Motion’. Despite going through a trap phase and trying to make band music without a band, he returned to something always there – the guitar.

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“Now every beat that I make revolves around the guitar, and just naturally found myself in this weird space of making hip hop with R&B and singing on top of those beats. I guess the people that influenced me also helped me find that genre. There's this one friend of mine named SrMpofu. I've always been so inspired by how he makes music and his beats –very boom-bap oriented.”

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“I was trying to make that kind of music, but I just couldn't hit the nail until one day I did. And I was like, ‘Whoa’. And then I just focused on that; I just wanted to tunnel into that genre and make it and add my own sort of spin to that. I'm feeling content now, and I'm happy with actually sharing my music. So yeah, it's been a good journey and learning process.”

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Waiting for the release of ‘Motion’ on April 12, Nathan says he’s anticipating the drop. “I'm a little bit nervous, but at the same time, just happy to be able to share the stuff that I've been working on, and I want to portray myself as real as I can because that's who I want to be and what I want people to see me as an artist and relate to. That's what I'm most nervous about.

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That, and when he had to share his work with his family. “It's very intimate and passionate. Just using words to express the love that you might have with your significant other or yourself.”

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He’s pulling a release party the week before, and on top of playing Motion, he’s committed to a looping set with a friend. Nathan teases that an EP is on the way, too, but in the meantime, it’s time to buckle in and get ready for Motion. 

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Nathan Grey’s debut single ‘Motion’ is due for release on April 12 on all good streaming platforms. You can also catch him doing his thing on the gram. If you're in Auckland, swing by his release party at DRMPRK on Sat 6 April.

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