Coming Home

Given he's played at the White House in front of President Clinton, jammed onstage with BB King and shared the bill with artists such as REM, Elton John and Jimmy Page (who asked for a signed copy of one of his CDs), it wouldn't be all that unreasonable to wonder where Australian blues/roots artist Nathan Cavaleri might choose to go next. The answer is his new band, Nat Cole & The Kings, and their single Coming Home.

Although it's not the group's first record, there is a sense here that the title is more than apt, and that it will probably be the tune that 'breaks' them. Cavaleri says he couldn't be happier. “That song's been around for a while. We've released a few others before it, but there's been a lot of anticipation with this one. The recording process for it went down a treat. There was no mucking about. We went to a studio about an hour north of Sydney, sort of like a little retreat, and worked around the clock. It was really great. It's everything that I imagined it to be.”

Obviously, Cavaleri has a more than colourful musical background, and this writer is torn between asking questions about Monica Lewinski – was she at the White House gig? Was she standing just too close to Clinton, meaningful stuff like that – and concentrating on what is a terrific current record. In the end it's a compromise, and it's asked how his history affects the music he makes now.

Interestingly, he mentions only being nervous and having a strong work ethic. “There's been a lot of nerves involved in Nat Cole & The Kings. When you've got a past like I have, it comes with a lot of judgement. But when you listen to a song, your head will tell you if you think it's an awesome song or whether it's crap, so yeah, it's a matter for me of trying to make people realise how much work goes into a song that has nothing to do with what has happened before, and Nat Cole songs are like that.”

Talking of hard work, Coming Home is merely a taste of what punters can expect from a forthcoming new EP from the band, and Cavaleri says it will be something of a departure. “Fans of the band will know that we're pretty firmly in the tradition of roots music. And Coming Home is probably as far out of that tradition as we've ever gone. Even though the rest of the EP is still very organic, there's a couple of new things that we've done: there's a kind of cool little unplugged track that we do. It's just mandolin and acoustic, really really stripped back. Then we've got a normal sort of blues/rock track.”

Cavaleri and his band are about to hit the road promoting their new record in what can hardly be called a small tour. Not to put too fine a point on it, but he's seriously dacking himself. “I actually woke up in the middle of the night last night and just went 'Shit. We're about to head off on this huge tour'. We're not a band where we can make a ton of money and drive Ferraris and live off what we make touring. We've all got day jobs as well. So, yeah, it's little bit overwhelming, but oh well, bring it on.”

And what's a Nat Cole & The Kings live show like? Cavaleri has learned from the best. “The first tour I ever played on as a kid was with Jimmy Barnes and Diesel. I love how fiery and energetic and sweaty they were in their shows. That's really stayed with me, that's what I love in a live show. That's what you can expect when you come and see us. We also have a lot of fun: I've been known to draw out a solo from time to time…”