Nathan James is truly one of the great hard rock singers in the world today. In 2014, shortly after a tour with Trans-Siberian Orchestra on their 2013 “The Lost Christmas Eve” Winter Tour, Nathan helped form the band Inglorious, who released their debut self-titled album in 2016. Inglorious is a very classic heavy blues rock sounding band, influenced especially by the likes of Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Led Zeppelin, as well as other great classic hard rock bands from the 70’s and 80’s. The band is known for their huge rock riffs, groove oriented rhythms, and the mind blowing vocal prowess of the aforementioned Mr. James. Their debut album was very well received by fans and critics alike; so well in fact that shortly following the release, the band’s label Frontiers Records expressed interest in having the band record a follow up to the record as soon as possible. As a result, a little over a year later Inglorious released their 2nd album titled II, which is sure to be considered one of the preeminent hard rock releases of 2017. Metal Exiles had the opportunity to talk with singer extraordinaire Nathan James about the new album, diving into specifics about the writing and recording process of the bands sophomore release.
An interview with Nathan James of Inglorious.
By Michael Knowles
Metal Exiles: Your debut album was definitely a tough act to follow, but feel the band has produced an even more polished and cohesive record, how would you assess the differences between the two, and how do you feel you guys have progressed as a band?
Nathan James: I feel like songwriting wise we had a bit more confidence, with our skills, individually and as a group. I think there’s a bit more confidence in the writing and it was also awesome this time to have Andreas the lead guitar player write with us, because on the first album he came into the band so late that he didn’t have time to write with us. Also, I think sonically it’s a step up. We recorded it at the most gorgeous studio, with some really gorgeous analogue gear and Kevin Shirley mixed the hell out of it.
Metal Exiles: Seeing how well your debut album was regarded, do you feel the band was under a lot of pressure to produce a great follow up, and if so do you feel that pressure brought out the best in you guys?
Nathan: We kind of put the pressure on ourselves. Our record label Frontiers messaged us shortly after the first one came out and said ok this is going really well, when do you want to do another album? And that happened pretty much straight after our release, they were like this is going so well we’d love to get another album when could we have it? And I like an idiot said we would deliver it before Christmas. So we hadn’t had any songs written, and at that point I’d kind of signed the contract for that next album so we had to do it. So we kind of put the pressure on ourselves. We work well under pressure and it’s good, we all have great stamina for playing and for writing so yea it’s very intense and not suited for a lot of people, but it really works for us that way. As for the press we didn’t think of them, we didn’t think of them the first time, we just like writing together that’s important. We like writing together we like playing together, and I think you can hear that.
Metal Exiles: You mentioned in the EPK that this album was recorded live like the last record, with all you guys in the studio at the same time. What do you feel that brings to the overall feel and sound to the record?
Nathan: I think energy, I think it brings a real organic energy that you don’t tend to hear in many new records. It’s how people have done it for years you know. Orchestras do it that way, all the Motown music was done the same way, quite a lot of rock music in the 60’s and 70’s was done that way so you know we’re just kind of going back to basics. Also, we don’t want to create what we can’t do live you know. I want an album that sounds the same on CD as it does when you come and watch a show. And that’s one thing I’m really proud of in this band is no one is going to leave the show and say that we didn’t sound like the CD.
Metal Exiles: When it comes to your vocal performance, do you just record your vocals straight through on one or two takes, or do you break it up into sections?
Nathan: Pretty much yea, I’m not a perfectionist, I’m what they call in the UK a bit slap dash. I just like do it, if it sounds good I get on with it. And yea I like it to be real so if I crack on something, or there’s something that’s a little bit out of tune, I won’t change it. And yea I try to do either one take as a whole or what I do is I do the whole verse, then I do the chorus, next verse, chorus, in different sections, but it will be a whole take each section. I don’t drop in for like words or syllables.
Metal Exiles: One of my favorite songs on the record is the opener I Don’t Need Your Loving, really sets the tone for the record with that great riff and huge chorus, can you talk a little about that song?
Nathan: Yea Andreas the lead guitar player came up with the riff, and it’s so simple I mean it’s the simplest riff of all time, and they are in my opinion the hardest ones to write. We all sat there jamming, and I was really digging it, and I had the idea to do the key change in the verse which kind of takes your ear by a bit of a surprise I think. It just came so quick, that one really, I hate when people say this, but it kind of wrote itself. You know it just flew out of us and I sang the chorus while we were writing it, I just hummed something and I was like hmmm loving, I knew loving was going to be the ending word, and I had to piece a phrase around it. Yea it came so quickly I’m really, like “Until I Die” on the first album, and “Holy Water” which also took like 25 minutes to write in its entirety with lyrics. I just knew it was going to be a good one you know, I knew it would be a hit because those one’s that come so quickly are. They’re the most natural, they’re the easiest, they’re the magic tracks you know.
Metal Exiles: What was it like to receive a complement regarding that song from the great David Coverdale?
Nathan: Amazing, we’ve had a few complements from him, I’ve had a few for years actually now. I sent him my version of Fool for your Loving as well and he really enjoyed that as well. So yea it’s amazing that the internet and social media give you the platform to do that you know. I can tweet anyone in the world and say hey look at my video, and there is a chance that they might see it and like it. It’s very exciting, so yea he’s my hero so whenever he mentions me I fangirl, I scream at every single one, and I’ve got them in a folder on my phone.
Metal Exiles: A seasoned pro in hard rock music Kevin Shirley mixed the album this time around, how do you feel he helped the overall sound of this record?
Nathan: He just made it sound big, I think it sounds, he kept the sound of the room. The drums sound like they did in the room which is just awesome to me. He just has such a great way of putting things in certain spaces you know. You can hear everything on this album. There’s no mud there’s no lack of clarity, it’s all very separate but big and it all hits you at the same time. It’s fantastic, it was a great mix and when he sent us the first mix back we had no notes. Like usually you get a mix back and you’re like, can we get a bit more of this or how about changing that. I think the one note I sent him back was can I have this one backing vocal up in “I Got a Feeling.” And I think he messaged back and said oh yea I forgot it was in there. It just happened so easily he got us straight away, that’s why you get someone like that I suppose, that’s why you spend the money and get someone with that pedigree.
Metal Exiles: Probably my favorite song on the record is track 3 “Tell me Why,” especially love the power and flair of the chorus, can you talk about the writing a recording of that song?
Nathan: Yea, that song was written pretty much entirely by Andreas musically, and I came up with the whole top line and all the words. Andreas is a fabulous writer and he just comes up with really great guitar parts, and he’s a really good producer too. I took the inspiration from something very close to me, almost too close to home. It’s about my brother and his ex-girlfriend’s relationship, which I don’t think she’s discovered yet but it’s about that. The album comes out tomorrow so I’m sure she’ll hear it. And yea I was like so fed up with seeing him work his ass off for this girl and this baby they have together, and she was just an ungrateful, lazy person. And she was so ungrateful and lazy that I felt inspired to write a song about her.
Metal Exiles: Once again as a band you produced the album yourselves, was there any conflict at all with the band, did somebody want something that maybe others in the band didn’t want or did it kind of run smoothly?
Nathan: One person didn’t like a couple of the songs, but that’s why that person isn’t in the band anymore you know. Apart from that it was pretty smooth, we all have the same goal and we work so intensely when we are recording. The only one who doesn’t record live is me you know, I go in after because I can’t sing for 8 hours a day, like the way I sing on the album, I mean it’s just stupid. So the boys are in there 8 hours a day playing like that, and I will sit in the booth and we did maybe like 3 takes of each, we’ll have a listen and then if we haven’t quite got it we go back in and we do it again. Nothing took more than 3 takes really, 3 or 4 takes. And everything is in its entirety, so each track beginning to end is played live apart from maybe a solo or two.
Metal Exiles: What is the overall song process for the band, do you guys write and arrange collectively as a band, or do members each bring in pieces of a song, and as the singer you decide what you can lay a great melody over?
Nathan: It’s a mixture of both, so some of the songs come about from old demos that people have and they’ll send them to me and I’ll go oh yea I like that. Then we get together as a group and we write something or they come with a fully formed song and it’s perfect, then I’ll just write a melody and lyrics over it, but a lot of the songs this time and the first album, it’s everyone sitting in a room with acoustic guitars banging out riffs, finding something that we like. And that’s how it happens which I think is really cool actually, it’s really cool to think that this all happened in my drummer’s bedroom you know. We all sat on his bed with acoustic guitars and it’s also very fun for us. We’re doing a tour this week, a signing tour where we are signing albums and doing an acoustic set. And the songs work really well acoustically because that’s how we wrote them, so it’s pretty cool for us to get to go back to how we actually envisioned the songs in the first place.
Metal Exiles: Feel the song Faraway really showcases your vocal prowess the most on the record because of the versatility that is displayed, I also feel it contains the best guitar solo on the album, can you talk about that song?
Nathan: I agree the fuzzy solo (laughs), it’s awesome. That song is very personal to me it’s about my grandfather who is really sick, he’s got bone cancer and he’s in his 80’s. Him and my grandma have been together for 40 years and they are just wonderful, they have the most understanding relationship and he just deserved a song kind of dedicated to him. I haven’t told him it’s about him, and every time I talk about it I get a bit emotional. The writing came from a riff that Colin the bass player came up with, and actually on the album Colin is playing the acoustic guitar on that song.
Metal Exiles: You’ve mentioned that 2 of your biggest influences as a singer are Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale, can you name a few more that really inspired you?
Nathan: Yea I can name a hundred (laughs), Hughes, Coverdale, Robert Plant, Paul Rodgers, Michael Bolton, Ann Wilson, Steve Perry, Axl Rose, Freddy Mercury, yea I think that’s enough.
Metal Exiles: Are there any metal singers you have also been influenced by, or is it mostly hard rock singers?
Nathan: Some yea, I really like Devin Townsend, I think his voice is unbelievable, and I love Dio.
Metal Exiles: Lastly, as a fan here in the U.S., I would love to see you guys do a tour here, any talks of coming to America?
Nathan: Yea there are now, our agent who represents some of the biggest acts in the world, they represent Cold Play and loads of other people. They just joined forces with a company in America called Paradigm which I think is one of the huge entertainment corporations, so there’s a new window for us into the U.S. and after we played the Monsters of Rock Cruise in February and we met Eddy Trunk and all these different guys, people really enjoyed it so hopefully we’ll be able to get over there. It’s just so expensive for a British band, the flights alone you know you are looking at a thousand piece a man, and then you can’t tour America like you can tour the UK, you know it has to kind of be on a sleeper bus or on planes and stuff. It would just take a lot of planning.
Official Inglorious Site
BUY Inglorious II
An interview with Nathan James of Inglorious.
By Michael Knowles
Metal Exiles: Your debut album was definitely a tough act to follow, but feel the band has produced an even more polished and cohesive record, how would you assess the differences between the two, and how do you feel you guys have progressed as a band?
Nathan James: I feel like songwriting wise we had a bit more confidence, with our skills, individually and as a group. I think there’s a bit more confidence in the writing and it was also awesome this time to have Andreas the lead guitar player write with us, because on the first album he came into the band so late that he didn’t have time to write with us. Also, I think sonically it’s a step up. We recorded it at the most gorgeous studio, with some really gorgeous analogue gear and Kevin Shirley mixed the hell out of it.
Metal Exiles: Seeing how well your debut album was regarded, do you feel the band was under a lot of pressure to produce a great follow up, and if so do you feel that pressure brought out the best in you guys?
Nathan: We kind of put the pressure on ourselves. Our record label Frontiers messaged us shortly after the first one came out and said ok this is going really well, when do you want to do another album? And that happened pretty much straight after our release, they were like this is going so well we’d love to get another album when could we have it? And I like an idiot said we would deliver it before Christmas. So we hadn’t had any songs written, and at that point I’d kind of signed the contract for that next album so we had to do it. So we kind of put the pressure on ourselves. We work well under pressure and it’s good, we all have great stamina for playing and for writing so yea it’s very intense and not suited for a lot of people, but it really works for us that way. As for the press we didn’t think of them, we didn’t think of them the first time, we just like writing together that’s important. We like writing together we like playing together, and I think you can hear that.
Metal Exiles: You mentioned in the EPK that this album was recorded live like the last record, with all you guys in the studio at the same time. What do you feel that brings to the overall feel and sound to the record?
Nathan: I think energy, I think it brings a real organic energy that you don’t tend to hear in many new records. It’s how people have done it for years you know. Orchestras do it that way, all the Motown music was done the same way, quite a lot of rock music in the 60’s and 70’s was done that way so you know we’re just kind of going back to basics. Also, we don’t want to create what we can’t do live you know. I want an album that sounds the same on CD as it does when you come and watch a show. And that’s one thing I’m really proud of in this band is no one is going to leave the show and say that we didn’t sound like the CD.
Metal Exiles: When it comes to your vocal performance, do you just record your vocals straight through on one or two takes, or do you break it up into sections?
Nathan: Pretty much yea, I’m not a perfectionist, I’m what they call in the UK a bit slap dash. I just like do it, if it sounds good I get on with it. And yea I like it to be real so if I crack on something, or there’s something that’s a little bit out of tune, I won’t change it. And yea I try to do either one take as a whole or what I do is I do the whole verse, then I do the chorus, next verse, chorus, in different sections, but it will be a whole take each section. I don’t drop in for like words or syllables.
Metal Exiles: One of my favorite songs on the record is the opener I Don’t Need Your Loving, really sets the tone for the record with that great riff and huge chorus, can you talk a little about that song?
Nathan: Yea Andreas the lead guitar player came up with the riff, and it’s so simple I mean it’s the simplest riff of all time, and they are in my opinion the hardest ones to write. We all sat there jamming, and I was really digging it, and I had the idea to do the key change in the verse which kind of takes your ear by a bit of a surprise I think. It just came so quick, that one really, I hate when people say this, but it kind of wrote itself. You know it just flew out of us and I sang the chorus while we were writing it, I just hummed something and I was like hmmm loving, I knew loving was going to be the ending word, and I had to piece a phrase around it. Yea it came so quickly I’m really, like “Until I Die” on the first album, and “Holy Water” which also took like 25 minutes to write in its entirety with lyrics. I just knew it was going to be a good one you know, I knew it would be a hit because those one’s that come so quickly are. They’re the most natural, they’re the easiest, they’re the magic tracks you know.
Metal Exiles: What was it like to receive a complement regarding that song from the great David Coverdale?
Nathan: Amazing, we’ve had a few complements from him, I’ve had a few for years actually now. I sent him my version of Fool for your Loving as well and he really enjoyed that as well. So yea it’s amazing that the internet and social media give you the platform to do that you know. I can tweet anyone in the world and say hey look at my video, and there is a chance that they might see it and like it. It’s very exciting, so yea he’s my hero so whenever he mentions me I fangirl, I scream at every single one, and I’ve got them in a folder on my phone.
Metal Exiles: A seasoned pro in hard rock music Kevin Shirley mixed the album this time around, how do you feel he helped the overall sound of this record?
Nathan: He just made it sound big, I think it sounds, he kept the sound of the room. The drums sound like they did in the room which is just awesome to me. He just has such a great way of putting things in certain spaces you know. You can hear everything on this album. There’s no mud there’s no lack of clarity, it’s all very separate but big and it all hits you at the same time. It’s fantastic, it was a great mix and when he sent us the first mix back we had no notes. Like usually you get a mix back and you’re like, can we get a bit more of this or how about changing that. I think the one note I sent him back was can I have this one backing vocal up in “I Got a Feeling.” And I think he messaged back and said oh yea I forgot it was in there. It just happened so easily he got us straight away, that’s why you get someone like that I suppose, that’s why you spend the money and get someone with that pedigree.
Metal Exiles: Probably my favorite song on the record is track 3 “Tell me Why,” especially love the power and flair of the chorus, can you talk about the writing a recording of that song?
Nathan: Yea, that song was written pretty much entirely by Andreas musically, and I came up with the whole top line and all the words. Andreas is a fabulous writer and he just comes up with really great guitar parts, and he’s a really good producer too. I took the inspiration from something very close to me, almost too close to home. It’s about my brother and his ex-girlfriend’s relationship, which I don’t think she’s discovered yet but it’s about that. The album comes out tomorrow so I’m sure she’ll hear it. And yea I was like so fed up with seeing him work his ass off for this girl and this baby they have together, and she was just an ungrateful, lazy person. And she was so ungrateful and lazy that I felt inspired to write a song about her.
Metal Exiles: Once again as a band you produced the album yourselves, was there any conflict at all with the band, did somebody want something that maybe others in the band didn’t want or did it kind of run smoothly?
Nathan: One person didn’t like a couple of the songs, but that’s why that person isn’t in the band anymore you know. Apart from that it was pretty smooth, we all have the same goal and we work so intensely when we are recording. The only one who doesn’t record live is me you know, I go in after because I can’t sing for 8 hours a day, like the way I sing on the album, I mean it’s just stupid. So the boys are in there 8 hours a day playing like that, and I will sit in the booth and we did maybe like 3 takes of each, we’ll have a listen and then if we haven’t quite got it we go back in and we do it again. Nothing took more than 3 takes really, 3 or 4 takes. And everything is in its entirety, so each track beginning to end is played live apart from maybe a solo or two.
Metal Exiles: What is the overall song process for the band, do you guys write and arrange collectively as a band, or do members each bring in pieces of a song, and as the singer you decide what you can lay a great melody over?
Nathan: It’s a mixture of both, so some of the songs come about from old demos that people have and they’ll send them to me and I’ll go oh yea I like that. Then we get together as a group and we write something or they come with a fully formed song and it’s perfect, then I’ll just write a melody and lyrics over it, but a lot of the songs this time and the first album, it’s everyone sitting in a room with acoustic guitars banging out riffs, finding something that we like. And that’s how it happens which I think is really cool actually, it’s really cool to think that this all happened in my drummer’s bedroom you know. We all sat on his bed with acoustic guitars and it’s also very fun for us. We’re doing a tour this week, a signing tour where we are signing albums and doing an acoustic set. And the songs work really well acoustically because that’s how we wrote them, so it’s pretty cool for us to get to go back to how we actually envisioned the songs in the first place.
Metal Exiles: Feel the song Faraway really showcases your vocal prowess the most on the record because of the versatility that is displayed, I also feel it contains the best guitar solo on the album, can you talk about that song?
Nathan: I agree the fuzzy solo (laughs), it’s awesome. That song is very personal to me it’s about my grandfather who is really sick, he’s got bone cancer and he’s in his 80’s. Him and my grandma have been together for 40 years and they are just wonderful, they have the most understanding relationship and he just deserved a song kind of dedicated to him. I haven’t told him it’s about him, and every time I talk about it I get a bit emotional. The writing came from a riff that Colin the bass player came up with, and actually on the album Colin is playing the acoustic guitar on that song.
Metal Exiles: You’ve mentioned that 2 of your biggest influences as a singer are Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale, can you name a few more that really inspired you?
Nathan: Yea I can name a hundred (laughs), Hughes, Coverdale, Robert Plant, Paul Rodgers, Michael Bolton, Ann Wilson, Steve Perry, Axl Rose, Freddy Mercury, yea I think that’s enough.
Metal Exiles: Are there any metal singers you have also been influenced by, or is it mostly hard rock singers?
Nathan: Some yea, I really like Devin Townsend, I think his voice is unbelievable, and I love Dio.
Metal Exiles: Lastly, as a fan here in the U.S., I would love to see you guys do a tour here, any talks of coming to America?
Nathan: Yea there are now, our agent who represents some of the biggest acts in the world, they represent Cold Play and loads of other people. They just joined forces with a company in America called Paradigm which I think is one of the huge entertainment corporations, so there’s a new window for us into the U.S. and after we played the Monsters of Rock Cruise in February and we met Eddy Trunk and all these different guys, people really enjoyed it so hopefully we’ll be able to get over there. It’s just so expensive for a British band, the flights alone you know you are looking at a thousand piece a man, and then you can’t tour America like you can tour the UK, you know it has to kind of be on a sleeper bus or on planes and stuff. It would just take a lot of planning.
Official Inglorious Site
BUY Inglorious II