SXSW Artist Spotlight: Smooth Nature
360°Sound caught up with brothers Marvin and Diarian Alexander and Gerald Wilburn Jr., aka Saxy Gerald, of the R&B group Smooth Nature. Hailing from Waco, Texas, Smooth Nature mixes old school and new school sounds, blending soul, funk, rock, blues, and jazz.
The trio aims to push love, healing, and peace with each song, and they are ready to bring their positive energy to SXSW for the first time. Smooth Nature are scheduled to play the following showcases in Austin:
March 14 – 10:30 p.m. at Lefty’s Brick Bar
March 17 – 7:30 p.m. at Riviere
In this exclusive interview, Smooth Nature talks about the group’s ‘90s R&B vibes, their songwriting process, their new single “Hold On,” and more.
Editor’s Note: This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. Scroll to the bottom to view the full video interview on our YouTube channel, @360degreesound.
360°Sound: Please start by telling us what instruments you play.
Marvin: I’m the lead singer of the group, and I play the piano here and there.
Diarian: I play the guitar and sing.
Gerald: I play the saxophone and write the raps.
Can you give us a brief history of the group?
Marvin: In 2021, we were just finding ourselves after COVID when Diarian and I stepped into the music world, teaching ourselves our instruments. We’re kind of late bloomers in music. I went to my first open mic in 2021, that’s where I met Gerald. Not too long after that, I was like, “Dude, we gotta do more.”
I put together a little makeshift band over 2021 and 2022, and we kind of didn’t know what we were doing. We’re just playing around and having fun with it. February 2023 was when we did our first show in Austin. That’s when things started changing, and we started taking music seriously.
I recently interviewed Kiana Fitzgerald, author of the new book Queens of R&B. She talked about how a lot of people believe ‘90s R&B was the high point of the genre. Do people say that Smooth Nature reminds them of the R&B of the ‘90s?
Marvin: Literally all the time. Back in the ‘90s, our mama used to be in an R&B group called ADT. She doesn’t do it anymore. She didn’t even really talk about it until we started doing music. They toured the U.S. and all types of stuff, and we were just like, “How did you not tell us?”
Gerald: We try our best to pull from different influences, and ‘90s R&B has that emotion, that feeling, and that musicality, and we’re bringing all that to the table in our performances. It reminds people of those groups like Jodeci, Boyz II Men, and Mint Condition.
When Marvin is singing on the mic and really going at it, Diarian ripping on the guitar, and I come in on the sax, we’re just letting our instruments be that tool for our emotion. It reminds people of back then. And so, that’s really an honor whenever people do say that.
Marvin: We also recently added the element of dance to our set, which is a direct callback to artists like James Brown and Michael Jackson. I didn’t really dance before, but these two convinced me. They were like, “Bro, you gotta bust the moves out.” Now I do all the extra footwork and everything.
You’re a band that plays instruments, which is not all that common in today’s R&B. Is it important to have real instrumentation in your sound?
Diarian: Yeah. It’s all instruments live, no extra sounds electronically. In the studio, we do sometimes take advantage of a programmed beat and MIDI. With our live show, we want to eventually get to a point where we can mix the two, because some of the best performances we’ve seen are where they’re able to take sounds from the records and put those over the instruments.
There’s like the “oohs” and “ahhs” to create the nice airy sounds in the background that are hard to recreate with actual instruments. [Austin-based artist and producer] BLK ODYSSY does a great job of doing that, and his live show is immaculate.
Marvin: A lot of people nowadays tend to sing over their tracks or play with their tracks, which is cool. But we really like having the energy of the instruments. It’s a beautiful thing, especially when you have all the musicians together adding things to the songs.
A lot of our songs wouldn’t even have a lot of the elements they have if it weren’t for the band, especially the two guys we always have on drums and bass. We’ve been with them for years. They’re always adding incredible things to it. Having a live band gives us a little bit of an advantage because not many people do it, but it’s also just a part of us. We gotta have the real instruments every time.
How do the Smooth Nature songs come together?
Marvin: They come in a lot of different ways. For me personally, I’ll just think of simple chord progressions. I keep them simple intentionally. It’s very much a team effort when it comes to actually making the song. But a lot of times, I’ll get ideas and end up writing something, and then I’m like, “Hey, throw your verse on here,” and then I’ll add everything later.
Diarian: Sometimes I’ll write my verses, then ask Marvin and Gerald to write their verses, and then we’ll finish it. The songwriting process always starts with somebody and then the other two complete it. That’s the best way we can go about it, since this is a collective, and we want all of our ideas to always be there at the same time.
One of your newest singles is “Hold On.” Tell us about the inspiration for that song.
Marvin: For the inspiration, that’s real simple, that’s baby girl. I had a bunch of random beats because when we do the programming, I usually make a drum pattern. I’ll play the piano over it, and then we’ll bring all the instruments together and create the song to be more. I was showing them a whole bunch of different beats.
I’m like, “Which ones do y’all want to make into songs?” And so, that song was one of the beats we picked. We had our guy Demetrius, who plays drums and piano, come over and play piano on it. Once he did that. I was like, “Yep, I know exactly what to do.” That was when I was able to finish writing the song, and then we threw the different parts on there.
It’s also a buildup. At first, you just hear me singing with some piano behind it, and then the guitar is introduced, and then when Gerald starts rapping, you get the guitar and saxophone. I also wanted something I could dance to.
Why should SXSW attendees check out Smooth Nature?
Marvin: We are something that’s very different than everything you see nowadays. Beyond the music, I really like to put on a show. I like to dance and sing R&B, but there’s also a lot of soul and rock in it. There’s a lot of blues and jazz, and there are elements of hip hop. It’s more than just us standing there singing. We sing, we dance, we solo, we get in the crowd. It’s very much an experience.
Check out the full video interview on our YouTube channel, @360degreesound:
