So I had the chance to speak with Nonpoint before their show at the O2 Academy in November. Once more, apologies for the late publication of this article which is due to some IT failures. I managed to rescue the recording, finally! Here’s what they had to say:
Firstly, how is the tour going?
Elias: Awesome man, the Fozzy boys are great. Got to make some new friends and hang out with some old friends. Our boys Rich and Frank, some of our fans as well who have been waiting years to see us.
Adam: some our fans have been waiting like 15 years to see us.
What’s it been like to tour with Fozzy and Sumo-Cyco?
Elias: Really easy, we all help each other and everybody just wants to put on a good show. All together it’s been a real home kinda feeling tour. We see each other every day and spend time with each other, it’s been great.
Adam: no weirdness.
Elias: This tour more than other tours, this has really had a family style to it. We’re a while away from home especially around the holiday season. Happy Thanksgiving Everybody! Thanks for coming over and making thanksgiving for us. No turkey yet though.
Adam: We had a great ham sandwich.
So recently we had the events in Paris regarding the shootings at the eagles of death metal gig and across the capital, you guys played shortly after, how was it? Were you guys scared, nervous?
BC: Oh we were on edge, we were definitely on edge. We made a post about it, now more than ever we need the power of music. There was one guy at the gig in Paris who barricaded himself in the venue for 3 hours and a week later he was watching us. It was very cool.
Elias: People don’t realise and I was thinking this myself, that if it was highly threatening and we were really worried, I’m not willing to die for rock and roll.
BC: Yeah, we all got families.
Elias: but at the same time too, I’m not just dying for rock. These fans are out here to see us, to experience our music. You gotta weigh out the risks and have the right and freedom to go somewhere and check out some music.
Adam: If the music stops then they win.
So how did the UK fans take you guys?
Elias: Well this is our third time over here
Adam: yes third time here.
Elias: The fans have been great man. Last night it was a funny show with a lot of laughter thrown back and forth between us and the audience, so I’m hoping it’s gonna be the same tonight in London.
You have the new album in the works, the ninth I believe. How is that going?
Elias: It’s going great.
Adam: yeah we’re almost done
Elias: we’re gonna record at the end of January, all through February, before we start the disturbed run over in the States. We got about 95% of the record pretty much done, just a couple of solos and harmony parts that need tweeking.
Adam: yeah for the most part the record is pretty much done.
Is it any different to the previous albums?
Elias: Yeah, we got this homeboy now, BC. I mean our last few records; the guitar work has really been what’s changed the game for us. When you really got talented people, you let them do what they do good. I’m just looking forward to laying out some great stuff.
I’d love to give the new album a listen and give it a review.
Adam: That’d be great.
Elias: But if you give us a bad review, I’ll have to open a can of whoop ass. We’ll just keep your head to use as a door knocker.
I’ll certainly make sure the review is a good one, so apart from the album and the disturbed tour, is there much else coming up for you guys in the future?
Elias: That’s pretty much the most of what we have planned
BC: we’re playing ship rocked, that’s gonna be in January. We’re gonna be on a big cruise ship playing some rock and roll, eating a lot of food and drinking a lot Pina-Coladas.
Elias: We actually has some ship rocked fans in that went to ship rocked last year, when the saw us and are coming out to see us again for the next one. I believe it was .
Adam: Yeah over in Cologne.
Elias: Shout out to the Cologne Cathedral YO! That shit was off the chain.
So you guys have been around since 1997, nearly 20 years, so where did it all start and what was the influence behind Nonpoint?
Elias: Well it started in South Florida. It started out as more of a hardcore metal band. Rob was doing some member changes and found me, once we hooked up, we found some more and had a few more changes. Found Adam and BC. It’s been building from there. It’s the basic American rock band. The American dream.
BC: living the dream.
Elias: When we started we didn’t wanna be like anyone else. We knew we wanted to be in the rock genre, but I think the fact that all of us love different music, Rob loves his straight up rock, I was really into hip-hop at the time. Everyone brings their own influence and the whole scope is not to sound like other people and be as original as we can. We find ourselves more often than not saying: hey don’t play that riff, it sounds too much like their riff, so let’s stay away from that.
Adam: It’s a stew of seasoning. Music seasoning and spiced meats.
Elias: That’s our catchphrase!
What was your first ever concerts? What popped your music cherry?
Elias: Part of me that made me wanna do this was I saw Limp Bizkit open up for Helmet, who opened up for Korn at the University of Florida Amphitheatre. At the time I wasn’t even in the band, went with a couple of friends and had never been to a rock concert before. We had floor seats and it just blew me away. I was like this is where I wanna go.
Adam: Yeah I was a child of the 90s so I was a grunge kid. I was 15 and saw primus. Limp-Bizkit were also the opening act which was down in Chicago.
BC: For me it wasn’t really so much a grunge show, but pretty much the Van-Halen jump video did it for me. I was like hey I wanna jump! I wanna put stripes on my guitar and run around like a fool. So that was basically how I got started.
Do you guys have any moments or memories that as a band, either on tour or not that you will never forget?
Adam: When we played at Ozfest, stuff like that. Just recently we played a baseball stadium in Fort Wayne and it was packed with thousands of people all singing our songs. It was surreal to see something like that, you see all their arms moving, I mean I’m getting goosebumps just talking about it. It’s just moments like that. Even now after 15 years of doing something like this, it’s still an incredible sight to see.
Elias: I think for me the moment and it wasn’t even our show, we were watching Rage play side stage at 2, 3 or 4 years ago, it was a huge show, like 250 thousand people. Just seeing that massive crowd and seeing it from stage, well having persmission to watch it from stage. It was that moment of this is definitely where I wanna be.
BC: I’d stick with the first thing that came into my head which was the first time I had a BBQ with Vinnie Paul, that was pretty rad!
So final question, bit of a silly question as I’m a nerd at heart, but if you could have any super power, what would it be and why?
BC: ha we are all nerds at heart.
Elias: hmm …. I’d want the power to convert Dollars into pounds and pounds into euros, euros into Yens without the exchange rates. That would be my super power, the Elias singer I want no exchange rate power!
BC: I already have this super power and that is the ability to see through bullshit. The ability to look left and right and just be like that’s bullshit man! Or to fly then you don’t have to go through all this TSA bullshit.
Adam: just some goggles and a warm coat and you’re off
Elias: haha you’re flying through the air with a giant suitcase! Screw taking a plane. You can even make the suitcase fly. I would like the ability to give other things the ability to fly! I don’t wanna fly I just wanna be able to make other shit fly.
BC: guitar changes on the set would be amazing! They would just zoom off. You touch it and it comes off. Then the next guitar flys in.
Elias: Thanks invisible crew guy!
