Summer Stars: Nahko and Medicine for the People
Once again, the June issue of Relix features our Summer Stars series where we profile those acts making the rounds on the festival circuit this year. In our second installment, we take a look at Nahko and Medicine for the People. To take a look back at our previous Summer Star, Tycho, click here.
Just a few minutes into a conversation with Nahko Bear, you realize that his view of the world as one big community permeates everything about him. His roots may be in the Pacific Northwest—and his years spent in Hawaii may have helped him define just exactly who he is— but in general, it’s all one village.
In this case, we’re talking about the rotating cast of band members who make up Nahko’s Medicine for the People, a groove-powered collective who come from all corners of the globe. For Nahko, this player hailing from Indonesia, this one coming from Australia, or another calling Portland, Ore., home is about the same as having a guitarist who lives down the block and a bassist who lives at the other end of town.
“At every show, I have at least one song where I get people to all meet each other,” he says. “I say to them: ‘We’ve all come from near and far, but in this moment, you’re allies… say hello to somebody you don’t know.’”
Nahko, who has two studio albums under his belt to date— 2010’s On The Verge and 2013’s Dark As Night—uses his live performances to bridge the tribes of the globe. Even in a festival setting, where show lengths are often shorter, Nahko’s aim is take people on an entire journey. We always come in strong and stay strong to around the halfway point; then we like to bring it down and get a little more reverent… and finally rise back up in celebration. Bands are more often than not defined by how their records sound, but for us, it’s just the opposite—our defining sound is how we perform live.”
He remembers his initial experience in a festival setting years ago: “One of the first communities that embraced us was the Midwest,” he says. “The first festival we ever went to was Shangri-La at Harmony Park in Minnesota. I happened to meet the organizers in Hawaii. They’d heard us playing and told me afterward, ‘We like your music; we’ll take a risk on you.’ I had some people who were just kind of playing with me at the time—a percussionist and a guitar player. I guess the word had spread over the course of a year that we were coming. When we got there, people knew our songs; they’d done their homework and that blew my mind.”
“The same kind of thing happened last year when we went to Israel,” he continues. “I played a solo show at the Sea of Galilee. I was certain there’d only be handful of people that knew the songs, but I got up onstage and everybody was singing the words. I was like, ‘What?’ That’s the power of how music can travel to a place you’ve never been to. And realizing that whatever experience you’ve come for, you’re all there for the same reason.”
Nahko’s songs are often born on an acoustic guitar in the glow of a campfire at surf’s edge. They meld powerful, positive messages with infectious rhythms—a mix that drives those exposed to it to dance, feel and think.
“I’m here to share my thoughts and feelings and ideas,” he says. “I’m not saying they are the solution—they might be pieces to a solution. But it’s nothing you don’t already know.”
The bottom line: The Nahko Bear who stands before you onstage is the real Nahko Bear. “My songs are my thoughts and my dreams,” he says. “I’ll never stop what I’m doing just to work within an industry.”
