The origin story of Nashville-based band Natural Child is fueled by the unlikely pairing of cannabis and dogged persistence. One night in 2009, inspired by pot brownies, bassist Wes Traylor and drummer Zack Martin decided to start a band, and enlisted guitarist Seth Murray to make this dream come true.
“Wes called me a lot that night. Like at least five times. He asked me if I wanted to start a band and I said ‘Yeah, of course, cool…but we’ll need to start practicing’,” Murray stated.
The band began touring every other month.
“It is exhausting to tour that much, but recording, while definitely important, isn’t as important as playing live,” Murray stated.
When Seth Murray was little, he knew he wanted to be a musician. His grandpa played music all the time around him, and there were two huge recording artists whom he looked up to at the time: Michael Jackson and Billy Idol. When asked, looking back, who he admired more between the two, he paused, then replied, “I guess Billy Idol wins, because he’s still alive?”
Natural Child has four full-length studio albums—1971, For The Love Of The Game, Hard in Heaven, and their most recent record, Dancin’ with Wolves. The sound of each is different and ranges from hard-driving 70s-sounding rock, akin to Canned Heat, to a more old-school country rock sound with their recent release.
Their latest record, Dancin’ With Wolves, is heavily influenced by the legendary sounds of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. The album was released in February of this year on Burger Records, a well-respected indie label out of California.
Murray stated that they already have enough new material to record a new album, which they plan to do at the end of the year.
When I asked Murray what the band is listening to these days, he mentioned the Ohio band Devo, and fusion era Miles Davis and Alice Coltrane (yes, that Coltrane…she was John Coltrane’s second wife). Another more contemporary favorite is a band called Liquor Store, out of New Jersey.
While the band has played Detroit and Cleveland, they have not yet played a show in Toledo, OH. They are, however, fans of the Toledo band Puffy Areolas.
When asked what Toledoans can expect at a Natural Child show, Murray replied, “Think of the trashiest strip club you can. Then think of the song ‘Those Shoes’ by The Eagles, and all the dancers inside the club moving along to that song.”
I mentioned that The Eagles was a bold example to invoke live concert imagery, given the cult popularity of the film The Big Lebowski and the main character’s hatred of that particular band.
“Go listen to that song,” Murray insisted.
So I did. And now I am even more curious to see Natural Child live at Frankie’s Inner-City on November 16th. I’ll be there. You should be, too.
See Natural Child at Frankie’s Inner-City on Sunday, November 16. Doors at 8pm. $6. 308 Main St., 419-691-7464.
