The Boulder-born electronic music duo 30H!3 (pronounced 303, a tribute to the original Colorado area code) is made up of its two band members, Nat Motte – a proud Boulder High alum – and Sean Foreman. Although the duo has many hit songs, they are most well known for DONTTRUSTME,  STARSTRUKK (feat. Katy Perry), and My First Kiss (feat. Ke$ha). Over a Zoom call last month, I had the opportunity to interview the Boulder High grad and member of this iconic band, Nat Motte, during which time we spoke on his time at Boulder High, advice on the music industry, and more.

Curious as to how Motte honed his musical talents while in high school, I asked if the musician had participated in any Boulder High music programs or classes. To my surprise, he remarked, “I actually didn’t. I’m very self-taught, which is both good and bad.” With a chuckle he continued, “Mostly bad, I would say.” Motte then went on to explain how, oddly enough, Boulder High’s Video and Film  class helped him develop the musical knowledge that he has now. “It was  rad because I just got together with some friends, and we would make little shorts and movies.” He says his process was similar to how he produces music now. “You go from nothing to pulling things together and recording…making art out of nothing.” He added that video editing is  “similar…you look at a computer program, see the timeline, see audio and video and you cut between them.” He feels that those early experiences taught him to produce music. 

Motte’s bandmate similarly grew up in Boulder, although he attended Fairview, which Motte jokes about later: “I stick it to Sean every time he says he’s from Fairview, ‘cause, you know….” He described their exposure to the area’s music scene during those years: “When we were high school kids, there was a really great hip-hop scene in Boulder and Denver, so we grew up going to great shows. I’ve seen so many shows at the Fox Theatre on the Hill. He says that it’s one of his favorite venues in the world.” 

Although Motte hadn’t taken any music classes at Boulder High, he had been exploring his musical passions from an early age. “When I was a little kid, I played piano, and then I came to guitar,” His parents gave him turntables as a high school graduation present.  He brought them to his dorm at CU and began DJ-ing and later recording his scratching and sampling brought him into music production.While experimenting with music production at CU, Motte was also busy earning a degree in biology. Upon being asked about finding a balance between school and music, he replied, “I  had a great balance between school. School’s rad, I really enjoyed my studies at Boulder High. And then I was at CU, and I worked a lot and got a really good education. At the time, music was just…it’s kind of like the other side. I did scientific studies. So making music and playing music and going to see shows, just being around music was all kind of this other creative part of my brain. I just needed that to balance the other side.” He goes on to advise aspiring musicians, “If you can see it as something that isn’t necessarily work, and is just fun, and creative expression, then you can kind of balance it. There’s gonna be some weeks where life catches up, and you’re busy doing other stuff, but other weeks you’ll have more time.”

I asked if he had any advice for young musicians on making it into the industry. “It’s interesting,” he considers. “I think everyone’s path is so singular. But I think one of the amazing things about today is that anyone from anywhere can have their music heard by basically anyone from anywhere, which wasn’t the case, say 20 or 30 years ago. It means that there’s a lot of saturation—there’s a lot of music out there, and it might be hard to stand out and get yourself heard. But it’s also  an amazing tool to know that there aren’t too many roadblocks out there for people hearing your stuff. If I had any advice, it would be, stick with it and have fun with it.”

This March, 30H!3 is performing on 303 Day to celebrate the unofficial holiday that honors Denver and Colorado’s culture. The band will be returning to Boulder Theatre for the first time since their last performance there, when they sang at Boulder High’s Prom during the year that Motte estimated to be 2006 or 2007. He explained to me that they’re still in the early stages of planning for the upcoming show, but they try to do something special each time for this annual event. “It’s gonna be rad to be in Boulder. I’m debating just walking to work from my house, which would be cool, instead of taking a tour bus.” Motte then hints at the upcoming event, saying, “I don’t wanna give away too much, but it might be a retrospective across different years, albums, and eras.”

I asked if there was anything he would like to say to current Boulder High students, to which he replied, “Shout out Boulder High, shout out Boulder High Panthers.” He thinks about his time here, reflecting, “I’ve made a lot of my great friends at Boulder High, and I think it’s a good place. On the whole, I think it provided, or at least provided me with a good place to nurture my creativity, friendships, and good learning. I’m a proud Boulder High Alumni.”