Nathan Kazmer is the drummer for various bands, but he’s been spending much of his music time lately with Eevaan Tre’ and The Show. While he was living in Provo, Utah, he played in a four-piece trumpet group that was popular in the ’60s and ’70s (before his time with the group) called The Brunson Brothers. For more info on Eevaan Tre’ and The Show, visit www.facebook.com/pages/Eevaan-Tre-The-Show/120302671369702 or www.reverbnation.com/eevaantre. Here are Kazmer’s answers to The Lucky 13.
What was the first concert you attended?
The first big artist I saw in concert, according to my mom, is Kenny Loggins, but the first concert I remember—and I know it sounds weird—was NSYNC.
What was the first album you owned?
A Quad City DJs album on cassette. Well, I didn’t own it; my mom got it for me.
What bands are you listening to right now?
The bands I’ve been listening to for the past couple of weeks are Radiohead, Erykah Badu, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Brotha Lynch Hung, Tears for Fears, Francis and the Lights, Little River Band, Hall and Oates, Groundation, the guy that sings that song “Can We Still Be Friends?,” Moody Blues, EarDrummers, Billy Joel, 10cc, Redbone, Tye Tribbett, John P. Kee and the New Life Community Choir, and Toto.
What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get?
I get and understand most music, at least the genres I’ve been exposed to. I even dig klezmer music. (You know, the music they play at bar mitzvahs.) The one I like least is house music, and also The Black Keys.
What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?
Hall and Oates.
What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?
Sometimes I’ll listen to the same song over and over again for two or three days in a row—which is odd when you are riding with folks in your car, and you listen to that song once, and then forget there are other songs in the world.
What’s your favorite music venue?
The El Rey Theatre in downtown L.A.
What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?
“Why you treat me so bad? 40 makes it happen,” from “I Got 5 on It,” Luniz with E-40.
What band or artist changed your life? How?
Radiohead changed my life. I started listening to them when In Rainbows came out, then started working my way backward until I got to Pablo Honey. I was going through a rough transition in my life: a break up, and I’d just moved back in with my mom. It was chaos. Listening to Radiohead took me out of my head and into their music, which is controlled chaos.
You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking?
I would ask Thom Yorke from Radiohead, “What does the album Hail to the Thief really mean to you?”
What song would you like played at your funeral?
“Moonlight Sonata” by Ludwig Van Beethoven. Then while people are leaving, I want Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” just to trip people out.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
Radiohead, Hail to the Thief.
What song should everyone listen to right now?
Francis and the Lights, “A Modern Promise,” live. (Scroll down to hear a version.)