Nothin More‘s Daniel Oliver guides us track by track through the band’s new album ‘Carnal’, out now via Better Noise Music.
HOUSE ON SAND
“When we started working on ‘House On Sand’ I had no idea how explosive the song would end up. Truthfully, it wasn’t my favorite right out of the gate; I thought that the chorus might be too melodic and the lyrics too soft for how heavy the riff and verse were. The weirdest thing about that is what fixed the chorus for me was making everything around it even heavier. It reminds me of when fire fighters burn the forest around the forest fire on purpose. I guess sometimes you just need more fire.
This song for me celebrates the fact that no matter how bad things can get, there is always forgiveness and a way to start fresh. We all have foolish ideas that affect our way of thinking and our way of life and you just gotta realize it, burn it down and move on. Growing up as a church kid, it was cool to get to use an old Bible metaphor as well as the backbone of the chorus.
We became friends with the cast and crew from I Prevail last summer while we were playing the Euro festival circuit, and were over the moon when vocalist Eric V. took interest in being featured on ‘House On Sand’. He took the song over the top for sure.”
IF IT DOESN’T HURT
“Prior to the ‘Carnal’ record, most anything that you would have heard from the band would have been a self-produced, from-our-home studio recording. But it was time to switch it up. So for this record we scouted out superstar producer Drew Fulk out of Burbank, California. The first demo we cut with him was a sort of test to see how well we like working together, and the song that birthed that day was ‘If It Doesn’t Hurt’. You know the chemistry is right when the first thing you work on turns out to be the first single, and also the first song to go to number one at radio.”
ANGEL SONG
“We had a day off from studio production with Drew, so we thought we’d make the most of our trip to LA and go try to write another song with a friend of Drew’s – Zach Jones. Anyway… I’m a sucker for fat ass grooves, and the first thing he puts on is this heavy, loud ass four on the floor beat. I can’t remember if me or Mark [Vollelunga, guitar] made the first move, but the next thing that came out of our hands was that intro/verse rhythm. And before we knew it Jonny [Hawkins, vocals] was howling out that ominous intro melody. It just flowed right out of us. We’ve always been looking for our ‘Immigrant Song’ and I think that we found it with this one.
One of the best feelings in the world is writing the song that writes itself. Everyone in the room is on the same wavelength, everything you play sounds awesome and makes the others feel something badass. It’s like the earth is humming and you just have to hum along. That’s what writing this song was like. And I think you can really feel it. It makes me want to celebrate and want to dance and I hope it gives others that same feeling.
When it came to thinking about features for the record we had actually just reconnected with the Disturbed guys while we were in Europe playing festivals. We knew for this song we needed someone with an epic, larger than life voice, so David Draimain was an obvious choice. He really killed it on this one!”
FREEFALL
“This is one of my favorite songs on the record. We kind of wrote it by accident. If I remember right, our producer, Drew, was going through the track listing and said that it’d be cool if we had a song on the record that was a little reminiscent of the Foo Fighters. Five seconds later, Mark played that chorus melody and progression on guitar and we were off to the races. I even think Jonny said the word ‘freefall’ on his first time through the chorus while he was still just in the ‘speaking in tongues’ phase of writing. It was powerful.
While we were writing the verses I vividly remember Jonny saying, ‘I’m about to get country on this bitch’, stepped up to the mic and pretty much sang out everything you hear in that first verse. It was a beautiful moment.
Music is this weird thing that you do have to work on a lot to create it, but so often the best ideas are the first ideas that you have. I think your soul’s first reaction to a raw emotion is usually the most right on. And getting better is more like getting in tune with your body, mind, and spirit. You just want to flow and feel and not be thinking a ton about it.
BLAME IT ON THE DRUGS
“‘Blame It On the Drugs’ is an exploration of how impossible it is to have a relationship with someone who has no accountability for their actions and is always looking for a scapegoat; and about the resentment that it causes. It doesn’t even have to be drugs that they are blaming, but just anything that takes them out of the line of fire.”
EXISTENTIAL DREAD
“This song originated from the ‘Spirits’ writing sessions but didn’t get the magic sauce until we revisited it for ‘Carnal’. We refined this song with the help of Andrew Bailus and Michael Whitworth.
I think it’s hilarious that we were able to pull off a bubble gum chorus with the lyrics ‘existential dread’. Those occurrences don’t happen often. Lyrically this song is in reference to all of the unnatural complications and anxieties that come from social media and the non-stop dopamine addiction of the internet in general. To me the most motivational part of these lyrics is the line, “We’re here for a moment // then it’s the END”. Because life is absolutely too short and too precious to care about certain things.”
DOWN THE RIVER
“After the release of ‘Spirits’, we wasted no time in getting back to the writing room. Oddly enough the first song that came to be after the release of the band’s most progressive album to date? An acoustic-driven song about a river.
Another fun fact is that we went in that day with the Dolly Parton song ‘Jolene’ playing in the back of our heads. Why? I’m not sure, but I’m definitely glad for all of the inspiration that made this tune a reality.
This song meant a lot to me because at the time of writing it I had just endured probably the most tumultuous year of my life. I got married only to lose my mom and nearly my dad two months later in a house fire. Later that same year my wife and I moved out of state to make a home for ourselves. It seems like the river of life sometimes brings death and always brings change. My mom was my biggest supporter, and I can honestly say that her encouragement was absolutely pivotal in me making it in music. This one’s for you, mom.”
STUCK
“‘Stuck’ came from another cool riff from the ‘Spirits’ era of songs. I love this song because for me it’s all about the grind that it took for us to get where we are. And not just musically. Becoming who you want to become and building the big dream and the big ideal that you have for your life is never an easy task. It takes a lot of confidence, belief in yourself, and time. The bigger the dream, the bigger the sacrifice. Always. I think in our journey as a band the worst times aren’t when shit is hitting the fan but when it just doesn’t feel like anything is happening at all. The doldrums. You are then as the song says, “stuck”. Wherever you are, hold strong, and don’t stop trying. If you don’t quit, you can never fail.
We got the metal/rap artist Sinizter to write and record the second verse and bridge vocals for this track. His vocal aggression, tone and lyrics really took this song to a cool place.”
GIVE IT TIME
““When it hurts the most just give it time”… I love that line. We always want to squirm out from the pain, or let our mind build stories about the anguish, but you just gotta take a deep breath and accept the pain. Only then will it lessen.”
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE
“The feeling I always got when we were writing this song was one of caution. Caution to not get lost in your dreams or in your emotions or in your head. It’s like God is there to give you the dream for your life, but the devil is right there to steer you away from it. For me, I feel like most of my adult life was filled with too much optimism. I always thought that if I just focus on the dream and put all of my time and energy into that, then everything else would fall in line. And there is a lot of good spiritually that happens when you align yourself with your heart, but you still gotta manage your life and your relationships or people and addictions are going to start coming for their pound of flesh and you might not be ready for it.”