Nathaniel Rateliff joins Jill Riley to talk about writing his latest record, ‘The Future’ during quarantine, working with Phil and Brad Cook, and his upcoming Rock The Garden performance in June.

Interview Transcript

Edited for clarity and length.

JILL RILEY: You are listening to The Current. I'm Jill Riley on the line with Nathaniel Rateliff of Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats. And we have a lot to talk about today because it's been a while since we've caught up. So Nathaniel Rateliff, how are you? Welcome to The Current.

NATHANIEL RATELIFF: I'm well, it's weird to be home so much in the last couple of years. Slowed down on our touring, kind of expecting fluctuations with COVID spread. And it's been kind of tricky to figure out how to, you know, keep ourselves and fans safe to go out to shows.

Yeah, we're looking forward to a number of them. I mean, let's just keep our fingers crossed, that we can keep heading in the right direction. You know, Nathaniel, I was looking at the last time I talked to you was February 2020. And it was right before your solo record was gonna come out. And it was like, we had no idea. I mean, I looked back at the transcript and we didn't even mention COVID. We didn't mention anything about lockdowns or being at home or how people's lives are gonna change. None of that. It was like, okay, you've got a solo record, you're gonna play at the State Theatre and in the Twin Cities. Looking back, that State Theatre show in Minneapolis was probably one of the last that you played before everything shut down.

Yeah, I think we did Minneapolis, Toronto, and Boston. The virus was exploding by then. So yeah, we went home. And I didn't even really know when I was gonna write again. And then, since we're stuck here so long, probably about June I started to kind of work on songs for the future.

When you're at home, and you started thinking about, I mean, how long did that take to kind of settle into kind of the reality of like, "Oh, well, okay, I've got this solo record, but I'm not gonna be able to really tour properly on it." Like, what did you do when you first went home? And how long did you kind of get settled before you got the creative bug again?

Well, I was pretty discouraged at first, you know, putting out that solo record. It was gonna be the first time where I could tour, you know, in that sort of situation and have the production and band and the crew that I wanted. And then we had only 10 shows that we got to do. I was really proud of that record, and that meant a lot to me, and, you know, the things that I was personally going through and the was I was seeing things. We had lost Richard Swift. And so a lot of that album was about that. Part of the process of me feeling like I was getting through grief was to be able to play those songs. And so it was hard to make the adjustment when I got home. But I felt happy that I was safe, and I had a place to be and I came home and my ground floor and the top floor of my house were being remodeled. So I came home to house it couldn't live in as well.

What did you do?

My girlfriend had left New York and come with me, because it looked like they were gonna shut the bridges down into Manhattan. And that was all the information we were getting. So it was like, "Hey, we're leaving town tomorrow, you're coming with me or you're not." We fled to this one-bedroom, little garage. And I mostly did chores around the house for the first however many months of being here. And like I said, since I was feeling kind of discouraged about where I was at with a solo record, and, you know, just kind of afraid that nobody was gonna hear that, you know? And then it also started getting in my head, like, "Well, maybe your career is over with," you know, like, "maybe you're not important," just a lot of stuff that's kind of my insecurities are being preyed on and then out of that, we ended up making a new Night Sweats record. I wrote a song "Redemption" for Palmer [the TV show], and then that got us into SNL. So it was all kinds of surprising events that took place, and so, in hindsight, it was also nice to have taken a break. We hadn't gotten off the road in almost six years, and it's been very nonstop. And in that time, it's like, we lost Richard, I went through a divorce, like, all this real life stuff that is hard to carry around with you when all you're doing is working. It's hard to figure out how to cope or--yeah, you know, how do you recover?

If the pandemic did anything, it kind of forced you to go home and, and sit in it. And that's hard. That can be a hard thing to do.

Yeah, but when you're staying busy all the time, you can kind of keep pushing everything down for for a while.

Well, plenty of people heard that solo record and loved it. We played it quite a bit here on The Current and especially after the record came out, that song, "And It's Still Alright," it was this beautiful song about grief and hope but it took on this new meaning. It really was a comforting song, especially in those first few months.

Yeah, I mean, I was writing that record to kind of talk about like, how do we deal with loss and how do we talk about it? And also this human brokenness and like, what is that with actually what the human experience is, and accepting that and being able to talk about it. And then to go through COVID. All of that felt very challenged. It was like, "Wow, I wish I wouldn't have wrote any of that." It seems like we all have to deal with this, you know?

Yeah. Well, I think it only made it more relatable. You know, we've got some big news about, Rock The Garden this summer. I want to talk about the record a little bit first, before we dig into that--now, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, "The Future". And so, I kind of wonder, when you did start writing for the record, were you like, maybe this will be another solo record? Or were you kind of like, "I want to get the band back together."

When I first started writing for the record, the song "The Future" was me living in my garage, and it was just sort of a run on of words without any choruses that sounded too much like Bob Dylan. And then at one point, it sounded like "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere," and I was like, "We don't need another one of those." And then I had gotten together with James Barone who helped produce the record. And Patrick Meese, our drummer, and then a friend of ours, Eli Thompson was in town who was also a very good friend, Richard Swift, and it was around the time Swift had passed. And so we usually get together and tell stories about Richard and play music. And so we just started kind of playing around in the studio and out of that came "So Put Out," "Love Don't Treat You Like That," and another song that will be released here in a few more months. And that was kind of like what started to make me feel like, "Oh, this is a start to a record."

But then as I continued to write more, there was too many songs that I didn't know if they should be solo, or if they should be on the Night Sweats record. And, you know, songs like "Still Out There Running" from 'Tearing at the Seams' could have fallen into that category, too. But I hadn't put out a record on my own in a while. So eventually, I ended up pulling in Brad Cook to produce and finish the record with us. And I feel like I've been producing it up to this point, and I just need an outside voice. And he was like, "The Future!" I was like, "What do you think, should it be on record?" He's like, "I think it should start the record." And I was like, "Okay." I'd written "Facedown in the Moment" at that point. And that was another song where I was like, "I don't really know where this should live." And he's like, "This absolutely should be on record." He's like, "I think it's gonna be a big moment. It like shows growth and you and the band that you're able to pull this off." I kind of really leaned into Brad on our last sessions to figure out what to do and, and he came in and made everybody feel really heard, which I think was important for us as band as well.

Yeah, that's a good outside perspective to bring in. Brad Cook, and his brother, Phil, like, those guys have an energy, they just have this great energy. And they don't have to say anything, they could just sit there. And you kind of just feel that, "Oh, this is what I want to be in right now."

We kept running into Phil and Brad on the road, but I used to tour with them as a solo artist. When they were doing Megafaun we would play a lot of shows together. And so, I've probably known Brad for 15 years. And then during the pandemic, Phil started to give me piano lessons, which then you know, songs like "Love Me Till I'm Gone" and "Something Ain't Right," like those wouldn't even have been on the record had I'd not been playing with Phil. And you're right, their energy is--even being on tour with Phil sometimes you're like, "I wish I just could wake up with that kind of attitude."

Yeah, right.

I was like, man, I wake up I'm just miserable, you know, for no reason. You're just like, plowing right through with a smile.

And it's not annoying either. It's just contagious.

Those guys, to have them both back in my life has been a real blessing. And, you know, Brad is now somebody that I talk to regularly and we continue to work on new projects. And really, I went to work on a record he was producing. And that's kind of what like, got us back together. So it has been fun.

I'm talking with Nathaniel Rateliff of Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats and the new record is called 'The Future'. Looking at your future, it looks like you're playing some festivals this summer. You've got Bonnaroo on the list, Hinterland recently announced--I like that festival. I've been to that one a couple times in Iowa. And we are like over the moon that you're going to be returning to the Twin Cities to be a return guest for Rock The Garden. That's huge. We're looking forward to it Saturday, June 11. Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats playing Rock The Garden. And it seems like you have just--you have a great fan base here and there's something that just feels like you're really connected to the Twin Cities.

I love it up there and Joseph and I used to have another band called Born In The Flood and one of our guitar players actually still lives there now, so it's always a blessing to get up there to see him as well and come back and see all y'all!

Nathaniel Ratliff is on the line returning to Rock The Garden--now it was a few years ago. So you guys played Rock The Garden but it was in a different location. It was in Northeast Minneapolis but it's going to be back at the Walker Art Center. And it's just like--it's such a great place for an outdoor festival. You know, you'll have the Minneapolis Skyline right behind you and the the Walker Art Center. And I think people are just really, you know, hungry for just like a kick ass fun show.

Well, we can't wait to bring it.

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External Links

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats - official site

Rock the Garden - official site