The English city of Manchester is known for its indie rock and post-punk bands, so it may not come as a surprise that we feature another emergent band to look out for. Nat Dempsey & The Near Strangers are currently doing the circuit and about the release new material. We had the pleasure of catching up with band members Nat and Keiren to find out more about their music and aspirations.
Thank you for agreeing to catch up with Occhi Magazine. Congratulations on your career to date. how did you get into the industry?
Nat: Thank you! I’ve loved music and have been going to gigs and festivals for as long as I can remember and I started playing in bands/writing songs at age of 12. I’m from Cumbria (The Lake District); a pretty rural area, so I got as involved as I could locally as a solo artist and in some bands. It wasn’t until I moved to Manchester to go to university that The Near Strangers came about. We’ve been gigging as much as we can and have released our new single ‘Run & Hide’. We’ve all had our own projects before this band, so we’ve applied our previously gained industry knowledge which has given us a big boost.
Kieran: Making such a good run in a short time with this band has mainly stemmed from uni, whether it be contacts, rehearsal, or the simple fact of us all meeting there.
Who are your biggest industry influences, and why?
Nat: I keep my musical taste and eye as current as possible as it’s so important to keep up, especially in a grassroots industry that changes day by day. I’m always going to gigs in small venues in Manchester to find new bands, or festivals showing new up-and-comers. At the moment my top influences have to be Wolf Alice, Fontaines D.C, Stone, and other bands similar to that ecosystem. It feels like such a cool thing to be involved with.
Kieran: My biggest influences are bands such as The Who, Hendrix, and Zeppelin. Just young men in the 60s/70s onwards just doing what they love and are great at. Most of them came from a poor, shaky background, and overcoming that in a tough world is very inspiring.
What are your strongest assets as a singer and songwriter?
Nat: I love writing windy, explorative riffs and rich chords that can be sprinkled into a song at the right moment; no matter how big or small, they can make a huge difference. As a singer, I’ve actually learned how to scream recently. We put it to the test with a Wolf Alice cover we play live which has a massive drop at the end, by far a highlight of the set.
Please tell us more about your band and your latest track ‘Run & Hide’ and its origins..
We formed at university as four guys with a variety of tastes from metal, indie, classic rock, and grunge. Our influences range from Arctic Monkeys to Alice In Chains and everything in between. Run & Hide is a bouncy indie/post-punk tune with a darker theme; it explores how political media can divide and engineer as we live in an era where anyone can get a huge platform to spread information. Because of this, it feels like we live in an age where everyone is the enemy or oppressor, because whatever your view is there’s a huge, dominant platform for an opposite view much like your platform. We’re just confused and disenfranchised basically!
We love the energy of the track. Can you tell us more about the production?
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Drunk Duck Production are the ones to thank for that. They’re mates from uni as well and they did such a good job of making the song sound fat and solid. They used the University Of Salford studios which are full of lovely production toys to play with. The rhythm guitars in the second pre-chorus add such an astral space to it which is one of our favorite parts of the mix. Josh Haworth mixed the track and you can find what he and the rest of Drunk Duck do on their instas; Joshua Haworth, stanilandaudio and sayernotsawyer.
What other projects are you currently working on?
We’ve finished recording a new single and are gonna release it soon. Not saying anything more though. We play it in our set currently so come see us live ad guess which one it is!
Where can our readers find out more about you and your projects?
Our Instagram is here https://www.instagram.com/natdemps_thenearstrangers/
Our Spotify is here https://open.spotify.com/artist/6arKZIy9oHFudmndpOWjdF?si=pE4r1GOGQNGtdMMI0BI3Nw
Our Facebook is here https://www.facebook.com/NatDemps/
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