Rising from the ashes of the late UK band, All Or Nothing, Nightlife have made a fresh start with a name of their own. After losing their previous vocalist and picking up a new bassist, the band recently surprised many with the release of their debut EP, The Road To Hope And Glory. Read on to read my interview with Nick (drums) and stream the EP in full!
First things first, can you tell us your name and role in the band?
Nick: Hey I'm Nick the drummer.
So the question on everyone's mind is, can you discuss the events that lead to the demise of All Or Nothing and formation of Nightlife? How was the new band name chosen?
Nick: Basically after a record deal went down the pan and we got completely fucked over by London label Transmission Records, our singer decided to quit as he'd had enough of all the bullshit we were subjected to over almost a year long period. We hadn't done much at all in that year because of the label holding us back, only played 2 shows and still had not got in to the studio to record our album which had been written and ready to go for months. And so consequently we decided to call it a day after Tom quit and end All Or Nothing to start completely afresh with an entirely new band so we could do whatever the fuck we wanted with no contracts and no-one telling us what we can and can't do. The way it should be! We chose the name Nightlife because it's a pretty accurate representation of us as people, we like to party. And because all the other names we came up with weren't good enough! It took months to come up with a name all four of us liked.
When exactly did Nightlife come together and begin recording? I remember wondering for months what had happened with All Or Nothing, hoping that it wasn't the end.
Nick: We recorded this 4-track EP in March 2012 and had pretty much only thought of the name just before this. We'd been working on songs without a band name since sorta mid to late 2011 so we just say we formed at the beginning of 2012 as that's easier.
The EP's sound seems to explore a more Rock/Indie sound, as opposed to your previous straight-up Pop Punk work - was this change something that was planned before recording or did it develop over time?
Nick: Yeah I agree - It's been both an intentional thing and a natural progression. We were starting pretty much from scratch, and had scrapped a tonne of songs we wrote whilst still All Or Nothing. We didn't wanna start a new band and sound exactly the same. Plus we've been listening to a lot of new sounds and also a load of other older stuff too that we've always loved like early Foos. We just wanted to push ourselves and not keep writing the same pop punk stuff that we've done in the past. We still love that, but this band I guess is a bit more experimental. Hope that doesn't sound too wanky!
With Tom no longer on vocals and Scott now on bass, what have the band's writing and recording processes been like this time around?
Nick: It's been a lot more relaxed actually. Paul is a really good song writer and is the main song writer of this band. Before in AON it could get a bit all over the place with everyone's ideas being used in one song for example, so we'd end up with a song with loads of separate parts that didn't really fit together but we'd just go with it anyway because I guess we didn't really know how to write a "proper" song. Nowadays, the songs are more structured and in turn they become a lot catchier as parts are repeated rather than just having the catchy chorus bit only sung once throughout the whole song, which did happen a few times in old AON songs - and that's a bit of a waste. Paul will basically come to practice with the whole outline of a song finished and we'll work on it from there. Rather than someone coming to practice with one little guitar riff idea or something. I think it works a lot better when there is one main song writer!
What have you been listening to yourself lately? Can you make any recommendations?
Nick: Check out DIAMOND's new EP, Don't Lose Your Cool It's awesome: www.dmnd.bandcamp.com. Also LOWER THAN ATLANTIS are consistently releasing brilliant albums: www.facebook.com/lowerthanatlantis.
Are there currently plans to play any local shows or go out on tour in the future? What else would you like to accomplish with the band?
Nick: Yeah definitely. Booking some shows in the UK for summer. We all agree what we wanna do with this band is just try to see as much of the world as possible whilst having fun and playing music we love. So that's our goal really.
Can fans expect to hear any All Or Nothing songs at shows or is that in the past?
Nick: Nah we're a new band with a different singer and a different sound, we'll only be playing stuff released under the name Nightlife.
Starting a new band is not always an easy endeavour, but do you feel that with close to 10 years of experience and the reputation of a respected band, you've had a jumpstart? What're your thoughts on the band's future intentions?
Nick: No it's not been easy at all really, and it was a really hard decision to split up in the first place. We had worked SO hard on All Or Nothing for pretty much 10 years and so to decide to start all over again felt like a massive effort, and it has been a huge disappointment to let it all go too. However having said that, it also felt like the only thing we could do and we needed to just start all over again so that we didn't lose heart. We wanted to feel excited again after all the crap we had to deal with. And we did feel excited, and still are, so we're all happy to have made the right decision. Our intentions right now are just to have some fun and keep steadily releasing awesome new tunes and see where it takes us. Hopefully to new countries and to meet new people.
Thanks for doing this. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Nick: No problem, thanks for featuring us. Yeah check out the EP on SoundCloud for free here: www.soundcloud.com/nightlifeuk/tracks. Or if you're feeling generous/don't just wanna stream it, pick it up on iTunes. It's real cheap and it'd help us out a tonne. We're broke! Thanks.
Interview by Mario Parra
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