Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Napanee’s Master Nate and The Reprobates will debut in style tomorrow, doing something that had never been done before in the industry.
Friday will mark the release of their album The Dawn, which is the first of eight albums that will be released over the next couple of months, all of which tie together.
“Nobody, nobody, nobody has ever debuted a band with eight themed albums that all tie together,” said lead singer Nathan Amey.
Each part of the Diem series carries its own theme, each relating to a day of the week (plus one extra): The Dawn will be followed by The Day, The Dusk, The Next Day, The Overmorrow (all acoustic), In Between The Hours and In Between The Days. There’s also plans for a ninth album of B sides titled The Rest Of The Week.
The lead single from The Dawn, titled Wake Up, was released just ahead of the main album and already garnered positive reviews from the California based publication California Rocker.
Amey has done the research and says with confidence no band has ever debuted with an eight albums that all relate to one another.
“I knew that it would be a minimum of 40 songs and four albums,” Amey said of the project. “The reason for that is the song that kinda ties them all together is called The Dawn and The Day and The Dusk and The Dark. Those are also the name of the first four albums.”
Setting a new industry record wasn’t necessarily something he set out to do, but as he began to put pen to paper he soon found there was more than enough material to do something big.
Amey is well known on the local music scene as a member of Sofa King Addicted, as well as other side projects such as the holiday themed Frostbite Faction. Master Nate and The Reprobates borrow some elements from his other work, but also stands out on its own.
“While I’ve done every other musical project with other people such as Sofa King Addicted, that traditionally has two vocalists in it, all these songs are songs that are more personal to me that weren’t really proper in another band because they would have had to been modified to suit that band,” said Amey. “All this is the Master Nate’s internal selections if you will.”
Rounding out the band is Dann Bertrand-aka Danny Addicted, and Tony Gerhardt-aka Tony the Drummer.
The album artwork for The Dawn, the first of Master Nate and The Reprobates’ Diem album series.
Each of the eight albums will have a very different vibe to it, though in the end it’ll all link together. When placed together, all eight covers of each album will make a giant mural.
“This project spans genres and it covers everything from mid-range punk to ska to reggae to alternative, to rock to acoustic, folk is even kind of mixed in there,” said Amey. “There’s some protest environmental songs.”
Amey says this project has been 20 years in the making because it includes the first song he ever wrote. There are also several nods to his hometown, such as the acoustic song Another Man’s Life-which he recorded on the very same guitar Rob Baker of the Tragically Hip used on Ahead By A Century.
“That song is a true story (of a murder) that happened out River Road,” said Amey of Another Man’s Life. “ We’ve got a video for that as well and that’s recorded at the Hip House and we’ve got newspaper articles in that video from the original Beaver publication from when that murder occurred.”
Another track was recorded using only instruments found throughout Greater Napanee such as the xylophone and bongos at Rotary Park.
Each album also features a guest star, the first of which is Roger Lima of Less Than Jake for the track Long Life In A Small Town. Amey has previously worked with Lima for Sofa King Addicted as he mastered the bands most recent records.
Other acts that will be featured throughout the project will be Josh Hewson of the Glorious Sons, Don Norman of the Esquires-who are credited with winning the first ever Juno Award (then known as the RPM Awards), Dustin Lanker and Keith Douglas of the Mad Caddies, Dennis Jagard of Ten Foot Pole and Sean ‘Riot’ Ryan of the Mahones.
Amey is also in talks with Baker to have him appear on a track as well.
The heavy lifting for the remaining seven albums is just about complete and will be released throughout the next year. Updates will be posted Master Nate and The Reprobates’ Facebook closer to the next release dates.
“We’re trying to maintain a level of flexibility, because we’re doing this all on our own as an independent,” said Amey. “We’re aiming to release an album every month to three months depending the time of year.”
He’ll take breaks from the project around Halloween and Christmas to focus on his holiday themed musical ventures.
They’ve also lined up an international tour to support the project, with stops in Costa Rica and Panama next summer followed by a European leg.
The Diem series will be released on Bare Bones Records, which Amey also manages.