Nathan Warriner pushes through pandemic with first solo album
Nathan Warriner can only laugh at his timing lately.
In December, the veteran Niagara Falls musician opened a pub called The Local on Main Street. After a promising first few months, it was shut down by the COVID-19 crisis in March.
So with extra time on his hands, he decided to finally finish the solo album he started writing songs for six years ago. Now that it’s done, he has nowhere to perform it for people.
Instead, he released for “The Day the Circus Left Town” digitally on Monday — music to play during a pandemic.
“Just with isolation and everything going on right now, it’s given me a lot of time to kind of be a musician again, hunkering down in a studio and writing out ideas,” says Warriner.
Boasting the same melodic rock he has dished out for more than two decades, the album is actually the first to have just Warriner’s name on the cover. He was previously a member of Niagara bands Tin Cup Saloon, Sick Twisted Farmers, the Nathan Warriner Band and — most recently — The Waxbills.
“I was tied up with The Waxbills for quite a while — we did put out three full-length records,” he says. “For the solo record, I started recording this in 2014 and I just kind of put it to bed for awhile. I got really busy and lost a bit of the inspiration.
“A couple months back I went back to the studio and listened to what I had recorded and said, ‘Let’s finish this.’”
If there’s a silver lining to this pandemic for musicians it’s that people can now spend more quality time with music, says Warriner. It may be the ideal time to release a new album.
“People have more time than ever to sit back and listen,” he says. “On the best of days, I’d write a Facebook post and get a hundred likes on it. I post on the release of this record and I got 350 likes on it.
“People are sitting around staring at their screens right now and have more time to enjoy the simpler things, listen to stuff and slow down a bit.”
The album will be available on most music streaming platforms and Warriner’s website nathanwarriner.ca.
As for The Local, which Warriner opened with partners Steve Kellerman and Kevin Kelly, the bar was forced to close in the midst of its busiest week.
“We were just about to fire up a huge crazy St. Paddy’s Day party,” he says. “Actually, it was the first week we were about to start paying ourselves.
“It’s a downer, but everybody’s in the same boat.”