Interview with Nathan Ryan

Nathan Ryan is an actor turned singer/rapper from Colorado Springs, Colorado. He started making YouTube videos two years ago to get his name out as an actor but then decided that he enjoyed making music more. He is about to leave for tour for three weeks. You can check out any of his videos on YouTube and you can buy his album on iTunes.

For more from him you can check him out on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @nathanryan.

How did you start getting thousands and thousands of views on YouTube?

“Honestly I have no idea, basically I just started making videos to get my name out there cause I live in Co Springs and I wanted to be an actor and I didn’t know how to go about it so I just started making videos. I would make like one video a week and people would be like, ‘Make another one!’ so I think it’s just like word of mouth and now it’s just insane.”

What makes you stand out over all the other people on YouTube? What gives you your edge?

“I believe it’s my hair and tattoos really. I mean a lot of the kids on YouTube their kind of like the clean-cut kids, sort of like the goody-goody kids and that’s just not me at all. I have like 52 tattoos and crazy hair. The reason people go on YouTube, I think, is because they want to get away from the T.V. and if they see people who look just like the people on Disney Channel they’re going to be like ‘Oh, that looks just like T.V. I’ll go find somebody else.’ So I think that’s what really does it for me.”

What made you want to switch from acting to doing music?

“I don’t know, it was fun and all but with music I can just make it instantly in my room. I can do it whenever I want, if I’m in the mood to make a new song I can do it right then and there but with acting you have to go to casting calls, impress the casting directors, make it past the audition, and it just wasn’t quick enough for me. And music was always a big part of my life, I just didn’t know how I would go about doing that. It’s a better fit, I think.”

Who are your musical influences?

“I really like Gym Class Heroes and Paramore. But it’s weird because my music is different from all of that but I still listen to like Cute Is What We Aim For and all that. My music sounds really different but that kind of music is what inspires me to write new stuff.”

How was traveling with Warped Tour? What did you do on the tour?

“It was crazy. This charity called See Our Children Now who collects canned goods at the front door and if people donate a certain amount you get to skip the line and go in early, they just randomly hit me up right before Warped last year and asked if I would be interested in doing signings with them just to bring more attention to their tent and raise more food. So I went out there and it was insane it was so hot, and I got the worst tan- I looked like Snooki when I got back. It was so fun though, it was my first time ever like meeting fans that supported me. It was different for me because I’m very shy in real life. Like the first day I was there, I think it was in Houston, I did a signing and these girls were like shaking and screaming and freaking out and I didn’t know how to deal with it. I was just like ‘Oh… Hi… I don’t know why you’re shaking so badly.’ And this one girl passed out, she was hugging me and then she just started falling on me and I didn’t know what she was doing and I didn’t realize that she had passed out. We had to call the medic, it was horrible. It was like the worst first day ever. I didn’t know how to react, they were over reacting. But as the tour went on I kinda got used to it and it got easier.”

Do you want to continue to be a solo act or would you like to form a band someday?

“I don’t know. Well, it’s easy to do a solo thing because all I hear about is bands breaking up. I have so many friends who are in bands and they always seem to have problems because they can’t agree on something or somebody doesn’t like something. So the reason I did the solo thing is because I had been doing the acting thing on my own for two years and then I just kind of moved into the singing thing on my own. It’s nice because I have my own schedule, I film and edit and do everything on my own. So I’m just used to being on my own, eventually if it gets bigger I might merge into something else but as of now I like the way it is. If people don’t like something I know they don’t like it because of me and if they do like it it’s because of me. I don’t have to wonder if its something that someone else did. I’ve got my friend Daniel Oxford coming on tour with me, and he’s going to be my screamer over the back up vocals. So as of right now, I guess you could say that Daniel is my screamer.”

Can you tell us a little bit about the work that goes into planning a headlining tour?

“It is so stressful. Basically I’ve been trying to go on tour for a while now. I think we’ve got it set up now that we’re heading out June 11th and we’re going for three weeks. You just have to figure out a lot of things… Like where your fans are, how many would actually come out- so like where the venue is in relation to them, what time would be good because kids still have school and my fan base is pretty young. So you have figure out all that, you have to figure out transportation, you have to get  merch, you have to get stage lights set up… So just preparing for this tour that we’re about to go on it’s been like four months of stressfulness.”

If you could play with anyone dead or alive, who would it be?

“I would have to say all of Young Money. If I opened up for Young Money I would be on top of the world. People may not like it because it’s a different kind of music… I would probably get booed off stage… But it would be awesome.”

What are the top three most played songs on your iPod?

“Shot For Me by Drake, Gone Too Long by Breathe Carolina, and We Are Young by Fun..”

Is there anything you would like to say to your fans?

“That I can’t wait to see them all on tour and I can’t wait to meet every single one of them.”