Life & Work with Nan Turner of Kansas City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nan Turner

Hi Nan, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I am a songwriter, musician, improviser/actor, and dancer.
Things really started cooking for me creatively once I left my hometown of Chehalis, WA in the 90’s and went to Drew University on the east coast. I studied acting and modern dance and fell headfirst into Riot Grrrl. I started listening to bands like Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney. After college I studied Meisner acting in NYC and began performing with my first band Bionic Finger. I hung out at the Sidewalk Cafe a lot and was influenced by songwriters like The Moldy Peaches and Jeffrey Lewis and Regina Spektor. The open mic at Sidewalk encouraged people to write an interesting song, with the idea that your skill on an instrument would catch up eventually. For me that was absolutely the case! I was writing songs before I really knew how to play guitar. But being in a supportive environment really helped me take risks and to follow the fun of creating.
In the early oughts, I met my ex-partner Major Matt Mason USA at Sidewalk Cafe and we started a band called Schwervon! I played drums and Matt played guitar and we both sang. We toured Europe and the U.S and made records for many years, until 2018. That’s actually what brought me to Kansas City….in 2012 we decided to leave NYC so we could live more cheaply and tour more.

My creative life has never been about focusing on just one art form. Even if I’m mostly playing music, I try to see what else I can put into it.
Dancing is an art form that is always a part of my music. I used to do tapdance improvs during poetry breaks with Schwervon! and it’s a big part of Nan + the One Nite Stands, where I blend dance moves with theatrical poetry.
Since I moved to KC, I also discovered improv comedy. That has reconnected me to the joy of acting, which I thought was gone after my Meisner training. There’s a great improv and comedy scene in KC around The Bird Comedy Theater, and most weekends I’m there doing improv or seeing improv. I’m in a group called Explosive Group Chat that is ridiculously fun.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No it has not always been smooth. Dealing with a difficult childhood, lack of money, navigating self-doubt and fear….these are all challenges!
Therapy, a strong friend network, admin temp jobs (that leave your brain alone to focus on your creative work) are all things that have helped.

Having to work 40 hours a week to make ends meet means accepting that I need to put in shorter time slivers to be creative. I get up early and do a little writing then. A little is better then nothing! Across the board that’s my mantra. Try ten minutes. Just do a little until you can do more. Take your art seriously enough to do it but not so seriously that you don’t do it! Keep a loose container around it and know when you gotta get in there and meticulously craft it. But don’t push it too hard or you’ll squeeze the life out of it.

Find a couple people that really root for you and believe in you and your work. Before I got into choreographing dances again – must’ve been like 2007- I called my friend Angela Carlucci (a wonderful singer-songwriter and visual artist and pastry chef) on the phone and I said nervously, “Ok, I have this idea. Would you come over and let me show you this dance I’m choreographing to Eye of the Tiger?” She said “OH MY GOD YES!” Then I formed a dance troupe with she and other musicians called Underthrust to the music of Kimya Dawson. Then I started choreographing dances to Nan + the One Nite Stand songs, and music videos for other artists (R. Ring- Kelley Deal + Mike Montgomery, True Lions, Chase the Bunnyman). Angela’s encouragement all those years ago to my whisper of an idea…that voice that said,”I think I want to try this” …really put wind in my sails to take the next step.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Not only do I write melancholy guitar songs, and comedy songs….but right now I’m working on a musical about 90’s Figure Skaters (and their mothers). It’s called SEQUINS BEFORE NOON. It’s playful with meaty truth nuggets! I have 14 songs recorded with my collaborator/producer Chase Horseman (a very talented composer/songwriter in KC). I also have a script. I’ve been performing songs and characters from it for a couple of years now at rock venues and record stores in KC and NYC (with my crews of backup dancers in each city). But recently I’ve started taking steps at having other women play some of the characters. Getting creative people together from different mediums (professional ballerinas/modern dancers to punk musicians to improv comedy actors) to tell these silly and poignant stories is a dream come true. I’m pinching myself as I realize I’m living the dream!

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
What I like best about Kansas City is people’s openness to art and music.
People listen and appreciate things a little more here. Maybe because it’s not a huge metropolis they’re less inundated, and there’s more time and space.

What I dislike is a tendency I see in other artists here to dismiss themselves and their work. When I lived in NYC people would say “I’m a musician” or “I’m a photographer”. It didn’t matter if they were a beginner or a seasoned artist. They embraced their creative identity more. People in KC are humble to a fault. It’s ok to say you are an artist! We’re all growing and getting better no matter where we’re at in our journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nanturner.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nan_wildstyle/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nan.turner1
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nanwildstyle
• Other: https://nanturner.bandcamp.com/album/high-caliber