Nate Wiggin, the hard working, lyrically catchy musician hailing from the Westmidlands. I’ve known Nate for some years where i’ve seen him go from strength to strength, in which he has established such a unique style that you will be humming his songs all day (check Back on Cloud 9 and you will understand where i’m coming from).
How did you get started in music?
My interest in music was first sparked when my Mom introduced me to the likes of Elvis Presley & Buddy Holly when I was 7 years old. I was intrigued by their use of the acoustic guitar and persuaded my parents to get me some lessons. I continued the lessons throughout junior school and then developed my playing myself once I started secondary school. I started writing my own songs when I was about 14 and was involved in a few short-lived bands, until I eventually started APX. The band lasted 5 years and recorded 4 EP’s worth of material which we used to gig around the Midlands.
What are your influences writing and music?
Most of my main influences come from the US East Coast scene. Bruce Springsteen has had the biggest impact on my songwriting, lyrically. Whereas my musical influences range from the ska-core sound of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Rancid all the way through to the more acoustic sounding Jack Johnson and Bright Eyes. I try to appreciate all kinds of music and take something from it, even if some of it is shitty pop music.
What has been the your greatest achievement so far?
My greatest achievement so far has to be when the manager of McFly and Busted got in contact with me. At first I didn’t think anything of it, until he asked me to travel to London to meet up with him and a few other artists he was scouting. It was so surreal. He payed for a £150 return train ticket. When I got to London I had to meet up with his assistant and the other artists, these included a few X-Factor live show finalists and some guy named Elyar Fox who is tipped to be the next Justin Bieber or something. Search him on YouTube, he has like 4million+ video views. But yeah, this assistant took us to The Royal Garden hotel, this fancy-ass 5 star building in which Bieber himself had stayed at the week before, and the Sunderland football team were at when we arrived. We all stayed there for the whole weekend living like rockstars drinking and eating while not worrying about the cost. We had to write songs together in different groups each day and then perform them to everybody else. Although nothing came of the experience it gave me an insight into what I could aim for, while giving me some good contacts for the future.
Why should people check you out?
People should check me out because my songs tend to be super catchy and lyrically deep. I try to maintain an edge of technicality to the music so that it is interesting for any passive listener to enjoy, as well as someone who is interested more in the musicality of a song. Search me on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter etc.. I try to interact with everyone!
What are your plans for 2013?
My plans for 2013 are to get a nice sized fan-base built using social networking as my main source of contact. I have found that covering popular songs on YouTube is a great way to gain subscribers on YouTube, so I’m gonna keep that up and hope for the best. I’m going to aim to have a full length album available for download on iTunes & Amazon by the end of the summer, it’s a concept album so look out for an interesting story within that release. Most of all I want to start gigging around the country once the album is released to try and further increase my profile!