By: Dr. Matt Warnock
In a day and age when it seems like bands are emerging into, then quickly leaving, the public eye after a couple of singles, or if they’re lucky one album, it’s a rare occasion for a band to find themselves still putting out solid albums after more than a few years of being together. While many bands fall into this “one-hit-wonder” category, there are always those groups that are in it for the long haul. That work tirelessly to put out new material, to continue to grow musically and are determined to be more than a flash in the pan. Fort Lauderdale based hard-rock band Nonpoint is one of these bands.
Formed in 1997, the guys in Nonpoint recently celebrated their tenth anniversary together by shaking things up, both inside and outside of the band. They parted ways with their record label and have decided to go the Indie route instead with the start of their own label, 954 Records. As well, the band cut their ties with their former management team and recently signed with Split Media Management. With other bands, major changes such as these might have had a negative impact on the group and their music, but Nonpoint is not your typical band.
Taking full advantage of the bands new label and management, they have decided to release an all acoustic E.P. of some of the bands most noteworthy tracks. Featuring altered tunings, fresh arrangements and the tight-grooves that has made Nonpoint a fan favorite, Cut the Cord is one of the more captivating albums the group has released to date. With such a strong debut on their new label, the band has left fans and critics with a strong sense of anticipation for the release of their next full-length album, which is due out early in 2010.
Nonpoint guitarist Zach Broderick recently sat down with Guitar International Magazine to talk about the recent changes the band has gone through, their new all acoustic E.P. and their upcoming full-length release.
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Matt Warnock: Nonpoint has recently decided to change it’s management and record label after a number of years with the same people. What brought about these seemingly sudden changes?
Zach Broderick: That was just something that had to be done because we had different objectives and vision for the future of the band than the label and management did. Honestly there are no hard feelings, we all knew that we wanted to do something different, so it was really no big deal.
After we left our old label we decided to form our own label, which seems to be what most knowledgeable bands are doing these days, if they want to make any kind of money. So we formed 954 records, through Rocket Science, which is a subsidiary of Sony. It’s really cool because we have control over how and where the money is spent.
It’s no secret that the music industry is hard up and label divisions are closing all the time. It seems like the bigger labels are trying to squeeze as much out of their bands as they can to try and recoup the money that they invested in their albums. It’s definitely cool not to be a part of that scene and be in a position where we’re in control of everything. We couldn’t be happier.
Matt: Did any of the guys in the band have experience with running a label before or is the whole experience of running a label completely new for everyone?
Zach: The experience we have just comes from years of being in the business, learning what to do and what not to do. I don’t think it would be a smart move for a young, inexperienced band in their late teens or early ’20s to go out and form their own label without working in the music business for a while. I’m not saying that we’re perfect, but we brought a lot of experience with us to the project.
There are other people working for the label who are all very capable in their respective fields such as marketing etc, which really helps out. So, no one’s been a suit for the record label earlier in their careers, but we’ve all had years of experience working with labels and that’s what we’re building on with 954 Records.
Matt: Are there any plans to work with other bands on your label, or was it started specifically to work with Nonpoint and band related projects?
Zach: That’s been talked about, but first and foremost, since last year was full of changes, we want to make sure that our new record does well. It’s been talked about, bringing on other bands to work with the label, but it right now it wouldn’t be fair to those bands since we’re so focused on what we’re doing and wouldn’t be able to give anyone else the attention they would need from us.
Once we get this record out, and we’re feeling good about how things are going with the label, we might start looking for other bands to bring on board, but right now we’re staying focused on the new record and moving forward with the band.
Matt: The new E.P. Cut the Cord was recently released featuring an all acoustic set by the band. What was the inspiration behind doing an unplugged record at this point in your careers?
Zach: I love doing acoustic stuff and working in alternate tunings. For me, anything goes as far as that stuff is concerned, and I really love experimenting with different arrangements and approaches to our songs. I won’t mention band names, but I really hate it when bands release acoustic records where the songs are the exact same as the electric versions, only on acoustic guitars. I can honestly say that the songs on the new E.P. are way different than the original versions, and I can say that without being cocky, it’s just the way we approached the album.
I took some classical guitar in college, before I dropped out, Laughs, and before I left I learned some really cool stuff, which I applied to a song called “Circles” on the new record. Also, I think every song is in a different tuning. It kind of came to me out of the blue one night. I just started thinking about changing a few things on one or two songs and before I knew it I had all of these cool arrangements worked out to take to the band.
It’s definitely a bit of a risk for us, but the reviews have been good so far. The real test will be when the fans start giving us feedback, so we’re looking forward to hearing what they think about the new record.
Matt: The title of the new E.P. is Cut the Cord. Is that sort of a symbolic reference to the band leaving its record label and management, or am I reading too much into it?
Zach: Actually, Ken our bass player came up with that. He’s a pretty artsy guy, who does a lot of our art work, and he came up with the cover art. He had the guitar cord being cut in half, with the blood coming out of it, so it’s more of a reference to the band cutting the cord to our electric playing and showcasing our acoustic side. It was just a little cleverness on our part, mostly referencing the acoustic nature of the album
Matt: The band is working on a full-length record that will be coming out shortly. Is that album going to feature more acoustic work or are you returning to the heavier side of the band for that record?
Zach: Yeah, that’s going to be electric, and much heavier than the acoustic E.P. We just finished tracking the record, up in Racine, Wisconsin, where we were working on it with Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett from Mudvayne and Hell Yeah, who are producing the album. We’ve been friends with those guys forever, both bands kind of broke at the same time, and Nonpoint was on their first big tour. So, we’ve been mailing tracks band and forth and they would give us suggestions with what we should change, that sort of thing, and it’s been great working with them.
The album is definitely heavy and there’s a track on the new album that’s probably the most metal song the band has ever done, called “Dangerous Waters.” It’s definitely a heavy album, something that you’d want to have playing in your car when you’re driving a hundred miles an hour down the highway. Not that I condone that kind of behavior in any way. Laughs.
Matt: I was reading an article about the band and it mentioned that you had written over twenty songs for the new album before choosing which ones you wanted to record. Do you guys always write that much material for a new record and then choose the ones that stand out to you the most to include on the final release?
Zach: We don’t really have much of a democracy in the band. If one person hates a song then we’ll try and figure out if we can fix or change the song so we all like it, but if all four guys don’t love a song then it’s canned. When we wrote all of the songs that ended up being on the new album we were all grinning from ear to ear after playing them through for the first time. So we knew those songs were going to at least have a shot at getting on the album.
There are a lot of songs that we got started but never ended up finishing, so we’ll shelve those for a later project and come back to them when the time’s right. It’s a tough task to get all four guys in the band, plus two producers, to love a song, but we definitely felt that way about the songs that made it onto the record.
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