By Amanda Hu
<The Gauntlet had a chance to sit down with Nathan during the 2007 Calgary Folk Music Festival.
Gauntlet: Who have you seen at the festival so far?
Keri Latimer: I really liked William Elliott Whitmore. He lives on a farm. He sounded really cool.
Shelley Marshall: Yeah, he lives on a farm in Iowa, covered in tattoos, shows up an hour late for his workshop this morning. I think he just flew in last night and no one told him where to be.
KL: But he’s really got those Southern manners. He’s got very good manners.
G: Who have you not seen so far that you are looking forward to seeing?
KL: Final Fantasy.
SM: Yeah, Final Fantasy.
KL: I saw him play one song in Winnipeg, but [my daughter] Kayla started crying, so we had to leave.
G: What is your approach to the workshops?
SM: Sometimes it’s a struggle for us to come up with songs that other people can jam to. And if it is, it’s never an open G or anything. It’s like, A sharp minor, or something. I guess it’s trying to come up with something that people can play along to that’s not too unpredictable. But, we never seem to really have those kinds of songs.
KL: Yeah, there’s always some weird chord thrown in there that throws everyone off a bit.
G: How does this festival compare to other festivals you’ve played in the past?
KL: The location is awesome, because lots of festivals aren’t right in the middle of the city. I know [Shelley’s daughter] Sophie loves the water park nearby.
SM: I think it’s the best location of any festival I’ve ever played at. And the line-up is always great too, because there’s that mix of people like Neko Case and the Sadies and stuff like that that’s hip plus great international stuff. I think it’s my favourite site, though. And, you get to stay in the Westin Hotel, which is pretty fun.
G: Nathan played the festival a couple of years ago. Coming back, has anything changed since the last time you were here?
SM: We got two kids. Now it’s like, “Oh no, we’ve got to change the diapers and do this and that. Is it okay to feed my kid ice cream for lunch and dinner?”
KL: Yeah, bringing our kids on the road with us is a big change, but it seems like we’ve adapted pretty well. We don’t drink as much, which is probably a good thing.