Destroy Nate Allen started as a solo project for Nate Allen around 2006. In 2008 his wife Tessa joined with him and the duo have played over 500 shows. Let me tell ya, the live show is an experience! Interactive and energetic, they play infectious, sing-a-long, folk-punk, and you can’t help but get involved. Nate and Tessa prefer to play on the floor with the crowd circling around them as they run around the circle with an explosion of huge Rock moves. With around 7 full lengths and various comps and EP’s there is plenty of material to check out – it’s worth your time! 2012 will be marked as a big year for DNA with 2 new releases: their first large production with the Kickstarter funded With Our Powers Combined (feat. Gnarboots) and the grass roots Eureka Recordings (that I had the pleasure of being involved with). Let’s catch up with Nate, who’s in the middle of a very long tour, one that will be the last for a while.
What and who influenced you to want to play music?
When I was in Junior and High School it was Green Day, Dead Kennedy’s, Sex Pistols, MXPX, Ghoti Hook, 90 Pound Wuss, Five Iron Frenzy, Squad Five-O, Havalina and The Beldings among others. I never really wanted to be a touring artist. I was a promoter for 7 or so years before I started touring. I’ve written songs for about half my life at this point but I never really thought I’d be a touring artist. I got my musical start promoting shows and booking tours for others. In 2007, I finished a season of school in San Francisco and decided to try my hand at touring for a season. I guess I got hooked and since then we’ve played over 700 shows. It’s been a trip.
When did you start touring as a solo artist?
I toured for a few weekends in 2004/05. In 06, I started playing as Destroy Nate Allen and tried and played 15 shows in 16 days to see if I would burn out. I didn’t. In 2007, I got in my van and went on my first US tour which lasted 6.5 months.
How would you describe your sound?
When Destroy Nate Allen first started I would say indie, folk, punk. These days we’ve been saying interactive, sing-a-long, folk punk. But words like comic book-like, theater, and super fun seem to be words other folks have using as of late.
When did Tessa start touring with you?
She joined the band when we got married in 2008.
How many releases does DNA have out? Where can people find them and in what format are they available?
I’m not even sure how many releases we have out. If I had to guess I’d say there has been maybe 25 DNA releases. Officially we say there are 7 full lengths, two 7” records, and several ep’s or demo’s. We’ve released music in the following formats: cd, vinyl, tape, mini disc and digital download. You can find most of it at www.destroynateallen.com/music. The bottom of that page also contains links to download my pre-destroy Nate Allen releases. (There are probably 7ish if I remember right). There are also a few releases only available via shows such as “Not Quite Yet,” which is a kid friendly collection of our songs.
Let’s talk about your latest release With Our Powers Combined, it’s a much bigger production than the Lo-Fi approach to all your earlier releases, how did this come about? Who played on it?
I’ve always worked hard to only spend money I have on music. This means we pay for the releases and recordings up front, Most of our albums have been made in friend’s homes or self-record in living room. Since we’ve always self-released everything we’ve been limited by our budget constraints. The idea to record with Gnarboots and a bunch of friends evolved over a few emails. We got really excited to make a more fleshed-out album; we didn’t have enough money to make it happen on our own so we decided to let the forces of Kickstarter decide the fate of the album. The players were as follows: Tessa and I, Adam, Aaron and Bob from Gnarboots, Jack from Comadre, Seth from Link 80, Anthony from Bill Skins Fifth Will Punch You Right In Face, our friend Noah on trumpet and a few other folks for hand claps. The album was truly collaborative so which is one of the reasons we chose to call it “With Our Powers Combined.”
It was a Kickstarter funded album, how was your experience with Kickstarter?
I absolutely loved working with Kickstarter. It gave us a reason to reach out to a lot of friends and fans we hadn’t talked to in a while. We put a lot of heart and soul into the project but it was completely worth it. My only regret is that a few of the rewards were a little over the top and much more work than I had originally estimated… If I had to do it over, I would have simplified things a bit.
Where can the new album’s be found?
You can find it at www.destroynateallen.com. You can also find all our current tour dates on our site. We’ll be on tour until around Christmas 2012.
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