Ultra Nate
Answers OUT Spoken’s questions
Joining me now is Ultra Nate, legendary, urgent, infectious. What’s your secret to staying in this business for so long?
The fact that I am a songwriter, first of all, has given me more of an edge. People kind of feel there’s more sincerity and a genuine vibe going on in the music that you’re creating when you’re writing it yourself.
You have a new album out now called Grime, Silk & Thunder, say something about the album
The album is about fourteen songs, of different stuff, different kind of vibes that I was writing over the last couple of years. This album, Grime, Silk & Thunder, is definitely more about edginess, um, there’s a lot of like S&M themes in the pictures that we did for the cover, and a lot of great long beautiful eyelashes, and playing with sexuality in the video for Automatic with boys and the computer laptop and the doll. And you know, all of these various things, stereotype images that I am in the Automatic video. There are a lot of different things, there are a lot of so the feel in this record has more of a luxurious kind of sexual, very erotic, kind of feel.
I went to your website and I listened to Automatic, the cover of the Pointer Sisters. How did you make it your own?
You want to pay homage to the original and not dilute it or take it, you know, so far out of its context. But you also want to create your own personality. And I felt like that song was always a feel good, fun, kind of song, and that it would really complement my album.
If You Could Read My Mind, with Amber and Jocelyn Enriquez, that song, like Free, took over the planet!
All we did was try to write a really good song, and be creative with it and come up with something dynamic that people weren’t hearing at that moment in terms of the guitars and stuff like that, the elements in Free.
You’ve been manning DJ Booths, for about five years around the world.
I’m just having fun. I grew up as a club kid in the dance music genre. That’s where I started, just jumping around the dance floor. So, you know, I ended up, just by experimentation, writing a song that all of a sudden, people really loved.
When I wrote, It’s Over Now, and happened to be the one sing it, I had no idea that I could sing at that time, or could write at that time. It’s was just like these opportunities were placed in front of me and I felt like okay I had nothing to loose, let me give it a shot and see what happens.
And so these things naturally evolved into what then became my career. So for me, experimenting with DJing, five years ago, really was kind of born out of that same sense of adventure and fun and spontaneity.
Are you old-school records or new-school computers?
Um, I’m a combination of both. I mean, when I first stated playing I was hard-core about vinyl, vinyl, vinyl. Functionality then made it necessary that I master, you know, CDs, the more technical side of things, and what is happening now and embrace that, as opposed to fighting it.
Now you’re coming back to San Francisco, you’re playing at Club Universe, it’s Pride Weekend; how do you feel about that?
I love coming to San Francisco; in fact, it’s like my favorite city in America. There was a period where it seemed like I was doing Pride every single year in San Francisco [laughs].
I look forward to it every summer at some point making it to San Francisco, if not for Pride, but for some event. And doing Universe, Audrey, and the whole gang over there have been, they’ve been just awesome to me… for so many years. So, I am just really excited to be asked to come back again this year.
Ultra, you’re amazing. I will see you when you come to San Francisco
Thank you, good-bye.
You can see Ultra Nate perform live at Universe “ONE NIGHT ONLY!" Saturday, June 29th 2008, 9:30PM at the New York Studios 535 York Street, between Mariposa & 18th Streets. clubuniverse.com