Keeping It Honest With The Wheel

The Wheel is another impassioned project from Born In the Flood‘s Nathaniel Rateliff. The Wheel matches its predecessor in power, but from a darker, softer place that involves meandering, acoustic melodies laced with strings. The music, both in show and on record, has rough edges. The unpolished, gritty finish gives the music an accessible, familiar quality. The Leonard Cohen-esque songs have worked their way into Denver’s heart, making them an act to see if you’re in this area (if not, keep looking for national dates).

I managed to catch the band most recently on their stint opening for Bon Iver at The Fox Theater in Boulder, Colorado. In show, The Wheel featured an impressive lineup including an upright bass and a violin, adding dynamic to Nathaniel Rateliff’s melancholy, acoustic guitar work and rich, clear voice.

How did The Wheel get started?


It just kind of got started. I’ve always written acoustic songs and it started off that way, then I had all these extra songs and I would play solo shows, acoustic shows and it just kind of developed into more and more material that was distinctly different than what we were doing in Born In the Flood. At one point I bought this cheap eight track and I had a classical guitar and I went around recording these songs and had two albums worth of material all of a sudden. More and more I really enjoyed it and really wanted to pursue that.






How would you describe the sound?


It varies from slightly twangy country-ish type stuff to singer/songwriter songs, more folk I guess. Some of the newer stuff is a little more up tempo and upbeat. So it’s kind of across the board. We’ve joked around calling it “bi-curious redneck indie folk rock”, but that was a joke.






What have you released?


I put out a record a year ago or maybe longer than that. We’re planning to have another one out at the beginning of the year.






What do you hope that people will come away with from listening to your music?


I think the songs are really honest and we’re just trying to keep everything really honest. Hopefully people listen to the lyrics and are moved by it. That’s really it. Or at least they just like it. I’m not planning to change anyone’s life, but hopefully just touching people with music is really what we’re trying to do and in an honest way.






What was it like becoming established in this area?


I’ve been playing in a band for a long time with Joseph [Pope], we’ve been playing for almost fifteen years together. We’ve kind of played around Denver in all the dive-y joints and warehouses or art shows, in people’s backyards and more and more people started to like it. That’s when we were Born In the Flood. Born In the Flood’s success was kind of what helped The Wheel. It was kind of just a lot of hard work and playing any show, playing a lot of shows, and trying to make every show different. It’s been good and it just kind of happened. We’d been doing the same thing for two years and then all of a sudden people started to pay attention.






What is your favorite thing about Denver?


I don’t know. I’ve lived here for twelve years. The weather is nice and I love my neighborhood that I live in. It’s not Missouri. I don’t know.






What is your favorite local venue?


The Hi-Dive has always been our home and I love those guys. I love playing there.






I really, really like the Hi-Dive. It’s just always relaxed and always has a great vibe.


I’ve seen some of the best shows of my life there. Up and coming bands.






How did you end up playing with Bon Iver?


Mutual friends and their agent is interested in us. That’s just kind of the way that the weird world of the industry works when you get to a certain point, I guess. Everything starts to change all of a sudden.






Tell me about some of your favorite music.


I love The Band, I love Bob Dylan, I love Leonard Cohen, I was a huge Doors fan when I was a kid. I’ve always loved The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and Van Morrison. So kind of like the classic sixties stuff, but as of recent, I’ve really enjoyed actually Bon Iver’s records, the full length and the EP that are out. I’ve listened to The Delta Spirit a lot lately and those are good friends of ours, which kind of funny to be really into your friend’s band, but I guess it’s no different than I love Joe Sampson, Bad Weather California, and A Dog Paloma. Those are all local bands. They’re my friends, too, and I love to see them. The Fleet Foxes I listen to quite a bit and Elvis Perkins I really like a lot as well.






What has been the highlight of your career thus far?


I’d have to say playing at Red Rocks. As a musician, when I played there for a sold out audience, it actually sold out that night, too, well, it’s a pretty amazing feeling. I was playing alone at The Lion’s Lair and it was completely silent and the room was full, so it was at capacity, which is probably like 75 people, but it’s not a place where you would expect people to listen to you. It’s even smaller shows where people just listen and were attentive to what I was saying and singing to them, that’s really a blessing. I can only hope that as a career, that would continue to happen.






What are your plans for the future?


Release another record, tour a whole lot, and probably tour a whole lot before we release the record. Then go to Europe and buy a piece of property and get some horses.










Whimper and Wail – The Wheel






You can find The Wheel on MySpace at myspace.com/thewheel.