Change of direction excites artist Hedges

By John Benson

The band, Nathan Hedges and the Imports, is still evolving, its leader says.

Whatever your opinion of The Strokes may be, the New York City garage rock act does have a few good tunes. One of which is the Stones-y “You Only Live Once,” which Akron artist Nathan Hedges has recently been covering live with his new band Nathan Hedges and the Imports.

It’s a time of change for Hedges, who earlier this year came to Youngstown as a solo acoustic artist opening for First in Space at Cedars Lounge. In some sense, leading the way for Hedges and the new decidedly electric and more rocking band is “You Only Live Once.” Nevertheless, Hedges is really excited about the new direction.

“It’s a little bit more upbeat with guitar leads and things like that, so it has more of an edge to it,” said Hedges, who graduates from the University of Akron this May with a degree in media production. “I describe it like Ryan Adams-meets-The Strokes.

“It has a lot of lead guitar hooks going along with the acoustic singer-songwriter melodies and stuff like that. It’s definitely different and a lot more high energy, but it’s really cool.”

Being cool is something Hedges has been for nearly a decade. He started out by fronting Columbus-based rock band Hudson Chase before venturing into singer-songwriter territory with an alt-country vibe. The recent move from Americana to garage rock will be cemented with his next studio album, which he hopes to record this spring for a fall release.

Two songs slated to be on project are The Hives-like “Always Right,” which possesses an indie edge with a droning sound behind it, and the electric guitar lead-friendly “Call My Name.” Hedges said he’ll be playing both tracks when his new outfit makes its Youngstown debut Saturday at Cedars Lounge.

It’s a new day for Hedges, who for the first time in his life will be unfettered from school to pursue his dream of rock ’n’ roll stardom. In fact, the 26-year-old already feels the momentum building behind Nathan Hedges and the Imports.

“Definitely, we’re getting a lot more exposure than we ever did before,” Hedges said. “It started out as a solo project, and then I got this band and now every time we play, they ask us back. Plus, people are coming out all of the time. We’re doing great. There’s a buzz going on and we’re really excited about it.”

Hedges admits the group is still evolving, which means just as his recent Youngstown show quickly changed from an acoustic performance in February to a rocking affair now, who knows what the future will hold?

“If people ever heard me before, this is going to be like an evolution,” Hedges said. “It’s completely different, and it will be neat for people to see where it is now and then see where it’ll be in another six months.”