Nato Coles And The Blue Diamond Band Flyover

Every bar worth drinking at in these great United States has a character like Nato Coles. They know the jukebox so well that the reference catalog becomes meaningless. They're on first-name-basis with all the bartenders, spout trivia like someone's actually listening, and have a particular stool with their ass-print permanently worn in. But most importantly, they're storytellers, historians of low-culture, grizzled raconteurs that can effortlessly shake-out a cocktail of true facts and utter bullshit until it becomes as intoxicating as their "usual."

Originally from Milwaukee, Nato Coles is a journeyman of Midwest punk, getting his start in bands like Modern Machines and the Shrubbers. While he's now been away for longer than he lived there, Brew City still feels like home for Nato. "That's the city that taught me pretty much everything I know," he elaborates, "learning how to tune a guitar, and learning how to avoid getting mugged." Modern Machines made some splashes in the north-coast punk community of the early 2000s, building upon a strong local following gleaned from legendary house shows and other DIY venue spaces. Striking out on the highway with the "MoMacs," as they were known to their fans, gave Nato his first taste of the touring lifestyle and also his first brush with the Twin Cities. "There's a Hold Steady line about knowing Mary Tyler Moore and Profane Existence. I knew Garrison Keillor and Siberia," he says with a laugh. "I would come up here by myself and stay for week, go out and hang out every night and made a ton friends. I kind of realized that the Twin Cities has so much to offer."