In our next band spotlight, we chat to Nate Bergman of Lionize about music and inspirations.
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S] What’s inspiring the band outside of music right now… think art, games, movies, people and places?
I think a big inspiration that’s a constant in the band – is always reading, novels, science fiction – that’s endless fodder for the band. But for the first time in our career we are finding inspiration in the current global political climate and at home especially. There’s a ton of difficulty and social unrest – and I think a lot of people are waking up to how quickly things can go from sustainable to unsustainable. It’s a very scary time we are living in – in the sense that everyone is on edge.
S] What’s been a career highlight so far?
I think the two major things in our career right now would be firstly, playing a show at the Roundhouse in London with Clutch last year. Such a legendary venue and it was sold out. A highlight and a privilege. The second would be playing Los Almiros Festival in Volos, Greece. It was about 8,000 people in the Kouri Forest in the middle of the night. People were lighting off flares and it was pitch black except for the stage. It was one of the most beautiful moments playing music we’ve experienced.
S] What would you say your biggest challenges as a band are at the moment?
I think we face the same challenge as most bands at our level – which is exposure. More than anything we are trying to reach new people. We feel very confident our strength is in the live show. So the challenge is trying to get people to the show or to hear the new music. We have always been a slow-burn. A few more people each show we play which is a good pace for us. We just want more people to come to the party.
S] How do you look back at the success of ‘The Voyage’ at this point?
The ‘Voyage’ was a really powerful experience for us. We had no management and no label and wanted to see if we could put music out on our own and not stop what we do as a band because of the set-backs we were facing on the business end of things. So we wrote, tracked, recorded and released it all independently. We even handled all the artwork and layout design ingredients on our own. Looking back at it now I am incredibly proud of it – and between Alpha and Voyage we made some incredible songs. We still play quite a few of them live. I think at the end of the day it’s about survival, and we know how to do that.
S] What’s the band’s attitude to success, in general?
Success is all perspective. We are a very hungry band. We want to play all over the world and to as many people as possible and keep repeating that into eternity. We want to be great. Our attitude to success is that we are successful because we want to make great songs and play great shows and we do. Success to us is paying your rent and going on tour – which we do. It can always get better (or worse) but we don’t take it for granted how lucky we are to do what we do.
S] What are you most excited about this year?
This year, by far, we are most excited to release our next record, “Nuclear Soul”, and show the world this new album. It’s incredible. It comes out on Sept 8 via The End Records. We’re also touring all over the UK for some headline shows from July 28 – Aug 11, plus we play Ramblin’ Man Fair and Bloodstock Open Air festivals, and we’ll play new songs at all of those. Come join the fun!
