Nate Allen

posted in: Articles, October 2016 | 0

Nate Allen has a new solo outing with a full band backing him as well as a new acoustic album. A lot has happened since DTL spoke with him last, so without further a due, let’s catch up.

Joshua Lory: It’s been a while since DTL last interviewed you, can you tell us what you’ve been up to in the time between With Our Powers Combined and now?

Nate Allen: A lot has changed.

When Power came out I was finishing up college in Portland, Oregon and taking stupid amounts of credits between tours. I was also firmly a work-a-holic, striving very hard to win people’s approval by playing more rock n’ roll shows than just about anyone… At the same time I was burning out and feeding my stress addiction.

In 2013/14 I basically pulled the brake on my constant movement and touring and forced myself to slow down. This meant finding a job that made me be in once space and moving to Kansas City where rent is cheap and we can afford our own place.

This has been healthy on many levels and allowed me to deal with some very shaky motivations.

After taking a good amount of time to reset. I finally will be getting back in the van and begin proper touring in October (Ed note: this is a 2015 interview – sorry for the delay!). Fortunately I believe my motivation and purpose are a-lot clearer now – it’s like my windshield has been cleaned off in many ways.

That’s awesome to gain that focus. Was it hard leaving the music scene of Portland behind? How is your local scene in KS?

Yes. It was so hard to leave. We’ve been grieving off and on since we left. It felt like were just on the verge of some exciting things. Oregon is home to me so going out in Portland meant seeing friends I’ve known for years.

Kansas City has a lot to offer but it’s taken some getting used to. I’ve started to refer to KC as a hidden treasure. People often skip it on tour but the more we’ve gotten to know people the more we like it here.

What can you tell us about the new album, music and lyrical direction?

Musically and lyrically Take Out the Trash definitely pushed me into new directions. I would say musically it’s the first album since my Destroy Nate Allen debut (in 2006) where I was able to record every sound in my head for an album. This time around the recording quality is much better and I was able to have the perfect folks play along with me (including Tyson Kingrey on drums and Dennis Childers formerly of Insomniac Folklore, Flock 14 and one show for Larry Norman on bass).

Lyrical I wrote the album in a stretching season. My eyes were being opened to how privileged and ignorant I have been simply because of my skin color and small-town upbringing. I was also struggling with burnout, unemployment, and becoming more aware of my work-a-holic tendencies…. I’m a pretty sensitive guy so as these things impacted me songs were forced out… that I’m very proud of every track but they can be a hard to sing or explain at times.

I’m pretty confident that Take Out the Trash is my most complete recording to date but it is a humble offering of suggestions rather than a this is what you should do album. The first line of the “Open to Everything which kicks the album off is “hating myself for what I have done” and the record ends with the song “Goodbye Letter” – a somber song about moving on and loss. These definitely aren’t the feel-good Destroy Nate Allen tunes I’m known for but I believe they contribute to conversations that need to happen.

Will your next tour be full band, just you acoustic, or Destroy Nate Allen? Will it be as long as tours from the past? Where do you plan on going this round?

My next tour will be just me acoustic through the Midwest. We’ll doing some Destroy Nate Allen dates later this year and then I’ll be doing more solo touring. I might play some select full bands shows but nothing in scheduled at this point.

The tours I’m working on are around a month at a time. I doubt we’ll ever do another 6 month tour but strangers things have happened.

You had a successful Kickstarter funding the vinyl release of your new album Take Out the Trash, where can people find this and your other releases?

Take Out the Trash is available on all digital outlets, in a bunch of record stores, or you buy it directly from us at on thepacawaydots.bandcamp.comiamnateallen.com.

Any plans for your next album? Will it be with Pacaway Dots or Destroy Nate Allen, or something else? Is there any style you never tried and wanted to?

I’m not sure what our / my next release will be. We’re causally writing for Destroy Nate Allen and I’m always writing songs. I’ve probably got at least another album or two close to ready to record.

causally writing for Destroy Nate Allen and I’m always writing songs. I’ve probably got at least another album or two close to ready to record.

Is Distortion Changes Everything a companion album to Take Out the Trash?

The albums share many songs. Distortion is very much a collection of acoustic B-sides and demos from Take Out the Trash. That being said there are a few tracks on it I very much enjoy and I am particularly stoked on the artwork.

(I was pretty much done with the interview, I had sparked a conversation with Nate about church and things happening to them and the members, anyway, I thought I’d share this portion with you all.)

Always have a curiosity when churches start out a certain way and a shift happening, it happened to the one I grew up in, I have theories what happened at mine, but it’s dark stuff that can’t be proven, just the players involved it would make sense. It scared me enough that I’ve never been able to go back or find anything trust worthy.

I think organizations that take a negative slide are heartbreaking… especially because so many people are harmed along the way. To me it’s a sin problem that general secrecy and shame perpetuates. I think independent churches are particularly susceptible because it’s SUPER easy for a pastor to be judge, jury, and final say on a lot of things.

I know I’m pretty suspicious of many Christian activities. A little over a year ago I realized I had been the victim of spiritual abuse – which explains so much. I call it death by 1000 cuts because I was hurt by many things over many years (I actually talked on this at Audiofeed). The effects of the abuse made me very suspicious to pretty much anything “church/christian” related until I really didn’t want to anything to do with the structures or people. I think the paradox exists in that the healing that I need and needed come from other Christians…  so being open to wise counsel and good support are essential.

So that being said I really value the church in its capacity to love while at the same time realizing it’s very easy for people to wound each other in their ideas of doing good – which is all relative to our experience. Over the past few years I’ve moved into a space where I have more respect for Catholic / Anglican & Orthodox Churches. From at least my perspective they seem to be doing the best at building solid structures that facilitate good leadership and ongoing community.

I’ll be addressing some of these abuses on upcoming albums… at least one which will be a continuation of Take Out the Trash… in that’s I’ll be working through my more personal junk and inviting others to do the same. That (yet to be named or recorded album) will probably just me and a guitar getting low and singing softly…. in a way I was not able do every really due up until recently because I was so anxious and wound up – in part from the spiritual abuse… that I really didn’t know why I couldn’t physically slow down.

DestroyNateAllen.com

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