Discovering a new band live might be one of my favorite thing in music. While I had heard Satan’s Satyrs’ side of their split with Windhand, their talent only registered with me when seeing them live on the two bands’ most recent tour. Great drumming, great 70’s riffing and just a very fun vibe. The energy translates very well on records too, after all, and their latest album The Lucky Ones has been part of my rotation lately. I talked with one of their guitar player, Nate Towle, after their show for this live interview.
-Ben F.
What’s the first thing that strikes you when you listen to new music? Is there anything that makes or breaks a band?
For me it’s gotta be something that is more original sounding. I can enjoy something that’s rehashing and not really pushing the boundaries, but something that really appeals to me is if they’re doing something I haven’t heard. I can sort of describe it and maybe compare it to a couple of bands but I can’t really pinpoint what it is other than kind of its own thing. That’s what appeals to me.
Is there anything specific in the sound that you are looking for?
Yeah it tends to be more heavy rock oriented. I can really appreciate good guitars, good vocals, good lyrics. That sort of thing.
Anything that you wouldn’t be able to pass on? Like, if a drummer is offbeat or the singer is weak?
It’s all case by case ’cause I listen to some bands that some people might think suck as musicians but sometimes the vibe is just there.
Name five songs that you consider “perfect songs” and explain why or what they mean to you.
Well first, Napoleon Bona parts I and II by BUDGIE. I think it’s a great quiet beginning, then the song builds up very well and then right around the second half of the song it goes through this great galloping guitar riff that I think is just brilliant. Very powerful song.
Then maybe Symptoms of the universe by BLACK SABBATH. Sorts of the opposite of that…starts out real heavy, in your face and then you get that chill ending with the acoustic guitar bits and whatnot.
Well, there’s a song by KING TUFF called Headbanger that I really like. I really appreciate the lyrics to that one. It’s got some funny lyrics to it and the song maintains a good energy level throughout, without getting really bored of it.
After that…you know what, I like the song Fear no evil by TROUBLE. Another one that’s kind of the same energy level throughout, but it’s got some great guitar solos. I really like the vocals too. The lyrics are awesome.
I guess for a last one…Oh yeah, Unchained by VAN HALEN. Probably one of their heaviest songs man, you know? Just a fuckin’ total ripper. Great lyrics. I love that break in the middle where they’re talking, “Come on man Dave, gimme a break” and Dave’s singing all this bullshit or whatever. Yeah, that’s a good song man.
What are some of your favorite song lyrics? Lyrics that have been important to you or that had an impact on you?
Yeah it kind of depends on what you’re in the mood for, ’cause if I want to really think about what I’m listening to, you know BLUE OYSTER CULT might tick that box. Or anything that DIO has penned, whether it’s in RAINBOW or SABBATH or solo. Something that’s got a little more depth to it. But if I just want to have fun then maybe something where the lyrics are simple, kind of hokey but it’s fun in a way. I mean, again, VAN HALEN or KISS or something, just party rock. It just depends on what I’m in the mood for really. I don’t want to have to think too hard all the time but I don’t want to be a moron all the time either!
Is that your main motivation when deciding on what you’re going to listen to? The mood you are in?
Yeah, more or less. I mean, if I’m driving down the highway, I don’t necessarily want politics spouted out in my face. I wanna go 80 down the highway listening to fuckin VAN HALEN or something. You know, just not give a shit. So yeah, it just depends.
Do you have a favorite setting or place to listen to music? How does the setting influence the type of music you’ll listen to?
Mostly in the car, yeah. Mostly during commutes. You know there’s just something about music and driving that goes well together. There’s this little bug in your head that tells you “if you’re going fast, you better be listening to some heavy shit.”
Which music genre do you listen to the most? What are some of your favorite albums in that genre.
Well see, when I was younger, I would be compartmentalizing more. I was particularly interested in Doom Metal and by that, I’m referring to TROUBLE, PENTAGRAM, SAINT VITUS…the real old school shit. Now that I’ve gotten old, I still love those bands of course, but I just like Rock and Roll you know? It’s all Rock and Roll at the end of the day. Anything that’s just good songwriting, good riffs, whatever man. Like Machine Head by DEEP PURPLE or Power supply by BUDGIE, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Psalm 9 by Trouble and maybe VAN HALEN’s first record. You know, just off top my head.
But my tastes have definitely expanded. Maybe when I was a kid and I was listening to PENTAGRAM, I’d scoff at Van Halen and go: “Oh that’s just stupid”. I’ve got older and I don’t really care what people think. I just listen to whatever I like.
What would be the record that you’ve listened to the most in your life?
It may be wrong but if I’ve got to go off the top of my head, it’s probably Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. It’s pretty much ingrained in my DNA at this point.
As it reached the point where it’s overplayed for you or can you still listen to it?
No, no, I can still listen to it. I mean with Sabbath, I love all the records. When I say all, I do mean ALL of them. All 19 or 20 if you count the HEAVEN & HELL record. I like the Tony Martin shit. I like all that shit. I’m probably less likely to throw on Paranoid or Master of Reality, you know, maybe I’d rather listen to Born Again or Headless cross these days. But Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, I can always count on. Never lets me down.
So all 19 right? That’s interesting. Most people will have their favorite era. The Ozzy people, the Dio people. The Martin people are few and far between.
I mean, my whole thing is, everyone talks about Tony Iommi being the riff master or whatever…which I agree with, of course… But then they go “I only listen to the first five or six Sabbath records” and I say, well if Tony’s the best guitar player and you love him so much, then why are you listening only to the first six records? I mean, fucking listen to Seventh Star man! Guitar solos on Heart like a wheel and fuckin Danger zone? I mean, if you’re only listening to the first six records, you are doing yourself a disservice. That’s my opinion.
I also like the fact that you mention “the first six” and not “eight”.
Yeah, that’s the Henry Rollins quote (note: “You can only trust yourself and the first six Black Sabbath albums.”) that sort of made its rounds, you know? I don’t know…
Personnally, I love Never Say Die.
Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. That’s actually the second Sabbath record I listened to. I love it. I love Technical Ecstasy too…
Tomas (walking by): What about Mob Rules everybody? Mob Rules is a great record.
Nate: Hell yeah! Fuck yeah. I love ’em all.
What would you consider the hardest riffs ever written?
Well, Tomas just mentioned the Mob Rules record so let’s go with the title track, right off the bat. That shit’s heavy as fuck. We got Vinny Appice on drums pounding the shit out of ’em. Martin Birch’s production is just unreal. It’s just totally fuckin heavy man. You hear that riff and it’s like…when they put it in that movie Heavy Metal, you see that scene and this is what this is for. Killing a bunch of motherfuckers.
Parasite by KISS. Another real fuckin gritty ass riff. That song is a parasite man. It comes right at you.
Oh, tell you what, maybe I’m a Leo but DEEP PURPLE. Another great one right there. And while we’re on the Deep Purple trend, let’s throw Burn on there too.
Miracle Man by OZZY. One of Zakk Wylde’s best song man. Main riff is spectacular. And when he goes through that guitar solo too…
What are your ten favourite albums of all time? Name a standout track on each of these albums.
BLACK SABBATH – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath – Killing yourself to live
TROUBLE – First record (s/t) – Revelation (Life or death)
VAN HALEN – s/t – Atomic punk
BUDGIE – Impeckable – Dish it up
ST.VITUS – Born Too Late – Dying inside
WITCHFINDER GENERAL – Death Penalty – Burning a sinner
PENTAGRAM – First record (s/t), sometimes referred to as Relentless – Dying world
ELECTRIC WIZARD – Dopethrone – Barbarian
MOTORHEAD – Bomber – Sweet revenge
BLUE OYSTER CULT – Secret Treaties – Dominance and submission
Do you remember the first time you really appreciated music?
Yeah, probably as a kid. I have this thing called synesthesia. Basically what it is, for whatever reason, my mind’s eye relates specific notes to colors. So, whenever I would hear music, I would hear colors as a word. It’s hard to describe. But yeah, as a kid, just kind of tooling around on the piano, right? And then, I picked up the clarinet. Eventually, I was listening to CCR and ALICE COOPER and from there SABBATH and everything else came.
What music came from your parents? Is there anything that you can share with them and equally love?
They’ve always been supportive of what I did. My mom was listening to everything from the BEATLES to…all sort of stuff like that. They sort of came to age in the mid to late 70’s. My dad was listening to like SHEENA EASTON. Every now and then, I’ll throw up some VAN HALEN tracks on my mom will like that. All the bands that, in my mind, they should have been listening to, they weren’t but they were at the age where it would have made sense to be. My dad likes stuff like QUEEN and PINK FLOYD and stuff like that.
What would you say is the most memorable show you’ve ever seen?
That’s probably got to be BLACK SABBATH. January of 2016. First of all, it was a band that I never thought I would get to see. I was at a low point in my life. See, it was two months before I joined Satan’s Satyrs. My old band had just split up and I was going through some other personal turmoil at the time. I was kind of questioning…”Am I really doing the right thing with this music?”. So I go to the show and I see Tony up there and it was like, yes, I am doing the right thing. It was the reaffirming that you’re on the right track that I needed to get here.
Is there a band you you’ve always wanted to see but never got a chance to?
Haven’t seen TROUBLE. I’ve seen THE SKULL three times but I still haven’t seen Trouble. Very much high on the list but I just haven’t gotten around to it.
What music or artist has been the most influential to you as a songwriter?
Sabbath. I’ll say that with the utmost confidence but I’m not trying to rip them off. I’m trying to be my own person. So I listen to BLACK SABBATH along with several other bands. I don’t want people to listen to Satan’s Satyrs and think Black Sabbath immediately. That’s one of my influences, that’s one of our influences, but it’s one of several.
Is there any classic / universally acclaimed artist that you missed out on when they first came out and discovered way later? Any artist that you didn’t like at first and learned to appreciate over time?
Yeah, probably KISS or VAN HALEN. Even like THIN LIZZY or AC/DC. ‘Cause when I was a kid, I was so fixated on finding the most underground bands possible. I was listening to IRON CLAW and BUFFALO and SIR LORD BALTIMORE…BLUE CHEER and all that shit. I just didn’t really give a fuck about these obvious bands. To me it was just like, everybody knows about this shit, I don’t care. Then I finally sat down, listening to AC/DC and all and you know, there’s a reason why they’re at the top. The thing about sifting through piles and piles of obscure music is, you realize why a lot of these bands didn’t make it. They’re fun to listen to but I’m not going to sit here and go, oh yeah LEAF HOUND should have made it. Not really. I mean, they’re good.
There’s just a bit of magic missing. I love BUFFALO though.
Yeah. I mean, I will say that the first CAPTAIN BEYOND record is brilliant. That band could have and should have made it. I think BUDGIE had the potential to make it somewhere. Maybe LUCIFER’S FRIEND. There was a couple that had records that could compete with some of the top tier stuff. But for the most part it’s just like okay but not amazing.
Do you have an artist that you love in a genre that you don’t usually listen to? What makes them stand out?
I like BLONDIE. Yeah, I like listening to Blondie sometimes. Just a good change of pace, something different. It’s fun to listen to.
Do you have any controversial/unpopular music related opinions that you would like to defend?
Yeah, I can think of the first one right away. I respect this band, I understand their contributions and I enjoy some of their songs to an extent but I’m not really a huge LED ZEPPELIN fan, which I think a lot of people would probably scratch their heads and kind of wonder “why not?”. Maybe one day they’ll click with me. I like some of their songs and stuff but I’m not really huge on ’em.
Which artists (2 or more), dead or alive, and from what era, would you dream to see collaborate?
I’ll base this off something that actually almost did happen. So supposedly in the early 70’s, when THIN LIZZY was getting on their feet, back when they had Eric Bell in the band, Ian Paice and Ritchie Blackmore from DEEP PURPLE saw them and they thought Phil Lynott had a great voice. So they talked to Phil and they wanted to do a side project from Purple that was more in the vein of like FREE or CREAM. Power trio sort of thing. The way that Purple was set up, everything was confined and they wanted to try something different and have that freedom. The three of them jammed and supposedly at the time they didn’t think that Phil’s playing was quite up to snuff to pull it off so they kind of abandoned the idea but I think that would have been really cool to hear. I mean, they are all great musicians in their own right and that would have sort of taken Ian and Ritchie out of their element and allowed them to explore something different. And Phil’s voice is very unique. Just kind of a “what if” I guess.
What’s been on heavy rotation for you lately?
I really like KING TUFF, he’s cool. I’m pretty much always listening to BUDGIE. And UFO. Kind of stuck in a bit of a time warp. Like VAN HALEN, THIN LIZZY, BLUE OYSTER CULT…Basic diet as it were.
Is there any up and coming band that you would like recommend?
Yeah there’s this band from Philadelphia called HEAVY TEMPLE and they’re pretty cool. Really good rock and roll you know. Good guitar playing, good energy. Haven’t seen them yet. I’d like to but I like what I’ve heard.
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