By Andy Argyrakis
His name may be most familiar as a former member of Plus One, but after a tour with Savage Garden singer Darren Hayes and a new Euro-pop direction, Nathan Walters is expanding his solo audience. The singer/songwriter just finished putting the final touches on a new CD, Escape (available on iTunes Dec. 19), and suggests the direction will be quite different than his boy band beginnings.
“Some of the songs you could say are dance, others are more electro pop/rock and some are radio pop songs with live drums and Mute Math-ish guitars in some places,” he says. “It’s obviously more of a pop record, influenced by people like Imogen Heap and her ambient sounds, bells and reverse pianos. I’m also into Télépopmusik for its really cool sounds and attention to tiny details and maybe The Killers on some other tracks.”
Though it might not have any similarities to Plus One on the surface, the project once again strikes a lyrical equilibrium between observations of faith and more general reflections on life and love. It’s a perfect balance for both those who first caught wind of the singer’s former band on Christian radio or on tour alongside Jessica Simpson.
“There are two straight-up love songs, one of which is purely relational that I wrote for my wife called ‘Romance You,’ and then ‘Seconds,’ which is an old break-up song that had such a great hook, I kept it,” Walters explains. “The whole record is a journey of life that’s a compilation of things from the end of Plus One until now. There are definitely vertical songs, like ‘Fall,’ which is working to Christian radio and is kind of worshipful but musically consistent with the rest of the record. I know some people are forced to write for Christian radio and say cliché words, and that sickens me. When I was writing this record, I thought, ‘Where it falls is where it falls.’ If it’s embraced by the Christian world, cool, and if it’s embraced by pop, cool.”
Thus far, fans on Hayes’ tour ate up the material, and even that 30 million album selling Savage Garden singer became an instant fan. Outside of sharing impressively high falsetto ranges, the tour mates also have the same publicist.
“[My publicist] showed my music to Darren, and he went on my MySpace page,” Walters recalls of the seeds behind the tag team. “When [Darren and I] met in person, he said ‘I’ve become a bit of a stalker. I watch your video blogs, and I’m quite a fan.’ His fans are pretty psycho in a good way! I thought Plus One’s were, but his were even worse! Some of his fans started latching on to me and MySpacing me, which is shocking to me because it was just an acoustic tour and my first thought was ‘Are they really going to love this?’ But all the shows were packed out, and the response was really good.”
Given this current direction, Walters isn’t as chatty about the Plus One days anymore, even finding it surprising that people still remember his time in the troupe. But considering the boy band had a Gold album and several chart topping hits, it’s certainly understandable why people are so interested in hearing about yesteryear (though that doesn’t mean they should expect a repeat of the past anytime too soon).
“I would say as of now ‘no,’ but who knows the more time goes by,” he assesses of reunion rumors. “I’m personally not against doing Plus One on the side because I really believe in my solo stuff, but I’m not sure about how Nate [Cole] and Gabe [Combs] feel because of being in another band. [As for the five originals], it’s too soon now, but why not? A little reunion tour would be fun. I’m up for it!”
For more info, visit myspace.com/nathanwaltersmusic.