March 19, 2024

Nader is a singer, songwriter and a music producer; he is of Circassian descent (Circassian-American). He goes by the name of “NaderGator”. Nader has been living in the United States and making music for the past 20 years. His style is multi-genre, Pop-Rock, instrumental and some originals intertwined into his repertoire.

He likes to write original songs that most people can relate to (inspired from our daily lives and from his own personal experiences in life). Over the past 5 years Nader has been writing his own music and performing some occasional live music-covers in the San Francisco bay area and internationally.

Lisa: Hi Nader! What first got you into music? What would you be doing right now, if it wasn’t for your music career?

Nader: Hello Lisa. Well, I have been into music since childhood. I remember when I got my very first acoustic guitar and I instantly fell in love with the sounds it makes when strummed (the guitar was a cheap hand me down from a friend). At the time, I was heavily listening to pop music and Rock bands of that era. Then soon after, I started learning some basic guitar chords and tried to play songs that I was listening to on the guitar, just by trying to mimic the sounds I hear, music from bands like (Metallica and Scorpions and many others). I didn’t have any professional music training (and I still don’t by the way) but I had a passion for making music. At the same time, I also had a “home-computer” and started composing music on it (sequencing and tracking musical notes). I just loved making beats and melodies and hear them play back; it was fascinating to me at that age! Later down the road, I started expanding my skills and learned some piano and keyboard, I discovered my singing talent and songwriting later in life, but in the beginning of my musical journey though, I have always shied away and just played rhythm guitar in the background when I played with bands. I have collaborated with many small bands here and there throughout my musical journey and it was all just for fun, some of them were co-workers or friends, some were semi-pro musicians that I connected with randomly. We always had one thing in common “making music” and enjoying playing it. I believe music is a universal language that brings people together (there is nothing like it).

Lisa: How would you describe the music that you typically create?

Nader: I consider myself to be a multi genre artist; I create different types of music from instrumentals to pop, rock and even the latest rap music. It all goes back to my diverse musical influences I think. I like contemporary dance pop and pop-rock and some of the new hip-hop/rap too… but at the same time, I’ve never forgotten my roots in music so I still enjoy playing older Rock/Pop/Alternative cover songs. I do occasionally perform acoustic guitar cover songs solo at small venues here and there like coffee shops and restaurants whenever there’s an opportunity or an invitation to do so. I do not do it for the money of course; I just love bringing people together and touch their hearts in a positive way through music if I can…

Lisa: What is your creative process like?

Nader: It varies really… but usually I get an idea in my head… Then I start writing experimental lyrics for that idea based on my own emotions and feelings, I usually do it while I’m hanging out at a coffee shop or something…lol…I try to convey as many emotions as possible and write them down, I then start creating a melody for it later with my acoustic guitar, bits and pieces and little by little.. Sometimes I can write a lot of passages in one setting, other times, I just leave it for another time to finish-It will come… Once I have something tangible, I then head over to my computer and try to create a beat for it..or sometimes I even collaborate with a beat producer if they have a ready-made beat that I vibe with (I do collaborate with many beat producers from all over the world virtually). I also have a small and basic home studio setup, so I start experimenting with beat ideas and combine melodies to see how it will possibly come out, I then start adding vocals and change and tweak lyrics as I go…it really all depends on how it makes me feel while I’m doing it, so it is a constant process of modification and rewriting.. When I am finally happy with the layout of the track…I would render a rough take of the audio and then I would keep listening to it on my headphones or in my car, taking notes of what might needs to be changed or modified. So in reality, I keep on going back and forth for tweaks until I finally feel that I am happy with how it sounds… I do my own recording, mixing and mastering at home, mostly because I can’t afford any studio recording time or professional music services, it is all done by me at home.

Lisa: I really loved your song “Mechanic Shop”. Can you tell me more about it? How did you get inspiration to write it? Was it a real-life situation?

Nader: Thank you, I’m glad you liked it 🙂 Well, “Mechanic Shop” has a funny story behind it…lol, my brother actually owns a mechanic shop in Southern California near Disneyland area, and most of my siblings are also into cars one way or another, they all work on cars and fix their own cars too, they are very passionate about cars. Every now and then I used to go visit my brother’s shop and just hang out there when I wasn’t busy with work, just watching people come and go, sometimes listening to their car stories and having small talk with them… Until one day, it all inspired me to write a song about it and I thought to myself: there isn’t one single song out there “that I know of” that talks about mechanics! Hence, the idea was born in my head and I started writing the lyrics for it like a week later at a coffee shop I was sitting at. So yes, it was based on a real life story and events, and most lyrics in that song are actually true by the way! (Describing my brother’s shop)… I did however change some names in the song as to not invade anyone’s privacy and I made the song have more of a generic flavor to it… And while we are at this topic, I would also like to send a quick shout out to “Mixla Productions” for being very nice and cooperative, collaborating
with me on the amazing beat-idea as well.

Lisa: What types of change do you feel your music can initiate?

Nader:  Good question… And I have a lot to say about this, but I will keep it short and to the point. I hope my music and writing style will help inspire emerging artists to concentrate more on story telling in their music (like the golden hits used to be like) .. What is a song really? It is elaborate expressions describing a situation; it is essentially a story that needs to be told musically. I also would like to mention to your readers here that it is important to work on cultivating their skills in music writing and not to be discouraged by anything whatsoever…for example-and in my case, the English language is not my native language! But I still write music and lyrical content and sing it, and I hope this inspires other artist of different backgrounds to do the same, to write good music and good songs as well. I believe we are ALL song writers… writing our own stories…

 

Lisa: What are some bands/musicians you love to listen?

Nader: Oh gosh, there are so many good musicians out there and I listen to a lot of them! As a multi genre musician, I listen to many different musical styles. I grew up listening to almost everything that I thought sounded great, but at some point I was more into pop, rock and alternative genres mainly… These days I like almost everything that I hear on the radio, especially some of the newest music by up-and-coming artists that are unique and different. As for my instrumental tastes, I still like to listen to various instrumentals in general, great iconic artists like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Buckethead and many others in that instrumental genre. I also listen to EDM occasionally by various artists (there are so many to mention here) this page would not be enough to list them all…

 

 

Lisa: Describe your approach to recording.

Nader: My recording process is very simple. I only own basic equipment at the moment. I use Shure SM48 Mic, Steinberg CI audio interface, a small Yamaha MG06 mixer and a Windows desktop PC with Reaper for DAW. I record my vocals directly into the mixer and then it gets fed into the computer. I then tweak my tracks with plugins and sometimes I even have to do several takes on vocals to get it sounding right to my ears. I live in a small apartment so I can’t really sing or play too loud (unfortunately), so I try to manage with my current living situation and do the best I can creating
and recording my music..

Lisa: What advice or philosophy might you impart to other musicians, be it in forms of creativity, technical stuff, the business side of it, or anything else?

Nader:

I believe I can give a few advices here if I may… Music is an art of self- expression. My advices to my fellow artists would be as follows: connect with your soul deep inside, let the creative process flow naturally and don’t necessarily follow other trends or main stream music, be original, be yourself and be unique! Be emotive when you write lyrics, study song structure and learn from it, tell a story. Don’t just create a quick beat loop on your MPC and call it a song! (This advice is also directed at producers and beat makers) consider quality over quantity. And lastly, don’t do music just for monetary gain or fame as your main objectives, do it for the love of music and self-expression. The art of music-making is a creative outlet after all…

 

Lisa: What is the best advice you’ve been given?

Nader: Hmmm… Well, perhaps I can answer this question in a different way; the best thing (I personally consider was good) that had been occasionally given to me throughout my musical journey was “discouragement from doing music”. It had made me have doubts in myself about my musical talent! But it eventually worked in my favor I think and made me better and stronger musically, because deep down I knew that I had some talent, and I kept on going regardless, doing my own thing…

Lisa: What are you working on right now?

Nader: I constantly have musical ideas in my head, right now I have a couple of songs that I’m still writing lyrics for, but they are far from finished and I don’t really like to rush the creative process. At the same time I am also remaking my previously published instrumental-album “Reflections” from last year and I am re-working and now publishing the tracks individually as singles on iTunes and all other media outlets. I hope some of my instrumentals will be included in a movie score someday! That will actually make me happy and would give me a creative boost and a sense of accomplishment; to have had a small contribution to a wonderful work of art such as a film or a movie or even a video-game sound track.

Lisa: What’s next for you?

Nader: Oh, I don’t really know… I will continue to write songs and work on new material, creating music and composing…I get better and better every year and I’m always learning new musical concepts. Music is a big part of my journey in this life, and always will be and I hope I can be a tiny source of inspiration to others artists, telling life stories and spreading and positivity through music..

Thank you!

Follow Nader: Instagram, Twitter, Apple Music, Soundcloud, Website

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