Matt Nathanson
| Matt Nathanson | |
|---|---|
 Nathanson performing in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | March 28, 1973 |
| Origin | Lexington, Massachusetts, United States |
| Genres | Folk, rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Labels |
Acrobat Records (1993–present) Universal Records (2003) Vanguard Records (2007–present) |
| Website | www.mattnathanson.com |
Matt Nathanson (born March 28, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter whose work is a blend of folk and rock music. In addition to singing, he plays acoustic (sometimes a 12-string) and electric guitar, and has played both solo and with a full band. His work includes the platinum-selling song "Come On Get Higher".
Early life and college years
Nathanson was raised in Lexington, Massachusetts and attended Proctor Academy in Andover, NH. His father is Jewish and his mother is Catholic.[1][2] Nathanson attended Pitzer College in Claremont, California (majoring in English and world literature). Matt attended the Fessenden School in West Newton MA, along with his brother Neal, prior to going to high school at Proctor Academy. Despite living close by in Lexington, the two boarded at Fessenden during the week, before going home for weekends.
Music
The members of his band have included Aben Eubanks on guitar, keys and vocals, later replaced by Aaron Tap. John Thomasson began as bassist in 2004. Thomasson left in 2009 to play bass for Little Big Town and continues to play for them today. Jason McKenzie was on drums until Fall 2006; Nick Amoroso on two tours from Fall 2007 through Winter 2008. Konrad Meissner is the drummer. Before 2005, Nathanson was often accompanied by cellist Matt Fish.
Current touring band, as of Fall 2014: Aaron Tap (guitar, back-up vocals, artistic director), Chris Lovejoy (percussion)[3] and Shiben Bhattacharya (bass).[4]
Television
His album Some Mad Hope was released on August 14, 2007. The song "All We Are" was featured on the television series NCIS in the fifth season episode "Family," the first season Private Practice episode "In Which Charlotte Goes Down the Rabbit Hole," the One Tree Hill episodes "My Way Home is Through You" and "Forever and Almost Always". He was also featured on Women's Murder Club.
The ABC show Big Shots featured his song "Come on Get Higher," and the song "I Saw" was featured on Scrubs in the sixth season episode "My Best Friend's Baby's Baby and My Baby's Baby." Nathanson's song "Little Victories" was used on the Season 7 episode of Scrubs, "My Dumb Luck." On January 30, 2008, Nathanson and his band performed "Car Crash" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.[5] His song "Sooner Surrender" was used on the May 28, 2008 episode of Men in Trees, "New Dog, Old Tricks". Nathanson and his band performed "Come on Get Higher" on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" on December 22, 2008.[6] The CW show The Vampire Diaries featured his song "All We Are" in the first season episode, "Family Ties" and Life Unexpected in second season episode titled "Parents Unemployed". The song was also on the fifth season episode ("Family", episode 2) of the CBS show "NCIS" His song "Bulletproof Weeks" appeared in the episode "Another Second Chance" of the TV series Private Practice on January 14, 2010.
On February 13, 2009, Nathanson and his band performed "Come on Get Higher" on the Late Show with David Letterman. On March 3, 2009, he performed on Ellen, singing "Come on Get Higher".
In March 2009, Nathanson was the special guest for Episode 17 of Live From Daryl's House, Daryl Hall's monthly Internet concert. They, along with Hall's house band, performed (among other songs) "Car Crash", "Come on Get Higher", "Still" and "All We Are", as well as Hall & Oates classics "Did It in a Minute" and "One on One". Matt Nathanson's "Come on Get Higher" is featured on the CD "Circle of Friends – Dave FM: Volume 2," an Atlanta-based radio station.
Matt Nathanson recently appeared on the hit show The Bachelor (U.S. TV series) (season 16), where he serenaded bachelor Ben Flajnik and runner-up Lindzi Cox with his hit "Faster".[7]
"Kiss quick" was featured on One Tree Hill season 8 episode 22.
On July 9, 2013, Nathanson and his band performed his single, "Mission Bells", on the Jay Leno Show.[8]
Nathanson also appeared on an episode of That Metal Show along with two members from the band Alter Bridge.
Covers
Matt Nathanson's cover of "Laid" by Manchester band James was featured on the American Wedding soundtrack, as well as American Pie Presents Band Camp.[9] Matt also covered the Prince song "Starfish & Coffee" for the children's album "For The Kids Too". Matt also performed a cover of Cat Stevens' "The Wind" for the album "Wake Up Everybody".
Matt is known for doing covers at his live shows, often as mash-ups with his own songs.
Albums
Please
Recorded and mixed in February/March 1993 in a house in Van Nuys, California. Most of the songs were written while Nathanson was in high school and a freshman at Pitzer College in Claremont, CA. Before this, Nathanson had recorded only demos. This was his first collection of songs ever put on CD. Please was released in the spring of 1993.
Ernst
Recorded in Nathanson's new hometown of San Francisco in the winter of 1997. An entirely acoustic record, the instrumentation is mostly acoustic guitar with some accordion, cellos and percussion . This record was mixed at Toast Studios in San Francisco, by Jaquire King.
Not Colored Too Perfect
This record is a compilation of unreleased material, the bulk of which was recorded in San Rafael, CA in the fall of 1997. Two other songs on this compilation, "You're Smiling" and "Wait Up" were recorded in Santa Barbara, CA in the summer of 1995. The final two songs, "Trace of a Cat's Eye" and "Vandalized" were taken from the unreleased record by Nathanson's college band Here Comes Everybody. The HCE album was recorded in Claremont, CA, in the spring of 1995 but was never released. Both these songs were written by the drummer in the band, Bill Foreman.
Still Waiting for Spring
Recorded December 1998 in Cotati, CA. and January 1999 at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco, with Mark Weinberg. This record features David Immergluck & Charlie Gillingham of Counting Crows on tracks including the song "Loud," which was featured on the television show Dawson's Creek. The record was mixed at Different Fur in San Francisco and released spring of 1999.
When Everything Meant Everything
Recorded in the Winter of 2002, at Trakworx in South San Francisco. An entire album of songs was recorded but the release was shortened to an EP when Nathanson signed to Universal Records halfway through the mixing process. Studio versions of "Princess" and "Fall to Pieces" appear only on this EP. It was produced by Mark Weinberg and Nathanson and released in the fall of 2002.
Beneath These Fireworks
Recorded in Los Angeles in the winter of 2003, the team included drummer Matt Chamberlain, guitar player David Garza, and Glen Phillips, of the band Toad The Wet Sprocket, for background vocals. "Lucky Boy," from Still Waiting for Spring was re-recorded for this record, as were most of the songs from the When Everything Meant Everything EP/sessions. It was mixed by Mark Endert in Los Angeles and released in October 2003. "Suspended" and "I Saw" were released as singles and more than half the record was licensed to television shows like Scrubs, Tarzan, One Tree Hill, Joan of Arcadia and Men in Trees.
At the Point
Upon deciding that the major label world was not for him, Nathanson got out of his contract with Universal Records and released "At the Point." Recorded live over the course of 3 nights at The Point in Bryn Mawr, PA in June 2005, this is Nathanson's only live album. This record was released in April 2006 and debuted at #29 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart the week of its release.
Some Mad Hope
Some Mad Hope was recorded between August 2005 and March 2007 in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Cotati, CA. The album was made independently, and Nathanson partnered with Vanguard Records for its release in August 2007. It debuted at #60 on the Billboard Top 200 and was on the charts for 34 weeks. Various songs on the record were placed on television shows including CSI, One Tree Hill, Private Practice, Melrose Place, 90210, Vampire Diaries, American Idol among others.
Singles included "Come on Get Higher" (peaked at #2 at Triple A, #9 at Hot AC, #3 at Mainstream AC and #19 at Pop), "Car Crash" (peaked at #12 at Triple A, and #29 at Hot AC), "Falling Apart (peaked #29 at Hot AC), and "All We Are" (peaked at #26 at Triple A).
Some Mad Hope has sold over 300,000 copies and "Come on Get Higher" went platinum selling over 1.8 million in single sales.
Modern Love
Nathanson's album Modern Love was released in June 21, 2011. The first single, "Faster", was released in March. In addition to the second single with Sugarland, "Run", the album's title track "Modern Love" reached the top 15 on the MusicBase Adult Album Alternative chart in September 2012 due to considerable airplay on AAA formatted radio stations. Nathanson is the opening act for Kelly Clarkson's Stronger Tour as of January 13, 2012 to April 10, 2012 on selected dates.
In an interview with Broken Records Magazine, Nathanson said Modern Love was a "powerful record" and that he aimed to model its sound and production after his favorite 80's bands and songs.
Last of the Great Pretenders
Nathanson's newest album Last of the Great Pretenders was released in the US on July 16, 2013. The first single, "Mission Bells", was released on March 11, on San Francisco's radio station KFOG.[10] The album debuted at #16 on the Billboard Top 200. Nathanson announced his North American tour, Last of the Great Pretenders Tour, with special guest Joshua Radin through his personal webpage. The tour will kick off in Portland, Oregon on September 20 and end in Austin, Texas on November 23 with 45 dates total.[11]
In a statement to his fans, Nathanson said they should expect, "new songs, new stories, a white Bengal tiger and confetti cannons (ok, not the last two)".[12] The next single to be released was "Kinks Shirt".
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [13] |
US Rock [14] |
US Heat [15] |
US Indie [16] | ||||||
| Please |
|
— | — | — | — | ||||
| Ernst |
|
— | — | — | — | ||||
| Not Colored Too Perfect |
|
— | — | — | — | ||||
| Still Waiting for Spring |
|
— | — | — | — | ||||
| Beneath These Fireworks |
|
— | — | 44 | — | ||||
| Some Mad Hope |
|
60 | 16 | — | 3 | ||||
| Modern Love |
|
17 | 4 | — | — | ||||
| Last of the Great Pretenders |
|
16 | 2 | — | — | ||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
Live albums
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Heat [15] |
US Indie [16] | ||
| At the Point |
|
29 | 28 |
| Matt Nathanson: Live at Google |
|
— | — |
Extended plays
| Title | Details | Peak positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [13] | |||||||||
| When Everything Meant Everything |
|
— | |||||||
| Plus |
|
— | |||||||
| iTunes: Live Session EP |
|
185 | |||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) |
Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [17] |
US AC [18] |
US Adult [19] |
US Pop [20] |
US Rock [21] |
CAN [22] | ||||
| 2003 | "Sad Songs" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Beneath These Fireworks | |
| 2004 | "Suspended" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "I Saw" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2007 | "Car Crash" | — | — | 30 | — | — | — | Some Mad Hope | |
| 2008 | "Come On Get Higher" | 59 | 3 | 9 | 20 | — | 30 | ||
| 2009 | "All We Are" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Falling Apart" | — | — | 28 | — | — | — | |||
| 2011 | "Faster" | 74 | 20 | 11 | 31 | 44 | 88 | Modern Love | |
| "Room @ the End of the World"[25] | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Run" (featuring Sugarland)A | 53 | — | 17 | — | — | — | |||
| 2012 | "Modern Love"[26] | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2013 | "Mission Bells"[27] | — | — | 35 | — | — | — | Last of the Great Pretenders | |
| "Kinks Shirt" | — | — | 28 | — | — | — | |||
| 2014 | "Headphones" (featuring Lolo) | — | — | 23 | — | — | — | TBA | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
- A"Run" also peaked at number 60 on the Hot Country Songs chart.
Music videos
| Year | Video | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | "Run" (w/Sugarland) | Valarie Allyn Bieans |
| 2013 | "Mission Bells" | Marc Ripper / Fort Ripper |
| 2013 | "Kinks Shirt" | Bobcat Goldthwait |
| 2014 | "Headphones" | Brendan Walter and Mel Soria |
References
- ↑ Torok, Ryan (September 7, 2011). "The romanticism of Matt Nathanson | Culture". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
- ↑ "Twitter". Mobile.twitter.com. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
- ↑ , http://meinlpercussion.com/artists/artist-detail/Artist/show/chris-lovejoy-84/
- ↑ http://www.yamahaentertainmentgroup.com/all-access2/item/23-shiben-bhattacharya-making-connections
- ↑ "Late Night with Conan O'Brien: Jeff Corwin, Colin Hanks, Matt Nathanson". tv.com. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
- ↑ "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson – Joel McHale, Matt Nathanson Performs.". locatetv.com. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
- ↑ "The Bachelor Episode 3". ABC. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
- ↑ Matt Nathanson Performing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Retrieved August 20, 2013
- ↑ "American Wedding Soundtrack".
- ↑ "Matt Nathanson World Premiere of New Single "Mission Bells" Retrieved August 20, 2013
- ↑ "Matt Nathanson Announced Last of Great Pretenders Tour Retrieved August 20, 2013."
- ↑ "Matt Nathanson: The Last Great Pretender" Retrieved August 20, 2013.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Matt Nathanson Album & Song Chart History – Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ↑ "Matt Nathanson Album & Song Chart History – Rock Albums". Billboard. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Matt Nathanson Album & Song Chart History – Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Matt Nathanson Album & Song Chart History – Independent Albums". Billboard. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ↑ "Matt Nathanson Album & Song Chart History – Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ↑ "Matt Nathanson Album & Song Chart History – Adult Contemporary". Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ↑ "Matt Nathanson Album & Song Chart History – Adult Pop Songs". Billboard. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ↑ "Matt Nathanson Album & Song Chart History – Pop Songs". Billboard. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ↑ "Matt Nathanson Album & Song Chart History – Pop Songs". Billboard. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ↑ "Matt Nathanson Album & Song Chart History – Canadian Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ↑ "RIAA – Gold & Platinum – April 3, 2011: "Come on Get Higher" certified awards". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ↑ "Canadian digital download certifications – Matt Nathanson – Come on Get Higher". Music Canada.
- ↑ "Future Releases on Triple A (AAA) Radio Stations". All Access. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
- ↑ "Future Releases on Triple A (AAA) Radio Stations". All Access. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
- ↑ "Future Releases on Triple A (AAA) Radio Stations". All Access. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
External links
- Official website
- Matt Nathanson collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
- Matt Nathanson on the Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend podcast
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