Welcome to the newly designed natelight.com

So after rocking the super-plain black template for several years, I've finally gotten around to redesigning this site. I dug into the Squarespace design features more than ever and really tweaked out on the template, fonts, and layout (dig the blurred out stock photo - somehow this was better than anything I had on hand). I've updated the about and credits sections to ensure both currency and accuracy. Additionally, I've added a fairly lengthy "rant" about my gear, detailing my current philosophy and preferences on musical equipment. There's also a new form on the contact page, making it possible for you to send me a message directly through the site rather than opening a separate email app or whatever. I've added links to my social media pages at the bottom of the website which are present regardless of which page you're currently on. I should note though, that I haven't been the most active dude on social as of late, so a couple of those pages are e-wastelands at the present. I plan on upping my social media game moving forward. As of now, I'm most active on Instagram. I still don't know what the hell to do with Twitter. 

One thing that I'm really trending toward with this website is writing in the first-person and being unabashed about using my own voice. There's a tendency for sidemen/working-stiff/regular musicians (i.e. non-rock stars like me) to have a very sterile and quasi-businessy tone to the copy on their websites. I think we're all just trying to be professional and make ourselves seem like desirable contractors to potential clients, but it always feels like there's something kind of inauthentic about third-person bios. Like even if we try to be humble or modest, there's this air of making ourselves out to be bigger deals than we really are. In L.A. and in the music business in general, that's kind of the name of the game, and I'm  over it. Maybe it's to my detriment, but I'm all about the music and musicianship; I could give a crap about puffing my chest to impress wankers. For now, I've kept the third-person bio on the About page. I've mainly done this because think it serves as a decent quick-reference for passerbys. More importantly,  I was kind of just too lazy to write a new bio from scratch. Aside from that,  all other content moving forward will be written in my own voice. 

While I've updated most of the written material, ALL of the media on this site is starting to get kind of dated. The photos in the gallery are from 2013 - don't worry, I've been on the All Beer and Burrito Diet (ABBD) ever since then - I look great. Also, the most recent videos and tracks on the Audio/Video page are from 2015. I can attribute this lapse in new content to being completely caught up in - and overwhelmed by - my new gig as a Professor at LACC. Now that I'm 2 years into that job and I've started to get a handle on things there, I'm ready to tend my music career again and not let this place get too stale. 

So here's what I've got in the works:

1. I'll be doing a new photo-shoot in October, my target date for having the re-touched photos online is 11/01/17. I need about two months to sweat off the beer and burritos, and then one more to loath myself and gain the weight back, only to surrender and take the photos in whatever miserable state I end up in. It's gonna be great. 

2. I've been writing a crap-ton of music and I'm actually singing. You heard me right. I've joined so many extant bands over the years, always hoping that I can settle in and make it my own, so to speak, but I always end up being dissatisfied with the material and with other peoples' expectations of what a bass player should be. So I've finally just decided to say "fuck it" and start my own project where I'm the bass player and the singer. This doesn't mean that I don't still want to collaborate with others, it's just high time I had my own outlet as a writer. I don't have a target release date for any material, but I'll go ahead and threaten to have some Nate Light songs up on this site, and everywhere else, by the end of this calendar year. 

3. The last thing that I intend to roll out this year is a youtube channel featuring instructional videos. I've been toying with this idea for a long time, and I finally bit the bullet and bought a camera and some accessories this month. Admittedly, I don't know what the hell I'm doing on the videography and video editing front, but I'm not too obsessed with perfection right now; I just want get the ball rolling. I'm going to be unleashing a series of instructional upright bass videos starting in October. I also have future plans for a series of electric bass videos, and some entry level music technology and music business lectures. There will be new a page entitled "Lessons" starting next month which will essentially just be my youtube video feed. 

So that's where I'm at in a nutshell. Natelight.com has a new design and some new words, and I'll be rolling out new media and content NON-STOP in the near future..

I'll be posting again real soon. Thanks for reading.

Best, 

NL