August 2nd, 2008 
James Shotwell A few weeks ago we featured up and coming indie rockers Native as our Unsigned Spotlight artist of the week and now it’s time for us to once again return to the world of Native. These hard working boys are going out on tour next week and we at UTG thought a good way to promote this outing [which, if it comes to you, you should go to] would be a dive a bit deeper into their heads and see just what makes Native, well…..Native. So tonight, James spoke briefly with Ed and Dan of Native and the results of this conversation can be found below:
J: Hey Ed/Dan, how are you doing?
N: Not too bad. We’ve been practicing all day and working on new material.
J: So, you guys are set to go out on tour next week, could you give us a little information on that, where it’s going and who you’ll be sharing the stage with?
N: Right now, we just got back from tour with Victor! Fix the Sun [Grand rapids]. This tour is going to be a short tour before we all have to get back for jobs, schools, and whatever. Lautrec from Chicago will be joining us.
J: This tour we basically wrap up the summer season for Native, what does the fall hold for you all?
N: Mainly, a lot of writing. In October we’re heading to Canada for a week.
J: When we spoke with La Dispute, they mentioned the possibility of a tour with you, is that still in the works?
N: I’m sure it is. All of our plans are really tentative. We have to find time and be able to pay for everything. It’s hard to say because we have to get all that in line and figure out what we can afford and how we can pay for it.
J: When it comes to touring, it seems less and less bands are really able to go out these days due to rising gas prices and other external factors, how has Native managed to make it work?
N: A lot of it is booking smart. Any band can go on tour is you have a good network of friends all over. I would advise little bands to not focus on venues and play house shows. Some basement shows have saved us [while on tour]. You may get paid little, but you’ll have a lot of fun and meet a lot of new friends who will help you by spreading your name or maybe giving you someplace to crash later on.
J: Your EP, We Delete; Erase, has a wide range of sounds, what kind of influences went into the making of this release. Also, could you just give us a little insight into the creative process of Native? It seems you guys work really hard to make songs that don’t follow the simple intro/verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus structure and rather create an atmosphere with your sound. How does that happen?
N: We have a wide range of influences. Our writing process is where all our tastes come together. We talk about what we each like from our respective interests and then we find a way to bring that kind of sound into our world. We take a lot of our favorite sounds and put it together that’s why we like what we do, it’s our favorite thing. We don’t want to always stick to structure, but rather have songs that flow well. We’d rather have songs that flow well and are creative than stick to some simple structure on each and every track.
J: The disc features songs that have previously appeared on your prior releases, what motivated you o repackage, arrange, and ultimately re-release these tracks?
N: I feel that like, that EP is a collection of everything we’ve done thus far [that we still like]. It’s our first true release. Our prior eps have some garbage on them, so we took what we had that we liked and put it together. We had like ten songs and now there’s five….so do the math.
J: Have you been working on new material since this release or are you just focused on promoting what’s already done?
N: We’re definitely in the best of both worlds. A lot of bands write a lot of new stuff and then just play that live and that doesn’t make sense. We play what people like, but work in our new stuff. We’re kind of, like, weening off those tracks. We are recording in September so we want to showcase those new sounds while finding a medium with the past. Basically, we want to keep everyone happy.
J: When do you think we’ll see another batch of Native material find its way to our ears?
N: New material will come in September most likely. We’re working on a split with In The Face of War from Indiana. So there will two new songs then. Hopefully in the spring there will be a full length or something close to that. [ITFOW] have a lot of history and it’s awesome to work with people we look up to becuase we’ve been fans of theirs for awhile.
J: I know this may be strange, as you are a band on the rise yourself, but what other bands do you think we at UTG and other people need to check out or pay more attention to?
N: Where to even start. La Dispute of course. Victor! Fix The Sun is a band to keep an eye out for. Oceans from Illinois. Noumenon. Obviously, Lautrec since we’re touring with them. Antarctic and Mans. Mountain Asleep from Kentucky and Slingshot Dakota from New York. Lion of the North from Indiana [they’re our hometown friends] and Reptillian. Oh, and we can’t forget Paucity and Tonn. There’s more we can list, but those are our close friends, well, some of them.
J: Alright, we don’t believe in last questions here, but instead believe in closing statements. The podium is yours and you are free to say whatever you want. Any final thoughts?
N:
Dan – I think it’s really important to me, but I find it so important that kids who run things themselves, put on shows, package cds, and whatever, it’s really important to support that. It’s really important those scenes keep going on. We’re all a working community and we support each other and I think it needs to catch on a spread. It makes every rough spot and hard time a bit better. I just want to thank all those bands that we just mentioned for all their support
Ed – Like Dan said, the community aspect of everything has been a huge aspect for us. We started this band and were looking for friends and the friends we have found make this all worth it. That’s why this east coast tour so great, the people we know and met. Meeting all these people and working hard just gives you so much appreciation for everything. Every experience we’ve had, from our van being broken into in Brooklyn to cliff diving into a river/waterfall in Vermont, it’s all just so great and memorable.
Basically, just support everyone and keep the scene alive.
J: Well guys, I think our time has run its course for right now, but we wish you the best of luck on the road and hopefully we’ll be seeing and hearing more from you soon.
N: No problem, thank you guys for doing this and giving us some time on the site. We really appreciate it.
*Written By: James Shotwell*
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aww thanks native, we love you too.
paucity