Grammy-nominated rockers Nothing More, from San Antonio Texas, released their 5th studio album called Spirits in October 2022. Currently, on tour, Music Life Magazine caught up with bassist Daniel Oliver to talk about their latest album, touring, and the trials and tribulations associated with the Scorpion Tail.
What was the inspiration behind the album “Spirits”?
The album “Spirits” was written as a kind of exploration of the spirit(s) that are inside every man or woman and how they fare through the trials of the human experience. As a band we usually like to write from direct personal experience but since we wrote this record in the middle of Covid, and the entire world was going crazy around us, we pulled a lot from whatever mad spell the entire planet was going through.
What do you hope the listeners take away from the album after listening to it?
With all of our records, we hope that the album is a gateway for the listener to connect with the soul of “music” in general. Music is healing and can give you the motivation to lift a house when you might have wanted to take a nap before. It shows you things about yourself despite the subject matter of the song. It is the grand communicator between heart, body, and mind. That’s what we hope the listener taps into after listening to it.
Your latest release “Spirits” was written mostly during the pandemic. Can you explain the challenges surrounding the creative processes?
Making the record during the pandemic definitely had its challenges for us. For this record, we were half split up in different cities so that didn’t help either. Travel was difficult and became really expensive for us to get into the jam room together. We really like to work with outside songwriters and producers through various stages of the writing but getting strangers into a room together just wasn’t happening. And a zoom session seems to filter out all the emotion and heart that you express when writing music with someone else.
How did the innovation of the Spirit Test and the Graphic Novel come to light? How have these extras been received by fans?
The Spirit’s Test was our lead singer, Jonny Hawkins’, idea. He wanted to make an aptitude/personality test that had the practicality of the Meyers-Briggs test, but also the mystical factor of the Zodiac. Knowing who you are is a big part of maturing and creating happiness for yourself, so we are happy to offer something that helps people do that. And so far fans have loved it.
For the graphic novel, we were actually approached by Z2 comics to do the illustrating and story. We feel like it was a perfect pairing since the “Spirits” album artwork and the Spirits Test already have a whole world of creatures in them. The graphic novel has yet to be released, but we think fans are going to love it!
To promote the launch of Nothing More’s latest album in October 2022, the singles Tired of Winning and You Don’t Know What Love Means were released way in advance of the Spirits’ debut. Could you explain the long period of time between the promo singles and the launch of the album?
There is always a period between the first releases and the actual release of the entire record in hopes to build anticipation for the record. It lets people know early that there is new music on the way and to get excited. That period in between the releases is also when we as a band do the majority of the promo for the record.
Your lyrics often touch on social and political issues. What role do you see music playing in raising awareness and promoting change? What are your thoughts on public figures influencing specific agendas?
I think that music is a great platform to raise awareness and promote change. One of the coolest things that I see on the road is fans making friends and forming little communities at our shows with people from all over the nation. They are people getting together, celebrating, and sharing a common bond. That’s the greatest catalyst for change that anyone could ever hope for. That being said, our focus is always trying to help people learn how to think, and not just telling them what to think. And I don’t think any of us are big fans of celebrities in politics because they just aren’t experts at it.
Your lyrics are often introspective and personal. How do you navigate sharing emotions with the audience? Is it cathartic?
Our main goal lyrically is always to connect with as many people as possible without watering down the point. I think that kind of governs our expression in a way. If we think that a whole lot of people have the same thought or feeling that we do, then the song is worth writing about. And yes, that does include aliens. I think the most cathartic thing about our music happens when we are writing the lyrics. Those sessions are just hours and hours of us talking about our feelings and experiences with a topic while we try to put it into words.
Your live shows are known for being energetic and visually entertaining with props such as the Scorpion Tail. How do you approach planning and executing a live performance? Have you had challenges with such props? If so, what were they?
We’ve put a lot of energy over the years into making our live show a one-of-a-kind experience. I, Daniel Oliver, got into welding about a decade ago with sole intent being to build our stage show and I fell in love with it. Every project is different but The Scorpion Tail came about as a musical idea first; Jonny figured out a way to “DJ the band” using software and a midi controller to chop and screw the guitar, bass, and vocal as we are performing it. That’s when I got the idea for Scorpion Tail. I wanted an instrument that he could play with the force of his whole body. Then for its grand arrival, I wanted him up in the air so I built a catapult-style lift to raise Jonny, his drums, and Scorpion Tail into the air for him to perform about 10’ above the stage. It turned out pretty dramatic. And oh have there been issues. Scorpion Tail is able to affect the pitch of the guitar and bass and has a digital connection with all of our effects so when there were bugs in the system it really made for a bad time. In its infancy, it really liked to pitch Mark’s guitar out of tune and leave it there. It would happen in songs that we wouldn’t even use it on. Sometimes it would start scrolling through our effects presets during songs making it impossible to keep playing. Sometimes it would crash our effects and leave us with just a deafening screech.
You’ve toured extensively over the years. What has been your most memorable experience on the road so far?
The things that tend to stick out in my head are the pranks that we do at the end of each tour. One of my favorites was a headline tour that we ended in our hometown of San Antonio a couple of years ago. Of Mice and Men was the main support slot and one of their songs had this insane metal breakdown in the last half of it. So once the song started we dressed two of our guys in giant, inflatable T-Rex suits to go slam dance on stage with the band. The rest of us got in a flanking position around the stage with nerf machine guns and when the double kicks let loose on the breakdown we let up the band and the dinosaurs with about 1000 nerf darts. It was epic!
Is there anything you would like to tell us about?
Keep your eyes peeled for the 2nd leg of the Spirits Tour this Fall.
Thanks for taking the time to do this interview! Can’t wait to see you in Toronto!
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