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by: Don Sill
After four years of paying their dues and playing local gigs inside
some of the seediest establishments and local hell-holes in South
Florida, the band known as Nonpoint has finally emerged from the Sunshine
State and into the national rock circuit. Their major label debut,
"Statement" has been buzzing hard and with a new single, "What a Day,"
ready to drop along with a new music video and after just being added
one of the hottest rock tours of the year these MCA recording artists
are making a statement indeed. "We go out and play live and see what
effects people and what doesn't effect people." Explains singer/songwriter
Elias Soriano, "We kinda work out style into
stuff that not only moves us but moves the audience as well."
Nonpoint began as the brainchild of drummer Robb Rivera, whose original
band, Nonpoint Factor garnered some popularity within New York's Spanish
rock scene. Not completely satisfied with the way things were going,
Rivera decided to leave behind the Big Apple and move to South Florida
in hopes to form a new band that would complete his rock and roll
vision. He met singer Elias Soriano at an audition and the two became
quick friends and musical collaborators. They both shared the same
goal to create hard rock music with a salsa edge. By 1997 they recruited
both bassist, KB and guitarist, Andrew Goldman, (both members of the
Florida based band, Fuse,) and Nonpoint was born. The band became
a local favorite and quickly earned a solid fan base. Their popularity
would help land them prestigious local spots on bills with acts such
as Orgy, Everclear, Deftones, Sevendust, Incubus and Stone Temple
Pilots.
"I guess we're kinda like a no-frills band."
Says Soriano, "Our music is our music and it's
something that we take a lot of pride in and that's our art that we're
portraying to the world." Their music is aggressive nu-metal
with honest and open lyrics that most hipsters can relate to. Their
sound is appealing with melody, rhythm and attitude, blending a wide
array of styles with Pantera-esque grooves mixed with solid Latin-flavored
beats along with phat funky bass lines. Soriano's amazing soulful
yet edgy melodic vocals mixed with the angst driven hardcore rage
creates the sound that places Nonpoint somewhere in-between Pantera,
Tool and the Deftones with Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Papa Roach.
"We're just trying to be a rock band,"
he says, "Musical categories put you into a
starting gate that sometimes you don't want to be in, it's a harder
race when your put into categories. But, at the same time too, it
also helps other people. Right now, I think there are enough branches
of the genre that we're slowly gonna get away from that. We're giving
people a little bit of everything, the heavy and the melodic. The
genre is getting saturated with a lot of rap metal bands and we're
trying to steer away from that and we're just trying to do our own
thing"
"I'm definitely about being positive. I talk
about positive stuff sometimes in a negative way. I'm trying to get
a positive point across, but I'm kind of abrasive sometimes. Because
sometimes you have to shake people to wake them up and I definitely
want to keep that positive edge. When fans listen to my music or read
the lyrics I want them to be proud of them and to be able to scream
it and sing it out loud."
Nonpoint has definitely made a statement and proved that if you put
your heart and soul into something you can achieve any goal. They
certainly came a long way from their Florida roots as they tour North
America with Spinshank and will hit the road again this summer at
the mighty Ozzfest. "A lot of our friends are
gonna be on that tour so it'll be a lot of fun." Says Soriano,
"We're staying out on tour till' September or
October and we'll see how many singles we can drop off this album.
We're looking forward to it."
For more info about Nonpoint you can log to: www.nonpoint.com
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