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Behind the Mic with ... Nathan Leazer
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November 28th 2024
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It’s a busy time for North-Carolina born, UK-based country singer, Nathan Leazer. He’s gearing up to release his brand new single, Nothing to Lose, tomorrow ahead of his headlining show down in Kent for Roadhouse Unplugged playing alongside incredible emerging artists including Jake O’Neill and Wood Burnt Red to name just a couple. Looking ahead to next year, Nathan will be playing some big shows including a Nashville Meets London headline show in March and the inaugural Roadhouse Weekender over the 4th of July weekend. We caught up with Nate chat about all of it and then some…
615: Hey Nathan, good to see you again. How’s it all going?
NL: Good to see you, too. Things are going great, it’s been a lot of preparation really for next year and getting a lot of shows lined up for the new season to come and also I’m about to go back to the states on December 10th, so all the preparations for that, and in the meantime, I’ve just been writing. I’ve written five songs since I’ve been here this trip and I do think they’re all potentially singles, so everything’s been going great.
615: That’s awesome! You mentioned on your [TikTok] live the other day that you’re looking at sometime next year for your album – do you have any idea of when yet?
NL: I don’t have an exact date yet – we’re in the production process right now with the songs. I’m hoping to get the majority of them done by the beginning of the year; at the latest maybe February we’ll have them done. I’m kind of a perfectionist, so I don’t wanna rush it and I don’t want it to fall on deaf ears, so I wanna put the time and the money and the effort into making the most out of this album and creating that atmosphere so when the album’s ready to be released, it does well. So hopefully by the end of next year it’ll be out, I just don’t know when.
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615: You said earlier that you’ve got maybe 15 songs for the album – that’s quite significant for a debut album.
NL: It could be more actually – there’s some bonus tracks I’ve been thinking of throwing in there too, but yeah, it’s a lot. At minimum, twelve or thirteen, but I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be more than that. I’ll be releasing another single in January or February, leading up to the Nashville Meets London show in March (March 19th – keep posted for ticket updates). We’re still in talks about which song to choose for that one, but yeah, I’m excited.
615: It feels exciting; it feels like it’s building around you and you’re getting some momentum going with the new single, the Nashville Meets London show and the Roadhouse Unplugged show next weekend and then the Roadhouse Weekender festival next summer.
NL: Yeah, that’s my first headlining show and we’ve got a lot of shows we’ve just booked in Sweden and potentially something in Holland next summer.
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615: They’re some great places to play – I was in Rotterdam and Berlin for their C2C for the first time this year and they love it, those fans are passionate.
NL: You’re the third person to reinforce that, so that’s good to hear. As long as I’m playing shows, that’s what makes me happy.
615: To that point, you’ve been doing TikTok lives every day this week and next running up to the release of Nothing to Lose – how have you been finding that?
615: Well, like I said, it seems like it’s going well. I gotta say, I love the new song – thanks for sending a preview of it – for me, it’s my favourite song that you’ve released yet.
NL: Oh wow – that’s good to hear. Thank you.
615: Like it’s a deep song – it’s about a guy that’s lost everything and he’s just questioning everything, but like you said, it’s Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month so it’s the perfect time for it. How has the response been so far [ahead of its release] from playing it on your lives and at your shows?
NL: It’s not like people didn’t expect a song like that from me, but I find it funny personally because it’s the first song I ever wrote. It’s a song that I wrote at the time with a good friend of mine, Jeremy Vess, but it’s funny because when we wrote it, it was almost a joke. He was like every country song has something about he lost his dog, he lost his job, he lost his house, he lost this, and it was kind of like a funny thing that we said, but I was like actually, that’s a great idea. So we wrote it, and within thirty minutes we had it done.
615: Wow, it came together that fast.
NL: It just flowed, it was easy because it was easy to talk about things like that, as a man, because we’ve been there. We have felt those feelings regardless of it’s a stereotype that country music has. It’s more about, we’ve all had something to lose at some point – whether you’re male or female – and when you feel like you have nothing to lose, that’s when all the raw emotions come out. But this song actually resonates more with me now because of what I’ve been through since we wrote it back in 2018. So I look forward to the song coming out and everybody resonating with it in their own way, so it feels good.
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NL: Well we’ve come up with a new strategy today – we’ve just put up a video today highlighting, because it’s Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, so I’ve been trying to touch on little subjects here and there so I was like, I need a strategy, what can I do? So from the video I posted today was really about the financial struggles or feeling like you’re responsible for being the person in charge of making money in the house, as a man. Like that weight is on you to carry that status of having a job, having money, being the one to support your family – being the provider – so I touched on that today and I want to start building my lives in a way that each live is gonna have a different topic and a different approach to it. So we’re gonna do that for the rest of the month and see how it goes and if people like it, we’ll keep doing it.
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615: I was surprised when you said it was the first song you’d ever written, back in 2018, so why does now feel like the right time for this song?
NL: I guess with the journey that I’ve been on – as an artist, as a man, as a human – you go through a lot of things from the age of 20 to 26. Those are like highlights of your life, in a sense. Even though I’m only 26 now, I look back and I’m not the same man: I was writing about a man who had nothing to lose, when I didn’t even know what that felt like, but now I do. So it felt like the perfect time for me ‘cause it’s a statement to say: I’ve been there, I know what that feels like and you’re not alone.
615: And that’s gonna come across so much more when you’re performing it, ‘cause like you say: you know it, you’ve lived it, and you’re gonna emote to that a lot more than maybe you could’ve at 20.
NL: 100%
615: I gotta say – just switching it up a little - one thing that did surprise me was when you posted that video of you and Jake O’Neill duetting on a One Direction song. I did not see that coming, but I loved it – how did that come about?
NL: Yeah, that wasn’t the song I expected us to do – we hadn’t prepared at all for it. We just got together in Liverpool one day and decided to do a video together and that was one of those songs I’d been learning recently for my lives. I’ve played it in the past, but I was like everybody likes One Direction, and it’s English, and I know it, so let’s just do it. I wanted to do one everybody kinda knew – it was fun.
615: It was cool. I think when I opened up my phone, I did a double take and was like, what? But it was good – you guys should record that. It was different, but it shows another side of your artistry too.
NL: It’s one of those songs that can blend genres, I think.
615: Totally. It was the same when you covered The Script on your live the other night.
NL: Yeah, I got to the bridge and was like, crap, how does it go?
615: Are those kinda sounds something that’ll be part of your album or is that leaning more traditional country?
NL: A lot of times in my shows, I do try and incorporate covers that people resonate with. Especially here in England, I’ve found that certain songs resonate more whereas in America, it’s different. I’ve had to learn, and retrain myself to different crowds. Nothing against either one of ‘em, it’s just a learning process, so songs that I play are definitely different for each crowd. I dunno if I wanna put anything like that on my album yet. I’ve thought about it, maybe throwing in a cover or two, or maybe as a lone single leading up to it, but nothing in the books as the moment – we’re just enjoying it as we go.
615: That’s what it’s about. Is there anything that you haven’t released yet that you’re excited for people to hear? You’ve done a few more unreleased songs on your live, like One More Try.
NL: Yeah, that’s one I wrote a few months ago. That’s personally one of my favourite songs ‘cause it’s about not giving up, so that’s one I’m looking forward to people hearing, even myself because it’s still in the production process. There’s another one called Here’s to a Better View; that’s a deep ballad about domestic violence and it’s probably gonna take people by surprise. It’s a really beautiful song. Who I am Now is another one that is finished and out of production, so I’m potentially looking to release that one in January. There’s many – honestly I’m looking forward to people hearing all of it.
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615: It must be an exciting time for you, it feels like you’re really starting to build traction and momentum, so how does it feel to get to start to enjoy that element a little bit more?
NL: Yeah 100% - it really is about enjoying it. The dream isn’t the destination, it’s the journey and I can honestly say I’m living the dream right now, so I’m very blessed.
615: I love that. You said you’re heading home mid-December – will you be taking much time off while you’re away?
NL: When I go home, if I’m inclined to write, I will, but it’s a lot more quiet here, whereas when I go back home – it’s loud and it can be kinda hectic, so I try to spend more time with my family and with the holidays coming up, I definitely wanna be as present as possible. We’ve got plans to go to Nashville while I’m back, so that’ll be fun. I’m looking forward to going back home.
615: What’s Christmas gonna look like for you?
NL: I doubt it’ll be a white Christmas – unlike today here in England where we actually got some snow – I dunno, man. We’re a family of certain traditions but we’re not like ‘we have to do this or we have to do that’, so we kinda play it by ear. Our family is spread out, they’re not just all in North Carolina so it’s kinda difficult at times but we’re gonna make the most of it.
615: That’s awesome. I hope you have a blast – it’s always good to talk to ya.
Nothing to Lose is out everywhere you stream your music tomorrow. Hit the links below to check out Nathan's socials, and click here to read our review of Nothing to Lose.
