Guest teacher profile: Nate Perry

Bassist, composer and Interscope recording artist Nate Perry hails from a small Northern California town – population 3,500. Shortly after coming to L.A in the late 90s, he joined modern rock band Fractional who went on to release three records independently; working with acclaimed producers John Travis and Donat Kazarinoff. The band became local favorites, selling out venues like The Troubadour & The Roxy. This increase in popularity lead to extensive touring, scoring the band opening slots for System of A Down, Smile Empty Soul & Seether, generating airplay on various college and commercial radio nationwide. His tenure in Fractional was followed by a year spent in pop rock band Stars Align, fronted by singer John Stephens of the gold-selling late 90s act Neve. The band caught the attention of Joe Don Rooney of Rascal Flatts fame who signed the band to a production deal and produced their self-titled EP at the legendary Westlake Recording Studio, Los Angeles and Blackbird Studios in Nashville. In late 2006 Perry joined the atmospheric, post-punk act Manic, who the L.A. Times called “...the brooding spawn of Pink Floyd and Radiohead.” Manic released their debut EP Floorboards on Geffen Records, produced by John Goodmanson, with their single “Chemicals for Criminals” added to regular rotation on both Fuse and MTV2. A three-month NME sponsored tour of the U.K. followed, along with shows at South By Southwest 2007 and regional touring with label-mates Angels and Airwaves. Their sophomore EP, Another New Home, this time co-produced by Manic, was a critical success that the L.A. Weekly compared to Radiohead’s seminal Kid A. Their haunting, post-punk single “Carolina Ghost” received regular plays on L.A.’s Indie 103.1, sparking a month-long residency at notable L.A. venue the Echoplex and an unlikely collaboration with Joel Petersen of breakthrough indie dance-punk band The Faint. Petersen went on to remix the band’s single that was later released as a limited edition 7” vinyl release. It was during this time that Perry began working with acclaimed, Clio Award winning commercial music composer Chris Bell. Perry had honed his production skills while in Manic and Bell, having more work than he could handle, began giving commercial demo opportunities to Perry who went on to land spots for NBC, Cadillac, Ford Focus and Motorola. In 2009 Perry joined No Tomorrow, featuring guitarist Darrel Herbert of Toadies fame and veteran drummer Mitch Marine (Dwight Yoakam, Smashmouth, Tripping Daisy). The band released a self-titled EP in 2010 followed by regional touring. In 2011, Perry graduated Cum Laude from California State University Los Angeles with a M.M. in Commercial Music. During his time at Cal State, Perry studied composition and arranging, film scoring and lectured as a graduate assistant. He continues to perform and record with various artists around L.A., including Art of Chaos and Jesse Spencer of the hit Fox show House. Nate plays Fender Precision and Music Man basses through Fender or Ampeg pro amps and cabinets and is endorsed by Dean Markley Strings.