Today we’d like to introduce you to Nathan Roy.
Nathan, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I started playing guitar when I was about 12, and have been writing songs for about as long. In spite of that, I always had issues regarding gender identity, so it took me a very long time to get comfortable singing. It wasn’t until I joined a band called New English about 2 years ago and started singing backup that I became okay with singing my own songs.
That’s how the album Flowers for Every Occasion came to be – I took all the songs I had written while struggling with my gender and put them together to tell that story. Since I began medically transitioning from female to male last summer, I recorded half of the songs pre-testosterone, and half post. But they all tell a different piece of the storyline of self-discovery that I’ve been dealing with for most of my life.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
When I first came out as trans, one of the most common things friends and family said to me was, “but… you didn’t seem unhappy!”
And it’s true. If you look back at old photos… middle school, high school, even college, it looks like I’m having a good time. By making this album, I wanted to try to get one important point across:
Just because things don’t look bad, doesn’t mean they’re “good”.
I hope these songs help everyone embrace some empathy for the secret battles each one of us faces every day, and provide some clarity for my friends and family in regards to the evolving internal conversation I’ve been having over the years.
I asked myself constantly if I was crazy, if I would lose everyone… I questioned whether I could be trans and still lead a happy, healthy, successful life.
And the answer (I want to scream this from the rooftops) is YES, of course you can! Sure, it would be a lie to say there haven’t been some losses along the way, but all in all, this past year has been one of the most joyful and productive periods of my life.
I wrote these songs to communicate that journey from questioning, to accepting, and finally to celebrating my identity, which is something I think everyone can relate to.
In your view, what is the biggest issue artists have to deal with?
It’s pretty cliché, but money. In this day and age, it’s easy to set up a social media presence and share music with the masses. But it’s still really, really expensive to record a high-quality product that’s a true representation of your best work.
People came to my shows all the time and asked me when I was planning on putting something out digitally. It was always in the gameplan, but saving enough money to put together something I could be proud of was a huge challenge, and took years.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, BandCamp – all the main music vendors.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3u6kLPC3PrsXuTGvk1BBXS?si=9JuRvvY-TP2Dxt4Ak7H3SQ
https://nathanmarionroy.bandcamp.com/
I also gig pretty frequently in and around Boston.
Contact Info:
- Website: natroymusic.com
- Email: natroymusic@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsnathannow/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nathanmarionroy/
- Other: https://nathanmarionroy.bandcamp.com/
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