NANÉ

Jake Reaches Through Cyberspace, Yet Again, to Zoom with the Musical/Digital/Funkical Wizards of Nané

It was somehow fitting that I spoke to Nané’s Daniel Sahad (vocals) and Ian Green (guitar), through a Zoom call, all of us in our separate bubbles, because Nané has been all about breaking through those bubbles since Quarantine (which I might as well capitalize as a proper noun at this point) began. In a time where many bands are finding themselves on forced hiatuses, Nané is ramping up their outreach through a cornucopia of digital content.

Sahad’s background in video production and a close friendship with Onion Creek Productions have helped the band to make some viral-worthy videos. This content has helped translate the group’s infectious beats and, sometimes high energy, sometimes sweet and soulful, but always vibrantly alive, vocals into some of the most fun and invigorating music videos to come out of Austin in a long time. Sahad’s energy as a frontman barely loses a step from stage to screen, nor does the funked-up, tightened-down rhythm of Green’s unique guitar style.

I fell in love with their video for “Blue Velvet,” which features the band playing live in, of all places, a laundromat. Since then, I have been launched down the rabbit hole of the band’s video catalog, which features a dynamic range, both creatively and musically, that still amazes me. Needless to say, I was excited to sit down with Sahad and Green and discuss the nuances of maintaining a connection with their audience, in a time when we’ve all found ourselves sequestered.

Jake: So how have you been, I know it was hard to work me in, you guys seem busier than most.

Daniel: Yeah We’ve really been slammed, we had two meetings just today and another one coming up at 7. We’re grateful for all of it, grateful to be here.

Jake: Tell me about the journey you’re on right now, navigating this quarantine as a band formerly known for your live shows.

Daniel: We’ve always been pretty savvy with digital from the beginning, but right now we’re creating these unique and engaging videos and trying to make a connection through them. This is a time where we need connection more than anything. There’s so much division going on, we’re physically divided, ideologically divided. Humans desire connection on a very core level and whether that’s distraction, escape, pleasure, something to laugh at, we’re trying to tune into that. We want to provide the connection, and the feeling a live performance can give people, just digitally. 

Ian: It’s also a lot of trying to maintain that mental focus that we had before, even though we’re having to reach out in a different way than we had been for our first year as a band. It used to be amazing, you know, to be up on stage and see people, and connect with people and just feel people in a crowd, there’s a special connection there that really propels you forward. Now we’re trying to find new ways to keep that focus going, in our own heads, since we can’t get that actual physical feedback.

Daniel: We’re pretty much in a constant group chat, just trying to get into the meticulous details of how we want to, you know, make people feel, and what new mediums, what new outlets we can explore to get that feeling across.

Jake: What kind of feeling are you trying to inspire in your listeners with your music?

Daniel: It’s different per song. Like in "Blue Velvet", it’s a lot about self-positivity.

Ian: Yeah, and finding the freedom to be yourself, which is probably more important than ever when we’re isolated from other people. This is a great time to reflect and be yourself. I think we wanted to give people that permission.

Daniel: And to look past these voices of insecurity, because most of the time, when that voice pops up, it isn’t even really your own. It’s about letting go and allowing yourself to be who you are and knowing that not everybody is always going to like that person, but to you, that person is enough; that person can inspire fun and goodness.

Jake: How about with one of your more soulful songs, like "Clementine Tree"?

Daniel: With "Clementine Tree", I’m definitely trying to bring out this idea of there being growth, not in spite of, but because of loss. You can be so attached to someone, a relationship, a loved one, or a moment in a life, an era, and it can feel like you have no idea what comes next, but knowing that it needs to be done can ultimately lead to so much positivity and so much discovery, and mostly just that your instincts are right. You’re always becoming who you’re supposed to become.

Jake: Which video has been the most fun to make, and which has been the most impactful?

Ian: I’m curious to see if we’ll have the same answer.

Daniel: For me, it was "Always on my Mind", just because of the novelty of it. It was a huge 30-person crew with 50 extras, filmed in the Women’s Federation building, one of my best friends, Steve McCord shot it, and he was incredible. I think, honestly, he’s shot some of the best stuff this city knows. But I think the most impactful has been "Blue Velvet" because of its authenticity. It’s just the band and the camera in a laundromat. 

Ian: I agree on "Blue Velvet", we shot it right at the beginning of quarantine, when it was beginning to sink in for us all what we were about to get into, and it was a fun shoot, it was a cathartic release, and that came out in the music and the sound and the whole vibe and it just flowed.

Jake: One more question about the videos. Do you feel like there has been a benefit in switching from live performances to a more digital-centric platform?

Daniel: I mean, we have a need to satisfy as musicians, both to ourselves and to others, and filling that space is the only thing, the only career path, that makes sense to any of us. We’re all about connecting and always have been, and this hard-shift into digital has helped us increase our range of exposure, of course.

Ian: We’ve had people from Russia and Brazil reach out to us and send us videos of them, you know, rocking to our song while they walk their dog or dancing in their apartments, and that sort of thing happened when we played live a little, but I never thought I’d be hearing from someone in South America. I’m even more shocked to hear from someone on the other side of the world that this music is helping them get through 2020. It sucks we have to say it like that, that we’re “getting through” this year, but we are, and if Nané is helping people do that, then I think we’re doing our job.

Daniel: In a way that’s probably the highest form of compliment.

Jake: Ok, let’s get into the music. Daniel, you’ve got a remarkably dynamic range. Who would you say is your biggest vocal inspiration?

Daniel: Hands down, Brittany Howard. When I first heard her sing, I knew that’s the sound I wanted to aim for. When I was younger, it was Bill Withers, and I’ve been trying to find a way to synthesize those two kind-of vocal characters in my head in all of Nané’s music. But really, Brittany Howard takes the cake, and it’s why it blew my mind when she selected "Blue Velvet" as one of her favorite songs of the year. It’s like, when your hero recognizes or sees potential, or anything in you, that to me has just been the greatest feeling.

Jake: Did that make you feel like you’d really made it?

Daniel: It made me feel like I was on the right track. It made me recognize that this goal we have is possible. It’s a foothold, not a mountain-top. That’s what I’ll say about it.

Ian: And I’d also like to mention, in terms of Daniel’s range, that Nané really brought that out in him, (to Daniel) wouldn’t you agree?

Daniel: Right, back when me and Ian played a little together in college, mostly performing for our friends, I never used to sing in falsetto. I’d always just use my normal, sort of Bill Withers-y soulful voice, and it was only when we wrote "Clementine Tree"… I’ll say that I write most of my music at 4 a.m., and we had this demo for "Clementine Tree" sort of recorded and chopped together. It was one of those moments, sort of in-between falling asleep and being awake, that I tried it. I was really insecure about it, just like anyone is when they try something new, but I recorded and sent it to the guys and it clicked. 

Jake: What about lyrically? Do you set out with an idea or an emotion to convey before you start writing?

Daniel: It depends, I suppose, but I definitely always try to serve the song. Like 80% of the time I hear the song and I see what it inspires within me, as opposed to tackling it from the opposite direction, but, for instance, "Always on my Mind", was something I wrote, again at 4 in the morning, half between sleep and wakefulness, where the song came out of the vocal melody and the words first. Sometimes it does just come out of the absence itself, but mostly I’m there to serve the song.

Jake: And what about you, Ian? Who do you look to for your sound? 

Ian: It’ll sound weird, because it’s not like this sound is what comes out when we play, but ever since I was a kid, I’ve idolized Jack White. And it’s not even that I’ve wanted to sound like Jack White, I certainly don’t in Nané, but I’ve always loved that when you hear Jack White play the guitar, you always know exactly who it is. He has an idiosynchracy, and that’s what I’ve always been looking for as a guitarist. Something that’s totally uniquely my own.

Daniel: And it’s true, when we’ll be laying something down, Ian will stop and say, no no, that sounds too much like, so and so, and he’ll lay it down again differently and we’ll all look at him and say, yeah that sounds like Ian. 

Ian: I think it’s a process that’s always developing, I’m constantly approaching having this unique voice. Just getting closer and closer to perfecting it the more we experiment and lay down.

Jake: What’s next for you guys?

Daniel: What’s next for us is November 13th our debut record, self-titled, is coming out. We have the cover on our Instagram. It was created by Preacher and it’s really awesome. The record is gonna be amazing. Before that, we have another brand new song and new video that nobody’s ever heard before and nobody’s ever seen, coming out next month. And that’s just going to be a stand-alone single that we’re hoping we’ll make an impact. We’re just out here, still connecting.

Check out more from Nané on their Youtube channel

Written by Jake Webber