Nate Mainegard
Interview & Review
“‘Boy what are you doing? There’s no point to this, you can’t make any difference. Look there’s millions of starfish on this beach, no matter what you do you can’t make a difference… It’s pointless, you might as well stop!’ The boy looks up at the man and looks down at these millions of starfish all over the beach. He bends over and he picks up a starfish, and he throws it back into the ocean. He looks back at the man and he says, ‘I made a difference to that one‘” (“Thinking of a Starfish”, from SoundCloud albumHome).
Nate is definitely making a mark on music and people in general, with a community of over 1 million followers on Twitter and growing community all over social media. The future, to say the least, looks bright.
When he was young he found inspiration from famous lyrical geniuses from the 60’s like The Beatles, Cat Stevens, Nick Drake, Neal Young, etc. “I always loved the really deep, meaningful, and emotional lyrics that I heard from when I was a kid… I always felt the world very deeply, and so I wanted to find a way to make sense of it all. (So) lyrics and music have been a way for me to do that.” Songs like “Thinking About a Starfish”, “Let Love Win”, and “Always Wandering” are some of the deep and meaningful songs that you can tell is from the heart.
Mainegard tells me that he doesn’t like the politics of the world, they are “corrupt as s**t.” He is sickened by how nature is being treated, and he says that “50% of the world’s forest has been (destroyed).” He believes we should go about our ways in a different way. “The way we treat the world is how we treat ourselves.” He hates Trump. Nate calls him “egotistical” and “full of himself“. It is for these things and more as to why he writes and shares his music. Nate also gave another reason why he writes, “we all share one planet, whatever happens in one part of the planet effects what happens where else.” Simply said, he believes in “us, just us.“
In Our Shadows is about, “(confronting) the shadow in myself, and (making) peace with that. Then I’m already making peace with the world, and therefore can be apart of positive change in the world.” Where Nate lives, his race is viewed as different and he wants to make peace with those people. “Hate hurts you, more than it hurts everyone else….. My love is strong enough,(and) my passion is strong enough that I can step up and firmly say ‘this is not okay, we need another world. And I will be part of that world.“
“I have a slight kind of resistance to the word ‘fan’… A fan is short for ‘fanatic’, and I don’t feel like that about the people that I support what I’m doing. The people who support what I’m doing are a community… You have to be someone who really feels the world deeply, to feel my music. My community is filled with really kind-hearted people who are trying to make sense of a very challenging reality.” Most of his fans are from online sources, located everywhere from the USA to London and beyond.
He plays a lot online through “Getting Naked with Nate” which is soon to be changed, because of the title. His local community, in South Africa, is small because he hasn’t played in Cape Town a lot. He mainly plays in Europe, especially in London and for some time he played in Germany as well. He is looking into coming to America, but the planning and everything is pretty expensive.
He is very thankful for the support he has from his community, it helps him get through a lot of ups and downs of life. “What I love about my community, or anywhere on the internet, is how kind people are.”
When I asked the question what it was like to live in Cape Town, Nate simply said: “it’s like living in the world.” He explains it’s like any other city in the world. “Cape Town feels like Europe.” There aren’t that many people who are African who support Nate’s kind of music because his music is westernized due to segregation and not playing live in the country.
Where does he see himself in 5 years? “It’s actually a good question, and it’s one that I want to have the answer for….. I can say one thing for sure that I want in 5 years is to have an entirely healthy, strong, stable body, because I have issues with my body and my back… I want to be surfing every day in 5 years, and I want to be recording an epic Podcast that brings people joy and inspiration. And inspires them to get out and make their lives beautiful. And I want to be releasing music that is of the same caliber, that inspires people to feel good about just being themselves.” He also wants at least over 2,000 Patreons in 5 years, “it’s kind of like one of my big goals.” He is currently working on recording one song per month, which will eventually turn those songs into an album. He is also “calibrating with a friend of mine, who is making artwork that is inspired by my songs every month.” The album will probably be 10 songs, with all the Patreon’s names on that album. It is anticipated to be out in April 2018.
Nate is definitely making a mark on music and people in general, with a community of over 1 million followers on Twitter and growing community all over social media. The future, to say the least, looks bright.
When he was young he found inspiration from famous lyrical geniuses from the 60’s like The Beatles, Cat Stevens, Nick Drake, Neal Young, etc. “I always loved the really deep, meaningful, and emotional lyrics that I heard from when I was a kid… I always felt the world very deeply, and so I wanted to find a way to make sense of it all. (So) lyrics and music have been a way for me to do that.” Songs like “Thinking About a Starfish”, “Let Love Win”, and “Always Wandering” are some of the deep and meaningful songs that you can tell is from the heart.
Mainegard tells me that he doesn’t like the politics of the world, they are “corrupt as s**t.” He is sickened by how nature is being treated, and he says that “50% of the world’s forest has been (destroyed).” He believes we should go about our ways in a different way. “The way we treat the world is how we treat ourselves.” He hates Trump. Nate calls him “egotistical” and “full of himself“. It is for these things and more as to why he writes and shares his music. Nate also gave another reason why he writes, “we all share one planet, whatever happens in one part of the planet effects what happens where else.” Simply said, he believes in “us, just us.“
In Our Shadows is about, “(confronting) the shadow in myself, and (making) peace with that. Then I’m already making peace with the world, and therefore can be apart of positive change in the world.” Where Nate lives, his race is viewed as different and he wants to make peace with those people. “Hate hurts you, more than it hurts everyone else….. My love is strong enough,(and) my passion is strong enough that I can step up and firmly say ‘this is not okay, we need another world. And I will be part of that world.“
“I have a slight kind of resistance to the word ‘fan’… A fan is short for ‘fanatic’, and I don’t feel like that about the people that I support what I’m doing. The people who support what I’m doing are a community… You have to be someone who really feels the world deeply, to feel my music. My community is filled with really kind-hearted people who are trying to make sense of a very challenging reality.” Most of his fans are from online sources, located everywhere from the USA to London and beyond.
He plays a lot online through “Getting Naked with Nate” which is soon to be changed, because of the title. His local community, in South Africa, is small because he hasn’t played in Cape Town a lot. He mainly plays in Europe, especially in London and for some time he played in Germany as well. He is looking into coming to America, but the planning and everything is pretty expensive.
He is very thankful for the support he has from his community, it helps him get through a lot of ups and downs of life. “What I love about my community, or anywhere on the internet, is how kind people are.”
When I asked the question what it was like to live in Cape Town, Nate simply said: “it’s like living in the world.” He explains it’s like any other city in the world. “Cape Town feels like Europe.” There aren’t that many people who are African who support Nate’s kind of music because his music is westernized due to segregation and not playing live in the country.
Where does he see himself in 5 years? “It’s actually a good question, and it’s one that I want to have the answer for….. I can say one thing for sure that I want in 5 years is to have an entirely healthy, strong, stable body, because I have issues with my body and my back… I want to be surfing every day in 5 years, and I want to be recording an epic Podcast that brings people joy and inspiration. And inspires them to get out and make their lives beautiful. And I want to be releasing music that is of the same caliber, that inspires people to feel good about just being themselves.” He also wants at least over 2,000 Patreons in 5 years, “it’s kind of like one of my big goals.” He is currently working on recording one song per month, which will eventually turn those songs into an album. He is also “calibrating with a friend of mine, who is making artwork that is inspired by my songs every month.” The album will probably be 10 songs, with all the Patreon’s names on that album. It is anticipated to be out in April 2018.
Overview: ★★★★1/4
The Little Things: ★★★★★
Live at the Sofar Sounds (6/6/13): ★★★★1/2
In the Shadows: ★★★★★
Home: ★★★★★
The Wild Land: ★★★★★
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