Born: November 24th, 1987 Nathan has been around music his whole life. His father and mother were both choir teachers when he was little, and he was brought up on The Beatles, Eagles, Phil Keaggy, Boston, Kansas, and other old vinyl records; however, he didn’t start playing the piano until the summer before his 16th birthday. In the summer of 2003 the church he attended was having a youth trip, and while he was at the coke machine getting a drink for the road, he was left behind at the church. Being too embarrassed to call anyone and too young to drive, he had a long wait in the church building. He went into the auditorium and played the electric trap set for 30 minutes until boredom, and the piano caught his eyes. “I didn’t know much about the piano at all. I mean, my dad can play a little bit because he was a music major in college, but his true instrument is the guitar. I was curious to see how it worked so I just started messing around with the keys, figuring things out.” That was the beginning of his love for the piano. Learning everything by the sight of the keys, feel, and by ear. He’s come a long way since the day he was left in the church playing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” with one finger. From that day forward he kept returning to pianos he had access to at his school and at the church putting chords together and learning favorite Beatles songs such as “Let it Be” and “Hey Jude.” He developed his piano playing ability throughout high school then headed to college. The summer after his freshman year at Oklahoma State he was a counselor at a camp for the summer, and didn’t make enough money for his full sophomore year. This same summer he was called by Justin Blasier, friend since fourth grade and drummer for Skyline Circle, who was attending Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida at the time. Justin called and asked if Nathan would be interested in starting a Christian band when he returned from Florida. Nathan’s immediate response was, “‘Not at all!’ I was terrified of playing the piano in front of people. It was my thing that I did in empty rooms where no one could hear me, and that was my favorite way to play. Alone. I told Justin that there was no way I could play in a band anyway because of school, and my parents would never let me join a band, let alone start one instead of getting a degree.” Then, in a course of three months, God took away every excuse Nathan had not to play. He took away school because of money, took away the girl he was dating at the time, and his parents told him that now was the best time there could be to try something like a band out. Nathan finally accepted a roll in a band with no name later to become Skyline Circle with Justin. It was just the two of them for a while until they gained a guitarist who was eventually replaced by Raquel Carlson, friend of Justin through church.
Nathan writes all the music, lyrics, backing vocals, and arrangements of every Skyline Circle song. “So, basically the one person who was least interested in being in a band due to fear of playing in front of people became the front man.” –Nathan Lauderdale |
Equipment: Yamaha CP-33 Fully Weighted Stage Piano |