As my eyes wander around the room I can see it's that passion that still pushes Nathan now. His drum kit behind him takes up the majority of the space in his make-shift band room and the Too Slow Joe (his current band) sticker winking at me on the kick drum.

Nath, can you explain that passion within you? The push to keep playing?

 

It’s a hard one… but the crux of wanting to play and the love of playing comes from within, it’s a feeling.

With drums or any musical instrument, it’s such an escape. You can forget about all your problems - who you are, what you’re doing, where you work, who your friends are - none of that matters. Especially when you have such a love for an instrument, as I have with drums, you always want to learn, play and explore more. Coming home from band practice each week leaves me pumped every time. I lie in bed but can’t sleep. My minding racing around thinking about the way I played something differently that night that worked really well or parts that I think could be better. It’s a constant evolution playing in a band. The other guys in Too Slow Joe are like me, rarely ever playing things the same and always looking for ways to improve sections of a song or the overall sound. Can’t wait to get out and start playing shows again. 

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Speaking of bands, you have been playing for 30 years or so I imagine you have played in a heap of different bands, with different styles etc. What were some of the highlights for you and why?

 

Sooooo many bands, so many styles. I’ve played in Grunge bands, Funk, Jazz, Hardcore, even in Hip-Hop groups and dabbled in Punk bands, Blues, folk and accompanied solo artists creating their own styles. All of it was fun and challenging in its own right, and led me to be the versatile drummer I am today by pushing my boundaries and reaching out of my comfort zone to understand all types of music and genres.

My highlights were definitely privileged, being a member of a band in Vicco (Victoria), unearthed by Triple J in the late ’90s and playing at “Rock above the falls” above Lorne, which is now The Falls Festival. Sharing the stage with big Australian bands and international acts alike was mind-blowing and inspirational. These bands were our peers and role models at the time, and we were humble fans at the age of 19, being able to be backstage with them, and talking with them, changed my whole perspective of the industry. These people, famous as they were in my eyes, were really just like me, sharing a passion for performing and creating music, and enjoying bringing it to the masses for them to enjoy likewise.

From there we supported on tour, and played in some festivals, with bands such as Grinspoon, Spiderbait, Skunkhour and Silverchair. Met some amazing and talented people along the way, forged great friendships and have some awesome stories for around the fire.  

Cliche question I know - who were the big musical influences in your life?

 

Musical styles were influenced by my Uncle… he exposed me to a lot of different bands that he liked that I didn’t have the exposure to at home. Led Zeppelin, The Police, The Cars, Cream - all those very ‘70s and early ‘80s related bands. One of the biggest drumming influences from my youth would be Stewart Copeland from The Police. His style of drumming, the quirkiness, was like nothing I’d ever heard before. I guess his unpredictable “non-standard” approach has influenced my own way of playing. I didn’t want to emulate that but I wanted to play like that because it was different. I could feel that within me, other than just being able to play a standard beat. When you're a drummer that's something that should be innate, stock standard, but to muck around and do odd times and weird inflections and it still sounds good is next level again. I wanted to learn how to do that and I didn’t have a teacher or access to a teacher because there just wasn't anyone around locally or even anyone who I could think of who could show me anything like that. So I would just listen and watch videos. That focus has stayed with me all through my 30 odd years of playing. My biggest influence these days and for the same reason is Danny Carey from Tool. He is unchallenged in my opinion as being the greatest drummer on the planet. 

 

 Can you give me one instance where you said “Nope, I don’t want to do this anymore”?

 

Yes. When I moved back here from Queensland. I was playing in five different bands up there and I was quite thinly spread. I enjoyed it, don’t get me wrong, but it was five different bands, five different styles of music and they were all bands that were creating and performing but it became very taxing. When I moved back here I knew that I still had a smattering of friends around that had either stayed here or moved back that were musos. Once they heard that I’d moved back, were like “wicked there’s a new drummer in town let’s nab him” blah blah blah. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t jump back into something else. I needed respite, but it wasn’t from music or it wasn’t from playing the drums, I’d just burnt out a little bit. I hadn’t even realised until I stopped doing it. When you’re constantly doing something you don’t know how tired you are, or how taxing it is on your body, on your relationships and your mindset. I was burnt out, but it didn’t take away from the love. So I decided to remove myself from any band situation and I would practice by myself.  

 

When you did start playing in bands again here in Ulladulla, were you playing lots of gigs again? 

 

Not really. A lot of it was just jamming with people. A big reason why we weren’t doing those styles of gigs was that the venues aren’t
available here. 

 

What do you mean by styles?

 

As in pub gigs, small arenas. In Brisbane we were doing a lot of outdoor festivals because that's what was going on - there’d be a skate park opening somewhere and they’d want five bands so off you’d go. But down here the two venues that were available to play music here were The Commercial Hotel before it became The Milton Hotel and The Marlin. The Marlin at that time really didn’t cater for original bands. 

 

So just covers really?

 

Yeah. However, The Commercial was into it for a little while. They had bands that had started from their ‘Jam Nights’ or that people had come together who knew they didn’t mind if they played their own stuff. They didn’t want the covers because they wanted a certain kind of patronage and it was awesome for a time, a good three or four year period where there was a gig there every weekend, it was three or four local bands playing. We just don’t have a venue like that anymore that caters for bands like ours. We are far from being heavy but still it’s loud, high energy and in your face. Definitely not romantic background music for diners or low key pub chatter.

 

We have spoken about you moving back to town, there weren’t many gigs, you took some time away. You work full time to support yourself. If money wasn’t an object, and you didn’t have to worry about putting food on the table or paying bills, and there were no limits, what would you do?

 

That would definitely be teaching people how to play and giving back to what I see as something that has brought me so much joy, fulfilment and it gave me confidence as a child. I would love to work with the next generation and share my passion and understanding of drums, cos that’s my thing... into that next movement of music, I guess. It is slowly coming back around again, I’m seeing a lot of the younger bands come through and they’re playing a lot of the heavier styles, there is a slip back to the grunge scene and I think having lived it, played it... I have a lot to pass on.

 

Even in fashion, the ’90s are cool and trendy now. 

 

Yeah absolutely, if I had a magic wand to do what I could do, with no boundaries and no monetary issues, it would be that. 

 

In Ulladulla?

 

Yeah. I chose to come back here for a reason and that's because I like the area, the space it was in, I loved the town and how it felt. Yeah, there's been a lot of change but the crux of the town and the heart of the town are still here. A lot of the locals who have been here as long as me, or longer, generations even would say the same thing. It’s not the changes in town that make the town community, it's the people who have been here and formed that community. It's all that amalgamation that makes the town the town which is what I like about it.