The Queen City is by no means fertile ground for musicians. Chris Nathan knows this, that's why he's saying goodbye to Buffalo and hello to Nashville, Tenn.
"I have a publisher, Susan Burger, with 'Third Tier Music,' and she's going to make me a star, hopefully," said Nathan, the former lead singer of Woke Up in Vegas, in an interview with The Spectrum.
Nathan will be playing his final Buffalo show on May 13 at the Palace Theatre in Lockport.
The move to Nashville is the next phase in Nathan's musical career. It might appear to be odd for the lead singer of a rock band to be moving to Nashville, but the singer welcomes the change.
"We went on tour and made a stop in Nashville," Nathan says. "It was that cool. From the first second I got there, I said, 'I need to be here. I fit in here.' It felt like a Mecca for me."
Moving is not the only major change in Nathan's life lately. He used to be the lead singer, guitarist and writer for a band named The Stone in 2003. As a DMB cover band, they could be found singing in the Elmwood Lounge.
"There was a lot of confusion with the band and where we were going to go," Nathan said. "Financially, we couldn't do it."
The end of Woke Up in Vegas turned into a new opportunity for Chris Nathan to go out on his own. He has been writing fervently and producing the "Bedroom Demo."
"The 'Bedroom Demos' are fairly literal," he said. "They were recorded in my bedroom."
The recording quality might sound a little on the amateur side, but Chris Nathan is breaking out and doing his own thing. It's what he was doing with Woke Up in Vegas, yet his voice is better than ever.
"I was creatively blocked because it was a certain sound. It was rock," he said. "It was really hard to be honest when each song had to be three minutes long."
Nathan also admits he'll really miss his band members in Buffalo.
"They'll still be my friends till I die and I'll help them every way I can."
The artist regularly puts up new songs on his Myspace name, "chrisnathanmusic." He says he uses the site as a way to both stay in contact with his Buffalo fan base and build a new one.
"Everyday I get 'adds' from people that like my music," he says. "It's pretty inspiring."
Music has always been in Chris Nathan's life. His parents were very involved in music and had their own band.
"My parents were hippies going to festivals (when) I was an infant," he said, "I used to watch them play in the basement."
He remembers going to the musical festivals and even rushing the stage at the "Friendship Festival" when he was about three years old.
"I think it was during John Sebastian," he said. "It's been a wild ride."
While Nathan is looking forward to greener pastures in Nashville, he'll always remember his time with his band in Buffalo.
"It was perfect. Every second of it."
The May 13 show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
