xNOMADx - Sound In The Signals Interview
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| Agi Hueller |
First, thanks for the interview.
Thank you for having us!
I recently listened to Grady’s interview on the ‘So You Did A Thing’ podcast. I thought the origin story of your band was really interesting. Can you tell us more about how you all met each other and started the band?
The way we met each other is all kind of unclear to us, even now, as a lot of friendships are in the Internet/social media age. Grady (guitar) and I (Einar, vocals) met via a group chat we were both added to, with Anders (drum) being the common link/mutual friend. As for how we met Shaye (bass) and Bradley (guitar), I think it just came from being involved in the hardcore scene in the northeast, going to shows, meeting people and especially always being on the lookout for other vegan edge people.
Your band is a vegan straight edge hardcore band. What are some of your main reasons for being vegan and straight edge? How did you get into hardcore?
Everyone in the band has different reasons for being straight edge, as some of us have experience with drugs, some of us don’t, yet regardless all of us have a distaste for the pacification drugs can lead to and the way it can destroy lives, to put it in a very simple way. As for veganism, everyone in the band is vegan for ethical reasons, and we believe strongly that the anthropocentric view that humans have the right to use animals as food, especially with the technology we have nowadays, is not only not in line with the general ethics by which we try to live, but completely incompatible with the vision of the world that we push.
You released your demo in April and it seems like people instantly liked it. I think it’s one of the better heavy releases of the year so far. Did the reaction surprise you at all? What are your thoughts now that it’s out?
I think, at least for me, the reaction has been way more than anything I ever expected. I expected it to reach our friends and maybe a bit into the broader XVX scene but to see people from all over the place listening to it and enjoying it so much is amazing and super humbling, especially as this is my first real, recorded band. I know I speak for everyone in the band when I say that we’re extremely grateful and really warmed by the reaction.
Can you tell us more about the writing process for this demo and about your overall songwriting process?
Yeah for sure, musically almost all of the writing for the demo (and for the band in general) was done by Grady, while I wrote all of the lyrics. For most of the time we were writing the demo we were a three-piece, with Anders and Bradley coming along after it was released and we started booking gigs, and using a session drummer for the demo (shout out Brandon), so it was initially more like Grady’s pet project than anything. Of course, we were always all stoked on the band from the beginning, but Grady has the clearest musical vision of the band. That said, the newer stuff we’re working on has contributions from everyone, and I feel as though it melds everyone’s unique taste and influences together while remaining in our established style.
I really like the song ‘Wild Peace’. Can you tell me about writing that song specifically?
The working title for Wild Peace was actually “South Florida Song” because we were trying to emulate the sound of those Carry the Weight bands from like, ~2016/17 down in SFL. I think, funnily, it was the song at least a couple of us were the most lukewarm on after recording (specifically for me as I feel the first verse is my worst vocal performance on the demo, as it was the last song I recorded), but it’s really grown on me since then and we typically open with it.
You recently released physicals for the demo including CDs and cassettes. The cassettes sold out pretty fast. Is there any chance that you’re planning a second run of cassettes or a vinyl release?
A second run of cassettes is loosely planned though we don’t have a date on when to expect a preorder for those yet. Vinyl would be incredible in the future but I don’t expect we’ll go straight to running the demo on vinyl, instead keeping that for more “proper” releases in the future, like the EP we have planned. All in all, we’re a CD band as we love that format and hope to keep it continually available.
I heard the physical demo will include a bonus song that isn’t out on streaming. What can you tell me about that song?
The bonus track is nothing huge, it’s a piano outro. It was initially going to be on the main release on streaming, but we decided to keep it to physicals.
I’ve seen a few live videos and your shows are pretty wild. What can listeners expect from your live show?
We’re a metalcore band but we are all more involved in, come from, and make a concentrated effort to play within the hardcore scene, so people can expect the hard, “violent” dancing that’s par for the course at hc shows. We deeply enjoy that aspect of it and a huge, if not the main, goal of this band musically is to get people to dance as hard as they can. More singalongs would be cool, though.
I know the demo just came out, but have you been working on new music? If so, what can you tell us so far?
We have been. We have a few tracks loosely demoed out and the general plan is to have an EP out this fall, though I can’t guarantee that at all. I like the demo a lot but so far I think these tracks are even better, as we’re kind of going for a more I Have Dreams-with-more-dance-parts route. But who knows, the EP could come out in a year and a half and sound totally different from that, that’s just where we’re at now.
Who are some of your current favorite up-and-coming hardcore/metal bands?
All of our labelmates on Ephyra, especially Balmora and Adrienne. Ultimatum, Moral Law, Contention, A Mourning Star, Domain, memento., Kidnapped, Moment of Truth, World I Hate, Broken Vow…. just to rapid fire a bunch. Hardcore is in a great place right now, best it’s been since I started getting involved when I was 14.
Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Do you have anything else that you would like to add?
xNomadx is fundamentally a political band. Addicts are human and deserve respect. Spell our name with the X’s but don’t say them out loud when you talk about us. Thank you for the interview.
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