Given the fact that “Spirits” was my uncontested best album of 2022 and that NOTHING MORE has really become one of my favorite modern rock band, I would not afford to miss their show in Paris. It was also a great opportunity to ask them a few questions on the preparation of their new record “Carnal” and chat with Daniel Oliver, their bass player and mastermind behind their impressive props. It’s always a fun experience.
So here is a chill interview with a welder-bassis with a contagious smile.
From very early on, we realized the importance of, if nothing else, show your music to some other musician, songwriter that you trust, and let them give you an honest critique of it.
Gus: So, I’m sitting here today with Daniel Oliver, bass player for the American band NOTHING MORE. Thank you for giving us this interview.
Daniel: Sure thing.
Gus: How is the tour going so far? No bear killed yet? (note: in 2023 their tour bus got into an accident with a bear)
Daniel: No bear? No, no. So far so good. This tour is cool because we are on the weekend playing with ELECTRIC CALLBOY and then during the week we get to do our own headline shows. And it’s just kind of different, we’ve never actually had two tours going on kind of simultaneously and really breaking it up has been a ton of fun. So, yeah, the Electric Callboy shows have been just gigantic and exciting and, you know, we’ve really been looking for an opportunity to come over to Europe and support a bigger band to kind of get our name spread out there. So, that’s been perfect. And the guys in that band are just awesome they’re sweethearts, a ton of fun. And then for the first part of the tour we had SIM as an opener and SIAMESE. Getting to know both those bands also has been a lot of fun And they’re really good guys really good bands, too. So, yeah, it’s going better than imagined.
Gus: So, the story of NOTHING MORE really begins in San Antonio in 2003, when drummer at the time, Jonny Hawkins, and guitar player Mark Vollellunga formed the band with Josh Klaus as lead singer and Matt Reynolds as a bass player. In August 2004 they released their first record, “Shelter”, and shortly after that you joined the band as a bass player.
Daniel: Correct.
Gus: You were the one who convinced them to go full on with the band. In 2005, there was a change at lead singer, and you released an EP and then after another change at lead singer you released your second record, “Save You, Say Me”, in January 2007. However, in May 2008, amidst another lead singer crisis, you take a major decision, which is that Jonny will now handle lead vocals as well as drums for a bit. You finally end up as a trio, which is the formation you used to release what is sometimes considered your first true record “The Few Not Fleeting”, which is a perfect title considering the situation at the time. In February 2009 you were joined by Devin Treviso as a drummer, he would ended up being replaced by Paul O’Brien in 2011. In June 2014, you released your self- titled album, which would end up reaching the top 40 of the Billboard 200. Alongside the hit single, “This Is The Time (Ballast)”. In 2015, you welcomed Ben Anderson on drums, and this is the last line-up change you had. In September 2017, you published the critically acclaimed “The Stories We Tell Ourselves”, and toured extensively to promote it. As you kept touring, you managed to create an environment to jam and record while on tour, in preparation for your next record, which was at the time planned for 2020. But due to unforeseen circumstances, you finally managed to release Spirits in October of 2022, and a brand new single, “If It Doesn’t Hurt”, on January 18th, 2024. And you recently teased a new album for 2024, can you give us a bit more details about that?
Daniel: Yeah, basically the moment we finished “Spirits”… “Spirits” took us so long to do; obviously, the pandemic screwed things up. It was also just a very different record, which took longer to write. But pretty much the moment we released it we decided we didn’t want to take four year between records again so we just started every break we had from tour, started writing again. And it really like it took us about a year to get all the songs together. But we, we decided to take a different approach also to speed things up. Historically, we made the records ourselves, we’re self-produced. Jonny kind of headed up the album production. Ben, our drummer, he’s a very talented producer, same thing with Mark. So we would all just kind of split up on the album. And actually, I would go into the garage and build. Like I built Drumtron and Scorpion Tail and all of the steel pieces of steel that you’ve seen on stage over the years. Yeah, we decided to make a kind of a directional change and hire an outside producer, this guy Drew Fulk out of LA. It was scary going into it because you always hear of bands, you know, maybe getting neutered or just having to change their sound a lot when they go with someone outside or someone new. But I think this is some of the coolest music we’ve ever made and it’s been a joy to work with Drew, he’s kind of been like a fifth member of the band. But yeah, we should have a new release named “Carnal”, hopefully by this fall, you know, we’ll be dropping it (note: released on June 28th). So we’re tweaking a couple of mixes right now. And then it’s done. Done, done, done. So yeah, it’s exciting. And fast too.
Gus: I read in interviews that you usually work all together to write and record but for “Spirits” you had to work remotely, obviously. How did that change the way you worked on the new album?
Daniel: Yeah, I mean, really, we just tried not to work remotely with each other. Like we would always meet in Nashville or LA. We all live in separate cities now but yeah, we just knew that we needed to be together to move things forward quicker, you know. And a lot of times we would meet with like another producer to help us make the demo or, an outside songwriter or something like that just to bounce ideas off of. But yeah, that’s pretty much it. So our main focus was just, all being in the same room to get some sort of demo and then moving that into a jam room to get the feel of it all.
Gus: As you mentioned, you have worked with a lot of musicians over your various albums from SOUTH FM or SEVENDUST. How does working with outside musical minds help you develop your own sound?
Daniel: Yeah, they’re an unbiased… It’s kind of like getting a new member to your band they’re just a completely unbiased, like a sounding board for you. So you might be making something and then you look back at a bridge and they’ll be the ones that… the whole band might be in love with this section of music, but then it’ll be that person that’s like, “no, this chorus doesn’t make sense, these lyrics don’t really make sense”. Kind of like that. So really, from very early on, we realized the importance of, if nothing else, show your music to some other musician, songwriter that you trust, and let them give you an honest critique of it, because once you release an album, it’s out, and you put all this time and work into it and you might as well… The best thing is just to make sure that it’s as good as it possibly can be and put your ego aside and realize that maybe your first ideas aren’t the best, and you need to try again. That’s kind of been our take on it. You know, we’re not buying songs off of people or anything like that. It’s just, you work with other musicians, because they’re not in the band, and they can see your weak points real easily and help you through them. And that’s a lot of fun. So very, very valuable.
it’s been cool to be on the side of things where people come to us and say that their music, our music, has helped them, has inspired them or has given them the energy and the comfort to achieve something because I think for all of us, that’s been a big part of what music does for us it gives us energy
Gus: In addition to those outside tidbits that you receive, I’ve realized that the core of the band has been together for over 20 years now. And you’ve had the same lineup for almost a decade. Do you think that this stability really helped you reaching new heights on each subsequent release?
Daniel: Absolutely, yeah. I mean, we were growing, you know. What’s cool is I guess we’ve grown together over the years. And with the songwriting, it’s the same thing. We know, we’ve always been of like mind, and there’s never been, you know, anyone that kind of has different ideas or isn’t fully committed has always ended up falling away or you can tell and they get fired or something like that. But really, when you can just keep the core together and keep growing together, it, that’s when things get really good. We see the same with our crew, when you can keep one crew together, everything gets tight, you know, everyone learns to work together, you develop your sound, and all sorts of things like that. When you’re constantly changing members, it’s a little bit harder to figure out exactly who you are. So, yeah.
Gus: One thing that was, to me really interesting about NOTHING MORE is that a lot of your songs, for example “Valhalla” from the “Spirits” album are deeply and profoundly personal and they feel like it both in the music and in the lyrics. And yet, every single time there is a connection I feel I can make and judging by the reaction from the comments that you receive, I’m not the only one. How do you think you are able to build a connection with the audience through your music, even though it is extremely personal?
Daniel: I guess we focus on the things we… The common threads we find in everyone, you know, and, you know, we all grew up very spiritual, like, or at least religious, like in the Christian church. And even that itself, like that religion is so popular, because it speaks to the heart of just people like questioning. This band has always been real fascinated with life journeys and faith journeys and, not like having a vision in your head, but not exactly knowing the A to B to get there, but knowing in your heart that you can. And, I think those ideas just connect with people, you know. We take what is connected with us and kind of put it into the music and it’s cool to see. Because you don’t know, when you write something personal, you’re… What’s the word? What is that word? I’m blanking on a very easy word. You’re vulnerable, right? So it’s like, do people feel how I feel? And I think, I think a goal to continuing to be a good band is to always be vulnerable, you know, like, if you’re not vulnerable, and you’re not honest, and you’re not, like, deep to your core, people will see through that. But, you know, it’s hard to be vulnerable, because you might be rejected. And then what does that mean? But I don’t know, it’s been cool to be on the side of things where people come to us and say that their music, our music, has helped them, has inspired them or has given them the energy and the comfort to achieve something because I think for all of us, that’s been a big part of what music does for us it gives us energy. Whether it’s going to the gym, or… There’s so many great albums where I’ve been brokenhearted, and I connect to a record, and you can say that it’s, it’s not the most comfortable time, but it’s still a beautiful time. And the music in those moments is, even if it’s making you feel that heartbreak, it’s doing something, amazing also, at the same time that I can’t really describe. It does comfort you in a way by letting you grieve or something, you know. So I think that’s one of the most special things about what we do. And we’re lucky, you know, it’s a blessing to be on this side of it, and I just want to say thank you to everyone for listening, that does get it and enjoy it, and like, we appreciate every one of you out there.
Gus: You mentioned that interest in religion, or at least a religious experience and spirituality, and one thing that is an integral part of the NOTHING MORE identity at this time is the use of Alan Watts’ speeches all through your records. How did you react to that, idea when it was first brought up, and how do you think you can keep using it in the same clever ways that you’ve been using them on the past albums?
Daniel: The first time I heard Alan Watts back was when we used to travel around in vans, there would always be someone driving and there was just a lot more time, someone would sit up front… I remember Jonny always talking to me about him and giving me some of his works, his lectures and I listened to all of them and I was kind of blown away. I did grew up very Christian, and at some point I kind walked away from it, to define it in my own terms and I felt like he did that. He’s like the missing element, I think, to a lot of people that do or at one time were spiritual or religious and like didn’t necessarily feel like they fit into that anymore, the organization of it anyway. He’s been very important in my life for sure and, um, I mean, I think we plan on, as long as you know there’s always lectures that relate to the song we’re doing I think we’re going to plan on you keep using him. Because like, you know It’s cool, I love it. I don’t work on the instrumentals very much on the records, mainly Jonny does, and Ben does too, but I’ll work on the musical side, and then hearing it back with Alan Watts on it, it’s like touched me before, it’s like the “sermon that you’ve always wanted to hear at church” kind of feeling.
Gus: And another thing related to spirituality that you did was the spirit quiz that you’ve done for the album, and as a matter of fact you really went all out on that one with the quiz, and a coming book as well, is it something that you wish you can replicate for your future works?
Daniel: I think so. I think it’s something we’re going to, if nothing else, at least continue to update it so it all, so it’s always there and always is kind of cohesive in the NOTHING MORE world. But, I think at the end of the day, it’s better, we think a very valuable asset in personal happiness is just knowing yourself. So it’s kind of cool to provide a little bit of that for people that like the band or people that might not normally read a self-help book or take a personality test, so it’s a neat thing, I think.
Gus: And as we said, you’re still on tour today. The first time I had the chance to see NOTHING MORE was at download festival here in Paris, but I realized that you have toured with a lot of different bands: you are on tour with ELECTRIC CALLBOY, you’ve toured with IN THIS MOMENT, DISTURBED, CHEVELLE, and SLEEP TOKEN, and all of those bands are extremely different. My question is, do you feel like you have to adapt to the energy of the bands that you are touring with, or is it more of a, “this is who we are, this is what we do”, presentation to the audience?
Daniel: Yeah, we adapt a little bit, you know, like playing with ELECTRIC CALLBOY,, it’s so, they’re a heavy band, but like, they’re very dancey too, and after the first show we saw like everyone was there to dance, it kind of felt like. So we took out, we switched out a couple songs just for something that was a little more straight ahead, so yeah, we’ll cater a little bit, but we’ll never… Nobody’s ever asked us to not play something, or if someone was ever like, “hey, can you not be so heavy”, we’d tell them to go fuck themselves. So, yeah, but we’re there to win the audience over too, so, we put on a good show.
Gus: And a big part to me of what makes NOTHING MORE feel special on stage are the props, the scorpion tail, the drumtron that you are responsible for, how do you come up with those ideas?
Daniel: Uh, you know, really, it’s hard to say where the ideas come from. The first thing I built was the drumtron, and well, when Jonny started singing, I thought it’d be cool to make him… give him a task, right, so he’s not just up there with a microphone, because he’s used to playing drums, and he’s a fantastic drummer. So at first I just put a kick drum on some legs, and a snare stand, and a hi-hat, very basic, and it was cool, because, you know, there’s two drummers in the band, we were able to make cool breakdowns and things like that. So from there it was like… I always worked on the van, and liked machines, I like motorcycles a lot and things like that, and I made some road cases once out of wood that were just horrible. I had this itch to build things, but didn’t know how, and I didn’t have a bunch of tools or anything. But a friend of mine showed me how to weld, and he thought I might really like it, and I just fell in love with it. So the next step was like, oh, well, let’s make Jonny like a real drum set, like something cool that he can stand on, and, you know, that’ll look neat. And I had a bunch of used motorcycle chains, and I didn’t research welding or how to build things hardly at all, really at all. I just kind of went from my brain to improvising it, and kind of felt like I had a knack for it, so it all just kind of started there. And then we used to have this multi-person bass solo, where it started with me just holding the bass, and the guitar. Mark, and we had another guitar player at the time, they’d come to my left and play the low notes while I’d play a high melody and that evolved, that ended with Jonny coming out from behind the drums and playing it with drumsticks. That evolved to, I wanted to play the bass like a piano, like tap it, so I built a cheesy stand out of a speaker stand and like a piece of wood, and then I got the idea for that to spin and do a 540 and lock upside down in Jonny’s drum set up front. And that was the first real cool thing I think I ever built, was that bass stand, but I don’t know, the ideas just evolve. It’s like, what would make this cooler, you know… The scorpion tail I built, that was an idea that started with Jonny. He had a piece of MIDI equipment, it’s called the Numark Orbit, it’s basically like a video game controller that tied into the computer and had different buttons that would… The different buttons would do different things depending on how you program it in the audio software, so he was able to make dubstep in his hands out of me and Mark playing guitar and bass, and it sounded really rad when we were playing with it in the jam room. But it didn’t look cool, so I built a big arm for him to wrestle with levers and buttons and for it to be like a big show thing. So that’s really kind of the heart of it, making something just, when you… I remember, you know, when I was a kid, seeing a guitar player jump off his guitar cab and land on the ground, and just, like, the energy of that, of a human just jumping a few feet in the air and landing with the music, it was powerful to me. So the idea is kind of to just amplify that, you know, have a big swinging piece of steel on the stage with a bass guitar in it, you know, and a bunch of dudes jumping up on a drum set, that kind of thing, so, just to provide energy, so, yeah.
Gus: And do you have any new prop that you’re working on?
Daniel: Yeah, the, I can’t say when it’s going to be released, or really if it’ll ever be released, but I, over the pandemic, I built a 21-foot tall kinetic sculpture. At this point, it’s made out of six kick drums. Each kick drum has a three-foot drumstick that can, so it can play itself, there’s six of them, and each drum can move within 30 degrees up, down, left, right of the next drum, so it can curl over and spin. And the idea was to make like a dancing sculpture, if you will, that, if it just stood straight up, it’s 22 feet tall, but the whole thing spins and curls over and makes different designs and things like that. And the idea is to have it adorned with, like, programmable LEDs, as well as, like, the drumstick aspect, but yeah, that’s what, that was a big one.
Gus: That sounds both absolutely epic and insane at the same time.
Daniel: Yeah, yeah, you know, that’ll take some time to release, probably, we need to wait until we’re on, like, in arenas, or maybe it’ll come out for festivals or something like that, but yeah, I don’t know where the idea came from, and I just, I had to learn a lot of different things. Like, I didn’t know anything about coding, like, it’s just run off of our, off of Ableton Live, so the same thing that you program MIDI, like, keyboard with, tells the robot where to move the drums and all that, so it’s kind of interesting, but it was a fun project.
Gus: And, obviously, you’re not able to use such massive props in every venue across the ocean, because it might be pretty hard to ship. Are you frustrated when you cannot use them, or do you view that as a way to, maybe, not become gimmicky, in a way?
Daniel: Yeah, I mean, right now, we’re actually, the last couple tours, we’ve taken a break from it, and I was kind of curious if people, what people would say, like, if they would miss it, or how much of a part of the band’s identity that stuff was, but really, it’s been cool. Like, this tour, we don’t even have Drumtron, we don’t have anything, we’re just playing the songs, and it’s been great to take a break from it, you know. When we go home, we’re gonna work on another show, new show pieces, new drum stuff for Jonny to play Drumtron, a new bass solo too, so it’ll be cool to reintroduce the things, but at the end of the day, I think for us and the fans, it’s been cool to just be a rock band for a moment, and, relax into that. So, I’m digging it.
Gus: So, I am done with the serious questions for now, and I have a couple of slightly less serious ones. If you had the time, what would be the one thing you would do in every city that you get to visit?
Daniel: Oh, man, I would definitely take a bicycle or a motorcycle to, if it was just going in a city center, I would love to have a bicycle on the road to just see the city. And I got real into doing wheelies for some reason over the pandemic, so, in the US, I would bring a bicycle with me, and it was fun to, like, go to a landmark, set up a camera, and just, you know, wheelie across the whole frame kind of thing, so, that would be my thing. Just, yeah, get exercise in that way.
Gus: You’ve done a lot of music videos over the years, and a lot of them have kind of a very, almost movie feeling to them. If you could work with one director to create an entire movie based on your music, who would it be?
Daniel: Oh, that’s a great question. I mean, who did Inception? I really liked how that movie looked. I can’t remember that director, but I thought that was phenomenal. Was that Nolan? Yeah.
Gus: You mentioned the importance of the connection to music, but sometimes I think albums really blowing your expectations are truly marvelous. What’s an album that you thought you would hate, but ended up loving anyway?
Daniel: That’s a great question. Let me think about that for one second. I don’t know why I thought I wasn’t going to like it, but the last BAD OMENS record had such great hype that for some reason I was just like, surely this thing is overhyped. It just can’t be that good, and I knew nothing about the band coming in. And then I listened to it, and I was like, that was a damn good record. I don’t know where they came from with that. And again, I didn’t know anything about them. There was that initial kind of hatred because it was so hyped. But they did a fantastic job with that one. I think getting into BRING ME THE HORIZON, too, that was one. I got in late. I missed their first several records, and everyone said that they changed. There was just so much hype around the album with “Spirit” on it. Anyway, that was another thing. Maybe I’m jealous or something. I’m like, God, the hype is just unreal. And I listened to it, and I was just like, I’m a fan. This is cool. So.
Gus: And the final question is, apart from Alan Watts, which you said has truly changed your life, who’s the author who’s had the biggest impact on your life?
Daniel: That’s a great question. There was… Oh I can’t remember the guy’s name. Well probably Eckhart Tolle actually. He’s another kind of a philosopher like Alan Watts, he wrote the book “The Power Of Now” and it’s just a book about being present and him just explaining the mechanics of the mind and where negativity and misery come from and how to overcome it in like very real ways, pragmatic ways. And obviously that book definitely changed my mind for sure yeah.
Gus: Well Daniel, that was my last question thank you for your time and for the answers to my questions. Do you have one final word for our listeners?
Daniel: Thanks everybody for listening and for all the support over the years. We’re pumped about this record we’re releasing this fall “Carnal”, we hope everyone takes a listen, gives it a chance and comes out to a show. We’ll be touring state sides in the next couple of months and we’ll definitely be back in Europe for festival season in 2025. So yeah, thank you.
Transcription by S&P Traduction.
