Nathan Mitchell, a multi-instrumentalist based in Toronto, releases music under the name Warburton. We discussed his background as an artist and the process behind his recent record, Hurricane.

Where did the band name come from? I heard that Warburton was the name of a dog that you had?

Nathan: Yeah. Warburton was the name of my dog, who was a 200lb Saint Bernard called Warburton, and… I just loved him, and I named a band after him.

How did you get the name Warburton for your dog?

Nathan: Honestly, I can’t remember… When I first lived in Toronto – like, 12 years ago or something – I was at work, and we’d talk about names, what a good name for a St. Bernard would be, and someone said “Warburton”. That kind of stuck with me, and then, eventually, I got one. And it really suited his demeanor and his look, you know what I mean?

Does the name mean anything in particular to you? Have you assigned any meaning to it?

Nathan: At the time, when I first started writing the songs, it started off as a country project. I needed a name, and I felt like Warburton suited the name of a country-kind-of-style project. I was also writing a TV show at the same time called Warburton and Wonder Pup, and they just kind of joined. It just made sense.

You were writing a TV show?

Nathan: Yeah, I suppose I still am – it’s an animated series about a former superhero dog that is now a service dog. And the drawing and the character designs are based off my dog.

How long have you been in Toronto?

Nathan: A while now. I lived here for a few years back in the day, and I went back to Australia for a while. Then I came back again in the start of 2021. Probably eight or nine years now, but it’s kind of split between two times.

Why did you come the first time?

Nathan: The first time I came, I just needed a change. Where I’m from doesn’t have a lot of creative opportunities. It’s the kind of place where there’s three cliques in the music scene, and everybody’s in everybody’s band, and there’s nothing else going on, you know? There’s not even many creative opportunities outside of music, whether you want to be a TV show writer, or an actor, or something like that. It’s a tough place, really tough place to come from. I’d been [to Toronto] a few times on holiday, and at that time, a few of my favourite bands were from Canada. And I just thought…. Fuck it, why not?

Who were the bands?

Nathan: At the time, the main one would have been Alexis on Fire. That’s the band that got me into singing in the first place. PUP as well. I was super into heavier music back then, so I was super into PUP. METZ were pretty cool… Sum 41, bands like that.

So your LP is 10 songs, right?

Nathan: The Bandcamp one has 10, it’s got a couple of bonus tracks on it. [The streaming release has eight songs].

Now that it’s done, do you feel like it has a common theme threaded through all the songs?

Nathan: The common theme is about being in relationships and making them work for a long time. It was kind of written about my own relationship with my wife, and also a bunch of relationships around me; like my brother broke up with his wife, and a couple of other friends had troubles in their relationships. That’s probably the main theme: trying to get through the hurt and the pain of relationships failing, or not always feeling seen. But I think the overall tone of the record – although it sounds incredibly sad – is more hopeful. You’re in this forest, but you’re not always going to be in there. You’re eventually going to come out the other side. One of the songs on the album, As Long As I’m Here, is actually the first ever Warburton song I wrote. It used to be a banjo song. It just kind of floated around and never got used [until this record]. The rest of them were all written maybe a month or two before I recorded.

So most of the songs are more recent. Do you feel like anything has changed about your writing process over time?

Nathan: No, I kind of suck at it, right? I can’t sit down and be like, “I’m gonna write a song.” I just play guitar on the couch and most of the time it goes nowhere, but every once in a while, something hits my brain, and then I’ll quickly run to the music room and I can make the whole song in 5 or 10 minutes. There’s not many [songs] that I sit around with. Sometimes I sit with the lyrics for a while.

Do you ever revise lyrics?

Nathan: I’d definitely revise a few times. Before they’re recorded, obviously. And usually after it’s out, I’m like, “fuck, I wish I wrote this instead of that,” which I’m sure a lot of people go through. But most of the time, 80% or even 90% of [the original lyrics] stay, and then there’s just a few lines where I’ll come up with something better.

What was the hardest part about this record? What was the easiest?

Nathan: Hardest part, for sure, was lyrics. I think it’s a delicate balance when you’re writing songs that are very personal to both you and people that you know. And you don’t want to make it so in their face that you feel this certain way, or that it’s about them, you know what I mean? Or about you. That was definitely the hardest part. I don’t think I did it very well. But the easiest part for me is always just instrumental. I can write instrumentals fairly fast.

When someone listens to this record, what do you want them to get out of it? Is that something you like to talk about? Or do you prefer listeners to take what they take from the record, without commentary?

Nathan: Well, that’s tough. I think, in general, I don’t necessarily like talking about my music. But… I think from any record I make, I know what I take from it; but music is personal, not only to the person that made it, but to the listener, right? Everyone’s experience is different, so I always just say, “just listen to it loud.”

Do you know why you do music? Or is it just something you feel you have to do?

Nathan: Great question. I don’t think I’ve ever thought about it that hard. I’ve just kind of done it, you know what I mean? There was a certain point where I decided to try music, and I found that I was decent enough that I enjoyed doing it. And it’s always been a good way to get feelings out. I’ve never been much of a talker. I’m definitely somebody that keeps more inside than I let out. Writing lyrics is more of a newer thing. I’ve always mostly done instrumental work. I don’t think hard enough about it to be like, “this is exactly why I do it,” it’s just something that I do. I never go a long period of time without picking up an instrument. I just like beautiful sounds, you know?

Did any particular bands influence the record?

Nathan: I was listening to a lot of Ethel Cain at the time. I think Preacher’s Daughter is a fantastic record. I would say that was honestly the main influence for me. And then in general, a lot of Nick Cave and The National. Me and Jon sat down and talked about records that we liked the sound of, and one that came up was ultraviolence. That’s a record I’ve always loved. The mix and the master and just the general sound of the drum tones, I think, are fantastic. Sigur Rós is a band that I just really love, and I’ll listen to to fall asleep. I think I’m in the top 0.01% of listeners every year. New Found Glory was a big band growing up for me. Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners’ new record was fantastic, and I was listening to that a lot of the time. I was listening to a lot of Gregory Alan Isakov as well.

Do you think that releasing the songs is a crucial part of the creative process? If you had finished this record, but just never released it, do you think you would be able to progress creatively in the same way?

Nathan: No. I would still write songs, obviously. But I don’t know if they would go in the same direction as they would if I release the music. When you release a record, you get certain opportunities or certain things change, and that influences the way your sound will go. I think writing records, and not releasing them, can get you stuck in the same bubble, the same sound. That’s not personally what I would like. I would like to have my records sound different, and sound like the stage of my life that I’m at. Even for personal reasons, when you’re older, you can listen to a record that you made and be like, “that’s where I was at that time.” I think if you’re writing music that’s all sounding the same, it’s because you haven’t done anything with it.

Hurricane is available on streaming platforms or for purchase on bandcamp.