A lucrative but young career for a rock band can mean one of two things. Either they are the current flavor of the month and will vanish just as soon as they came, or they consistently make real rock and roll with genuine soul. Natural Child has proven to be the latter. The Rolling Stones, Dylan, and Willie are behind their music, but the group is also highly motivated by a number of directors. From the inspiration of beloved groups of the sixties to talented artists of our day, these three Nashville born prodigies have created a new interpretation of the same message: Don’t give a fuck, but feel it up. I was happy to hold a phone interview with these patrons to talk to the people behind the music.
Nashville notoriously has a stigma in the US of being a city of country music. According to Seth (lead singer and guitarist) and Zack (drummer), country plays a big part in their music. They shared with me how they felt privileged and were greatly influenced by the country scene. When I asked about their reputation in the city, Zack said they were seen as “straight-shooters” to which Seth added, “Nashville people see us as hookers with hearts of gold.” Leaders of the Nashville Rock Craze took the band under their wing and continue to play a part in their exposure.
Natural Child was the spawn of a number of jams held in Seth’s shed. “We weren’t really looking to become a band,” he said, “but here we are.” I naturally pictured Eric’s basement from That 70’s Show until Zack added, “we also record there and occasionally film gay-porn.” My mental picture shattered. At this point in the conversation I heard the sound of a train. It was blaring through my phone coming from the other end. “Oh yeah,” Seth had to nearly scream for me to hear him, “the train goes right behind the shed.”
According to the members, this band plans to continue playing music together for life; case in point, Seth recently tattooed “NCB for life” with a heart around the phrase on his ass. Not to be confused with Zack’s ass tattoo which depicts the one phrase on the cover of the band’s last album, “For the Love of the Game.”
An artist is an artist is an artist, whether they carry a bass or a brush. I found myself curious to know what Seth and Zack would be doing if they weren’t doing music, “I would probably… be… a schoolteacher.” Zack said after an awkward pause. Seth said he and Wes would probably be full-time professional fishermen like Bill Dance and that “blonde guy he is always with”. He later on added, “Of course we would still be famous. We would be famous for fishing.” Music, however, fits perfectly with the lifestyle of these three. “We practice two hours a day, our job is the band.” Seth said. They compared their work ethic to the rockumentary, “Get in the Van” about the punk band Black Flag featuring Henry Rollins. “I mean, we are working with the other guys in the band, that’s it. That’s basically what we do.” I was a little baffled by that connection. I didn’t take Natural Child for violent, proactive, angry punks. “Well,” Seth responds, “we have a scary, good attitude. We YELL poetry.”
The band is excited to do another “Pan-Texas” tour (as they called it). “We tip our hats and our hearts to your state.” The only trouble they come across is passing through the checkpoint, where they are consistently asked to get out of the vehicle. I attributed it to a van full of equipment but Seth quickly refuted, “Not really… We just regularly smell like weed.”
Since the last time Natural Child paid McAllen a visit, an album has been released and another has been written. We can expect more from the great, grimy, dirty jives of these fellows come Sept. 6th at Simon Sez in McAllen.
My final question was on a sort of whim, “How are the groupies?”
“Every woman is beautiful,” they said, “we just watch Family Guy so much, it has basically become a natural contraceptive.”
