Photo Courtesy Of The Naticks’ Instagram — Photo Courtesy Of **The Naticks’ Instagram**

A place’s culture is built one piece at a time, like individual fibers being woven together into a strand of rope. Part of what makes Rhode Island great is its collection of beautiful views, delicious food, and creative artists. If you’re smart you’ll find yourself at a local restaurant, event, or brewery that supports it’s local artist community. That’s where you might bump into The Naticks, a RI based band with fun beats and a delightful tone. Clearly on their way up, The Naticks are an example of Rhode Island’s culture pleasantly dealt out for your ears to appreciate. Recently I had a chance to ask them a few questions about their band.

- How did The Naticks come together?

Ross MacAndrew: “The Naticks actually got started around 2007, when 4 of the founding members started jamming together. Chris Capuano, Drew Croll, Kevin Drumm and myself all went to different high schools, but had met through Boy Scouts, where we’d had started talking about our musical interests. This would take off off to jams on the weekend or after school. We did a few talent shows and parties for friends but nothing really significant. College allowed us to jam every so often, but since I’d gone to school in Boston this became less frequent. The house the Cappy, Drew, and Kevin rented began to become known as the house to jam at. Towards the end of college (2015), we decided to bring in Barrett Jourdan on saxophone and make a real effort to get the band off the ground and focus on writing our own material and playing legitimate shows. We changed our name from Juice to The Naticks, and started booking around RI and Massachusetts. The line-up has changed several times over the past 5 years, with Kevin and Barrett departing, and Ethan Lyons and Telli Quinn joining the band. Ethan departed last year, and we welcomed Nick Powers into the group on drums.”

- What would you say is at the core of the band, what drives you to create?

RM: “I think each person has their own reasons or motivations for creation, but the core of it for us is simply the connection we have to music and the impact that it has had on our lives in different ways. Music has inspired, impacted, lifted, or influenced all of us in different ways, and I think we’re at our best when we reconnect with that together. It doesn’t always have to be the grind of learning or writing a new song, sometimes we’ll just jam on something for a half hour without recording and just enjoy the moment, almost in a meditative way. Though it’s not my story to tell, I think one of the most moving stories is how Telli’s used music to get through one of the most difficult times of her life. Her brother had been in a really bad accident, and was hospitalized for many months without any real certainty of what the outcome would be. Telli sat by his hospital bed and sang to him every day while he fought for survival. Duncan came out the other side of his accident and is continuing to make vast improvements beyond what some thought were possible. There are many factors that can be attributed to his recovery, including his own sheer strength, the work of the doctors and nurses, and the resolve and love of his family, the last of which I think was relayed in part through his sister’s voice and letting him know his family was there. While these thoughts and emotions aren’t always consciously thought of while we’re on stage or practicing, I believe it comes out when we take the time to reflect on why we’re doing what we do.”

- How would you describe or characterize your music?

RM: “We tend to advertise our sound as alternative rock simply because it’s a pretty broad genre. We have a diverse set list of covers we’ve learned over the years including Kanye, Adele, Zeppelin, Zac Brown, and Bruce Springsteen among many others. This has allowed us to captivate different audience’s dependent upon where we’re playing and who’s there; we’re comfortable doing a more relaxed acoustic set at a brewery to a late night college bar atmosphere in the same day. Similarly, our original material has proven to be just as diverse, probably because we each have a different taste in music. We all appreciate what the other listens to, but at no point has everyone in the band been specifically into 1 genre (i.e. pop, metal, jazz, etc.) Our EP, Place Of Searching, has almost more of a mix tape feel: it’s got blues, folk, hard rock, 3 different singers, mandolins, over 10 different guitars, multi-layered keys, the works. We wanted to mix a little of everything in there from ballads to head bangers.”

- What are some challenges you face?

RM: “Our challenges have changed over the years, the first of which was just finding places to play when we were just starting. We didn’t have any quality recordings, not a very big fan base beyond friends and family, very small social media outreach, which all made it difficult to answer the only question most venue managers ask: why would I want you to play here. We didn’t have the money, nor were we very prepared to professionally record, so we just kept practicing, writing, recording in house, and constantly knock doors and call places to try to get in. I think all those things have improved tremendously, and we’ve played more shows every year, close to 100 last year alone. The challenges we’re facing now are trying to expand to other places outside of Rhode Island, and getting our music out and heard by more people. We’re starting to make headway in that area, but it’s still proving to be a challenge.”

- What’s next for the band?

RM: “After a very busy summer, we’re looking to take some time to slow down as far as playing out, and focus more on getting more music composed and recorded for public consumption, and continue to engage and expand our fan base. We’ve already got several shows booked over the winter (which can be found on our website), and have allocated time in the next few months to get some tracks down to add to our library. We’ve got a music video coming out for one of the tracks off our album, ‘Bleeding Heart.’ We’re also looking into getting into some festivals next year and coordinating shows with out of state acts to potential establish some touring outside of the state. One of our biggest focuses is to do a better job of creating content and engaging our fan base, all of whom we really appreciate!”

Thanks for reading!

+ Colin Carlton

About Colin