Photo: Press
Perhaps most acclaimed for his strain of earnest folk balladry, plenty of people would accuse Nathaniel Rateliff of seeking a new direction with his new band The Night Sweats.
Despite sharing a stage with the likes of Bon Iver, Ben Howard and Laura Marling over recent years, he has often cut the figure of someone with a cult following that teeters on the brink of mainstream success - the industry toying with the idea of bumping him and his band into the big leagues - but never quite pushing hard enough.
Not through lack of quality, mind you. As becomes clearer as we chat, it's more that it was never high on Rateliff's list of priorities.
Coincidentally, I'm speaking to him a couple of nights after the Night Sweats' barnstorming performance of 'S.O.B.' on The Tonight Show. Despite it airing in the US, I reassure him that the colossal implications it could have for the band are not lost on fans on the other side of the globe. Essentially, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats are primed to explode, aren't they?
Watch the video for 'S.O.B.' below
Perhaps, but he speaks like a man with his feet firmly on the ground. "I'm just very grateful and trying to enjoy it because we don't know how long it's going to last. It's a great feeling and I'm just trying to savour it."
"It was very strange, very different. Surreal too. Things in the States are really clicking into place. It's funny that people are starting to be interested in what we're doing and it feels kind of weird. Getting to play something like that is awesome. It's great to have this opportunity and for people to be into it."
Will a swelling fan base alter Rateliff's approach to music? "No, I don't think so. I mean, I wrote 'S.O.B.' as a joke, the chorus is just me asking for another drink. As for songwriting, I write what I want to write and I don't think a bigger audience will change that."
Much has been made of the band's decision to work with Richard Swift, producer to The Shins and Foxygen and bassist of the Black Keys, on their debut, hinting that Rateliff's name carries greater weight these days. "We got on a little too well", he recalls with a wry chuckle. "Richard's fun. He's a lot like me when it comes to recording."
Meaning? "He kept it very easy, very simple. He'd say, 'If you can play it, play it', and we'd say 'Cool…okay, what do you wanna do now?' If a take was a little sloppy or whatever, he'd leave it in there. He was a great guy to work with."
Watch The Night Sweats perform 'Howling At Nothing' for Gigwise below
Reflecting on the path that brought him to this point, via rural and religious roots, he speaks with great warmth about his affection for R&B and soul when growing up - "The greats, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke" - and the debt that he owes to his parents for introducing him to those gems. "I didn't stop listening to them. I remember going through my parent's record collection, and finding these really excited me", he recalls, fondly.
These touchstones are easily identifiable throughout the album, thrilling and organic, and paying homage to a genre, traditionally, mired in routine and custom. It obviously channels the old guard of soul but deftly couples it with Rateliff's lyrics that notoriously bristle with razor sharp wit, resulting in the brass-driven stomp of 'I Never Get Old' or 'Shake's tender swagger.
If he draws inspiration from the music of his youth, Rateliff is a little more removed from his religious upbringing. "No, I don't think I draw anything from it, not even subconsciously", he tells me. "People tell me they pray for me and I say 'Go for it.' Obviously, I understand that. But aside from that, no, I'm not religious. I don't think it influences me at all."
It took encouragement from long time collaborator Joseph Pope III to make the Night Sweats' debut album happen. "We've been playing together for 23 years," he informs me. "He's more like a brother than a band mate."
Watch The Night Sweats perform 'Wasting Time' for Gigwise below
If it appears that the Night Sweats have exploded into life in an extremely short space of time, Rateliff has news for you. "I've been doing stuff with the Night Sweats for years. The album's been ready to go since last August and we've been sitting on it for a while, so it's nice to finally get it out there."
As for the future, Nathaniel Rateliff has no idea. Can fans expect a return to the fragile folk that he displayed during his solo career? "Right now, all focus is obviously on the band," he insists. "Whatever I come out with, it's important for me to be happy with it and that's the most important thing."
Can he foresee another Night Sweats album further down the line? "I don't know man. I like the idea of having hit records and saying 'Na, I'll make something completely different.'"
"You know, confuse everyone", he laughs. We await yet another curveball.
