Today we’d like to introduce you to Nate Sennett.
Nate, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Well, mine is certainly different. Long story short I’ve ventured between a large grip of bands and backed up quite a few solo artists, and somehow now I’m fronting a blues-rock trio called Lucier. But, I’ve always LOVED music as long as I can remember. Even as a kid when I heard it I pictured myself playing as soon as I knew what the instruments were. Bass seemed cool.
I listened to whatever was around until about nine years old, I started flying thru cases of my parents CDs. Everything from Sublime, to Mudhoney and Soundgarden, Bob Marley, The Who, and the list kept growing in every direction. Eventually, I heard The Clash and KISS, which they made me realize I wanted to be a guitar player. From there it was the blues. By the time I reached the end of junior high, I was pretty much always the biggest kid in my class, so I gravitated toward sports. For all of high school, I didn’t really play guitar. Football, Rugby, Lacrosse, skating, girls, and partying were all I cared about. After football was done my senior year, I quit all the other stuff I did and just wanted to grow up already. I played guitar casually to strum old country songs thinking if the whole college thing didn’t work out I could get a laborious job and play music for fun. Well, it’s now my tenth semester off, and I’ve never been enrolled in a college. I’ll skip the last five years of blue-collar bullshit, but my family, my girlfriend, and my band’s drummer and bassist gave this new musical endeavor and a notebook of songs life.
I didn’t think I’d ever just start one from scratch. Trevor is our drummer and Tom is our bassist. I trust them with everything. I played in a band with Trevor and had done some sessions with Tom. Working with them allowed me to be vulnerable as a singer and songwriter. Plus when I bug them enough, they write gorgeous lyrics that make my songs have more. They become OUR songs. And that’s most important to me. Regardless of contribution, it’s even. Every song is by Lucier. A band needs each other, and ego can’t get in the way of that.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I first and foremost play guitar. Easily 5-10 hours a day, on a day off I grab one before I even get out of bed I’ll play while the coffee is brewing. Waking up at 4:00 everyday, working a physically demanding job, dealing with bureaucratic people all of that day, and doing my best to keep my mouth shut made me a songwriter. It became something I just do. I never have and hopefully won’t ever have to force it. Its common where folks make stuff up, where they just sit down and write a song cause they don’t have the juice to make it naturally. The art gets strangled that way. It’s not wrong because it’s not my place to say that but it does lack some honesty. Lucier’s songs and music are literally my opinion or story and taking it to my band and the three of us dissect it and make it one wholesome, authentic, and mostly autobiographical statement. One of our first songs called All I Need sounds like we could’ve be opening up for Jeff Healey behind the chickernwire in Roadhouse. It comes off as a hedonistic, sex/drugs/rocknroll anthem. But it’s not. It’s a personal narrative on our very dedicated lives to music saying “I’m good” by sarcastically agreeing to what people tell us we need to do with our lives or what we need in general. Some people get it, some don’t and some certainly don’t want to.
I’ve been a bit of a journeyman. I played in a punk band, a Latin rock band, a rock band, and have backed quite a few singer-songwriters. Overall I’m just a really bad hired gun musician but Lucier gave a notebook of songs and opinions life. I have stories to tell, I’m honestly a pretty normal dude. My path with music and art is different because it came from a place of appreciation of my heroes and dedication to wanting to be good at my craft. I sucked for a lot of years. I probably still do but now I know some Marc Ford, Frampton, and Roy Buchanan licks to attempt to turn a few heads.
All in all, I’m a guitarist, a songwriter, a bandmate, and technically a singer but the jury’s out on that. Lucier is the band I’m in and when people hear our music (we’re in the studio working on some demos to preview) I want them to enjoy it sonically and connect to it spiritually in their own perspective. Our songs are about life, love, the universe, and psychedelic exploration (allegedly). When you see us live we just play our asses off for anyone who will listen. We jam pretty hard so a song will be special for whoever is there that night will see, hear, feel and absorb it. It’s like lightning in a bottle for us that way. We don’t know where it’s going we just play. It’s special for us and the crowd, because when you jam and freestyle live you’re reacting to the crowd. When I’ve played for six people and when I’ve played for a thousand it’s always the same thing. The crowd is a part of what I’m doing. I’m feeding off of them. We come from basically rock, country, blues, funk, and jazz. So the pedigree for taking the music somewhere is there.
What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
Absolutely. I can only speak my truth. That being said I wish I had told myself I wanted to devote myself to this earlier. I was afraid of scrutiny. I work for a wonderful company and have a pension, a 401k, health insurance, and all the hours I want. But when I bought into that I wasn’t happy. Working for someone else isn’t satisfying for me. Music makes me happy. One day I just looked down at my guitar, one I built myself, and said: “This is what the fuck I do.” Mentally that changed everything. That attitude taught me to take it seriously and that it’s not about money/success/fame. I just want to play for whoever will listen.
Other stuff play to a click, play with other musicians all the time, be patient. When you start gigging a lot stay healthy. There’s a lot of temptation and a lot of partying well before the record deals. I think overall the best thing is just to practice and stay focused on the goal.
Also, don’t buy retail guitars they’re a ripoff. I’ve been building and assembling my own for a while and got a few buddies to change their minds about the industry. I know one of my best friends, a former bandmate in a Latin rock band, and neighbor did it. Connor from Lefties. He got a sick Frankenstein’d telecaster/jazzmaster that was a fraction of the cost of what an off the shelf guitar that looks/plays/sounds that good would cost. All of mine are that way too. I think for guitarists and bassists especially the GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) can get a bit bad. I sold half of my shit and it made me a better player cause I wasn’t spending all my time twiddling around. I also think people should get away from their bedroom studios more too. That’s great in the beginning and always for demos but I’ve seen too many lose hair over it.
Overall, the biggest thing for me is I love it. I love carrying my 45-watt Bassbreaker in The Rain. I love parking three blocks away and walking through the streets with a mountain of gear. I love it all because it’s the storm before the calm. Something happens on stage, in the studio, in the rehearsal space, and even in the woodshed. There’s a moment in music where we all just click and it satisfies you for the last 22 years of hardship. Life and all of its shit make sense.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Our Instagram is the best source of updates, @luciertheband but I’d recommend coming to a live show. The plan right now is to get an EP out that captures our trio sound, and we’ll have a guest playing a Hammond organ. But it’ll take some time but our debut full length will be a deeper sound. Live it’ll require the band to grow in membership, but we’be wanted that since the inception. It’s about getting the right people in the room.
Contact Info:
- Email: lucierbooking@gmail.com
- Instagram: @luciertheband
Image Credit:
All the live shots are bun Stephanie Hilyer except the last live one was by Ella Tyler. The one of me and my friend holding my sitar was just a friend taking it.
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