Though the band may not figure into his future, Natchez likes to believe that music will.
"I have to figure out if I'm good enough. One thing that I think a lot of people don't realize learning music is like learning a very complex language and the tough thing is you learn languages before you're five. But I didn't really start playing, like really start worrying about learning music until I was 13. That's a tough age to pick up a new language. For me, music's one of the hardest things...Even sort of more abstract, sort of learned stuff, like math, that's easier for me," he sighs as he tries to explain.
"I want to do something that reflects me, and that doesn't reflect someone else, that doesn't reflect, 'oh, look, he can play what that guy played forty years ago.' It's about finding something current. It's just like any sort of, it's...you know, it's about finding your own voice.
The source of that voice is still elusive, though.
"Part of it just comes from somewhere that you don't know. In a way, I feel like sometimes when I play, I'm too cerebral, I've gotta be more sort of spontaneous...It's just sometimes wonderful when you hear something and before your brain can even think what notes are you playing, it just comes out," he says.
And when it comes out like that, Natchez's music expands from a small and very private space to an exuberance which infects the dancers.
"There's definitely a vibe you can feel, like when you can smell sweat and when you can just see people dancing their butts off. And there is kind of an egotistical rush that comes when you're onstage and people are listening to YOU, and people are dancing to you," he says.
Harvard has brought a new dimension to Natchez's sound. He says that he has improved significantly, mostly as a result of jamming with fellow students, who he describes as "amazing. Exclamation point."
The struggle for improvement continues. "It's really painful sometimes, and it...keeps you on your toes...It's like you're straining for something you can't force, so you never know when it's going to happen. It can be really tough sometimes, when you're like"--and for the first time in the interview, the accent that Natchez adopts is forceful, but his own--"'Dammit, this is the same shit I've been playing for two years. Why can't I learn something new? Why can't I get better? I think I could. Can I?'"
"It creates all these questions. It helps define who you are," he concludes.
And who does Natchez see himself becoming? "Professional musician would be nice, but I don't know if I can do that yet. I'd love to play with Skavoovie for as long as it lasts, for the rest of my life, because it's so much fun.