Nonpoint
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Blistering.com: Does it anger you as an American?
Elias: Well like I said I hope people get out and vote this year and make some kind of change.
Blistering.com: So it’s safe to say you’re a Democrat in this upcoming election?
Elias: Absolutely; proudly. I just hope that if John Kerry does get elected that he sits down in that chair and says, “What am I going to do for this country?” His first priority should be our homeland first then everything else will take care of itself. Like I said, I hope that that is the first thing on his agenda.
Blistering.com: Is that what you’re trying to do as an artist is to inspire people?
Elias: If ‘The Truth” inspires political awareness then more power to it. So far the fans are really singing along to that one which is exciting. Honestly, I’m ready to write again, because we felt like we had a few more songs left in us. When we wrote this record, we had a ton of songs but we didn’t want to have a 20-song record. We’re in a touring mindset right now but seeing the reaction to the new music is awesome and we want to write more.
Blistering.com: There is also the Spanish track ‘Rabia’ on this release.
Elias: That’s another thing that we did a bit different on this record that we brought back from the first record.
Blistering.com: The only band I can think of that has tried to incorporate Spanish into heavy music is Puya, from a few years back.
Elias: Right, I think they broke up a while ago. They were on MCA as well but I don’t really know what ever happened to them.
Blistering.com: What prompted you to record a cover of Phil Collin’s ‘In the Air Tonight’?
Elias: We just wanted to try something different. Everyone has done the Sabbath, Led Zeppelin covers and we wanted to try and do a song that wasn’t really a rock song but we all knew. That song has this cruising at 2AM kinda Miami Vice thing (Laughs). The idea came up to do a cover and that song had a lot of really cool parts to it, like the melody. We gave it a shot and tried to make it our song.
Blistering.com: You think there is a possibility that the song could be released as a single?
Elias: Well KROQ is playing it right now and it’s number two.
Blistering.com: Do you worry that if the song takes off you run the risk of becoming another Orgy or Atari’s, where you’re recognized for a cover song?
Elias: No because we’ve had three singles that have all done well on their own and we also have built up a fan base through touring. Having a successful song on the radio isn’t something we’re betting our career on.
Blistering.com: I noticed the drums in that song and on the record are a lot stronger than previous efforts.
Elias: Well we pretty much produced this record ourselves and we did that to ensure that each person’s contribution shined sonically. We kept feeling that our last couple of records lacked in separation and showcasing each of us individually. This time around we made sure that happened.
Blistering.com: Does it bother you that some critics still perceive you as a nu metal band?
Elias: No because people are entitled to their opinions and whatever they want to categorize us as is what they want us to be. I can’t change what they say after they’ve said it and it’s definitely not anything we base our music or our lives around. We do what we want to do and that’s the bottom line. If the critics want to write a song then go ahead, because I don’t see their band! (Laughs) We write our music for ourselves and hope that everything else fails into place. The only thing we consciously do when making a record is to try and have each song sound different than the last. I hate putting in a record and by the sixth song I’ve heard the same thing but with six slight variations on it. We try and make each and every song a chapter in a book and we’re trying to make art here. We want people to get excited, get through tough times or even dance to our art.
Blistering.com: Are you confident that this is the record people will recognize Nonpoint for?
Elias: I’m pretty confident. It’s my favorite of the three records we’ve made and I like this record enough that I play it. I see bands all the time and nobody plays their own record and this is a record that I love to listen to.
Blistering.com: To close things, can you give us an idea of what the title Recoil means?
Elias: Where that comes from was just us trying to get back to the beginning where we wrote music just to write a bunch of good songs. Before we released anything, we wrote and re-wrote the songs until we felt that each was going to move our audience. We wanted to play devil’s advocate with each song, each line and each chord and make it a science and I think it shows. [END]
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