Features
Conversation with Nathan Moore: Friends with Bare-Bones Honesty
by Mike McKinley | photography by Anne Staveley
October 25, 2009
Conversation with Nathan Moore: Friends with Bare-Bones Honesty
by Mike McKinley | photography by Anne Staveley
October 25, 2009
page 6 of 6
Well‚ I've gotten some really cool answers from jazz musicians about that‚ where they talk about losing themselves and closing their eyes. I think it was Kurt Rosenwinkel‚ he was like‚ "You know‚ last night‚ I was on stage and the band was really hot and I was hammering away on my guitar‚ and I closed my eyes and I was on a spaceship. I know this sounds crazy‚ but this was the vision that came into my head when I was in the thick of this jam because I was really making this wonderful noise." And I was like‚ "Wow‚ go on‚ tell me more."
I got this song that I wrote recently called "My Portal Guitar." There's a YouTube version of it up. What really inspired that song was that idea of being transported to someplace else through a song‚ and how surreal it can be sometimes when you get transported really far away by a song and then all of a sudden the song ends and you get zapped back into the room in the place where you are‚ and you realize‚ "Oh‚ I'm sitting here on stage and there's a bunch of people looking at me. That's really weird‚ where did you guys go?" [Laughter] There's something a little vulnerable about that‚ but I love that. A lot of my songs‚ in my mind‚ when I'm playing them‚ there are references of me hearing a choir join me or an orchestra pounding drums and all of a sudden I'm transported to this other realm. And then you come back‚ and you're on the stage and all these people are looking at you and all you can do is hope is that they came with you‚ but you don't really know. Definitely a vulnerable feeling. One of the lines of that song is‚ "When someone cries out for something familiar‚ I'm afraid of my portal guitar." Because you're looking for this transporting‚ transformational‚ transcendent moment‚ whereas someone may want to hear something familiar.
related articles
Shows: Wakarusa 2012
Blog: 11 Best Songs of 2011
Blog: Surprise Me Mr. Davis Plans to Liberate Canada!
Blog: Hippy Fiasco Rides Again - Richmond, VT
Blog: Listen: Nathan Moore's "Hollow" from Dear Puppeteer
More on: Nathan Moore
Shows: Wakarusa 2012
Blog: 11 Best Songs of 2011
Blog: Surprise Me Mr. Davis Plans to Liberate Canada!
Blog: Hippy Fiasco Rides Again - Richmond, VT
Blog: Listen: Nathan Moore's "Hollow" from Dear Puppeteer
More on: Nathan Moore
new to state of mind
Shows: moe.
Shows: Yonder Mountain String Band
Shows: Grand Point North 2014
Shows: Catskill Chill 2014
Shows: moe.down 15
Shows: Gov't Mule
Shows: Umphrey's McGee
Shows: Newport Folk Festival 2014
Shows: Widespread Panic
Albums: Phish - Fuego
Shows: moe.
Shows: Yonder Mountain String Band
Shows: Grand Point North 2014
Shows: Catskill Chill 2014
Shows: moe.down 15
Shows: Gov't Mule
Shows: Umphrey's McGee
Shows: Newport Folk Festival 2014
Shows: Widespread Panic
Albums: Phish - Fuego
random awesomeness
Shows: The English Beat
Shows: Love Your Mother Festival
Blog: Stephen Malkmus Talks About New Jicks Record
Albums: Mostly Other People Do The Killing - This is Our Moosic
Albums: Cold War Kids - Loyalty to Loyalty
Albums: Yo La Tengo - Fade
Podcast: State of Mind Radio: Epidode 24
Shows: moe. Plays Sound Check for Kids
Magazine: State of Mind - December 2004/January 2005
Blog: Best Songs of 2012: Snarky Puppy - "Binky"
Shows: The English Beat
Shows: Love Your Mother Festival
Blog: Stephen Malkmus Talks About New Jicks Record
Albums: Mostly Other People Do The Killing - This is Our Moosic
Albums: Cold War Kids - Loyalty to Loyalty
Albums: Yo La Tengo - Fade
Podcast: State of Mind Radio: Epidode 24
Shows: moe. Plays Sound Check for Kids
Magazine: State of Mind - December 2004/January 2005
Blog: Best Songs of 2012: Snarky Puppy - "Binky"