Patriotic Hamptonian
by Tim Donnelly July 4th, 2002

Nancy Atlas is the real deal. She's as authentic as pair well-worn Levi's, Chuck Taylor's, a shot of Jack with a Bud chaser. Never mind the fact that she's a great singer (dare I say a female Bruce?), and an inspiring songwriter (there's always room on the Island for one more great songwriter, right?) She was also our shining beacon on the Hamptons Documentary, where she told it the way it is, not the way it was portrayed to be. Nancy Atlas loves her backyard, her art, and all things simple. She's no bullshit. She is a patriot. Nancy sat down with us for some straight talk.

Improper Hamptonian Magazine: What are the challenges that an original singer/songwriter has in playing on the East End of Long Island?

Nancy Atlas: Not getting radio play from local stations that claim to be community based.

IHM: It seems that every nightclub except for the Talkhouse wants to hear cover music, correct?

NA: Yes! Very much so. You know,one of my favorite memories is when i first started out with the band (I've been doing this for 10 years but I've had the band for 5), . It was a Friday night, they charged $5 and we played eight original songs and then I started packing up to go. One of the bartenders comes up to me and says, "What are you doing?" and I said "I'm leaving, I just played my songs, and those are all the original songs I have," and he said "Yeah, but it's Friday night, people paid $5," and I replyed, "If anybody has a problem with the fact that they just paid $5 for eight songs that took me three years to write, tell them to come up and talk to me." He must have liked that answer cause no one came up and we got paid. I really resisted playing cover songs for as long as I could, but there's no way that you can creep around it when you have to play for 3 hours. It's hard but hopefully you can manage your band and your show and craft it so that you have people singing your songs just as much as the covers or even more.

IHM: Right. And that must be a great feeling for you.

NA: Unbelievable feeling. Sick feeling. One of the best feelings in the world is to have 30 people singing your song back to you.

IHM: What influences your songwriting the most? Personal experiences; observations?

NA: Let me really think about that. I use the writing to express a lot of different things. Some of them are personal experiences, and others are, well, I really like the craft of songwriting. I really believe that it deserves time and effort, and avoidance of the cliché. A lot of times a song will start for me just based on a sentence. For example, I just wrote a song about three months ago called "A curse and a blessing," and it was solely because I liked the dichotomy between the two statements and I wrote a song completely around it.

IHM: Are you starting to see any fruits of your hard labor?

NA: Yeah, I am, because I'm getting noticed at the dump now. Yeah, it's something! (laughs)

IHM: (laughs) So, the garbage menŠ

NA: They're like "Yo! Aren't you that singer chick?" Yes, I definitely am. I mean, not to beat a dead horse, but I am not waitressing anymore, so that's really nice.

IHM: (cheers and whistles!) We live in such a beautiful place, and sometimes the attitudes don't make it a beautiful place. Do you have any suggestions for people who come out here and want to enjoy its wonders?

NA: Yeah. You know, I am under the impression that 90% of the people who vacation out here in the summer, as well as 90% of the local population who live here year-round, are phenomenally nice people and only want to have a good time. I believe that 10% of both sides are assholes and they kinda ruin it for everyone because you only need one real scruff, one real jerk, on either side, to kind of slant your view for the whole summer. My personal advice is that if you are getting into more fights than normal, you may want to take a look at your life and why you are here. If it's not to enjoy the beauty and to replenish your soul, then you might want to go somewhere else.

IHM: What rivals the feeling of freedom that you get on stage? Is there anything else that allows you that feeling that you get when you're up there and you're with your band and you guys are cranking up full cylinders and you don't have to look at each other? Is it gardening, is it meditation, is it surfing...

NA: It's walking my dog down a barren beach in October. Another is surfing with my boyfriend and clamming.

IHM: Clamming? Do you have a certain clamming technique?

NA: I do, but I'd have to kill you if I gave it away. I'll tell you a little inside information. You go twelve months out of the year- when there's snow on the ground... or whenever you want to have a really nice dinner. There's been many times I've just gone clamming and gotten two dozen and sat in my kitchen with a bottle of chilled white wine and music. It's a sacred process to go and harvest what you eat. And even though I love animals and I don't hunt (I'm not a vegetarian but I'm not a giant meat eater, either), I still appreciate the people who do because when you go out and you get it, it's a deeper connection and it's also a deeper connection to living out here. In the documentary when they followed me, I took them crabbing and clamming, and to yard sales. I mean what they actually put in there was different, but you knowŠI don't know why anybody needs a film to judge how they should live out here. It's your life out here, don't look to other people to define it.

IHM: So what is your deal for the rest of the summer?

NA: We're playing some solid shows at the Talkhouse, locally while we got the roll of a spin-off off of this. We're starting to put together a little bit of a tour for the fall, we've gotten an enormous response from Texas, California, and Canada, believe it or not, and I'm looking to continue to craft the band and to make it stronger and keep writing. I need to find some time to write. I am a busy girl, and have been wearing a lot of different hats lately.

IHM: Well, just don't lose focus on the thing that got you there, which is your great songwriting.

NA: Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to find a corner, a piece of sand, where I can sit down and strum my guitar for a couple of days without a telephone ringing or a person knocking at my door.

IHM: Don't you wish, right?

NA: Yeah, it's pretty nuts, but like I said, I gotta do it. I can't bitch at anybody else, I just gotta find the time.

IHM: Nice.

Check out nancyatlas.com for show info. Call WEHM request line 631.329.0967 and tell 'em in no certain terms to play some Nancy Atlas!