"To dream out loud, in higher volume", Bono of U2 once said this at a New Year's Eve concert party in Dublin, and that is exactly what Clifford Nathan does when he composing his music. Clifford started composing after winning a school singing competition. After a while, he got tired of doing cover versions and wanted to be able to perform original songs on stage. When he first started composing, all he could do was to record the melody of the song on to the stereo and bring them to his friends, who were musicians and arranged those songs for him.
In the late 80s, he picked up drumming after watching a video of Neil Peart and was totally impressed by the way he played. Clifford started off as a self taught drummer and sought out advise from every drummer he ran into in the rehearsal studio, where he practiced daily. It was not until 1990 when Clifford met a drum instructor that he started to learn how to read drum scores and drumming techniques.
Between 1987-1990, Clifford was studying at an art school where he also learnt sound engineering and it was through sound engineering that things started picking up.
After meeting his composing partner, Raymond Soh (aka Gate13), he decided to pick up synthesizer programming. The programming helped him greatly, as it allowed him to have more control over the arrangement of his music. Furthermore, by applying what he has learned as a drummer, Clifford was able to program some really interesting grooves that caught the attention of other musicians and soon was sought after by his peers.
It was in 1992 when he became a professional singer and performed at many of the major clubs in Singapore with various bands. With the help of the backing musicians, this was also a good opportunity for him to perform his own compositions.
In 1995, after suffering a vocal injury from overworking, he started working with MTV Asia as a sound designer and audio editor. It was during this time he mastered the art of sampling and audio editing. Through his savings, he built his own studio at home, which he named "Noiseworks" after his band, Noise. Noise was a collaboration with Raymond Soh and Nicholas Chee, a young but very talented guitarist. In 1999, after the a meeting with his stylist, famous international image consultant Ernest Seah, and art director, Jef Tan, Noise decided to change their name to Pure Stain...
Clifford decided to pursue a solo career, as Pure Stain's music direction then was into folk rock. He wanted to experiment with electronic sounds and dance music, and this experiment eventually causes Pure Stain's music direction to change as well.
His style of music is very much influenced by the bands that he listens to in "excessive amount", like The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Filter, Nine Inch Nails, Hooverphonic, Massive Attack, etc. The dark sounds of these bands really appealed to him, for he believes that there is a dark side to everyone and his music will appeal to that dark side. What Clifford seeks out to accomplish with his music is to take that dark side and inject a subtle message of light. Kind of like saying: "Life sucks, but at the end of the tunnel there will be light, at the end of a storm, you shall see the sun again". He strongly believes that he can influence his listeners through his music because his music was created with honesty and sincerity. Much like maintaining a friendship. You can only go so far behind a mask, but with sincerity, the bond between friends will become stronger.
Another interesting aspect of his musical talents is that he studied classical Chinese orchestral music at a young age. This has helped him to apply what he has learnt to create new "vibes" in western dance music styles. He loves to experiment and mix music genres and thus develop interesting sounds.
It is because of his experimental sounds, that MTV Asia commissioned his Chinese opera meets Drum- N-Bass track for the MTV-CCTV Mandarin Music Honors.
He has also written music, scored for film and worked on Sound Design projects with many international companies like MTV, ESPN, Disney Channel, Sony International Pictures, Sony AXN, ITV, and Human TV, just to name but a few.
His latest collaboration with UK keyboardist Chris Humphrey (Crispy) landed him a project commissioning of a film score with the Singapore Tourism Board.
He continues to work with various musicians, engineers, producers and artistes in Singapore and overseas, to keep learning new tricks and techniques as a musician, composer, arranger, sound engineer as well as a producer. He is currently a record producer with AbsolutElement Music, a large independent record company based in Singapore with international offices spanning from Asia to the United States.
