tag:indigenousrocks.com,2005:/blogs/interviews?p=2
Interviews
2024-03-28T12:38:41-04:00
Indigenous
false
tag:indigenousrocks.com,2005:Post/6099305
2017-04-04T20:00:00-04:00
2023-12-10T14:29:49-05:00
San Jose Mercury News
<div class="headlines">
<h1 class="entry-title"><span style="color:#888888"><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/04/05/living-on-a-reservation-but-living-the-life-of-a-touring-blues-musician/" target="_blank" data-imported="1"><span class="dfm-title optimizely-4507584" style="color:#888888"> Home is on a reservation, but he lives the life of a touring blues musician </span></a></span></h1>
<h2 class="subheadline">
<span style="color:#888888">Guitarist, singer Mato Nanji due at Club Fox on Thursday</span><br><br>
</h2>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/395911/0100ba6fb7914a8ba49410a0f4ace1e11c33e6e8/original/san-jose-mercury-news-4-5-17.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NzY2eDU3NSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="575" width="766" /></p>
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<div class="byline"><span style="color:#888888"><strong>By <a class=" author-name" title="Posts by Paul Freeman" href="http://www.mercurynews.com/author/paul-freeman/" rel="author" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#888888">Paul Freeman</span></a> |</strong></span></div>
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<span style="color:#888888"><strong>PUBLISHED: April 5, 2017 at 5:57 pm | UPDATED: April 6, 2017 at 3:51 am<br><br></strong></span><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Blues has long been a natural outlet for those facing struggle and oppression, whether in a ghetto or on a American Indian reservation.</strong></span>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Mato Nanji, vocalist/guitarist for the rock-blues band Indigenous, was raised on South Dakota’s Yankton Sioux Reservation.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji says, “B.B. King told me that the blues can take you out of all that and make you feel better. Blues doesn’t make you more depressed. It’s the kind of music that can make you feel more proud of what you’re doing and what you’re feeling and what’s going on in your life. That’s what connected me to that type of music. It’s deep-rooted music, and a lot of the natives were really into it back in the old days, people like Charley Patton (part Cherokee and considered byt some to be the father of the Delta Blues).”</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji’s grabbing original songs, soulful vocals and searing guitar riffs power Indigenous. He dedicated the band’s latest album, “Time Is Coming,” to the indigenous youth on the reservations. “It’s just to be supportive, because they’re always having a tough time,” Nanji says.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>As a child, he listened intently to his parents’ old blues and rock records.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>HIs father and his uncles had a Top 40 band, The Vanishing Americans. Nanji says, “They had split up before I was born. I found my dad’s guitars and amps in the basement. I was like, ‘What is this?’ I didn’t even know he was a musician.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>“Later, I found out that my dad knew everything about amps and guitars. When he found out I was interested, he started teaching me a little bit. But he basically just said, ‘You’ve got to listen and learn yourself. If you learn it yourself like that, you’ll never forget it,’ which turned put to be one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever had.”</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>At the suggestion of their parents, Nanji, the eldest child, teamed with his bassist brother, drummer sister and percussionist cousin to form Indigenous. They were 13 to 16 years old. They practiced for more than a year, then started gigging.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>“We never thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be our living, our career.’ We just started working. And I’m still at it,” Nanji says.</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Indigenous’s first national tour was a 1999 bill that included Tower of Power, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and headliner B.B. King. Other artists, such as Taj Mahal, Robert Cray and Jimmie Vaughan, played select dates.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji says, “To be a young kid, from where I come from, it was an honor to be part of that. I had grown up listening to those guys.”</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>B.B. King had words of wisdom for Nanji. “’Stay high on the music, keep going and you’re going to be OK’ — that’s what he told us. There’s already a high there. You don’t need anything else.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>“So many of the other people I grew up listening to, I found out they were into drugs. Musically they were my role models and my heroes, but as far as who they were as people, what they did, didn’t connect with who I am.”</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>The original Indigenous lineup stayed together for 10 years. “Like with every band, after a while, it doesn’t click like it used to. Being brothers and sisters, I think it was even tougher. I’m actually surprised we made it as long as we did,” Nanji says, laughing.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>He was always focused on the music. His bandmates were increasingly indulging in distractions.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>“I was the one really pushing for us to keep it together and keep going down the tracks. But everybody else was falling off, as we went. They were getting into more drugs, more alcohol. I’ve never followed that path. I was just interested in writing, playing, touring, recording — doing the work. To me, that was more important than anything else, certainly more important than the party life they were interested in.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>“It’s a lot of work, a lot of stresses, so that’s why a lot of musicians turn to drugs and alcohol. But it just never intrigued me at all. I’ve been able to handle the stress.”</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji now fronts a trio, which plays Redwood City’s Club Fox on April 13 and Moe’s Alley in Santa Cruz on April 16.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji just completed the Experience Hendrix Tour. He says he was thrilled to share the stage with such artists as Buddy Guy and the last surviving member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Billy Cox.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>“Buddy is, like, 80 years old, and still doing it. Billy is, like, 77. So it was so inspiring to me, having the opportunity to play with them. It’s awesome to see those guys up there every night, rocking it.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>“All the new stuff that’s going on, that’s on TV all the time, it seems generic and phony to me. Seeing guys like Buddy play on stage, there’s something much deeper going on there, very special and very spiritual. He’s still connecting with new generations.”</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji, 42, is still based on the reservation where he grew up, He writes much of the Indigenous material with his wife Leah. They have six children, ages 12 to 23. Several of them are displaying musical talents.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>“That’s pretty inspirational,” Nanji says. “It makes me want to keep on doing what I’m doing. Like both my dad and B.B. King said to me, ‘If you love what you’re doing, it’ll take care of you.’”</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong><em>Email Paul Freeman at <a href="mailto:paul@popcultureclassics.com" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#888888">paul@popcultureclassics.com</span></a>.</em></strong></span></p>
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Indigenous
tag:indigenousrocks.com,2005:Post/6099304
2017-01-25T19:00:00-05:00
2024-03-22T03:09:54-04:00
Blues Blast Magazine
<p><strong><span style="color:#888888">By Blues Blast Senior Writer Terry Mullins</span></strong><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/395911/de76f891100b29c033732809232d5cd3b507c182/original/in-mato-nanjii-pwbf-2016-0702-0199-e-web.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjU1eDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="255" /></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><br><strong>He's not a politician, he’s not a lobbyist and he doesn’t hold a degree in environmental sciences.</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px;" align="left"><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Mato Nanji is the vocalist, guitarist, songwriter and front man for the band Indigenous.</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px;" align="left"><span style="color:#888888"><strong>In addition to the skills that have helped to make Indigenous a force on the blues scene ever since their first album – <em>Things We Do</em> (Pachyderm Records) – came out in 1998, Mato (Ma-TOE) is also blessed with a boatload of good old-fashioned common sense.</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px;" align="left"><span style="color:#888888"><strong>“If we don’t have water, we don’t have people. We don’t have anything without water,” he recently said.</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px;" align="left"><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Mato’s response to the firestorm that is currently burning at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation – the sixth-largest Native American Reservation (in land area) in the United States – boils the essence of the matter right down to its very core.</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px;" align="left"><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Water.</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px;" align="left"><span style="color:#888888"><strong>The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is meant to transport oil through four states – and over 1,100 miles- from the Dakotas down into Illinois. When the DAPL was rerouted from its planned path near Bismarck (the capital city of North Dakota), to near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, is when the protests began. The tribe that calls Standing Rock its home opposed the new route of the pipeline, because they felt it’s construction under Lake Oahe – along with the Missouri River – would pollute those waters and have a harmful impact on countless lives in the area. In addition to the potential for pollution, the tribe also believes the DAPL violates established treaty rights and puts sacred burial grounds in peril.</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px;" align="left"><span style="color:#888888"><strong>So far, those tasked with constructing the pipeline (referred to as the ‘Black Snake’ by many Native Americans in the area) have chosen to ignore many of the concerns with the project and thus, a standoff was born between the two sides.</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px;" align="left"><span style="color:#888888"><strong>While it’s failed to become the lead story on any of the nightly newscasts that mainstream media has to offer up, the situation at Standing Rock (which covers land in both South and North Dakota) has nevertheless become a huge presence on just about every social media site and that has helped lead to protests and demonstrations in places thousands of miles from the Dakotas. From Denver to San Francisco to Miami and even New York City, those concerned are making their feelings well known.</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px;" align="left"><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Mato – who was born and raised on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota – has been doing his part to bring awareness of Standing Rock to a heightened level, even helping to bring the blues crowd up to date with the struggle.</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px;" align="left"><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Mato has played several benefit shows for Standing Rock this past year and he says he’s been encouraged by the response to the shows...<br></strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 6px;" align="left"><span style="color:#888888"><strong>(<a href="http://www.bluesblastmagazine.com/issue-11-4-January-26-2017/" target="_blank" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#888888">click here to continue reading...</span></a>)</strong></span><br><br></p>
Indigenous
tag:indigenousrocks.com,2005:Post/6099303
2015-09-06T20:00:00-04:00
2023-12-10T14:18:43-05:00
Gutar Radio Show Podcast
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar Radio Show Podcast Episode 85</strong><br><strong>September 2, 2015</strong><br><strong>By: Mark Daven</strong><br><br><strong>Description: </strong>Mato Nanji from Indigenous joins us to discuss his latest release Time is Coming" and much more!!!!<br></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><a href="http://guitarradioshow.com/episode-86-mato-nanji-from-indigenous/" target="_blank" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#888888">http://guitarradioshow.com/episode-86-mato-nanji-from-indigenous/</span></a></span></p>
Indigenous
tag:indigenousrocks.com,2005:Post/6099302
2015-07-06T20:00:00-04:00
2023-12-10T14:48:00-05:00
Guitar.com Interview
<h1>
<span style="color:#888888"><strong>Mato Nanji Interview: Indigenous Rocks On</strong></span><br><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Adam St. James</strong></span>
</h1>
<h1>
<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/395911/636bb2671a0bc3b5c34405aa1ec4a00c13ba0a2b/original/ep-140429874-jpgmaxw332.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MzMyeDIyMSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="221" width="332" /><br><br><span style="color:#888888">B.B. King was a big fan of Mato Nanji’s guitar playing. The late blues legend heard Nanji’s band Indigenous early on and brought the band out on tour with him. Likewise another blues legend, Buddy Guy, has often played with Indigenous. And it was at a show featuring Guy and Indigenous that John McDermott, director of the Jimi Hendrix catalog and producer of the semi-annual Experience Hendrix tours, first discovered Nanji.<br></span><br><span style="color:#888888">Impressed as he was, McDermott has had the Native American blues rock guitarist on every Experience Hendrix tour since 2002, playing alongside artists such as Eric Johnson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jonny Lang, Buddy Guy, Zakk Wylde, Billy Cox, Chris Layton, and many more greats.</span>
</h1>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji was born in 1974 on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, the son of a traveling musician and, later, international spokesman for native peoples, Greg Zephier, Sr. By the late ‘90s Mato had put together the band Indigenous with brother Pte on bass, sister Wanbdi on drums, and cousin Horse on percussion.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Indigenous recorded a handful of albums with that lineup, even scoring a Billboard Top 40 hit with “Now That You’re Gone.” After the group’s 2006 release, <em>Long Way Home</em>, Nanji’s family members left the band and he recruited other musicians, carrying on with the Indigenous name.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Since then Nanji has recorded six powerful blues rock albums, as well as a collaborative effort with David HIdalgo of Los Lobos and Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi All Stars, titled <em>3 Skulls and the Truth</em>, in 2012. His most recent release was <em>Time is Coming</em>, released in 2014 on Mike Varney’s Blues Bureau International label. It was Nanji’s third album with Varney, who is widely known for his Shrapnel Records label and long-standing ear for exceptional guitar talent.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>In this exclusive Guitar.com interview, we talked about the newest incarnation of Indigenous, Nanji’s early influences, and what playing on the Experience Hendrix tour means to him -- a life-long Hendrix fan. We also spoke about his guitars, amps, and love for Mojo Hand FX pedals, and much more.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Hi Mato, this is Adam with Guitar.com.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Hi, how are you doing?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Good, how are you?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Good, real good.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: So where am I calling?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: I’m been back home in South Dakota.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: South Dakota, OK.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah. I was just out in California over the weekend.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Doin’ some shows?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, doin’ some shows out there in Northern California, the San Francisco area, in Petaluma.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Isn’t that Mike Varney’s territory?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, yeah. He actually came out to see us.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Did he jam with you?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Didn’t jam, but he came out.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Did you ever record at -- I don’t know if he used the studio all the time, but a long time ago I was at a studio in Petaluma called Prairie Sun.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, that’s where we did our last, three or four records, at Prairie Sun.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Okay, you did do them there....</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah. That’s a great studio man, really is. They got a lot of stuff.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Yeah, and I don’t know if it’s still the same kinda neighborhood as it was. I was there in the early ‘90s with Richie Kotzen, and It was all just beautiful farmland at that time. Is it still like that?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, it’s pretty much still like that. They’ve got a chicken farm or something around there. I don’t know if that was there before but yeah, a lot of roosters and stuff walking around [chuckles].</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: So tell me what you’ve got goin’ on right now. I know your Time is Coming album came out in 2014, right?<br><br>Nanji: Yes. That’s the most recent one so far. And I’ve been pretty busy actually from the very first record I did with Varney back in 2012. We do CDs pretty much every year. And then I did one with David Hidalgo and Luther Dickinson called 3 Skulls and the Truth. We also did that with Mike Varney, and that was really cool.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Right.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: And we’ve just kinda been playing around, working, and trying to get those records out there, and promote ‘em a little bit. And we’re talkin’ about doing another record in the near future.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: So the band members that you have with you now, that’s Levi and everybody right?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, Levi (Platero, guitar) and Doug (Platero, drums), and Bronson (Begay, bass), three young artists from New Mexico. I actually met Levi and all of them really young, like 15 years old. I met them a long time ago and they actually opened a lot of shows for the old Indigenous back in the day. So I’ve been in touch with them since then and decided to have ‘em play with me within the past year or so. So they’ve been goin’ out with me and touring with me now.</strong><br></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Are you writing new music, or are they writing with you -- how is that working?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: I still have been doing it myself, writing myself, and of course, with my wife. she’s kinda been my songwriting partner for a long time -- my wife, Leah. I think eventually we’ll probably get together and do some stuff, do a few tracks together. We’ll see how it all comes together.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: How do you work on writing? Do you have a home studio to record ideas?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: No I don’t have a studio. I just use my phone to get the idea down and that’s it. Once I get it down, I take it into the musicians and we’ll work it out in the studio. It’s a lot easier just to lay it down on the phone than to have an actual studio.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Right. Everybody I talk to says they’re laying their ideas down on their phone.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah. It’s just that it’s real convenient. If you get an idea, you just hit record and record it.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Yeah, I’m doing it too.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: And the way I have always written, for most ideas I’ll just have an acoustic and get home and be kinda jamming a little bit, and every now and then get an idea. But sometimes when I’m on the road with the band, or touring, or whenever I get an idea for a song -- or just a riff or anything like that -- I just kinda let it happen to me in all kinds of different ways, ? I feel like that works best for me because if I sit down and think about it, and say “Oh, I think I will write a song.” something like that, it never happens.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Yeah.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: You’ve got to just kinda let it happen and feel it.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Yeah. Does your wife do most of the lyric writing? Or all of the lyric writing?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Well, she does a lot of the lyrics, yeah. And sometimes she’ll come in with maybe a verse and a melody. She’ll sing me the melody and then I’ll work out the music behind it. And then sometimes I come in with the whole music -- the whole song, basically -- with no lyrics. And I’ll have the melody idea and she’ll write lyrics for it. it kinda works. Sometimes I come up with the lyric idea for a chorus part or something and then we’ll just get together and kinda hash it out.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>So it’s really cool to work with somebody like that who is really close to you. I know it didn’t work out so well trying to deal with my family [with the beginning lineup of Indigenous], like my brothers and my sisters. But now it’s a little different vibe. I guess people kinda have that connection about what they want to work on, or if they’re able to work together. That makes it fun and easier to come up with ideas and all so, so I enjoy it.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: So, do you have any kind of a deadline or a planned date when you’re gonna get back in the studio for the next album?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Ah, no, we’re still kinda figuring it out. We’re on tour the rest of the summer so we’ll be doing that. And maybe in the fall or something, we’ll probably get back in the studio. That’s when it slows down a little too. It gives you a little more time to concentrate and focus on writing music.</strong></span><br><br><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: So you also did an album with Otis Taylor a couple of years ago, right?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, that was fun. I was on the Hendrix tribute tour and he came down while we were in Denver. I’ve known Otis for a long time, since I was about 19, kinda when Indigenous got goin’, probably like 1997 or ‘98. I got to know him when that first record came out and just stayed in touch. Then I didn’t see him over the years, and then he came to the Experience Hendrix show, and we sat down and talked.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>And I guess he got an idea from the conversation and so he went and recorded it, then he just called me one day, “ I got this record done, and I want you to play on it.” It’s called “My World Is Gone.” He said he got the idea from our conversation. It’s about indigenous people. So I was like, “Oh cool, yeah I’ll come down to play.” And so we just went from there. I think it was about six tracks I played on, and singing on another couple of tracks. It was really fun.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: I bet it was. So that was Taylor’s 2013 album on the Telarc label, and that was the title track.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah. He pretty much had the record done, so it was a little more laid back, at that time, when I got there. So we went in there and just laid it down and played it, and it was cool</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Right. And then you also did something with Jonny Lang. Did you write a couple of songs with him?<br><br>Nanji: No, he was actually on one of the records that I did with Mike Varney, I think it was the first one.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Right, the album just called Indigenous, on Varney’s Blues Bureau International label.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, with the can on the cover. I just asked Jonny to play. We’ve known each other forever, from when we were real young, and he was just starting up too when we were starting out. We were opening for him back then. He was really young, 14 years old, maybe 15. But yeah, I just asked him to sing and play on one of the tracks on that record, and he said he would. So we got him in and he laid it down, it was awesome.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Cool. So have you done just about every Experience Hendrix tour?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Uh, yeah, ever since -- I think they started back in like, 2002. And when they started stretching it out more and doing little tours -- I think it was maybe 2003 or 2004 maybe, when they did like 3 shows on the West coast. And me and my brother and sister were still playing, so we went and did those shows and it was pretty good. That was kind of the start, I think, of the touring, and ever since then I’ve done every pretty much every tour.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: That’s gotta be a good time to play with all those people: Eric Johnson, Kenny Wayne, Jonny...<br></strong></span><br><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Oh yeah, it’s awesome. For me it’s great. Personality wise, they’re just great people. They’re nice people to be around and so it’s just really fun and makes you really eager to go out there. Plus the experience of just playing with all those great players and gettin’ to jam with Chris Layton, or Billy Cox. It’s awesome. Awesome and really, really cool.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Right. I thought they were gonna do a spring tour this year but they didn’t do it.<br><br>Nanji: No. I think the guy that puts the thing together, John McDermott -- and I’ve known him from even before the Hendrix thing. I met him a few years before that and I think he kinda became a fan of my band awhile back, because he came to a festival that I was playin’ with Buddy Guy and Los Lobos. That’s where we’ve met. I think he kinda stretches Experience Hendrix out. So there might be one comin’ next year. Maybe he does it one year, then he takes a year off, and then maybe does it twice the next year, and then take another year off or something.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Oh, OK. I thought he was getting around and basically doing it every fall and every spring. But I guess it’s not quite that consistent, is it?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: No, I think he breaks it up a little bit. And I think at times too, they have to work around everybody’s schedule. Like when everybody’s out touring and on the road.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Yeah. So you mentioned playing with Chris Layton and Billy Cox. And so, obviously, those two, Hendrix and Stevie Ray were big influences on you, weren’t they?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, yeah, right. Right from the start, like when I was really young, probably my biggest influence is my Dad’s record collection. He had probably everything from like the ‘60s and ‘70s. He listened to a lot of Hendrix, Santana, and the guitar player from Chicago. He listened to a lot of Chicago, the old Chicago, the original guitarist.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Terry Kath.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah. He is one of my favorites, from the beginning. So I listened to a lot of those guys. My Dad’s the one who brought home the records, ? He was like, “Check this out!” That’s when I first heard of Stevie. That was kinda later on. But before that I was listenin’ to, like, of course, BB King -- one of my favorites.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Right.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: And Albert King -- all the blues guys. And Buddy Guy. All that stuff My Dad was the one that kinda brought home Stevie and introduced me to him. He must have been always on the lookout for guitar players.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Your dad was a touring musician too, right?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, he used to play back in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. He also played with his family. He had two brothers and a nephew that played together. And the band was called Vanishing Americans.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Right, and you dedicated an album to them in 2013.<br><br>Nanji: Yeah. They played all the Top 40 stuff, and he said they started to write their own stuff and then they split up after that. So, I don’t know what happened then. They just started to try to write together and make music together and then that didn’t work out, so...</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: So he didn’t really push you on guitar, right? You just had the music around and it just influenced you a little?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, yeah. He never sat down and said “I want you to play guitar.” He never said anything like that. He just sits there and he had his amps and his guitars in our basement. And when I got to a certain age I just got interested in it. So then once he found out that I was really into it and really interested, then that’s when he kinda went for it.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Yeah.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: He really got supportive and really got behind it. And then I think, as I kept playing it over the years, that’s when my brother, and my sister -- they were a little younger than me. So when they got a little older, that’s when we kinda decided to become a band. So that’s kinda how it all got started. And I’ve been doin’ it ever since.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Uh-huh. Do you still have some of your Dad’s guitars?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: No, actually they all -- when our old house, probably back in early ‘90s, our old house burned down, so we lost everything. All the old records, all the old everything.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Wow, that’s a bummer. So what kind of guitars did he used to play?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: He had electric Gibsons, like the old 335s. He had a couple of those and some Fender amps. I used to use them too, like Super Reverbs and Vibroverbs and stuff like that. But yeah, everything we had when we started off, it was all gone. So we basically had to start over.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: So what are you playing now? I see a lot of videos with you playing a Strat.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, there’s this Strat I had since I started, I think. It’s like a 62 Reissue. And then I’ll just bring that. I got that early on and I’ve been playing that ever since the beginning, since I started, probably ’98, ’99. And that’s kinda been my main guitar. I’ve had a few Strats and another guitar, a Benedict. It had humbuckers in it. A guy up in Minneapolis makes them: Benedict guitars.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Right, Jonny Lang has mentioned them to me too.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: I played those for a little while. I used to have a lot of equipment that I just slowly kinda got rid of because I don’t really use it. And now I just use my main guitar pretty much on the road, which is a Stratocaster. I do have a couple of nice acoustics that I play, a Martin 12 string, and a Martin acoustic. And I actually got a First Act -- I guess it’s like a higher upgrade. They sent me one and I’ve been using that. It’s really nice. So when I go on the road I usually use that, the First Act. It’s a pretty nice acoustic.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>And then I’ve got a couple of Stratocasters, of course, and all kinds of amps. And I just recently got -- I’m doing an endorsement deal with Carvin, so they sent me some Legacy amps and I’ve been using those. I like them, I think they’re pretty cool. I think Steve Vai designed them or something .</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Uh-huh.<br></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Of course I think I get a different tone than Steve Vai out of them. But I like them. You can switch the wattage and the ohms and all kinds of stuff on it, play through different cabinets and use different wattages with them, from 50 to 100 to like 15 watts. I mainly just use a clean channel but it’s a really a good sounding amp. That’s kinda my touring amp right now. I just have a 4x12 and a Legacy amp head, and then I have my main Strat and just a few pedals.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: What kind of pedals are you using?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Right now I’ve got a Mojo Hand fuzz and one that’s kinda like a Tube Screamer. It’s pretty nice. And I do actually have all kinds of older pedals and stuff, but I don’t really take them out. I keep them, mainly, in the studio. I’ll take all my gadgets out in the studio, and try them out.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Vintage stuff?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, I kinda like Tube Screamers and Fuzz Faces, and stuff like that. Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Just a couple of pedals when I go out the road. That’s all I use.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: So wait, on the road, the Mojo Hand is your overdrive?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, there’s a Mojo Hand -- I think they call it the Rook [Rook Royale] -- and then I’ve got another Mojo Hand called the Crosstown. The Crosstown is a fuzz, kinda like a Hendrix Fuzz Face thing. And the other one is kinda like a Tube Screamer but with a bass and treble tone, so you can tweak it a little bit.<br>I’ve also got a Univibe -- I think it’s the Fulltone Dejavibe. I think it’s one of the newer ones that I’m using, the black one. But I’ve actually got an older one, the big gold one. But I like the Dejavibe. And then there’s the tuner. And that’s it.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: So do you sometimes have the fuzz and the Tube Screamer on at the same time?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, sometimes I do that, because when I use the Tube Screamer, it’s mainly just kinda like a boost. I don’t really have the distortion cranked all the way up. But then the fuzz, I’ve got that cranked a little bit more, so I can get more of the Hendrix sound I guess. And the Terry Kath sound.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Yeah, right, the almost out of control feedback sound...</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, my favorite -- still my favorite sound -- will come from Terry and Jimi.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: So have you done anything to the Strat? Are there special pickups in it or anything like that?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, I think it’s got Texas Specials in it. That’s all I’ve done. Oh I changed the pickguard on it. I don’t know what they call it, it’s kind of like a red tortex-like, kind of a sunburst, sparkly thing.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: But other than the pickups, it’s just the normal electronics?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, it’s just all original stuff. I just switched out the pickups.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: And what gauge strings do you use?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: I use like a .058 on the low and then a .013 on the high.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Really?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: That’s pretty thick.<br></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, I like it. I’ve used .011s and .012s before but the .013 just seems to pierce through a lot more, especially on the high string.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: I did an interview with Stevie Ray’s and Santana’s guitar tech, Rene Martinez, do you know him?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: I haven’t met him but yeah, I know who he is.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: If you go on Guitar.com and you search for him there’s an interview I did with him probably like 12 years ago on there.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Oh yeah, cool.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: And he talks about a lot of things that he did for Stevie to keep him from breaking strings and to keep him from tearing up his fingers, and all kinds of other things too. You should go check it out.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, yeah. Will check it out, yeah.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Guitar.com: Cool. Well hey man, thank you so much for spending this time with me and giving us some insight into your playing and your gear and everything.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Nanji: Yeah, no problem man. Thank you for talking with me, it’s much appreciated.</strong></span></p>
Indigenous
tag:indigenousrocks.com,2005:Post/6099301
2015-01-01T19:00:00-05:00
2024-03-27T07:26:14-04:00
Indian Country Today 1/2/15
<p><a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/print/2015/01/02/navajo-blues-trio-plateros-forge-ahead-indigenous-158530" target="_blank" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#800000"><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Navajo Blues Trio The Plateros Forge Ahead -- as Indigenous</strong></span></span><br><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/395911/46f0c59c0f3fffe93d39af3835f4b7b72dae76bd/original/plateros.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NjAweDM4NSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="385" width="600" /><br></a></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"></span><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Two of the most recognizable names in the Native music world, Indigenous and The Plateros, are now one. After two consecutive summers of touring together, the blues trio of cousins has become the next generation of Indigenous. Frontman Mato Nanji, winner of the Artist of the Year at the 2014 Native American Music Awards, will still lead the band. But Levi Platero, Bronson Begay and Douglas Platero will be his new cohorts as the band gets back to its Native roots. ICTMN caught up with Levi Platero, after a performance at the New Mexico State Fair. "Mato asked us if we wanted to become his band full-time," Levi recalls. "Me and the guys actually thought about it. 'Wouldn't it be cool if we were actually to become Indigenous?' It never really occurred to us that it would really happen. At first, we were just opening for them. Later, we started helping with a few shows. Now, he's picking us up to be his full-time band, which is just incredible. And, it's awesome. I'm really excited about it."</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>For the immediate future, they will not be performing as The Plateros. "It's just going to be Indigenous," Levi says. "It will always be there. We'll be able to do side gigs. Plateros will be the side project now -- it used to be Indigenous as the side project." The Plateros had been in the studio, working on a new album, but they are going to suspend those efforts in favor of this newer development. "It's been slow going. This is kind of like a safety net. It just kind of happened that's really going to help us out. And maybe give us more exposure. At the same time, maybe we can land a record deal. And maybe we'll be able to finish the album -- there's still quite a bit to do with the album." </strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>It's no accident that more doors are to open for them. The band has grown and matured over the recent years. Their fans can hear, and see, the differences in their performances. Levi can also sense the changes. "When I first started playing, I felt it a lot," he says. "And then it got really technical at one point. About a year ago, it was all just technical and trying to just play <em>right</em>. And recently, I just kind of put it down, all the technicalities. Yeah, they're still there. I do play some of it, if I still want. But, maybe 90% of the time, I just feel it now. It's more of a feeling than anything. I just love the way I'm playing right now -- I just play. It's kind of like showing my emotions on stage, now."</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>The new arrangement shouldn't be that great of a challenge for The Plateros, though. They do lead full and active lives off the stage as well. Levi and Bronson are both full-time students at the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) and Douglas is full-time husband and father. And they're used to balancing a busy schedule. During one holiday stretch they performed as the opening act for the comedy duo James and Ernie. "It's always a great crowd. They usually pack the place. And what makes it better is it's in Navajo country." </strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>"I like opening better," adds bassist Bronson Begay. "But of course, head-lining is our goal." The band mixes in familiar covers with their own original songs. They've been recording, a couple of songs at a time -- but studio time is not free. Financing the recording is still a major obstacle. </strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>The band cites several musicians that they'd like to perform with. They have already performed with Los Lonely Boys. But, other on their wish list include John Mayer, George Strait, Keith Urban, and Chris Young, to name a few. They are not limited by genre or style of music either. The group regularly performs for their church services. And drummer Douglas Platero cut his musical teeth performing country-and-western tunes. "I think it's Navajo culture...just the whole western scene," Begay says. "Country is big out there. And when you put us out in Navajo country, everybody is kind of like 'what?' We used to write a set list -- but now, Levi just wings it." </strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Even though the trio is on the youthful side of 30 themselves, they are aware that there are younger ones coming behind them, and they strive to set a good, positive example. Begay says the goal is to "influence younger Native generations to strive for something and follow their dreams. Stay in school. And, that's we get our drive. Full on gospel. We all grew up gospel. We all believe in God. And, it's through Him that we're able to do this." Levi agrees, and continues "My goal is to make a way for Native youth. You know, you can achieve your goals. You don't need drugs or alcohol to slow you down. We're people like everybody else, so why can't we achieve our goals like everybody else? And, if we won a Grammy or some other high achievement, that would be great. So, Native youth could see that we're able to do whatever we want to; it's possible."</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong>To keep up with the further advendures of Levi, Douglas and Bronson -- whether as Plateros or Indigenous -- check <a href="http://theplateros.com/" target="_blank" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#888888">theplateros.com</span></a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/theplateros" target="_blank" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#888888">facebook.com/theplateros</span></a>.</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#888888"><strong></strong></span></p>
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<div class="field-item even"><span style="color:#888888"><strong>Jason Morgan Edwards</strong></span></div>
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Indigenous
tag:indigenousrocks.com,2005:Post/6099300
2014-10-01T20:00:00-04:00
2024-03-11T04:29:29-04:00
Mato Nanji Interview with Crash from B102.7 (Video)
<p><a href="http://b1027.com/mato-nanji-of-indigenous-talks-about-becoming-a-mentor-life-on-the-road-the-experience-hendrix-tour-and-the-new-indigenous/" target="_blank" data-imported="1"><strong>Mato Nanji of Indigenous Talks About Becoming A Mentor, Life on the Road, the Experience Hendrix Tour and the “New” Indigenous</strong></a> <br> <br><strong> I’ve known Mato Nanji since the late 1990s. <a title="Indigenous" href="https://www.facebook.com/indigenousrocks" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Indigenous</a> had released “Things We Do” and they were playing the Sioux Empire Fair with another young blues guitar slinger named Jonny Lang. I’ve followed Indigenous’ career ever since in part because they are South Dakota natives and part because I just love the music.</strong></p>
<p><strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>I got a chance to talk to Mato before their recent concert at the Hard Rock in Sioux City to revisit the past, talk about songwriting, future plans for recording with some of his Experience Hendrix mates and even the relaunch of Indigenous starting this November as Mato takes a fantastic New Mexico blues band that you’ve heard on the Blues Fix at 6 called the Plateros, and morphs them into the new Indigenous.</strong></p>
<p><strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>The Plateros singer/guitarist Levi Platero is someone I’ve been referring to as “Mato Jr.” since I first heard them nearly five years ago. The young band will learn a lot touring with Mato and if the videos I’ve seen of the four playing together is any indication, the band won’t miss a beat.</strong></p>
<p><strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>And for those of you wondering what will become of Mato’s current bandmates in Indigenous, it sounds like they’ll be just fine. Fellow guitarist Derek Post is on the verge of signing a management contract with a national company and plans to record and tour, possibly with drummer Kurt Olson. Meanwhile, keyboardist/drummer Charles Sanders will be touring the world on a cruise ship as part of a band. In other words, all these talented individuals will continue to do what they do.</strong></p>
<p><strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>Now we just have to be patient while we wait for Mato and Indigenous to bring the new incarnation of South Dakota’s baddest blues band back to the area for another show.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Below are the interview, plus two videos from the show in Sioux City. The title track from Indigenous’ latest release “Time Is Coming” which came out earlier this year and “Rest Of My Days”</strong></p>
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<div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PiceCyIU9iY" width="425" class="wrapped wrapped"></iframe></div></div></div></div>
<br> <br><strong> Read More: <a href="http://b1027.com/mato-nanji-of-indigenous-talks-about-becoming-a-mentor-life-on-the-road-the-experience-hendrix-tour-and-the-new-indigenous/?trackback=tsmclip" data-imported="1">Mato Nanji of Indigenous Interview</a> | http://b1027.com/mato-nanji-of-indigenous-talks-about-becoming-a-mentor-life-on-the-road-the-experience-hendrix-tour-and-the-new-indigenous/?trackback=tsmclip</strong>
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<div id="tsm-clipoard-container" style="width: 0.1; height: 0.1; position: absolute; top: -1000px; left: -1000px; background: #fff;">Mato Nanji of Indigenous Talks About Becoming A Mentor, Life on the Road, the Experience Hendrix Tour and the “New” Indigenous<br><br><strong>Read More: </strong><a href="http://b1027.com/mato-nanji-of-indigenous-talks-about-becoming-a-mentor-life-on-the-road-the-experience-hendrix-tour-and-the-new-indigenous/?trackback=tsmclip" data-imported="1">Mato Nanji of Indigenous Interview</a> | http://b1027.com/mato-nanji-of-indigenous-talks-about-becoming-a-mentor-life-on-the-road-the-experience-hendrix-tour-and-the-new-indigenous/?trackback=tsmclip
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<h1>Mato Nanji of Indigenous Talks About Becoming A Mentor, Life on the Road, the Experience Hendrix Tour and the “New” Indigenous</h1>
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<span class="author_avatar"><a title="Crash" href="http://b1027.com/author/crash/" data-imported="1"><img src="http://wac.450F.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/b1027.com/files/2013/10/Crash_2014.jpg?w=40&h=40&zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /></a></span> <span class="the_author">By <a title="Crash" href="http://b1027.com/author/crash/" data-imported="1">Crash</a></span> <span class="the_date">October 2, 2014 4:31 PM</span>
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<br><br><strong>Read More: </strong><a href="http://b1027.com/mato-nanji-of-indigenous-talks-about-becoming-a-mentor-life-on-the-road-the-experience-hendrix-tour-and-the-new-indigenous/?trackback=tsmclip" data-imported="1">Mato Nanji of Indigenous Interview</a> | http://b1027.com/
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Indigenous
tag:indigenousrocks.com,2005:Post/6099299
2014-09-14T20:00:00-04:00
2024-01-20T02:21:08-05:00
Blues From The Great Plains-Axe Magazine (Italy)
<p><a href="http://www.axemagazine.it/sito/articoli/interviste/1063-mato-nanji-english-version-09-2014" target="_blank" data-imported="1"><strong><span style="color:#888888">Blues From The Great Plains</span></strong></a><br><strong><span style="color:#888888">By Mario Milan</span><br><span style="color:#888888">Axe Magazine (Italy)</span><br><span style="color:#888888">September 2014</span></strong><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/395911/f7250db444074a48f07ce4e4d694e03bea791a4d/original/img-7930-new-tray1.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NTAweDMzMyJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="333" width="500" /><br><br><a href="http://www.axemagazine.it/sito/articoli/interviste/1063-mato-nanji-english-version-09-2014" target="_blank" data-imported="1">(For entire article, please visit Axe Magazine website)</a></p>
Indigenous
tag:indigenousrocks.com,2005:Post/6099294
2014-06-12T20:00:00-04:00
2024-03-28T12:38:41-04:00
Blues Inspire Nanji off reservation
<p><a href="http://herald-review.com/entertainment/local/blues-inspire-nanji-off-reservation/article_3a79308c-266e-53b9-a105-1444137986b7.html?print=true&cid=print" target="_blank" data-imported="1"> </a><a href="http://herald-review.com/entertainment/local/blues-inspire-nanji-off-reservation/article_3a79308c-266e-53b9-a105-1444137986b7.html?" target="_blank" data-imported="1"><strong>Blues inspire Nanji off reservation</strong></a></p>
<div class="asset-image"><img src="http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/herald-review.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/3/57/357fb084-b3f7-5b3f-a85d-55c529982214/539934a4a9170.preview-300.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /></div>
<div class="date"><strong><span class="pubdate">June 13, 2014 2:30 am</span> • <span class="byline"><a href="http://herald-review.com/search/?l=50&sd=desc&s=start_time&f=html&byline=JIM%20VOREL%0AH%26R%20Staff%20Writer" data-imported="1">JIM VOREL H&R Staff Writer<br></a></span></strong></div>
<p><strong>DECATUR – Growing up on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, Mato Nanji said classic American blues were not exactly the most popular form of music around. Most of the Native American residents listened to country if they listened to popular music at all, which made Nanji's deep appreciation for the blues all the more unusual.</strong></p>
<p><strong>It was thanks to his father, the pioneering leader of a 1960s blues band called The Vanishing Americans, that Nanji was exposed to music in the first place. With his father as his idol, the sound of the blues took hold of him and has never let go to this day.</strong></p>
<p><strong>“He and his brothers, my uncles, they were my heroes because they were in the band, even though it was before I was born,” said Nanji, who comes to Decatur Thursday night with his own band Indigenous as the first performer in the summer's Blues in Central Park series. “I never even got to see his band play together, but I listened to all of the records. He became a community leader, and he put the energy from the band into our family and teaching my siblings our instruments.”</strong></p>
<p><strong>Formed in 1998, Indigenous became the family band's next generation. Mato was the frontman, joined by his brother Pte, sister Wanbdi and their cousin Horse on drums. In the late 2000's, the other family members went their separate ways, but Mato Nanji played on and built himself a new band to continue his signature blues-rock sound.</strong></p>
<p><strong>“When we first started, Dad gave me some advice,” he said. “He and his band did a lot of covers, but the first thing he told me is 'You've got to write your own music, because that's what you want people to remember you for.' And so that's what I've always done.”</strong></p>
<p><strong>Likewise, leaving the “family band” format behind and striking out truly on his own helped Nanji step forward as a band leader. He still finds new inspiration in the blues, admiring the genre's focus on emotional intensity and a lack of reservations and self-awareness while performing.</strong></p>
<p><strong>“The great blues musicians don't hold back, they put it all on the line,” he said. “That's always been inspiring to me. I know that a lot of people say they think it's sad music, but in my experience it makes you feel better about life. It's music to bring you up when you're feeling low, it gets you up and dancing and putting your troubles behind you.”</strong></p>
<p><strong>Outside of Indigenous, the guitarist has also kept busy as a member of the annual Experience Hendrix Tour for more than a decade. It's just another opportunity to play the blues for Nanji, who said he believes the genre is still vital but has become more fractured, fully permeating other styles of popular music.</strong></p>
<p><strong>“It seems like there's a lot of bands out there that aren't really traditional blues, but they're keeping the spirit alive,” he said. “It's spread out across nearly every genre. Bands like The Black Keys have done really well with it.”</strong></p>
<p><strong>Ultimately, it's the live shows like Thursday night's Blues in Central Park appearance that Mato lives for. He's simply a born entertainer, someone who has known exactly what he wanted to do for a living ever since he was a young boy growing up in a South Dakota Native American reservation. It's easy to envy the self-assuredness with which he pursues his passion.</strong></p>
<p><strong>“I'm pretty happy being able to make records and keep touring, because no matter how much you tour, you're never going to hit every possible city,” he said. “There will always be new places to play. Being on the road can be tough, but the response from fans makes it worth it. That's what it's all about.”</strong></p>
Indigenous
tag:indigenousrocks.com,2005:Post/6099295
2014-04-22T20:00:00-04:00
2024-03-28T12:38:41-04:00
Blues Band Indigenous to play Janesville Armory
<p><a href="http://www.gazettextra.com/article/20140423/ARTICLES/140429874/1076" target="_blank" data-imported="1"><strong>Blues Band Indigenous to play Janesville's Armory</strong></a></p>
<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/395911/636bb2671a0bc3b5c34405aa1ec4a00c13ba0a2b/original/ep-140429874-jpgmaxw332.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MzMyeDIyMSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="221" width="332" /> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Guitarist/singer Mato Nanji is the frontman for power blues trio Indigenous, which will perform May 1 at the Armory in Janesville.</strong></p>
<p><strong>By Bill Livick, Special to The Gazette</strong></p>
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<p><strong>JANESVILLE—It's a long way from the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota to Washington, D.C., where guitarist/singer Mato Nanji performed at the American Indian Inaugural Ball in January 2013 to celebrate the re-election of President Barack Obama.</strong></p>
<p><strong>The contrast between a rural Indian reservation and the opulence of Capital Hill is symbolic of Nanji's musical journey since the blues-rock band Indigenous burst onto the national scene 15 years ago.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Now an award-winning band at the forefront of American blues music, Indigenous will appear at the Armory on Thursday, May 1. The band features Nanji on vocals and lead guitar, Derek Post on bass, guitar and vocals, and Charles Sanders on drums.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Guided by his musician father, Greg Zephier, Nanji formed Indigenous with his brother, sister and a cousin in the early to mid-1990s, while the four were still teenagers. Nanji said the group practiced for a solid year before playing for an audience.</strong></p>
<p><strong>“The band really got going once we were old enough to play in clubs,” Nanji said in a telephone interview. “We played for a year straight, and then my dad started booking us at high schools and any place he could find. We started touring when we were in our early 20s.”</strong></p>
<p><strong>Indigenous released its debut album, “Things We Do,” in 1998. The next year, it won three awards at the Native American Music Awards, including album of the year and group of the year.</strong></p>
<p><strong>The record also produced a single, “Now That You're Gone,” which peaked at No. 22 on Billboard's mainstream rock chart, making Indigenous one of the first American Indian bands to achieve that level of success. Amazon.com named the band blues artist of the year, and Indigenous was featured on a host of national television and radio programs.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Blues icon B.B. King became a self-proclaimed fan and invited Indigenous to join his Blues Festival Tour.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Indigenous has had two albums that reached No. 3 on Billboard's top blues albums chart. The band's 2006 release, “Chasing the Sun,” peaked at No. 2.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Nanji said a personal highlight came in 2002 when he was invited to join the Experience Hendrix Tour, a month-long series of concerts featuring some of the country's top blues guitarists performing the music of Jimi Hendrix.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Nanji developed friendships with several artists—relationships that carried over to various recording projects with such stars as Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Eric Johnson and Robert Randolph. After their 2012 Experience Hendrix Tour, Nanji collaborated with two of his fellow EHT band mates, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos and Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi Allstars, on the hard-driving, blues-infused “3 Skulls and the Truth.”</strong></p>
<p><strong>After his original group disbanded in 2006, Nanji continued to perform for a few years and in 2009 reformed Indigenous under its current “power trio” lineup.</strong></p>
<p><strong>At home in South Dakota, Nanji works closely with his wife, Leah, who provides lyrics for many of his songs, which always begin on an acoustic guitar.</strong></p>
<p><strong>“That's the only way I write when I'm at home,” he said. “I don't have like a big rehearsal space or anything. I just have my acoustic guitar. We just sit around, and I have these ideas and put them down on this little hand-held digital recorder.</strong></p>
<p><strong>“My wife helps with the ideas,” he said. “We write songs together all the time. If I'm on the road, we talk on the phone about ideas, and she gives me lyrics. Then we finish the songs when I get home.”</strong></p>
<p><strong>Nanji noted that his wife sang background vocals on the album he released in 2010, “The Acoustic Sessions.”</strong></p>
<p><strong>“She wrote a lot of the lyrics and helped with the melodies as well,” he said.</strong></p>
<p><strong>He explained that the messages in his songs are often unclear while he's in the process of creating them.</strong></p>
<p><strong>“When I write, I just let it flow, not really knowing what the song's about, and they become what they are,” he said.</strong></p>
<p><strong>“When I was young, the music I listened to had no boundaries. So when I write, I just want the music to make people feel good—that's what it's all about. Music shows there's a connection between everybody. That’s one of the things I like about it.”</strong></p>
Indigenous
tag:indigenousrocks.com,2005:Post/6099297
2013-06-30T20:00:00-04:00
2024-02-11T14:19:24-05:00
Indigenous Interview: Mato Nanji
<h2 class="title">
<a href="http://bluesrockreview.com/2013/07/indigenous-interview-mato-nanji.html" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Indigenous Interview: Mato Nanji</a><br><br><strong>July 1st, 2013</strong><br>
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<p><strong><img src="http://bluesrockreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/matonanji-300x200.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Mato Nanji" height="200" width="300" /></strong></p>
<p><strong>Native American rocker Mato Nanji of the powerful blues group, Indigenous, began embracing the blues and utilizing his musical talent at a young age, as he was influenced heavily growing up by his blues musician father and his native culture. Now, with his 9th commercial record release, <a href="http://bluesrockreview.com/2013/06/indigenous-vanishing-americans-review.html" data-imported="1"><em>Vanishing Americans</em></a>, Mato can be proven to practice what he preaches – hard work and sincerity certainly pay off in the music business, and yet, oftentimes, are the most difficult aspirations to hold on to. Jill Jacobs caught up with Mato as he was traveling in the mountains on the west coast for their current U.S. tour, during which Nanji discussed everything from the album process to inspiration to expert advice for an amateur music business dreamer and seeker.<span id="more-7908"></span></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Vanishing Americans</em> is your 9th studio album. How is this album different from the others, and what did you do to prepare for this album?</strong></p>
<p><strong>It was one of the records I wanted to kind of pay tribute to my dad and my uncles and one of my cousins that all played in the Vanishing Americans, which was another group back in the late ’60s – early ’70s. They just influenced me a lot, even though I never got a chance to really see the band or go on to play or perform together or any of that, but people were out in the area that were in really, really good bands, so…[laughs.] And also that my dad was just, you know, my favorite musician, so he really influenced me a lot with everything. I just felt it was time to kind of pay tribute to him and the band. So that’s kind of how we got started, and I guess that was kind of the concept behind the whole record. At first I wasn’t really thinking about it; we just went in the studio and just started, you know? I just had a bunch of songs kind of ready to go and written and, after which, we recorded the record and stuff and that’s when we were kind of looking for album titles and, you know, just different things, and so that’s kind of how it came to be and I had to start thinking, “Well, yeah, that’d be cool,” [laughs.]</strong></p>
<p><strong>How would you say that your Native American culture impacts your music, as a songwriter and as a musician?</strong></p>
<p><strong>It is who I am, really, you know? I grew up on the reservation and so it’s kind of who I am, but I’ve always stepped outside of that because I’ve always felt like a lot of the stuff that goes on today is real contemporary and real stereotyped, which it is. I know a lot of people on the outside tend to think that’s it’s really who we are or what we are, but it’s not. I think a lot of it has really been made up over the years and a lot of the Native people start believing it themselves [laughs.] “Oh, yeah, yeah, cool…” You know? And then it just kind of becomes a commercial thing. But I can see that — it’s just a way for them to go out and make some money, that’s all, and everybody’s got stuff that they want to do. But as far as who I am…and that’s one of the reasons why I felt kind of a connection to the different kinds of music that is popular, because a lot of the music that is popular with Natives on the reservations is either like country music or…you go from country music to like, rap, or something. It’s like a big extreme. There’s no in-between, as much [laughs.] And so I think, for me, my dad listened to the kind of music that I’m into now because I grew up listening to like all those great bands from the ’60s, which there isn’t really anything like that anymore, like Santana, or Chicago, you know? Which, those guys are still out touring but they weren’t back then. There was just nothing like that. And so, I mean, I think that’s kind of where I drew from, like as far as music goes and everything, and of course, if I would write a song and do all that, it’s a piece of who I am. And if that’s who I am… you know, I’m an Indian; I’m Native…it basically comes out when I write a song.</strong></p>
<p><strong>What do you try to keep in mind while making a record?</strong></p>
<p><strong>You know, most artists probably have so much pressure to keep on trying to make a hit, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen every time. So I always look at it like, “I’m just going to make a good, full record.” Like the way they’ve always done it years ago. And I think that that’s really what it’s about [laughs.] That’s what I’m about, you know? [Laughs]</strong></p>
<p><strong><a class="thickbox" href="http://bluesrockreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/mato2.jpg" data-imported="1"><img src="http://bluesrockreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/mato2.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Mato Nanji (Indigenous)" height="407" width="610" /></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Where do you think the blues rock genre is headed? How is it evolving?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Well, I think everybody’s kind of having a tough time up there, you know? Because it’s not really like it used to be. Like when we put out our first record, our first CD, people were buying CDs like crazy. I mean, they still do, but it’s mainly just at the shows. Like when we go on tour, that’s where we sell the most CDs, I think. But now, it’s like all going to computers and digital and all that kind of stuff, so I think it really makes it hard for everybody, for all the musicians out there trying to work and tour and make music, and then they get a lot of music stolen from them. And I don’t think people realize that it’s really work, you know? It is a lot of work. I think people think, “Oh, it’s just…you know, they can just go out and do this and do that, you know. It should be free anyways!” [Laughs] But it takes a lot of work to do what you do and to travel and to be away from your family. You do what you got to do, you know? It is a lot of work and it’s a lot of pressure, and I think a lot of people don’t get that, or they don’t respect it. I guess I’d probably be kind of biased because I’m a musician, but I respect that all those guys work their butts off to create the music, to go out and be on the road all the time, working, and I think, you know, why not support them? And especially if you like what they do. I would think people would want to do that, would want to support them, would want to buy records, would want to go see them live, or whatever it is. It really does make a huge difference. But, you know, it’s cool. I’m sure we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing, you know? [Laughs] No matter what. Times are going to change, but I think for me, there’s always going to be those music fans that are going to want to buy music and want to come out and see the band or support the band, and they’re always going to be there.</strong></p>
<p><strong>What’s your next project?</strong></p>
<p><strong>I think right now we’re just working on trying to get our music over into other countries a little more and try to get over there to tour a little more. We’ve gotten a few things here and there but I think that’s kind of one of the things we’re trying to work on and trying to do, you know? Build it a little bit more internationally. We kind of just had a few shows here and there, but it’s kind of hard to find the right stuff. But that’s kind of what we’re doing. You also don’t want to go over there and not have any new music or new projects out, so that’s kind of one of the things that we’ve been running into. But if there’s any goal or anything in the future, that’s probably one of the main things. Get it known worldwide, you know? I mean, I really enjoy like touring here in America. I’m honored every time people make the trip out to come see us play live or they come out to buy a CD. I think it’s great. That’s inspirational right there for me. It makes me want to keep doing what I’m doing, writing and making music. Because that’s what a lot of the fans say – “Keep doing what you’re doing” [laughs.] And that’s pretty inspiring.</strong></p>
<p><strong>What’s your best piece of advice for someone looking to break into the music industry?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Geez, I don’t know [laughs.] It’s completely different from what I remember; it’s like a whole new world from when I started. It’s tough, you know? The only thing I can say is be true to who you are and what you’re going to do, or what you want to do. Basically, if you’re a songwriter, put your heart and soul into that. If you do that and you stay true to that, I feel like those fans are eventually going to come out and are eventually going to come see you. Just work hard, you know? It is a lot of work. Nobody knows that, but it is [laughs.] It’s got to be 150% work. And you’ve just got to be into it, I guess. And really love what you’re doing. And that’s the only advice I can put out there is that it’s really about what you want to do and who you are and what you feel. That’s what it’s always been about for me, I mean. I know people kind of get misguided by a lot of different things, but it’s really up to the artist and what they want to do and who they want to be, and they can do whatever they want to do, really. As long as you’ve got a feel and you’re putting everything into it, I really feel people will listen.</strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Interview by Jill Jacobs</em></strong></p>
<p><strong>*Photos: Bruce Haley</strong></p>
Indigenous
tag:indigenousrocks.com,2005:Post/6099298
2013-06-09T20:00:00-04:00
2024-01-24T03:22:50-05:00
Native Sun News
<p><strong><a href="http://indianz.com/News/2013/010008.asp?print=1" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Indigenous pays tribute to father on album</a><em><br><br>The following story was written and reported by Christina Rose, Native Sun News Associate Editor. All content © <a href="http://indianz.com/my.asp?url=http://www.nsweekly.com/" data-imported="1">Native Sun News</a>.</em></strong></p>
<p><em> <img src="http://www.indianz.com/News/2013/06/10/nsn-zephier.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="249" width="360" /></em><br> <strong><span class="copyright">Greg Zephier, in the jean jacket, 1981, with his family. Zephier is Mato Nanji’s father, for whom Nanji has named his new album.</span><em><span class="copyright"> COURTESY/Dick Brancroft 1981<br><br> <img src="http://www.indianz.com/News/2013/06/10/nsn-matonanji.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="432" width="288" /><br> </span></em><span class="copyright">“Indigenous” guitarist Mato Nanji talks about his father, Greg Zephier, and his influence on the new album,</span><span class="copyright">“Vanishing Americans.”</span><em><span class="copyright"> Courtesy/Mato Nanji<br></span></em></strong><br> <strong>Mato Nanji reflects on new album origins</strong><br><strong> By Christina Rose</strong><br><br><strong> Native Sun News Associate Editor YANKTON — Mato Nanji, Ihanktowan Nakota, the songwriter-guitarist-lyricist of the ever-evolving band, Indigenous, is home on the Yankton Reservation after an East Coast tour. <br><br>The band is promoting their new album, “Vanishing Americans,” which was just released last week. Nanji is resting up for week or so before heading out for a follow-up West Coast tour. He admitted it was good to be home. <br><br>“Vanishing Americans” is the group’s 10th commercial album, featuring 13 tracks with songs that run the gamut from love and hope lost-to hope-to love regained and found anew. <br><br>The album takes much of its lead from Nanji’s father Greg Zephier, who was a well-known spiritual advisor and spokesperson for the International Indian Treaty Council, a United Nations organization based in New York City. Zephier passed away in 1998, but he left his mark as an influential activist and was, according to Nanji, a musical genius. <br><br>“My dad was my biggest influence,” Nanji said in a Native Sun News interview. “He pointed me in the right direction, and I am honored to have had that kind of father.” Reflecting on his father’s activist and musical influence, Nanji said, “I grew up listening to Rhythm and Blues and now I try to mix it all into one.”<br><br> As Nanji’s interest in music developed, his father gave him a guitar and tuned it once, “then told me to start figuring it out,” Nanji said. “As long as I can remember, mom and dad had a huge rock collection.” The musical influence has stayed with him. “I think a lot of what I do is what I have always been interested in, rock and blues.” <br><br>The name, “The Vanishing Americans," originated with the 1960s, and early 1970s band started by Greg Zephier and his brothers. They toured and played on the same bills with legends such as Bonnie Raitt. </strong></p>
<p><strong>While Nanji credits his father as the biggest influence, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Carlos Santana played a part in Nanji’s style. But whether it was his father’s rhythm and blues or rock, for Nanji, ultimately it’s all about the music. “It all goes back to what my dad taught me. He never said, OH, this is blues, this is rock. He just said, ‘If this is good music, it's good.’ I have been listening to some of it my whole life, but Indigenous’ albums all turn out different.” When asked how his Lakota roots have played a part in his music he said, “No matter what you do, it sounds like who you are.” <br><br>Nanji notes that “Vanishing Americans” definitely sounds different than last year’s. “There’s a lot of the riffs... it’s a step in a different direction. We’re kind of doing a little more blues influence but there is also more rock influence, which is what works,” <br><br>Nanji said. “Indigenous” rose to commercial success in the late ‘90’s when the original line up consisted of Mato and his siblings and a cousin. After six studio recordings, the family members decided to pursue their own musical paths, which left Mato to carry on Indigenous. Nanji says, "Playing with my family for 10 years was a lot of fun, but it was time to grow and keep moving forward." <br><br>Nanji has also been a member of the Jimi Hendrix tribute, Experience Hendrix, since its inception in 2004, touring annually with the group. This past January, Mato even performed at the American Indian Inaugural Ball to welcome in the newly elected President of the United States. <br><br>The past two years have turned out to be very busy years for Nanji and “Indigenous”. In addition to a successful tour supporting his last album Indigenous featuring Mato Nanji, and the Experience Hendrix tribute tour, he also recorded two compilation albums with fellow musicians from the Experience Hendrix tour. <br><br>Three Skulls & the Truth with David Hidalgo of Los Lobos and Luther Dickenson of North Mississippi All-Stars was released in September 2012. Also, Nanji was the primary influence of Otis Taylor’s latest 2013 CD release, My World Is Gone in which he appears singing and playing on six of the beautifully Taylor-written album's thirteen tracks. Nanji also toured with Otis in support of the album release this past March. <br><br>(Contact Christina Rose at christinarose.sd@gmail.com) Copyright permission by Native Sun News <span class="copyright"><br>Copyright © Indianz.Com </span></strong></p>
Indigenous
tag:indigenousrocks.com,2005:Post/6099296
2013-03-13T20:00:00-04:00
2024-03-13T08:37:07-04:00
B102.7 Sioux Falls, SD Interview with Mato Nanji
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<p>Mato Nanji of the Blues/Rock band Indigenous stopped by our studios Thursday (March 14) to help promote their show at Royal River Casino in Flandreau, SD Saturday night (March 16)</p>
<p>Nanji is a South Dakota boy, born and raised and continues to call our state ‘home’ despite leading a band that tours the country and being one of the most sought-after guitar players.</p>
<p>Last Tuesday night (March 12) Nanji was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno as part of the Experience Hendrix Tour, a group of world class musicians that come together every spring for a short tour, playing the music of Jimi Hendrix. The Hendrix estate asked him to join the first tour nearly a decade ago, and continues to ask him to come back to share the stage with other guitarists like Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Eric Gales, Brad Whitford of Aerosmith, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi All-Stars and MANY more.</p>
<p>The tour has also led to friendships and working relationships as evidenced by the 2012 release of <em>3 Skulls and the Truth </em>with Hidalgo and Dickinson. Nanji also brought me the new Otis Taylor CD <em>My World Is Gone </em>which he’s featured on. Nanji says he’s known Taylor for almost 20 years, but that Taylor had come to one of the ‘Experience’ shows and backstage told him about the concept of a new album. Months later Taylor called Nanji, told him that he was the inspiration behind the new CD and wanted him to come play on it. After the Experience Hendrix tour, Mato will hit the road for an east coast tour with Taylor and there is talk of a European tour later this year.</p>
<p>But don’t think that he’s forgotten about Indigenous! He told me he’s finished a new CD that should be released late spring/early summer with his current bandmates, Charles Sanders and Derek Post.</p>
<p>I’ve known Mato for over 15 years now and been a fan from the first time I heard he and his family perform. He’s one of the softest-spoken stars I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet and get to know. Like many of the Blues men and women that I’ve talked to, it’s all about the music, not about being rich and famous.</p>
<p>Since he’s going to be out on the road so much with all these tours, they may not have another show in the area this year. It’d be great to see a full house at Royal River Casino Saturday night. Showtime is 7:30 and tickets are just $5. I know I’ll be there. Nowhere else I’d rather be.</p>
<br><br><strong>Read More: </strong><a href="http://b1027.com/mato-nanji-of-indigenous-interview-video/?trackback=tsmclip" data-imported="1">Mato Nanji of Indigenous Interview [VIDEO]</a> | http://b1027.com/mato-nanji-of-indigenous-interview-video/?trackback=tsmclip
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<p><strong><a href="http://b1027.com/mato-nanji-of-indigenous-interview-video/" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Mato Nanji of Indigenous Interview</a><br>By Crash <br></strong></p>
<p><strong><div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R8GgoRs1uPc" width="425" class="wrapped wrapped"></iframe></div></div></div></div>
<br>Mato Nanji of the Blues/Rock band Indigenous stopped by our studios Thursday (March 14) to help promote their show at Royal River Casino in Flandreau, SD Saturday night (March 16)</strong></p>
<p><strong>Nanji is a South Dakota boy, born and raised and continues to call our state ‘home’ despite leading a band that tours the country and being one of the most sought-after guitar players.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Last Tuesday night (March 12) Nanji was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno as part of the Experience Hendrix Tour, a group of world class musicians that come together every spring for a short tour, playing the music of Jimi Hendrix. The Hendrix estate asked him to join the first tour nearly a decade ago, and continues to ask him to come back to share the stage with other guitarists like Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Eric Gales, Brad Whitford of Aerosmith, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi All-Stars and MANY more.</strong></p>
<p><strong>The tour has also led to friendships and working relationships as evidenced by the 2012 release of <em>3 Skulls and the Truth </em>with Hidalgo and Dickinson. Nanji also brought me the new Otis Taylor CD <em>My World Is Gone </em>which he’s featured on. Nanji says he’s known Taylor for almost 20 years, but that Taylor had come to one of the ‘Experience’ shows and backstage told him about the concept of a new album. Months later Taylor called Nanji, told him that he was the inspiration behind the new CD and wanted him to come play on it. After the Experience Hendrix tour, Mato will hit the road for an east coast tour with Taylor and there is talk of a European tour later this year.</strong></p>
<p><strong>But don’t think that he’s forgotten about Indigenous! He told me he’s finished a new CD that should be released late spring/early summer with his current bandmates, Charles Sanders and Derek Post.</strong></p>
<p><strong>I’ve known Mato for over 15 years now and been a fan from the first time I heard he and his family perform. He’s one of the softest-spoken stars I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet and get to know. Like many of the Blues men and women that I’ve talked to, it’s all about the music, not about being rich and famous.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Since he’s going to be out on the road so much with all these tours, they may not have another show in the area this year. It’d be great to see a full house at Royal River Casino Saturday night. Showtime is 7:30 and tickets are just $5. I know I’ll be there. Nowhere else I’d rather be.</strong></p>
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<h1>anji of Indigenous Interview [VIDEO]</h1>
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<span class="author_avatar"><a title="Crash" href="http://b1027.com/author/crash/" data-imported="1"><img src="http://wac.450F.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/b1027.com/files/2013/10/Crash_2014.jpg?w=40&h=40&zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /></a></span> <span class="the_author">By <a title="Crash" href="http://b1027.com/author/crash/" data-imported="1">Crash</a></span> <span class="the_date">March 14, 2013 5:00 PM</span>
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<br><br><strong>Read More: </strong><a href="http://b1027.com/mato-nanji-of-indigenous-interview-video/?trackback=tsmclip" data-imported="1">Mato Nanji of Indigenous Interview [VIDEO]</a> | http://b1027.com/mato-nanji-of-indigenous-interview-video/?trackback=tsmclip
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Indigenous