Nathan Baugh 1/15/83 - 12/24/15

    Earlier this year, Guntersville, AL band The Devil's Got A Hold On Me played a show at the Glass Onion in Gadsden. I'd seen them play several times and was excited to see them tear up my local vinyl fix. Though the crowd was minimal (welcome to Gadsden!), the trio gave us their all. At least the cool people showed up. Per usual, Keith's guitar was loud and nasty and dirty and effortless. Brad killed on drums, pounding the beat with a sufficient prowess and an excess of violence. I've never heard anyone ask, "Where's the bass guitar?". The duo was, as always, tight and unhinged at the same time.

And then there was Nathan...
 
    Nate yelled into the microphone. He was always angry, hurt, determined. He mostly sang looking down. Or maybe inward. I never once saw the man sing to an audience. Never. He refused to face us beyond a passing glimpse. We were a corner into which he had backed. In reality, he was a nice guy who loved his family and friends. He was a proud supporter of the independent music scene. But when performing, he was somewhere else. He was something else. For the space of a 20 minute set, he was a volcanic island, erupting and raging in the center of a ravaging noise hurricane. Sweat rained and the racket whipped around. The walls and the floor shook. He stood his ground and fought back at the waves. When it was all over, the sun came out. Nathan Baugh looked up into it.

Now that island is gone...

Nate passed away on Christmas Eve, 2015. If you would like to donate to help his family with expenses, please visit Nathan Baugh's funeral fund on GoFundMe. Money is tight for a lotta folks this time of the year, but any amount helps. And after ya do that, check out this tune The Devil's Got A Hold On Me contributed to the GAD! digital comp, So This Is What They Were Talkin' About....
-Adam Harmless

Comments

  1. i dont have the words to show my appreciation for this thank you, gad!!! .. keith, the devils got a hold on me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome. We know things are tough right now. Just hang in there and help everyone you can.

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  2. Thanks for the moving words GAD!!! Much appreciated and what an awesome show we had at the Glass Onion!!!
    Brad

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for your kind words Nathan was my son and a very good young man.

    ReplyDelete

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