Recently I had the great pleasure of interviewing Bushwick, New York native Sara Kermanshahi of the band Natureboy. And if you haven’t listened to her latest self-titled release Natureboy, you’re missing out. Her songs are infectious acoustic odes laden with degrees of tenderness, fragility and longing. Her guitar playing is sedate and mellifluous, punctuated with a potency both endearing and captivating. Sara’s songs when played draw you closer; unconsciously you lean into them just to catch hints of their glowing warmth.
d. durand: I’ve been checking up on you Sara and I know you are a first generation Iranian-American born and bred in the great state of Washington. A Seattleite. Tell me about what it was like growing up in Seattle.
Sara: Seattle was good for the most part. Gray and rainy as well. Made some friends, started a band, went through teenage angst, pretty much like everywhere else.
d. durand: Growing up in Seattle obviously there is a lot of history as far as bands go, any musical influences aside from Nirvana?
Sara: Oh yeah, but Nirvana really turned my head around and made me like good music. Growing up I listened to a lot of Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Modest Mouse, My Bloody Valentine, PJ Harvey, The Cure etc….
d. durand: Ok, an odd question. If you could be a Nirvana song which one would it be, and why?
Sara: That IS an odd question! Probably “Negative Creep.” It says it all in the title.
d. durand: Being a first generation Iranian-American how does your heritage influence you approach to songwriting, or not?
Sara: It doesn’t really. I’m still lost on my approach to songwriting. I don’t have a certain method or technique to writing. I know I have to be inspired, if I’m not inspired then its all shit.
d. durand: Do you come from a musical family?
Sara: Not that I know of, my parents were artists when they were young, mostly painting.
d. durand: What music was you exposed to while growing up before you developed your own musical taste?
Sara: Well, there was a lot of Persian music around and I did take a liking to it, would sing some songs in Farsi. But I never really got into it. So American radio was my thing until I could buy CD’s.
d. durand: How did your family react to your decision to pursue music as a career?
Sara: Sure they have their worries but they have been very supportive. They really want me to do what makes me happy. They’d do and have done anything they can to help me.
d. durand: Is it me or do I hear a bit of the Middle Eastern time signatures, especially the phrasing typically associated with the sitar. Is that a conscious thing or totally subconscious?
Sara: Totally subconscious. I don’t even think about time signatures when I’m writing. It just comes out naturally.
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