Nonpoint: Still going and going and going …

May 24, 2010

Nonpoint has become the Energizer Bunny of hard rock bands. No matter what happens—changing labels, management, guitarists—they keep going. The band, which formed in Fort Lauderdale in 1997, just released its sixth full-length studio album, Miracle, its first with new guitarist Zach Broderick and its first on its own imprint, 954 Records, through Rocket Science Ventures. They already have played dozens of live shows this year, and the touring cycle for Miracle, which will include a main-stage slot on the six Ozzfest 2010 dates, is just getting started. Drummer Robb Rivera checked in with Live-Metal.net’s Greg Maki to talk Miracle, touring and more.

Live-Metal.net: The new album, Miracle, just came out last week. In your view, what sets it apart from the previous Nonpoint albums?

Robb Rivera: Well, the first thing, I think, was working with an actual producer, with Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett from HellYeah and Mudvayne. What set it apart was, we actually sat down and worked on parts and made sure everything was good. They really, really picked us apart on each one of our instruments. Everything was so enjoyable working on that project, and that really set it apart. The previous three or four records, we pretty much did everything ourselves, calling the shots ourselves, without a producer. We were just in there with an engineer, and that was it. That really set it apart. We actually got to work with people that actually care about the band, and that really helped us put this record in perspective.

I’m sure you go way back with those guys, but how did they end up producing this? I know this was the first one they did like this.

Yeah, they started YEP! Productions. We’re the first project in. Our history with Mudvayne dates back to 2000, when we did their first-ever headlining tour, and they’ve always taken a liking to the band. They’ve always kind of kept up with our career. When To the Pain came out, I remember Chad coming up to me and saying how much he loved the single. They saw us kind of always having potential but never really getting over the top. I guess they thought we never really passed our potential or whatever. So when we did the tour with them last year, they were totally like, “Hey, we want to work with you guys.” We actually sat down and had a meeting in Tampa with them and our manager, and just went on. Basically, all they said was to have an open mind. That’s pretty much how it all started. We started e-mailing songs back and forth, did our pre-production in Phoenix last May. All summer long, we were sending songs to them. We kept writing and writing and writing. It came down to November, did some more pre-production, went into the studio and banged out the record.

What was it like working up in Wisconsin, especially that time of year?

It wasn’t really that cold, surprisingly enough. It was good ‘cause there really was nothing to do, and all we had to do was work, which was really what we wanted. All there was, there were like a couple bars, a diner and a gas station. We were just 25 minutes away from Milwaukee; we caught a couple shows while we were in town. It was great ‘cause it really allowed us to focus on the album. We lived at the studio. It was a house turned into a studio; it had bedrooms and all this stuff. We were really focused on making the record good and tried to really focus on working hard. It was a great experience.

Obviously, there’s a song, the first single is “Miracle.” Why did you choose that as the album title?

The album title, basically, it’s a miracle that Nonpoint is still around. After four labels, two managers, another guitar player. We’ve gone through so much, hearing so much crap—so much of “We’re going to give you, give you this” and nothing ever really materializing. It’s just a miracle that we’re still around, basically. We love what we do. As soon as [vocalist] Elias [Soriano] came up with the title of the song, we were like, “Man, that’s the title of the record right there.” And it just kind of took a life of its own.

You just touched on a couple other things I wanted to ask you about. First, this is the first album with Zach on guitar. From listening to it, it sounds like he’s all over it with solos and riffs and things. What was the experience like of writing and recording with him for the first time?

The transition was really easy. Our former guitar player, Andy Goldman, he had a great run with us. He was in there 10 years of his life with us. He wanted to experiment more. He was more into sampling and keyboards. He liked playing guitar, but he wasn’t really focused on being the guitar player. Zach, he just wants to play guitar all day long. He listens to guitar players, and he’s constantly playing his guitar, constantly tweaking his sound, constantly working on things to make his sound better, make himself better. It was just a great experience.

The era that I grew up in was like Ozzy when he had Randy Rhoads, bands like Ratt who had great guitar players, Iron Maiden—more guitar-driven type stuff. We wanted this record to be very guitar-driven, and we wanted solos. I miss the fact that a lot of bands don’t do solos these days, and it’s very rare to see a band that do solos. So when he came into the band, I saw his influences are basically the same as mine, like classic hard rock—and a lot of new stuff. It’s just a great marriage. It was a great experience. When we were jamming in the room with him, he had tons of ideas. Me being a guitar player, too, we actually sat down and worked on stuff together. I think he’s been a great addition to the band.

With your deal with Rocket Science, I guess that’s given you a lot of freedom and independence.

Pretty much. Basically, Rocket Science is a lot of our old MCA buddies. We released our first and second record on MCA. Since a lot of people used to work there, it was an easy transition. Basically, we put our own label out, 954 Records, and they came into the table. Basically, Rocket Science is a marketing firm with label capabilities. They’re really good on marketing on online strategies and stuff like that. It’s just really cool. Rocket Science definitely has been an amazing addition to the Nonpoint family. We could not be happier where we’re at right now.

Who came up with the packaging for this new album? It’s really wild.

Here’s a funny story: We went to the Rocket Science offices and we met with the artist guy. We saw this Spinal Tap packaging and it folded up and it was the guys—I think it was cartoons of them. And it folded like this big pop-up book, and I’m like, “We want this!” I think we’re the first band in rock to actually do a packaging like this.

Yeah, I’ve never seen anything like it.

I’ve never seen another rock band with packaging like this that I can recall. I might be wrong. Once we saw it, we saw the proofs and said, “Wow, this is really cool.” Basically, it was the Rocket Science design guy, the art director guy that did it, and it was just the coolest thing. A lot of people are freaking out over it, like, “Wow, this is the coolest packaging I’ve ever seen.” So seeing how our last packaging, kids weren’t too favorable of it—like, you know what, we need to do something that’s gonna take it over the top. We really need to focus on this packaging. We already focused on the music. We need to make sure the whole presentation of the record is great. Once we saw that, like I said, we immediately said, “We want this,” and that’s what they gave us.

At this point, you’re probably into all of them, but what are some of your favorite songs on the new album?

On the new record, it’s really hard to pick and choose. But if you have to push me in a corner, I like “Crazy” a lot. I like “Electricity,” “What You’ve Got for Me,” “Lucky #13.” I really enjoy the hidden track on the record, which is just piano, guitars and bass and the live singing, which is really cool. It’s very moody and very dark. I like ‘em all, but those songs that I mentioned, those could be my favorites to jam and play to, like really get me going.

I know you originally did the “5 Minutes Alone” cover for the Metal Hammer Dimebag tribute CD. How did you choose that song in particular and why did you decide to include it on Miracle?

We got approached by Metal Hammer to join up on the tribute, and then when we went down the list of songs, nobody had chosen “5 Minutes Alone.” I was like, I think we can do a really good cover. We’re more like a groove-oriented band. That’s some of the strong points of Nonpoint. When that came across, we were blown away that nobody had picked the song. It’s such a popular song, you know? So we did it.

It was actually a very interesting way how we recorded it. Our engineer, Chris, who engineered the record, he put it into Pro Tools, and he did something with the frequencies that he took the drums completely out of it and then added a click track, and I actually jammed to the CD. I didn’t jam with the band. I actually jammed with the CD, and for like the five minutes that song is, I actually felt like I was playing with Pantera. There was no drums at all. You could not hear any drums. It was just a click track and Phil and Dime and Rex, and me added on top of that. I said, “Wow, this is the coolest thing ever.” We talked to our manager, just out of the blue, “Can we add ‘5 Minutes Alone’ to the record?” “Of course.” We’re like, “Well the hell with it, let’s do it.”

A lot of kids are loving it. We’ve played it live a couple times, and the kids go crazy. It shows the power and the connection that Pantera had with the fans. So many people loved Pantera, and they still do. I still love Pantera. They’re one of my favorite bands ever. It was just great to actually pay tribute to such a band. I still remember my first Pantera concert—my first and only—on the Cowboys from Hell tour at the Channel in Boston, where they just came out like a right hook to my face. I was like, “Wow, this band is unreal.” Probably one of the most insane live shows I’ve ever seen. I only saw 30 minutes of Pantera live in my life. They were killer.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, you guys put out the digital acoustic EP Cut the Cord. First, did you enjoy doing that?

For years, the guys have been going in and doing acoustic at radio stations. Some of the stuff actually made its way online, on the Torrent sites and stuff. Kids start finding these songs and saying, “Wow, this is cool. You should put out an acoustic album.” For five or six years, I kept hearing those things. We had such a gap between Vengeance and Miracle that we found our buddy in Ft. Lauderdale who has a studio and said, “Let’s go in there and just bang out four or five songs. See what happens.” Actually, we did it all with full drums and everything, which is pretty not common in acoustic releases—we were jamming. We did it mainly because of our fans. That’s why we just put it out on a digital sense. We didn’t want to do a hard copy or anything like that. We just basically did it for all those people who have just been asking for acoustic stuff for years. We reworked five songs and just put it out. The response has been really good.

I talked to Elias late last year and he said you were probably gonna go in at some point and do another batch from the later albums. Is that still the plan?

It’s still the plan. We don’t know when it’s actually gonna be. It looks like our schedule is pretty busy. Starting next week till the end of the year, it looks like we’re gonna be a pretty busy beast. I know if there’s a two-week gap or a three-week gap somewhere, I could see us putting that together and doing it.

You’ve already been touring this year. You did the tour with Cold and played some shows with Sevendust. How have the shows been going for you?

Honestly, this has been probably some of the funnest shows and best touring cycle we’ve done in quite some time. The tour with Cold was just amazing. So many people turned out at those shows. I was so blown away that a band that’s been away for so long—we both came out probably a year apart; I think they came out in ’99 and we came out in 2000. If my time is correct, I think that’s how it went down. But I mean, for the first show, there’s like 600 people there, sold-out show. The next show’s sold out. Another one almost close to sold out. Out of the 55 shows that we did, three or four of ‘em were bad. Every other one was really good. It was awesome touring with them. They have a dedicated fan base. The shows with Sevendust—never a bad show with Sevendust. And now we’re gonna do some dates with Drowning Pool and then go to Europe, more dates with Drowning Pool and then do the Ozzfest, and we’re just gonna see what’s after that.

Yeah, I thought that was pretty cool to see the Ozzfest announcement. You’re playing on the main stage.

Yeah. At first, we were like, “You know, it’s seats.” But then we were like, “You know what, that’s the main stage. We’re on the same stage as Ozzy, Motley Crue, Rob Halford, DevilDriver. That’s pretty cool.” We’re looking at it as just another amazing thing for our career. When it’s all said and done, we can say we did all these things. So it’s just amazing. Like I said, this year so far has been great. The record’s out, the response has been amazing. All the reviews have been killer. So it’s pretty cool.

One more thing, I’ve seen you guys play a lot and you’ve got an unusual setup with your drums, the way you turn them around sideways. How did that come about?

	Nonpoint's Robb Rivera

That question has been asked to me so many times. If I had a dollar for every time somebody’s asked me that … There was a band back in the ‘80s called Stryper. They were a Christian rock band. Their drummer, Robert Sweet, he used to set up sideways. He actually had two kits, the one he’s playing and one behind him, where he’d just turn around and play the other kit. I’m like, “Wow, that is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” After seeing so many drummers set up forward, I looked at him like, wow, he’s actually part of the show. He’s not back there looking like he’s bored out of his mind.

When I started playing, I started experimenting with that, and it just became a thing in my show. There’s some shows where we open up for bands and there’s not enough space for me to set up, and I have to play forward. But when we have the opportunity to set up sideways, it’s crazy because I like to get out of the kit, I like to walk around, I like to point at people. I become part of the show. It’s another thing about Nonpoint that kids like. Besides the energy that the other three always give, I get to give that same energy. It’s just a really cool thing. I’ve contemplated setting up forward. I did it for a couple shows and kids come to me, “Dude, why aren’t you playing sideways?” We always try to please our fans. We do whatever we can to make them happy. They’re enjoying it like that, it’s actually part of the show and it just makes me, me. So it’s really cool. I enjoy it.

Thanks for answering that question again, and if I could right now, I’d give you a dollar.

[laughs] I’ll take it!

I think that’s about all the questions I have for you right now. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Well, our record’s out. It came out this last Tuesday, the 4th. It’s in stores everywhere and available in all digital outlets. You can check out nonpoint.com for all updates, tour dates, news, there’s a forum if you want to join up and ramble on about Nonpoint or whatever else you want to talk about, feel free. There’s links to Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. Come check it all out, and I appreciate everybody’s support.