Nothingface
Violence (TVT)
by Martin Popoff
Three records deep, Nothingface have forged a cogent alloy between hardcore and metal. Their new album, Violence, finally sees the band getting a full promotional roll-out through TVT Records. It should do well for them, given the he-man metal riffery, the compositional dynamics, and Matt Holt’s vocal prowess, introducing more melodic vocals along with his usual harangued bark.
“I would say this album was easier to record. We pretty much had the best technicians you can have. Our label really took care of us and let us do things the way we wanted to. But as far as writing is concerned, this record wasn’t easier by any means. Every record we sit down and write seems to be an ordeal, lots of yelling and screaming….”
What are some of the lyrical themes?
“It’s basically a lot of random thoughts. Sometimes when I’m writing lyrics I’ll be thinking of more than one thing. I’d sing the verse of a song, and the chorus could be on a completely different subject. But it’s about everything from being screwed over by women, being annoyed by your girlfriend, wanting to step into the shoes of a serial killer for a day, or questioning religion and politics.”
Oddly enough, the record was recorded in Vancouver at The Armoury Studios, even though the guys are from Washington D.C.. The band liked the intimacy of recording in one large room, plus it was as far away from home as possible.
Was there a stated production philosophy?
“We knew we wanted the record to sound a lot different from everything else out there. Nowadays, there’s definitely a trend of everyone wanting to use either seven-string guitars or downtune to like D, or A-sharp. And when you do that, you instantly sound like Korn. You have that Korn guitar tone. We definitely didn’t want to sound like that. And there’s no rap. I don’t rap. We wanted to be very musical. We wanted it to be very rhythmic, with lots of strange rhythms, because our drummer is a nut. But more than anything else, we wanted it to sound large. We’re meticulous about what we do, and our bass player, Bill, owns a studio. I mean, at some point we’ll be recording and producing our own records. In fact, I can almost guarantee that, because we’re not very good at letting people in.”
Coming off of the esteemed Tattoo The Earth tour, the band hopes to tour like crazy for most of ’01. The boys definitely enjoyed commiserating with the acts on Tattoo The Earth.
“Definitely. The Slipknot guys are really, really nice, and the same goes for the Sepultura guys. Everybody was really cool. At this point, we all kind of do the same things, we’re just at different points in our career. It’s a world where people just kind of treat us like we’re product; we’re just something to be put on a shelf and sold. Unless you do this, you can’t understand how bands can stay out on the road and play three hundred dates a year. And a lot of people don’t realize what bands have to go through just get to this point. But on a tour like that, you’re surrounded by people who actually understand each other and what you’ve been through. When you meet bands like Slayer and Sepultura who’ve been around so long, they can tell you about how things used to be and how they’ve changed over time, which is interesting.”
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