ITM’s Ziad caught up recently with Perth up and coming trance producer and DJ Nathan
Griffiths aka DJ Nato, who offered a little insight on his love for music djing and life.

1. Where did your love for music come from?

I would have to say that my love for music has come from my parents. They are
both heavily into all styles of music. I think this is why I have such a diverse music
collection, and a love and passion for all styles of music. My mum still swears to this day
that the reason I love music so much is because she used to play all her music really
loud around the house and in the car both before and after I was born. She could be
right. All I know is that I have always been surrounded by music for as long as I can
remember.

2. Who are your main influences?

That is a very broad question. My list of influences could go on for pages, but I guess
if I narrowed it down it would include people from all genres of music including Jeff
Buckley, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Coldplay, Radiohead, John Mayer, Van
Morrison, Sarah McLachlan, Sarah Blasko, Armin van Buuren, Tiesto, Ferry Corsten, Paul
van Dyk, M.I.K.E., Sander van Doorn, John O’Callaghan, Above & Beyond, Sasha, John
Digweed, James Holden, Nick Warren and the list goes on and on and on and on… So I
guess to sum that up easily, MUSIC is my influence.

3. I hear that you are doing some production work, how is that going? p>

Not as well as I would like. Unfortunately I have to work full time to pay the bills so
by the time you work and have some sort of social life, there is little time for production
work. I love nothing more than getting in my studio for the day, but the problem is I very
rarely have a day to just sit in there and focus. But hopefully things are about to change
very soon.

4. What do you think makes a good DJ? And who is your favourite DJ?

I think that is fairly easy to sum up. A good DJ is someone who is there to do his job.
What I mean by this is simple. The basic principle of being a DJ is to entertain a crowd
with the music you play. Sadly, sometimes you’ll be at a gig and the DJ will be playing
music for themselves, with no thought at all about the crowd and what they want to hear.
I think that this defeats the whole purpose of being a DJ. I know that I for one make sure
I’m always aware of the crowd I’m playing for, and am constantly interacting with them
to ensure that they have a great night out.

As for my favourite DJ, I would have to say that everytime I have seen Armin van
Buuren I have never left disappointed. Some of my greatest memories of events have
included sets by Armin, particularly his 6 hour set and his last visit to Perth at
Summadayze 2005. So naturally, I’m excited by the prospect of seeing him at Two
Tribes 2006. Will be another blinder of a set I’m sure.

5. What are your thoughts on the trance scene today?

I’ve been into trance for about 7 years now so I’ve seen the highs and lows of it. I
think at the moment it is starting to get to the point where that ‘uplifting’ sound is a little
stale, much like in 2000 when trance all of a sudden became so uncool. As a result I’ve
been finding myself moving towards a few different sounds within the trance genre. I’m
liking the more ‘tech-trance’ records from labels like Club Elite, Captivating Sounds, High
Contrast, Reset Records and Oxygen Records. Artists from within these labels include
people like M.I.K.E., Fred Baker, Sander van Doorn, Oliver Prime and Marcel Woods. Also
the more ‘progressive’ stuff from labels like Electronic Elements, Anjunadeep and
Coldharbour Recordings is also great stuff. Artists that have caught my attention lately in
this area have been people like Mathew Dekay, Markus Schulz and Santiago Nino.

The common thread through all of this is that I love trance music. To me it is more
of a feeling than a genre, so it can encapsulate all different styles of electronic music.
Whilst I have opened up to many more styles of electronic music over the years, trance
as a genre has always remained my favourite whether it be ‘uplifting’, ‘progressive’ or
‘tech-trance’ and I dare say it always will.

6. What do you enjoy doing that does not involve music?

Besides music, there isn’t a whole lot else that I’m up to. My whole life is geared
around music, including my group of friends. When I’m not working or involved in music
as a DJ or very amateur producer, I mainly catch up with friends and family. I enjoy
whipping all my friends at Table Tennis and I’m the undisputed champion at the moment.
One of my friends thinks he’s got what it takes but he’s just not quite at the level yet.
Hahaha! I also try and make it to the gym a couple of times a week. I’m trying to break
out of this scrawny body, but as most of the people who know me would attest, it is
proving fairly difficult!

7. Is your DJ/Production work mostly a hobby, how far do you want to take it?

At the moment it is very much a hobby. If I could make it into an occupation, then
that would be more than a dream come true. I’m fully aware that in this day and age it is
very difficult to rely on being a DJ full time. Therefore, hopefully my production work can
take me to that next level one day. I want to take music as far as I possibly can and I’m
going to try and take out all stops to get there. Only time will tell whether that dream
comes true or not.

8. What music production software/hardware do you use? Anything new that
your interested in?

My personal preference is to use software for sequencing, and hardware for getting
the sounds. I tried playing around with Reason a few years ago, but personally thought it
wasn’t capable of producing the sounds that I wanted and I didn’t like the idea of using a
mouse to fiddle around with buttons on the screen. I think that the sound that hardware
produces is pretty difficult to emulate in software, and I much prefer to sit down in front
of something and be able to play with the faders, knobs and keys. I know that this
viewpoint will probably irk a few people (ie Reason users), but I guess at the end of the
day, who cares what you are using as long as you are making the music you love.

As far as an equipment list is concerned, I am running Cubase SX 2.0 on a P4 3.2
Ghz PC. My sound modules and synths include an Access Virus C (which is so good!), a
Roland JP-8000 (a classic synth in dance music history) and a Roland MC-909. New
equipment that I would love to get include the new Access Virus TI, a Nord Lead 3 and
the Alesis Andromeda A6. I’ve promised myself (and others too!) that I won’t buy
anymore gear for now. I know that what I’ve got now is more than enough, but I’m a bit
of an equipment junkie unfortunately.

9. Do you Cook?

Yeah I do. I like to think I’m ok. I can’t do any five course meals or anything like
that, but I cook well enough to keep me going. The bonus for me is that I share a house
with a mate who likes to get his apron on and cook so I’m sometimes lucky enough to
eat with him so I don’t have to cook all the time. Hahaha!

10. If there is one song that describes the style of music you play, what would it
be?

An extremely tough question, but I think it would be something along the lines of
M.I.K.E. – Massive Motion. Great bassline, very driving, and trancy but with that gritty
edge to it. That was a good question. Definitely had me thinking.

Thanks very much for your time