Josh Roberts and Nate Miller have been friends since their days of grammar school. As they grew up life took them on different paths. After high school Nate went on to the military and Josh eventually married Maria who he had met earlier in school. Upon Nate’s return from his duty in the Navy he began playing in local rock/punk bands in Modesto, CA. After reconnecting with Josh who had already attended the California Recording Institute in San Francisco, they started a small side project with Maria due to the lack of creativity they felt in the local area. Many nights were filled reminiscing their youth, but some incredible music began to emerge. Josh’s sampling and rapping, Maria’s extraordinary vocals, and Nate’s inventive guitar style mixed with some good old fashioned fun kept the trio coming back. Time for the project was limited due to Maria gaining solo gigs and Nate being a member of another band. Finally, they decided to disperse a raw demo to friends, family and others who would give them non-biased feedback. The reaction was HUGE and it wasn’t long before Not 4 Nothin knew this needed to be a full-time endeavor.

Nate had known bass player and friend Andy Sanchez since high school and was his first choice to join the project. Since they had played together before and were influenced by similar musical styles, it was immediately a great fit. Once Andy was on board, they recruited “APF”, a multi-instrumentalist who was approached to play drums. After listening to only a few songs, APF was intrigued enough to join the project. With the addition of these two, N4N knew they had solidified one of the finest rhythm sections they could find.

Not 4 Nothin’s expectations were right! Once they started playing shows with the new line-up in place, it was obvious they had made the right choices. Soon N4N would complete their debut album entitled Something In The Water. It was released March 15th, 2008 in front of a packed house at the Fat Cat Music House & Lounge in Modesto, CA. With the momentum of the newly released album, the band went on to win a 2008 MAMA (Modesto Area Music Association) Award in the Funk Rock/R&B category. Their plans were going well as they continued to play shows in support of the album, but there would soon be a change. APF gigged, wrote music and was a respected part of the band for approximately 2 years when he decided to pursue other endeavors in August of 2008. N4N was quickly in the market for a drummer.

Not 4 Nothin pressed on and within a couple of months recruited Phillip Short to take over the drumming duties. The fit was natural and the transition was smooth. Phil brought many years of experience and a solid framework to compliment N4N’s musical style. The desire to keep making quality music and some good luck in finding an extraordinary replacement for APF, helped the band move forward. In 2009 the band is still playing shows while already working on the next album. According to the band, they still have much to accomplish and are working hard to do so. Not 4 Nothin’s music is truly that; musicians around the globe have raved about the creativity and diversity of the tracks. Testing the boundaries of music is the key mission of these five musicians as a whole. As long as N4N keeps the music flowing they will continue to create a concoction sure to keep the crowd live and craving more. It’s truly Not 4 Nothin!