During a recent appearance on “The Itch” rock podcast, NONPOINT drummer Robb Rivera and guitarist Jason Zeilstra revealed that the first of the band’s three planned upcoming EPs is complete.
“This particular EP is done,” Zeilstra said. “We have songs written and started and we know where we’re going with them [for the next EP]. We just have to put all the pieces in the stew and stir it up a little bit.”
Last month, NONPOINT debuted the EP’s lead single, “Ruthless”, the first original track to feature Zeilstra, who joined the band in late 2019.
“I was always asked to be a full participant from the moment I was asked to be a part of the band,” Zeilstra told “The Itch”. “I’ve known Rasheed [Thomas, guitarist] for 20 years, 10 years before [he joined] NONPOINT. Our bands played together. And then I met Adam [Woloszyn, bassist]. And even our manager Frank, he booked clubs in the area. Frank had sent my profile to Robb when they were looking for someone, and Rasheed vouched for me, and it was just a cake walk from there.”
During the conversation, Rivera also discussed the origin of arguably NONPOINT‘s most well-known song, a cover of Phil Collins‘s “In The Air Tonight”.
“We were on tour on the ‘Development’ album, and our old drum tech Scott just blurted that out: ‘You guys should do ‘In The Air Tonight’ by Phil Collins.’ And we didn’t really think much of it. When we went to the studio to do ‘Recoil’, that came up, and we gave it a stab. And the first version we did, we played it exactly like it is, and it was, like, ‘This is not working.’ So what you hear is the fifth version of that song. It’s an iconic track, man. And the only thing that we used in the song was the actual melody and that drum fill. Ken [MacMillan, former NONPOINT bassist], the next day he came with the [imitates bass intro] and I started playing the djembe and we built it from there. That song has been a complete blessing to us… Thank you, Phil, by the way. [Laughs] Thank you for the song.”
“Ruthless” was made available through NONPOINT‘s own label 361 Degrees Records LLC and was this year’s featured track on AEW‘s “Blood And Guts” on TNT.
NONPOINT launched its independent record label 361 Degrees Records LLC in January of this year. They filmed the process of starting the label and making new music in a docu-series titled “A Path To Independence” that can be seen on the band’s YouTube and official web site.
“The Itch” is a St. Louis rock radio show and podcast. It was founded in 2004, and is produced and hosted by Dan Cardosi, KC Adams and Aaron Brummet.
Photo credit: Francesca Ludikar
