Meet Nathan Royal | Swing Guitarist & Singer & Band Leader

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nathan Royal and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nathan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
To be a musician with any kind of meaningful creative control over the music you play, you really have to start your own business. For me it was a necessity; I was in love with acoustic guitar, roots music and old-school swing. There just wasn’t a band in town that had an opening to do the niche kind of music that interested me the most. Even if the perfect band existed and was looking for someone, I was a still developing my sound, style, and skill on my instrument and a more veteran musician would have likely scooped up the gig. I knew early on, my best bet was to build the kind of project that I believed in, something where I could find like minded people to grow with, where I could hone my skills as a guitarist, improviser, singer and band leader, and where I could learn to build a business around it through trial and error. Now, as I explore some other new projects in tandem, that first band, Hot House West, has become a well-oiled machine where I get to play great music with some of my favorite people!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My band, Hot House West plays swing music deeply rooted in the style known as Gypsy Jazz, a sound derived from the music of Django Reinhardt. This music is fun, exciting, challenging, improvisational, and emotionally resonant. It forces you to really strive to be the best musician you can be. All that being said, there is a lot of space in the style to find an original artistic voice. Often the music is dominated by strong guitar players demonstrating their prowess over the guitar, whereas Hot House West has focused on great arranging, a tight horn section, and being a strong band that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The best thing about Salt Lake City is the proximity to the mountains! If I had a week to just hang with visiting friends the itinerary would consist of a morning hike, followed by a tour of our great breweries in town. Templin, Fischer, Uintah, Kiitos, Level Crossing… We could hit a great one every day. Maybe on Friday we’d catch some music at the State Room, complemented by the awesome street taco vendor right on the corner of State street and 800 S.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’ve had a lot of mentors over the years, but there are two that are the most important to me. Big shoutout to Russell Schmidt, my professor and the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Utah while I was there. He believed in the project that I was building on the side and always did what he could to help us improve, send work our way, and encourage us to be honest with ourselves while the rest of the university was encouraging us to conform to a more mainstream jazz sensibility.

I also want to give a shoutout to Tcha Limberger who has had the most impact of anyone on my style and sound on the guitar. Tcha is an incredible Belgian virtuoso on the violin and guitar and deserves a lot more credit and recognition for his incredible musical talent. He is also a great teacher and friend.

Website: https://hothousewest.com/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/nroyalmusic/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nroyalmusic

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/HotHouseWest, https://www.youtube.com/c/NathanRoyal

Image Credits
Brandon Cruz Photography Jason Anick