Post - The UV Life Magazine

COVID-19 has virtually shuttered the live music industry, but when it opens back up Roseburg native Nate Hansen will have plenty of opportunities to play in public again.

Story and Photo by Miki Markovich

Even in the middle of a global pandemic, with more canceled gigs than he can shake a drumstick at, Nate Hansen exudes the smoothness of a seasoned musician and the humble persona of a close friend.

While this is not to say the Roseburg native has a split personality, he certainly couldn’t be blamed for having one.

“I've wanted to play music pretty much as long as I remember,” says Hansen. “From age 2 to 6 or 7, I would put on The Beatles’ 1 album. That was the soundtrack of me falling asleep every single night without fail. From there, I got into different styles of music. I kind of had my ear to the ground.”

At age 7, Hansen took up percussion. His uncle, Ross Hansen, a music teacher at Fremont Middle School and Umpqua Community College, helped connect some dots.

“Ross worked as a professional guitar player for 20 years, primarily down in Dallas, but at this time he was living and playing in Portland,” says Hansen. “When a 7-year-old kid approaches most people saying, 'I want to play drums,' that's not something they can really facilitate. But he gave me my first practice pad and pair of sticks, and then was able to guide my parents to resources and help me get a teacher.”

Now a Eugene resident, Hansen remains well connected to Douglas County. Before COVID-19 virtually eliminated the opportunity to play live gigs, he was involved in projects with Graduating Class, Monarch Hotel, Blue Moods and the Neil Gregory Johnson Band, with his involvement ranging from drumming to songwriting and producing. While Johnson’s band is the only one based in Roseburg, all have strong local ties.

“In tracing these projects back recently, it was like ‘I met this person when I was living in Roseburg’ or ‘I met this person through somebody I met in Roseburg.’ It was a really fun process to connect all the dots and realize there are people I've been playing with since I was 12. We're still playing, but we're playing with this larger web of folks.”

An advocate for music education programs, Hansen helped form the popular Roseburg band Hemlock Lane with some players he met in a Fremont Middle School jazz program and others he met three years later in a Roseburg High songwriting class. This collaboration led to a series of EPs produced by Grammy-nominated Mark Needham, whose portfolio includes artists such as Imagine Dragons, The Killers and Chris Isaak.

“We just cut our teeth and figured out this process,” says Hansen. “We wrote a lot of bad songs when we started, but we got to the point where we were actually writing pretty cool stuff. Then it was, OK, how do you make a record? Dive right in, book studio time, figure out how to record things, figure out how to find our sound. We made a couple of crummy records but eventually refined what we were doing. Same thing went for booking tours and playing shows.””

Hemlock Lane was composed of students Hansen met in middle and high school that recorded a series of EPs produced by Grammy-nominated Mark Needham, whose portfolio includes artists such as Imagine Dragons, The Killers and Chris Isaak.

Local mentorship and youthful enthusiasm kept the momentum going for Hemlock Lane. The members learned by doing, an apprenticeship served partly on an early tour of the West Coast. They played to empty rooms and slept in vans, but never stopped trying to learn their craft and pick up how-to info along the way.

“There were a lot of great, seasoned musicians who were a part of that scene that really provided that initial guidance,” says Hansen. “‘Hey kid, this is how you plug in your pedal board,’ and ‘This is how you put a mic on a drum set.’ ‘This is how you email a venue to ask for a date you're trying to book.’ Help with all that initial stuff came from bands like Not Penny's Boat. Local people on the scene were really receptive and helpful.”

Hemlock Lane included, from left, Nate Hansen, Isaac Brickner, Natty Burmeister and Stephen Metsig. Photo by Brad Harvey. — Hemlock Lane included, from left, Nate Hansen, Isaac Brickner, Natty Burmeister and Stephen Metsig.
Photo by Brad Harvey.

It was during this “education” that Hansen met current bandmate Neil Johnson.

“Neil's really more of a testament to the Roseburg music scene than I am,” he says. “His presence and the community he’s built up in Roseburg are absolutely amazing. Whenever I’ve played shows in Douglas County the turnout and response have been incredible. Again, that's a connection I never would have made if not for those early years playing spots like Splitz, the Half Shell or Musicians for Mobility (a local fund-raising event).”

With the number of Umpqua Valley venues hosting music growing, now including breweries like North 40, Two-Shy and Backside and soon to include the music-centric downtown spot The Sunnyside, Hansen is looking forward to the future. Not just for the opportunity to play more himself, but also to see the emergence of Roseburg's next Hemlock Lane.

“Even though some of us don't live there anymore, we’re still active participants in the music scene,” Hansen says. “Seeing the city grow, and the nightlife and the venue situation improve, has been really fun.”

Hemlock then and now: