Check out this interview with Nathaniel from http://www.towleroad.com/
Credit to: http://www.towleroad.com/ for this interview! You can read it in full here:
http://www.towleroad.com/2009/07/boy-bands-are-successful-because-theyre-formulaic-giving-fans-the-archetypes-they-wantyouve-got-the-cute-one-the-dan.html
"Boy bands are successful because they're formulaic, giving fans the archetypes they want—you've got the cute one, the dangerous one, the young one.
Well, how about the gay one?
Twenty-seven-year-old Nathaniel Flatt is not a household name, and you can be excused if you have not yet heard of his boy band V Factory since their single "Love Struck" is just now making an impact at pop radio ahead of a projected summer album release on Warner Bros. Records. What makes him remarkable, aside from his obvious good looks and musicality, is that he's the first member of a U.S boy band to be openly gay from the beginning of his career.
It's anyone's guess whether V Factory will join their ranks, but they're on their way, sharing a manager with Ashley Tisdale of High School Musical fame and with former teen idol Tommy Page as their A&R at Warner Bros. (his "I'll Be Your Everything" went to #1 in 1990).
As for Flatt, it sounds like he's already where he needs to be.
Matthew Rettenmund's full interview with Nathaniel Flatt after the jump...
Towleroad: When did you first get interested in singing and dancing?
Nathaniel: I was pretty young. I saw a production of Peter Pan—I can’t remember how old I was—and I saw them flying around and I thought from then on, “Oh, my God, I wanna do this.” I think also being the youngest of four there were probably some attention-starved aspects that also kinda came with it. I just have always sung in musicals and acted in plays and all that.
Towleroad: What was your first play?
Nathaniel: First play…it was some sort of Easter Bunny play and I was the Easter Bunny. I started it off right!
Towleroad: Was it considered cool among your friends to be involved in performing? No teasing?
Nathaniel: I kind of kept it really separate. The town that I’m from is really small. Once I got pretty serious into it, the town actually where I did most of the productions—I worked in a professional theater—it was like 45 minutes away, so where I did a lot of my training and performing wasn’t even in my town. I never did the high school production of whatever because I was actually doing stuff and being paid for it.
Towleroad: What was your hometown, Cookeville, Tenn., like?
Nathaniel: Really small. Everyone knows everybody and my family’s been there forever, my grandparents. I was a pretty good kid, I think, also because I knew that my parents were gonna find out about things. It was a pretty strict household...we went to church Sunday night and Wednesday night—that whole thing.
Towleroad: At what point in your life did you realize you were gay?
Nathaniel: I think as long as I can remember. People are always curious about that kind of stuff, girls or what-not that don’t know any gay people. I remember my roommate in college was like, “Oh, I didn’t realize until I was a sophomore in high school,” or something and I was like, “Whoa!” I mean, I just always knew. When you’re that young, you don’t really put two and two together, but I just…really liked Jem and the Holograms better than He-Man. [Laughs]
Towleroad: Was being gay ever something that stressed you out or worried you?
Nathaniel: I definitely struggled for a really long time with how that fits in with what you’ve been taught in church. I think being gay is so hard growing up because, like, let’s say you’re a minority that is completely segregated from anyone else. If you’re living in America and you’re Hispanic or something, more than likely you have a Hispanic family, obviously, and some sort of culture, but growing up in the South in a small town, I didn’t know anyone else who was gay. I didn’t have anything really to base that off of until I started performing and there were older professionals that would come in that I knew were gay. I just assumed they were going to hell or something.
"Make me look cute," Nathaniel told me when I asked which photos to use.
Towleroad: Were you aware of seeing any gay representations in the media?
Nathaniel: When I was older, Will & Grace was on television. I was embarrassed just to be watching that in my household. I would watch it in my room with the door closed like it was something dirty.
Towleroad: Who was the first person you came out to?
Nathaniel: I left high school and then I ended up going to college. I went to a performing arts college, and I just assumed we would all continue the charade. But I wound up meeting somebody and had my first boyfriend and it was kind of like there you were gay until proven straight. They just assume everybody is gay. It wasn’t, “Dah-dah-dah-dah…I’m gay!” It was just kind of assumed, and I was dating someone so….
Towleroad: That’s a very decisive way to come out!
Nathaniel: Exactly!
Towleroad: How did your family react?
Nathaniel: I didn’t actually tell my mom until much later. We don’t talk about it much. I know that she loves me. My family’s amazing. I know that they support me no matter what. Even now, they’ve never left this town—I don’t hold that against them, but I don’t think they fully understand it.
Towleroad: Ever have any really negative reactions to being gay?
Nathaniel: I would say sometimes in high school, yeah, people were cruel just like for everyone, but I always knew there was a bigger picture. Sure, that kind of stuff hurts, but I didn’t let it get to me. Like I said, in college everyone else was gay, too. Now, when I go back to random cities in the country [on tour], I don’t dress differently or alter anything about myself and I don’t notice people cracking jokes or anything, but I don’t know if that’s because I’m not operating on an assumption that someone is gonna think of me differently or what.
Nathaniel theorizes he doesn't give off the sexual, young-boy energy teen girls want.
Towleroad: How did you first get involved in V Factory?
Nathaniel: I knew a girl that was running an audition for the label that was interested in putting together a music group. I just knew her from working in L.A.; we had done some jobs together. She called me and said, “Hey, I don’t know if this is your thing, but I know you sing, so come on down.” I kind of thought it seemed a little ghetto, but everybody in L.A. has a record deal or something. It was just down the street from my house so I thought, “Okay, I’ll go down at the end of the day.” I was the last person to audition, 10 minutes late. Even with that I was very apprehensive once this all got rolling. I actually lied about my age! You were supposed to be 21 and I was 24 at the time. She was like, “Oh, just say you’re 21!” So I put down that I was 21.
It wasn’t for a few weeks into it I was like, “Shit, like, how do I come out to them? Are they gonna just fire me because I’m gay?” or whatever. It just kind of organically unrolled. A couple of the other guys, some of us had mutual friends, so they knew I was gay. I can’t even remember how it ended up coming up. But it was never an issue—at all. I feel very fortunate, because a lot of people ask that—that’s one of their first questions: “So, do you have to be in the closet with this group?” The label, everyone has been pretty…pretty…pretty good about it.”
Towleroad: Are the members of the group totally fine with it, too? No issues?
Nathaniel: No, no, not really. Just kidding around and stuff. We all have nicknames for each other all the time and Wesley affectionately calls me WeHo. [Laughs]
Towleroad: What’s your place in the group?
Nathaniel: There’s the age thing, so I’m older and more mature. I’m a voice of reason a lot of times. I think most of the time I’m the one calling people, “Okay, we have to be in the lobby at 9:30.” Things like that. I think from being gay—I hate to sound stereotypical, but I feel like it brings a queer eye to the group. They always ask me, “Should I wear this?” There for a while when we started I was kind of the stylist just because there wasn’t the money to go around so I would go and buy stuff at Nordstrom and just return it after our photo shoot.
Towleroad: Do they come to you for personal advice?
Nathaniel: We all have different dynamics with how we relate to each other. I would say maybe Nicky would ask me for advice sometimes. Like, if he had some issues he wanted to talk to management about he might send me the e-mail and say, “Hey, do you think this is cool?” We’re supportive that way with each other for sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment