Nathan Williams, Living the Dream

Before I get too far into this post I want to make two things clear: First, I realize that the second Wavves related post in as many days has us venturing towards the single-focus days of the "Grizzly Blog" when it seemed like all we did was gob on about Veckatimest. Second, I never thought I would be coming to the defense of Nathan Williams.

Nathan Williams, best known to most as the driving force beyond beach punk outfit Wavves, has been the target of a load of criticism ever since his freakout at the Primavera Sound Festival a while back. Those who saw Wavves success as riding on a tsunami of hype and inflated reviews took no pains in dragging Williams over the coals. Let me clarify this: by no means am I a huge fan of Williams. Do I enjoy Wavves' music? Yeah, its great for cruising down the highway with the windows down and sunglasses on. Do I think its worthy of the collective load being blown by the big-name reviewers? Not really. Does he deserve the vitriol for his colossal fuck up in Barcelona? Sure. He's a musician, people paid to see him perform and he didn't. Do your job, or take the heat.

I'm not writing this to say that it's ok to blow a show and that people should stop picking on Nathan. The reason I'm writing this is to implore everyone to put themselves in this kid's shoes for awhile. He's 22. Until recently he was unemployed and living with his parents, recording his songs on GarageBand. He was living the life he sings about in "No Hope Kids": no car, no money, no girlfriend. Now go from that to suddenly being an indie sensation and a music blog darling. For somebody that's clearly starved for attention, its like taking an anorexic to Cici's. Then, he goes to Europe, with no responsibility but to play music. This is what everyone our age dreams about. You're in a place where you can do almost anything and still get away with it. And he's doing it. Is it a shame that it's affecting his music? Yes. Would I do the same thing? Absolutely.

Aside from the awful haircut, I would love to be Nathan Williams. I watched the video for No Hope Kids and through the whole thing I kept thinking, "Damn, I wish I could do that". Which one of us wouldn't want to drink beer and smoke weed all day, only to hang out in some of the coolest rock clubs we'll never see by night? Who wouldn't seize this amazing opportunity to live their wild and glorious youth to the absolute abandon? And I'm not kidding myself for one second, I would do it the exact same way he's doing it: acting like a complete asshole. Perhaps there is no better symbol for our generation than Nathan Williams: young, self-centered, and increasingly self-destructive. And maybe that's we all need, someone that makes us say, "Hey, everybody, stop acting like a bunch of punkass bitches." But, hey, don't blame me if I reply, "Not yet, I'm having too much fun."