Nathan Kaye: Bio
With your eyes closed, you get absorbed in the driving
heart-beat of the stomp-box, the eastern melodic rhythms of
the 12 string guitar, the droning of the didgeridoo, and then
soaring above comes Nathan’s rich, gliding vocals. With your
eyes open, you realise all of this is being masterfully woven
by one person.
Nathan Kaye has always had a passion for music and
people. He’s been singing since before he could speak.
Since then, his charisma and magnetic performance on
stage has taken him on tours through Europe, the UK,
Turkey and even behind the great wall of China. He's also
supported a diverse range of artists including massive acts
such as "The Corrs", not to mention playing at the 2003
Woodford Folk Festival. Amazingly, he also found time to
write fresh new material for his latest solo album, “Don’t Just
Do Something, Sit There!”
As a young child, Nathan would often invite the local
neighbourhood into his basement, put on old Beatles and
Elvis Presley records and perform to them. "Music's always
been a kind of diary for me. I can remember stuff like where I
was at age 3 when I first heard Bob Marley's "Get Up Stand
Up." At age 8 when he visited his mother, she would often
take him to protests for aboriginal landrights. There, he
witnessed the injustice of police aggression in the climate of
Queensland’s conservative racial repression of the seventies
and eighties. To express what he was witnessing, Nathan
started penning his first songs at age 11.
"I was given a guitar at 14 by a Spanish guitar player
and taught myself Bob Marley, Beatles, U2 & Cat Stevens
songs whilst hanging out fishing with friends at the beach."
At age 16, he moved to Sydney to attend the Newtown High
School of Performing Arts. Nathan was introduced to
Yidaki/Didjeridoo in his early teens by his aboriginal stepfather, but began playing at age 17 when a Pintjantjarra
tribesman gave him his first didge. Naturally gifted, he got
the complex circular breathing technique within ten days of
starting. Whilst finishing school he gained recognition
performing in prominent Sydney jazz clubs and music
venues, won numerous awards at age 18. Through this time,
he continued his activism in various environmental and
political issues, including raising funds for action against
uranium mining at Jabaluka in Arnem Land. Even though his
success as an actor grew over the next few years, which
included parts in major feature films and television dramas
including “Chook” in feature film, “Muriel’s Wedding”, Nathan
decided to focus on his passion for music.
This led him to the vibrant Byron Bay community in
1998 and the following year, his band "Dreamseeds" was
formed, a firm platform for voicing a positive message, as
well as his observations about the human condition and
frustrations about the world's environmental and sociopolitical dilemmas.
The award winning album, "Illumination" was recorded
and released at the end of 2000 with the reggae song,
"Difference" reaching number 14 on the USA's mp3.com
reggae charts. The film clip for "The Shift" was aired on
ABC's Rage in 2001 and won the Dolphin Award for best
Funk/Hip-hop song.
There has been a great buzz about the release of his
latest album, “Don’t Just Do Something… Sit There!” which
is already receiving good radio airplay around the country.
The song “Silence,” which Nathan wrote for his friend that
suicided is being used as the Suicide Prevention 2004
Theme Song, which will be played at the National Suicide
Prevention Convention in Sydney on the United Nations
International Suicide Prevention Day, September 10, 2004.
With a power-driven roots style of guitar playing, soulful
vocal delivery, funky didge playing and insightful, emotive
songwriting, Nathan Kaye is unquestionably an artist to hear
and experience. Whilst Nathan refers to his musical aproach
as “Earth roots and funky-folk”, his performance is uplifting
and pumps with funk rhythms and is spiced with reggae, hiphop and jazz. Crowds especially dig his innovative blend of
beat-boxing (vocal drumming) and slide-didgeridoo.
His sound is often described as a fresh mix of Bob
Marley, Ben Harper, John Butler, early Lenny Kravitz, Cat
Stevens and Jack Johnson all thrown in with a world music
flavour.
“One of the most surreal experiences I’ve had was
playing to 4,500 screaming people in the P.L.A.’s (People’s
Liberation Army) barracks in China. Then as soon as I
stepped off stage I did a 25 minute interview on the largest
TV station in South China, which gets to about 200 million
people!” Truly a bizarre experience for an Aussie boy from a
beach-town of less than 10, 000 people.