Mark Shusterman - Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats Interview
Born in LA to Belarusian immigrants, Shusterman relocated with his family as kid to Colorado where he would eventually set his roots and find his musical community. Being influenced by The Beatles, he picked up the keys and at just the age of 12 he started his very first band. In 2012 he met Ratecliff and after a few demos were sent across the table, he asked Shusterman if he’d be interested in working together and they’ve been inseparable ever since! In this interview we explore Shusterman’s youth, his early influences such as Nirvana, Radiohead and Brian Eno’s "Another Green World”, seeing Depeche Mode in the late 90s, playing in his local scene with future bandmates, meeting Rateliff and much more!
Are you originally from Colorado? What was your childhood like? When did you first begin to fall in love with music, more specifically the keys? I understand you also enjoy making visual art and shooting photos. Was this something that was relevant around your household growing up?
I was born to Belarusian immigrants in Los Angeles, but moved to Colorado for middle school and stayed. I’m your basic first gen American story. Hard working parents that did everything they could to give me a comfortable life. Always expecting a lot and somewhat disappointed by my decision to pursue creative work. That being said, they always pushed me to become a better pianist. I started taking lessons at the age of 5. I always had a love for music. I started wanting to be in a band from about the age of 12 and started my first band pretty soon after that playing keys. I fell out of love with the keys around 16 and started playing more guitar and writing songs that way. It wasn’t until years late that I got back into playing keys. Art was always encouraged in the home. My grandfather was a prolific painter as a hobby, engineer by day. My dad loves taking photos now and takes it pretty seriously.
Do you have any siblings? What would you and your friends do for fun growing up? Who were some of your earliest influences in your more formative years? When and where did you see your first show and when did it dawn on you that you wanted to be a musician yourself?
I have sister who’s 12 years older than me. Play in bands and get in trouble. I was also a drama kid, I took theater pretty seriously at that age. I was a major Beatles geek as a kid, listened to all the records and was fascinated by them. But I was a sponge for everything when I was young. From Radiohead and Nirvana to just whatever was playing on the radio in the 90’s. Brian Eno’s “Another Green World” was probably my most listened to album my senior year of high school and is deep in my musical DNA. My older sister got me tickets to see Depeche Mode tour in like ‘97 maybe? I did love seeing the show, but I don’t think I can pinpoint a specific moment that i knew I wanted to be a musician. It’s really just always been there.
Did you participate in any groups, or projects prior to the Night Sweats? How did you initially meet your Nataniel and your other bandmates? When did you initially join the group and what were your first impressions of everyone? When and where did you guys first get together to jam and what was the initial chemistry like?
I’ve been in bands non stop since I was 13. Most of us in the Sweats knew each other just from different bands in the scene at the time. In 2012(?) Nathaniel came to a house show that a band I was playing in at the time, The Blue Rider, was “headlining”. That band is still around, but we rarely have the chance to play shows, or do much with the amount of work the Sweats are doing. He asked me at that show if I was interested in joining a new project he was starting. I knew him from around town and knew he had a powerful voice, so I said sure. I was blown away by the demos he sent me and I told him I’d be down for whatever. Our first few jams were in his attic in Denver with Joe, Pat and Andy and we hit it off straight away. I ended up doing a couple of tours with Nathaniel on his earlier record “Falling Faster Than You Can Run” before Night Sweats really got going.
I understand you contributed to the track “Laughter” on the “Closer” EP in 2015. Can you tell me about participating on this project? Did you have any clue that so much would blossom and grow from here? That following year in ‘16 the band released “A Little Something More From” and in ‘18 “Tearing At The Seams”. What has changed and evolved with the band over the years and with each new release? How much has changed with your style and approach?
I had just started jamming with him on the Night Sweats stuff, so I really just added some gang vocals at the end of production on that EP. I obviously had no idea where things were going, but I believed in the guy big time. This record was mostly recorded while the band was still forming, mostly just Nathaniel and Richard Swift working on that record together. Along with Patrick on drums. It turned out great and its a perfect capture of where Nathaniel was at at that time. Starting with “A Little Something More From”, the band was contributing fully to the recordings. We all came together with Richard to make “Tearing At the Seams”. I contributed the instrumental idea for Shoeboot on that record with Nathaniel writing the lyrics and vocals. So I’d say the biggest thing that’s changed is that we are always getting better at working together in the studio.
How did you guys want to approach the “Live Forever (Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver)” comp you guys were featured on? What was most important when inhabiting that sacred space within his music? What have you guys been up to more recently? Are you guys working on anything new for Spring/Summer?
Really, we just went into it trying to give it justice and make the song speak for itself. We played that one full band live, which is always fun. And Nathaniel crushed that vocal. We are going to be touring throughout the rest of the year. We have an EP that’s being released a song at a time right now. I think the full EP comes out in early June. It features some great tunes that just didn’t make it on The Future, as well as a brand new tune. We’re always working on new music, so keep an ear out.
Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
I’ve got a new project called Amlamas. It’s something I worked on with Mike Novak and my oldest collaborator Scott Beck of The Blue Rider. We put out an EP called Electric Eyes late last year and are going to be playing a release show in Denver on April 30th.
