My grandfather passed away when I was very young, but he was a country and western musician. That seems like the backwards way to get into hardcore, like you said, when I think about people our age. Later on, I would find out about bands through Thrasher magazine and the whole skateboarding scene. We're the same age, but like most other people I know, I was into heavy metal way before I got into hardcore. I guess you put that all together and it makes sense that I got into punk. I mean, David Bowie's Diamond Dogs album, who's gonna see that cover and not pick it up? Also, my mom was a Ramones fan and even took me to see them when I was 12.

They had stuff like Lou Reed and David Bowie. On top of that, my parents had a pretty cool record collection. New wave was like my backdoor to punk rock, I guess. When I growing up, MTV was still in its infancy, and they played all kind of weirdo new wave kind of stuff. You see, I kind of came at punk through multiple avenues. What kind of music did you indentify with first as a kid? My other uncle is a police officer and then joined US Customs. My uncle was a firefighter and then a fire inspector. My grandfather was the Chief of the Norfolk Fire Department. My dad comes from a family of firefighters and civil servants. My parents were both 19 when they had me. Yeah, maybe because of the whole surfing thing and the overall culture at the time, but he wasn't strict at all. Not really, actually, both of my parents were pretty cool. You mentioned your father being a firefighter. Nate and his brother, Joshua, circa 1980.

The kids who migrated to Virginia Beach with their parents for the military, they were the ones who weren't into the whole skating and surfing culture, but everyone else was. Living in New England now, it's more of a little league kind of thing for kids. For the kids like me who were born and raised in Virginia Beach, it's about surfing or skating. My dad is a surfer, which is a big part of the culture down there anyway. My father was a firefighter and my mom worked at a shoe store when I was born, and later on worked at a surf shop. Well, I was born in Virginia Beach, VA in 1975. I've known you for years now, but since I always go chronologically, let's start with a bit about your upbringing. We'll definitely have to do one of these again. We spoke for over an hour, but with so many musical projects to cover, we only touched the tip of the iceberg here. Being a father himself, he understood my juggling act, and we managed to make it through the phonecall. I must say that I've been proud to see Nate's success and I know he's appreciative of it as well.Ī few days ago, I chatted with Nate while my two young kids were running around the house. Through such critically acclaimed albums as Jane Doe and last year's The Dusk In Us, his thundering bass has helped shape, deconstruct, and then rebuild their sonic attack back up. Since 1999, Nate has been the bassist of Converge, one of the most influential and successful bands to come out of the hardcore scene of the '90s. Since Jesuit, he's been a member of Old Man Gloom, Doomriders, and Split Cranium. Throughout the years, Nate has carved out quite a life for himself as a musician. We were both big fans of Nate's previous band, Channel, a metallic hardore band from Virginia Beach. At the time, I was in Black Army Jacket and our guitarist, Andrew Orlando, released Jesuit's first 7' on his label, Reservoir Records.

I first crossed paths with Nate Newton back in the mid-'90s when he just started the band Jesuit.

The nate newton breakfast sandwich