Nathan Payne is a singer/recovering drunken funeral clown from Awesome Rockford, Illinois, currently in exile from reality in the United States of America, whatever that is. Born on Dee Dee Ramone's 21st birthday on Patuxent River Navy Base in Maryland, Nathan now lives inside a horrible dream from which there is no earthly escape. Nathan's live shows have been likened to an Elvis concert "dipped in blood," in the words of one fan.
Musically, the material is on the darker side, but not without a sense of humor. Most of the material is written and performed in a cloud of flies; the members are sometimes forced to wear facemasks to prevent themselves from accidentally swallowing the flies. Each recording contains some white noise produced by the flies.
"A specialist in morbid poetics."
L.A. Weekly
"creepy...clever, dark, and funny...avoided all my expectations." Fran Magazine
"California Death Trip is a dark and brooding journey through a creepy gothic landscape. 'Don't Wake Me Up' [is a] great fucking song." Shut Eye Records
"Finally, a band comes along that sounds like they know what the bathroom floor of a Greyhound Bus station looks like. How do I know this? Because the eight tracks on the Nathan Payne Memorial Service's album Angels on Fire sounds like the band has been, well, as the title suggests, to Hell and back. The EP's format is the oft-used but hardly perfected mix of garage rock and blues. The Nathan Payne Memorial Service does it perfect. It's depressing, but harsh. It's sad, but it rocks. It gives those of us who prefer our whiskey "straight up" both a drinking buddy and a live band to entertain us. The four live tracks on the EP translate well, and are ? in all actuality ? the best songs on the album. Payne's punk vocals seem to work better with a live audience, and the sound of the cymbals and bass echo better within the dank, musty walls of a smoke-filled club than in a recording studio. This band belongs on the streets, especially with lyrics that drunkenly circle around smoke, regrets, "tramps and cheap hotels." Take the best of the MC5 and the Doors (I'm talking about Morrison Hotel here), throw in a little Morphine and the Damned, and you've got the Nathan Payne experience. And if this band couldn't get any cooler, Alan Scalpone, the guitarist/organist (every good blues/garage band needs an organ), also plays the Theremin. That's right folks, the Theremin. Don't know what a Theremin is? There's a reason to go check out the Nathan Payne Memorial Service live. Trust me, you won't be disappointed." Katherine Raz, Chicagogigs.com
"Nathan Payne's voice sounds eerily like Dave Vanians of The Damned. I'm not saying it tries to sound like The Damned, it just happens. The songs have a dark edge, but not in The Damned's vampiric way. Each of the tunes displays a knack for successful songwriting, as did the sixty-five seconds of him playing live that I heard recently (hey, I was late). Definitely worth the price of admission." Illinois Entertainer
"Dramatic, bluesy musings from a man who seems to have emerged from the gothic subculture with a head full of literal references and set them to infectious melodies, a rustic and creepy folkish backline, and a voice so hypnotizing that all your attention is solely focused on hey, whats for lunch?"
Listen.com
"The deeper you submerge yourself in the surreal, grotesque world of the Nathan Payne Memorial Service, the more you recognize the signs of mental illness and fragility all around: in the lyrics, in the music, in the fans..."
Silverlake Press
"Sounds like Jello Biafra smoking crack with Hank Williams Sr."
A drunken fan
"It is no secret that Nathan Payne's music is powerful and has beautiful psychic side-effects. He is a champion. Buy his CDs and listen until your boss pounds on the walls, then listen some more (I know I did)." Bored Haw-Haw of The Dropas
"I dont know much about Mr. Payne. My impression is that he is as crazy as he is talented; and he can be fucking crazy. He is one of those characters that become legends one way or the other." Wolf Schmidt , Vine Street Melodies
"With five self-made albums (literally, he records and tracks on dollar-store cassette-tapes, and hand makes all C.D. artwork), Nathan Payne treks urban jungles, concrete forests, and asphalt deserts to spread the gospel of the forgotten mindset...humanity. Aint that something for a guy thats had a memorial service at every show for about five years? Do you enjoy living? Do you want to die? Do you want other people to die? Frustrated much? Are you at the heights of your bipolar mania, or getting there? Apathetic? Do you need encouragement? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, Nathan Payne has at least one song written about YOU, no kidding."
F. Garrett Warrick , Thorn In Your Side
"NP's music is complex and provocative - the sacred and the profane crushed in a head on collision. It's like being clobbered over the head from behind with a feather. Pigeon, not ostrich. His voice is a scowling siren, seductive and menacing, propelled by an enigmatic grind through my concentration with dark sad dirty breathtaking beauty." Zelda Zonk
"Nathan Payne is a truly independent singer/songwriter, whose honest, and often cynical approach to music is not just appealing, but also has the power to make the listener deliciously uncomfortable. There doesn't seem to be much that Nathan Payne won't tackle; junkies, reckless women, the bowels of Los Angeles, God, death - the state of humanity in general. His lyrics are biting and witty, but the wittiness comes off as a natural element in his music, much like a cough or a flick of the wrist. Although Payne claims not to be a dark person, an enigmatic gloom seems to envelop many of his songs-this is not to say that they are devoid of fun and humor, quite the opposite, in fact Payne seems able to seamlessly blur the lines between the tragic and the mundane, the comical and the misanthropic, and the obscene and the righteous. Both swine and the divine are welcome in Nathan Payne's domain, and it is this dichotomy that makes his music so downright enjoyable. That, and his croonerish vocals that seem to rest on the very edge of oblivion. Brings to mind bizarre dichotomies such as film noir cowboys & misanthropic dreamers."
Ashlee Elfman, Swampland
"I like the music very much. It has such character and audacity, without being.. you know, a comedy CD, which I *hate*. It had me laughing outloud, sort of quick "did he just say that?!" chortles...and I got a few odd looks from neighboring cars, which is always fun. It's sneaky of him, really; he's such a bastard in places during his songs that you don't realize he's given you something to think about until it's too late." Steve's friend Britney from Colorado Springs
"American Infidel - one of the first new works to recognize that the world has moved on. See, this one day almost 6 years ago my friend told me to turn on the TV and I saw airplanes hit some buildings in New York over and over and since then we have been on this alternate path as a civilization... You have been one of the first artists to recognize and process the tone of this new world. It makes everything else seem nostalgic and irrelevant. More please, fuck! It is the best to paint to." Holly Hell
"Last night's Nathan Payne show blew me away. Sincerely. If he visits your city, please go see him. Anyone who knows me knows I don't promote anything I don't deem truly worthy, as most music bores me into a near-coma. But this one's something special; this one makes you feel as if you really are experiencing something substantial, something that isn't immediately forgettable. This one lingers. This one haunts." Danielo in Long Beach
"crazy cat...doing his thing like a man possessed by the good demons." Ron Wilson
"I love your new song! It’s sad, sweet, funny, creepy, in all the right ways. Congratulations. Recorded nicely too. Keep ‘a going (as they so poignantly sang in “Nashvilleâ€). A tip of the hat to you..."
Rennie Sparks, The Handsome Family
"one of my fav Lyricist's living today, actually, in the current rotation, he may very well be THE favorate post 911 song writer..." Matt Pless
"A genuine protest singer in the Woody Guthrie-Bob Dylan tradition, a voice of dissent in a world of fat-’n-happy consumerism. Go figure." Michael Linder , KNX 1070 AM, Los Angeles
"Everyone in ABQ loves you." Brett Sparks, The Handsome Family
"You're completely mad."
Jan King
Buy this. NOW!
WARNING: once this CD crawls into your brain, it wont come out again, but that's okay becuz it rocks. Continuous intake of poetic lyrics and strange music could land you in a mental institution but let me assure you, it will be well worth it. If you live in Southern California, please go check out a show -but first, give CD Baby all your money and tell them to mail you this disc; then, go get yourself some sun...
Reviewer: Kitty, Rainy Day Records
This CD owns you and so does Nathan Payne!
I listen to this CD all the time. It's what keeps me (in)sane. This CD reminds me of a trip through hell on a flaming rollercoaster while on a bad acid trip. It's sort of like smashing yourself over the head with a frying pan and then licking your guts off the stove. I love Nathan Payne and I've never even met him. And not in a gay way either, more like a "I wanna be in your band and never stop playing music even if I die of starvation or insanity" kind of way. This CD owns you and so you should own it. Blah, blah, blah.
Reviewer: Rod , Rainy Day Records
"In a bitter struggle of jazz verses the blues, Nathan Payne fired his bass player Pablo Smog but retains some song writing credits for the jazzercising jigging on the bean bass plucker, Pablo. This live concoction recorded from '98-2000 at Quarters Rock 'n Roll Palace in Milwaukee, WI shows off the dark and somber soul searching love gone lost songs of Nathan Payne Memorial Service accompanied by the bartender on back ups, an ex-girlfriend on keyboards a la Ray Manzarek, and a ghost drummer which unbelievably is a drum machine. Pablo Smog plucks the bass violin and may have played the trombone before he tore out Nathan Payne's bluesy soul."
Bill Houston , Rainy Day Records
