Philadelphia’s Nothing recently released their second studio album ‘Tired Of Tomorrow’ on Relapse Records, renowned US dark metal label and home to Red Fang, Torche and Pig Destroyer. However, Nothing are not a metal band. They have been able to collide heavy hardcore riffs to soft and introspective lyrics soaked in existential paranoia, anxiety and boredom. The billowy loud guitars may remind you of early-Deftones, 'White Pony' era, yet the melodic and swooning voice of Domenic Palermo, lead singer and guitarist, takes you back to the shoegaze droning of Ride and Slowdive’s wall of sound prowess.
Formed by Domenic Palermo along with guitarist and singer Brandon Setta, drummer Kyle Kimball and bassist Nick Bassett, the American doomgaze band have been through a series of misadventures that remarkably changed the course of the events since the release of their debut album ‘Guilty Of Everything’ in 2014. Following a violent physical attack and the death of his father, Domenic and his band had to face other troubles with the new-funded Collect Records, to which they had signed for the release of their upcoming album. The band luckily got back on board with the previous partner Relapse Records and gave birth to another deeply heartfelt and inspiring work.
We had a chat with Brandon and Domenic just after their show at Moth Club in London.
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Compared to ‘Guilty Of Everything’, your new album sounds more mature, almost divided in two parts: sludgy guitar distortions and slow, atmospheric ballads. What are the main themes of the album?
Domenic: There’s an overall theme which is being sick of the monotony of every day; eating the same food, doing the same job, sick of waking up every day, seeing the same people, even on the internet too. And everyone is doing this. How can you not get sick of this? Sick of everything. What I’m saying is not suicidal, it’s not in my DNA. I’m aware of how lucky I am, I’ve been through really hard times and I saw the worst. However I play my music and I do what I like, but this doesn’t take away that I know what’s going on around me, constantly.
'Tired Of Tomorrow' feels like a deep and powerful record. To what extent have your recent life experiences influenced your creative process?
Brandon: Everything that we write about comes from a personal experience, especially from really dark moments of our lives. A lot of shit got through us in the last year: we wanted to get this record out and no matter what, and we did it.
Domenic: Brandon and I bonded really well, we are on the same page and when hard times come we face this in the same way. We kind of laugh about it because of its absurdity, it was just unbelievable the whole amount of shit we had to cope with at some point. We are not miserable; all the things that happened didn’t make us stronger or anything, they just made us think and this is how we started to work on the record.
Does your music have a therapeutic function?
Domenic: We do love playing our music and it is certainly therapeutic in a way. However all these words, “therapeutic, liberation, catharsis” have been thrown out for this record. The fact is that we want to go beyond this and try use this shit and find a reason to wake up every morning and keep some kind of legit meaning going through everyday life.
Brandon: The thing is that so many horrible things happen , people fighting or not respecting each other, you know… human beings are awful. You can be a good person but still it’s in the natural essence of human beings to be awful. This is scary and we constantly think about it.
Which bands had a musical impact on you?
Domenic: I don’t feel any particular influence from any one particular band in terms of music. People mention a fuck tons of bands like Slowdive, Ride and so on. We like those bands and we’ve been inspired by them but to be honest, they also got me through the worst time of my life. My life inspires what I do way more than other’s people music. Though, I do like Oasis, and Leonard Cohen.
Your live shows are usually pretty rowdy. How did you feel about the acoustic gig at Rough Trade?
Domenic: Today in general has been pretty mental. We had a listening party and then the acoustic gig at Rough Trade and finally the live show here at MOTH Club. Some technical difficulties, but all went smooth in the end. The gig was great, and the crowd was really excited. Everyone was singing along and crowd surfing.
Why did you decide for just one off gig + launch party in London?
Domenic: I like London and I feel attached to it. This country has been really influential on me and we thought it would be cool to have a launch party over here, a breath of fresh air. We’re about to tour in the States and it will be a long one this time, five or six weeks around.
The album has come out today and it has already a lot of hype around it. What are your thoughts and expectations about it?
Domenic: I’m positive about it. We spent so much time working on it!
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Words: Stefania Fiorendi
Photography: Stella Asia Consonni http://stellaasiaconsonni.com
Styling: Kylie Griffiths @ Stella Creative artists http://www.stellacreativeartists.com/kylie-griffiths/
Grooming: Ernesto Montenovo @ David artists http://davidartists.co.uk/ernesto_montenovo-editorial/
Photography assistant: Marcella Devoto
Styling assistant: Thomas Ramshaw
