The undeniably talented Nathan Cavaleri is back with his solo album, Demons including his new single, Before You Check Out, an introspective song with a deeply important message and a suitably poignant film clip. Cavaleri will be celebrating the release of his new album with a national tour including being on the Bluesfest 2021 lineup.
Nathan Cavaleri was recently featured in a episode of ABC’s Australian Story. Picking up a guitar and learning enough basic skills from his Dad to play along with his favourite blues albums at just three years old, Nathan was playing electric guitar by five and had played his first gig by six – a 90 minute busking set in front of his Mother’s coffee shop that saw him take home $270. Soon after, Nathan was diagnosed and treated for leukaemia, and the Starlight Foundation set up a meeting with his hero Mark Knopfler, attracting the attention of the media and soon after, a host of Aussie music icons. By age ten, Nathan was making regular appearances on Hey Hey It’s Saturday and had toured the country extensively playing sold out arenas with Jimmy Barnes and Diesel, by twelve he’d toured the world and played with BB King, Etta James, Bonnie Raitt, and had made guest appearances on all the big American TV talk shows, he even performed for the Clintons during their time in office. He was pursued by Prince and Madonna, and a bidding war ensued, with Nathan eventually signing to Michael Jackson’s MJJ Records. Soon after, seven years after his diagnosis, Nathan was given a clean bill of health at age thirteen. He recorded a bunch of records, starred in Camp Nowhere – a Disney film alongside Jessica Alba – and even starred in an episode of Baywatch alongside The Hoff, and after one final tour with BB King, Nathan decided to take a break. He came back to Australia and started a blues rock band with Col Hatcham from The Screaming Jets, dropping releases and touring extensively before suffering adrenal fatigue and severe anxiety which spiraled into depression and saw Nathan step away from the stage. He’s since taken a number of years to work on his health, has dealt with and learned to manage his personal demons and has a newfound appreciation for his unique story.
His new single Before You Check Out was written for a cousin who lost his battle with mental illness a few years ago. Nathan explains, “I strongly identified with what he went through and wished I had reached out to him. Having battled my own demons, I wondered whether my experience would have helped“.
Nathan has used this album to help document his recovery from mental illness and how he has come to terms with his unique past. “The bulk of Demons was created during a time when I didn’t believe that I’d be mentally and physically stable enough to return to the stage.” “In contrast to my younger years as a performer, the Demons tour will see me connecting to audiences in an intimate story-telling type of way. As a kid I had something to play, now I have something to say. My set will be strung together with epic and incredulous stories of growing up on the road, to how my connection to music deepened when I was battling Leukaemia as a kid, to the lessons I had to learn in more recent years dealing with mental health demons.”
The single ‘Before You Check Out’ and album ‘Demons’ is out now.
The Demons national tour is on sale now, for tickets or more information, head to www.nathancavaleri.com
