Interview
For Nathan Carroll, everything changed the night he walked into an open mic at the Fishnet Tavern, a moment he credits to Sam at Wright Music and Management. What started as a nervous step onto a stage has grown into a weekly gigging routine and a fast moving musical journey. We sat down with Nathan to uncover the story behind it all…
Do you remember your first open mic?
I do actually, it was one of Sam’s. It was at the Fishnet Tavern. In terms of how it felt, I was absolutely shitting myself, basically. I’d went with Liam (Cross), and I only basically knew how to play one song. I said “Liam, if you go with me, will you do the vocals and I’ll just do the guitar?” because I feel that I wasn’t really confident enough to sing at the time. I went with him and I completely messed the whole thing up. I remember on the whole way back home I was just like “that was so bad”, but I just remember getting such a positive reception, you know what I mean? So even though it was definitely bad, I’ve still got that feeling of, like, I wanted to go back. It wasn’t too busy as well, so I feel like it was a lot of regulars and they’ve probably been through the same situation before, so it was just a very supportive environment and that was kind of honestly the tipping point that made me go “Do you know what? I want to keep going back to this”.
Do you have any local influences?
I draw a lot of inspiration from Sam (Thomas) and his confidence to be fair. I just like what he does in terms of the positive environment he creates. I go to other open mics as well. There’s a lad who’s gig I went to on Saturday night as well. He’s called Charlie Floyd. He often goes to places like The Low Lights Tavern and he’s starting to get quite big on the North East scene. He’s really inspirational tome as well. I get along quite well with him.
Following his confidence boost and first hand experience playing live at open mics, Nathan stepped into the world of gigging, and it was a world he had a lot to learn from…
What made you get into gigging in the first place?
I think it was just going to more and more open mics, doing it over and over again to the point where I was building up enough songs, so that I was like “actually, I’m doing all right at these open mics, maybe I’ll have a go at gigging myself”. And then I taws Sam that got me my first ever gig and I did a split gig with Liam so we both did 45 minutes each. That was a massive catalyst in terms of once I did that, I was going to absolutely knuckle down and get my own two 45s together. Then it just kind of snowballed from there and now I’m in a position where I’m pretty much gigging every week.
Are you the same person on stage, or do you find it’s an amplified version that you switch on?
No, it’s definitely an amplified version. It’s hard to describe in a way. It’s kind of like, not like a mask, but it feels like I’m meant to be in that position if you know what I mean? It kind of allows a more confident version of myself to come out. That’ll be the best way I can put that.
Is there anything that has surprised you about getting into gigging?
Honestly, I think it’s a really hard thing to do. Originally, when I first started doing the open mics and stuff, I was like “oh, I could do that”, but I don’t think people know how much practice goes into it in terms of like right, I might just be playing covers of other people’s songs but I would say most nights I fall asleep with a guitar in my hand. It’s just like hours and hours of practice put into it. That’s the thing that most people don’t see I would say. That’s one of those things that kind of surprises a lot of them.
Do you have a dream venue you want to play?
It depends on how big I ever made it, but I mean, St. James’ Park would be the absolute goal, like.
What is an album you’ve had on repeat?
The Freewheelin’ by Bob Dylan is an album I’ve had on repeat recently. Taking it back to the roots there. A Bob Dylan song was the first ever song I did at an open mic.
Which bands/artists do you think have influenced you the most?
I’ve got a lot of influences. Fontaine’s DC is pretty massive for me, Dire Straits. Who else? Honestly, Hozier as well. I’m a big Hozier fan as well. And I’ll give you one more: The Cure.
“I just want to basically say how grateful I am for the open mic scene and how much it’s pretty much changed my life. Honestly, I went from never picking up the guitar before to gigging every weekend in the space of about two years. And I want to give a big shout out to Sam, to be honest, because he creates like such an inclusive and supportive environment to the point where it made me want to come back after that first time and that was the catalyst to where I am now so I couldn’t be more grateful about it. Even the people that show up every week, they make it, you know what I mean? I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s just such a good thing he’s doing.”