We recently connected with Nathan Moody and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Nathan, thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
full-time living off my music creative work is one of the most fulfilling and and difficult things i’ve ever done. Although you’re not always directly working you’re always on the clock. Always thinking about the contrast of playing because i love to and playing and practicing because i know its the right thing to do. From day one it started mostly from me doing part time work bartending/serving and doing as much music as i possibly could. Trying to balance those prime time weekend hours of the Service industry and the hours that would be prime for performing and rehearsals. I dont regret much but i will say its a lot of who you know and i think it would’ve been easier if i knew people in the industry or at least like-minded individuals that were goal oriented.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m the only musician in my family on every side so it really was just my family starting me taking piano lessons because i enjoyed playing my great great grandmothers so much. I stuck with it throughout my school years and never stopped. From piano i learned other instruments through the same concepts that i remembered being taught from piano lessons. Spent some years in college doing Sound Engineering because i felt that it was a more useful skill than continuing music theory after already going to art schools my entire life . I now perform, record, teach, produce and edit soundtracks for movies, video games and personal projects. I think being able to have the loose creative mindset and also knowing the technical parts of music really set me apart from most musicians and band leaders a nice blend of both elements. One of the things i’m most proud of is the eclectic taste in the arts. I play in funk bands,Jazz,RnB,HipHop,Surf,Soul,Country and used to play in Metal/Punk bands just having that kind of experience thorough the years really helps shape who i am today. I want people to know that i really just love and appreciate art and theres no “right way”. Art is what moves you.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
About the end of 2018 i was diagnosed with ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia) and had to be hospitalized for over a year. It was a difficult time and i was far to depressed to make much of anything of value but i did enjoy playing with a band when i had the chance. After multiple painful procedures and chemotherapy i was done in 2020 when Covid shutdowns started. I had just recently lost my Grandmother that March of 2020 and a week after my last Chemotherapy session in December i lost my mother. I was a broken mess and had a lot going on in all parts of my life. There was nowhere but either the End or Up for me. I dedicate a lot of what i do to those who helped raised me and those before me who give me hope and inspiration to do what i love despite the odds.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
One lesson i had to unlearn from my journey is that Art is not only what moves you but its Subjective. There is no right way there isnt a wrong way. Theres always a most “efficient way” and “palatable way”. Dont do things because you think they’re right do them because you enjoy it. Life’s too hard to make things harder on yourself enjoy something
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nathanxmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanxmoody_music/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NathanXMoodyMusic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/True_Until_Deth
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChGX5rPR9FxpK7hFAH7htRg