It’s the month of love and we are ‘crushing’ on modern troubadour, storyteller, global nomad and indie-folk singer-songwriter, Nate Maingard Words: Bianca Agenbag
Once we heard his poetic lyrics we were hooked.
When chatting to Nate his voice mesmerises as much as the words he speaks, sharing whimsical experiences from traveling the globe, binding people together with his music and diving deeper into the experience of living
CSA: In 3 words – Who is Nate Maingard?
Nate: Troubadour, lyrical, storyteller
Describe your sound?
My sound is very much based on singer-songwriter folk music. It’s inspired by artists such as Bob Dylan, Lennard Cohen and modern influences like Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes and Radiohead. Haha, quite an interesting combination!
Briefly describe your music-making process?
It’s pretty organic. I think and feel a lot about the world and myself and those thoughts and feelings turn into songs. I will fiddle around with some chords and start singing, suddenly realizing that I’m telling a story about a previous experienced, or something I’ve been thinking about and it grows from there.
Do you do any other writing besides lyrics?
I write poetry but I really want to get into story writing.
What inspires you?
Authenticity and the similarity between us all in this human experience. The fact that although we may be a different gender, race or come from different parts of the world, we all share incredibly similar stories – stories of love, lust, learning, and journeying. It amazes me how connected we actually are!
Most memorable career moment?
Oh, that’s a tough question! One of them was definitely my first festival when I played my show, I had an encore and sold so many CDs. I signed a 70-year-old granny’s jeans … A specific moment over that weekend was when a 12-year-old boy wanted to shake my hand and the look on his face of awe and excitement made me realize that I could be a positive example to incredible people. It was a beautiful weekend and I walked away from it with a different idea of what I wanted to do and that I can succeed as an independent, authentic artist and that people needed and wanted to be connected to what I was doing.
If you can perform with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?
John Lennon or a group called The Lyrical Nomads (hey are all alive and they are all like my best friends, haha).
What are you currently working on?
I’m working on my next album which is going to be a live album.
What can fans expect from your live shows?
Stories of my experiences as a nomadic troubadour, traveling around the world and connecting with one another.
You have travelled a lot for your music – what experience stood out?
It’s not so much the big experiences but the little ones – like meeting people and playing music in their homes and seeing the incredible generosity and passion. I find that most people just want to be kind and connect and that is the most profound thing that I have experienced anywhere and everywhere I have traveled to. People are beautiful.
A specific place that stood out?
One of my fav ever was a 14th-century church in London. It is a very powerful experience to play in a place like that.
What is music to you?
Music is the potential of making the inexplicable understandable or relatable. Life in a mysterious reality and music somehow brings all of that wild energy like love and lust and all the things that we experience and it makes it content to the heart – I think that is amazingly powerful.
I’m superstitious about: Haha, the government
My biggest fear: Fear is my biggest fear
My wildest fantasy: that people will focus not so much on money but on experiences and building and take care of this planet and its creatures
I can’t live without: My guitar
Fav hangout spot: Scarborough Point
The title of my biography would be: 15 years to an overnight success
Happiness is: Authenticity
I overuse the word/phrase: Worth it. It’s from the movie Deadpool. I say that way too much!
