Todd Lowry is the former front man of Once Nothing and he was nice enough to answer some questions for us about his side-project and future plans.
Todd, thank you so much for doing this interview with us. I know that it is hard to some up 9 years with a band in only a few sentences, but how was your time with ON and how hard was it to call it quits?
TL: My time in Once Nothing was the time of my life. Me and my friends started it in 2000 when I was only 15. It was the best times I can remember in my life. In fact, I’d be hard pressed trying to think of a memory that doesn’t involve ON in some form or another. Ending the band took more courage than anything I’ve ever done. I miss everything about it already. I’m just thankful I can look back on everything and say I made one dream come true.
You started this side project that is a killer mix of folk-singer/songwriter-country, tell us the story behind this project.
TL: My solo stuff is just me getting more of myself out there. I just started writing songs so I could communicate in a way that ON couldn’t do. I love hardcore and metal and rock and punk.
I always have and always will but my heart is in the simple music. With my solo stuff I just want to say what I want and communicate it the way I want to communicate it.
You are in LA right now, that is a long ways from the hills of Pittsburgh PA, what are you doing there? I’m guessing your not there for the club scene?
TL: I’m in LA just taking a break from everything that was happening after ON. I’m taking time to myself and writing and reading. I’m spending some time reconnecting to myself I guess.
All your music is recorded in one take and left unmastered, why?
TL: I record the way I do simply because I want to. Ask the dudes in Once Nothing…I’ve always been a “live, no BS, who cares about what sounds professional” kind of guy. Not saying I have the right or wrong attitude towards it. I’m sure that if the situation called for it I’d track and edit things or mix and master. But as of right now I just want to be myself. If i sound like crap at least I’m honest.
What experiences and musicians have inspired the music you write?
TL: Everything inspires me in some aspect and I hope that I’m doing the same for someone else. There are certain artists that when I listen to there music I want to die because of all the emotion I feel. Their music inspires and affects me so deeply that I feel that they wrote the song or album strictly for me to hear it. Those are the songs that inspire me and the artists that influence me.
Do you have any plans for touring anytime soon or any form of release that listeners could get their hands on?
TL: I hope to be on tour in the near future and I hope to release a record in the near future. It all just depends on what happens. I am always down to play a show and I hope that I can be on the road very soon. I will be recording again in May so that’ll be more songs put online. Once I the time is right, a record will be released! Thanks for taking an interest in my music! Stay tuned my friends!
Thank you Todd for taking some time for us.
To check out Todd’s project
uns N’ Roses was right when he said, “You don’t know what you go till it’s gone.” But Once Nothing got a taste of this quote on their last two shows. It is hard to see a favorite band call it quits, but you know what they say, …something about all good things having to end… I guess.
Though I hate it, that was the case for Once Nothing. Touring non stop over their nine year life span, member changes, countless EP’s… well I will let them tell you. I got a chance to talk to ON recently and those that followed these guys closely know that there was not much closure given about their decision to part ways. I dove in and asked them about the break up, as well as about them coming up in Pittsburgh, stories of the road, their nine years together and what is next for them as individuals, apart from Once Nothing.
With your more recent signing to Solid State Records and things really starting to pick up for you guys, was this a hard decision to make? Or did it just seem right?
Once Nothing: It was an extremely hard decision to make. Once Nothing was our lives for a very long time. I figured out that we did somewhere between 700 and 800 shows in 4 years, and that’s more than some major artists do in a lifetime. I’d be lying if I said that there wasn’t animosity or bitterness between us at times because of it, you can’t go from spending that much time with people to not having that career without it. I can tell you that we’re all friends now and still love each other like brothers.
We always believed that we’d be able to achieve whatever we wanted by hard work. And in a sense, that’s very true; we did what we set out to do.
The reason we got for Once Nothing coming to an end was fairly brief and left fans with a lot of questions. Is there anything that you can add to the explanation?
ON: We always believed that we’d be able to achieve whatever we wanted by hard work. And in a sense, that’s very true; we did what we set out to do. We were able to tour with some awesome bands, record a real record and have it everywhere we went, and spend months at a time on the road. That being said, there’s a lot of crap that happens within the upper rankings of the music industry. I always read interviews where people say, “Watch out for the music industry, it’s waiting to rape you,” and I never believed them. The odds are so stacked against the artist. With the decline in record sales and the myspace generation of bands that pop up literally overnight and have huge careers, it’s extremely stressful and difficult to keep the good old fashioned band running. We always felt like playing shows was the best way to make fans, but when you’re passed up for tours for overnight bands, or are booked by kids that just want to say they did it and don’t keep to their guarantees, or any of the other world of financial troubles it makes it really difficult to keep it up. The passion for playing and touring was never an issue, Once Nothing was just dealt a bad hand in the “music business” realm which burnt some of us out. No one wants to kick a dead horse forever, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.”
How would you describe touring for 9 years?
ON: It’s very adventurous. Especially when you start with very little and work your way up. Like a van, then van and trailer, and bigger trailer, and you’re playing shows local and someone offers you a show in a city you’ve only heard of, and then you’re going on tour and YOU’RE paying to be on tour, and the people you meet in every city that become close friends, and the problems you run into, and then you’re being offered tours with bands that you’ve looked up to. There’s a million things to take in and reflecting on it is very vast, but I can’t/none of us would ever trade it for the world.
What were some of your favorite spots to play?
ON: There were a bunch of cities that always treated us like we were at home. Obviously Pittsburgh, but shortly thereafter Sterling, Virginia was always great to us, they were the first place outside of Pittsburgh to really believe in us. Also there’s a town in Ohio called Dover where we had the most insane shows…their town had Once Nothing Thursdays, which is hilarious.
Any favorite memories or good stories?
ON: Too many to choose from. We toured with Gwen Stacy and A Plea for Purging long before any of us had labels and we ended up playing this venue in Michigan where only 2 people showed up. We all cut our sets down to 3 songs a piece, but went crazy and had a lot of fun cheering for each other and acting like idiots (stage diving, pile ons, *horrible moshing). Though the bigger things we did were amazing, it’s little things like that where you make the friends that stay that are nice to reminisce on.
You guys are known for your gritty brand of Blue Collar Metal. How have your upbringings and lifestyles helped to form your style?
ON: It’s kind of just the way Pittsburgh works. People here work hard and have a different kind of attitude. We were dogged for sounding “Too southern to be from the north,” but our radio stations play a lot of southern rock every day, so how can you expect not to take influence? I think the rough and tumble lifestyles that show in Pittsburgh gave us the drive to leave it. For whatever reason it gets passed up on a lot of tours and in all actuality, there aren’t many bands that make it out, so we just had to keep pushing ourselves further and further out until someone finally noticed.
What were the last few shows like emotionally? And what were the responses from the crowds like?
ON: They were exhausting emotionally. We played the 2 places where we’ve always been supported the most, Sterling, Virginia and our hometown Pittsburgh, Pa. The fact that they came so far after the breakup announcement gave us an attitude of just wanting closure on it, but those shows were amazing. Sometimes when things were going wrong I know I felt like it was us against the world, but at the last shows I was completely surprised by how many people came up to us and said that we dramatically influenced their lives. That’s completely insane to me. It went so far as I had a bunch of kids tell me that I was the reason they’ve picked up the bass guitar, which was the most gratifying thing I’ve ever heard. To me, people like Flea and Cliff Burton made me pick the bass, and to be that for someone else is the biggest honor I could ever ask for, and it just made it that much more emotional to do it for the last time.
As for the crowds, I don’t know if I can describe it. Kids were headbanging the entire show with us and yelling the words and some were even crying at times. It was just proof to us that we were part of something way bigger than any of us in the band, and it was sad but also amazing. Both nights kids rushed the stage at the end and I’m certain I gave more hugs between those two nights than probably combined years of my life.
What now? Can you talk briefly on what is going on with the different members?
ON: Todd has moved to LA for awhile for a change of scenery and to pursue his solo acoustic career more.
Giuseppe is a hired gun, playing drums for Haste the Day now. Steve is filling in on bass for War of Ages this summer/fall while their bassist takes time off. Geoff is now fronting Gwen Stacy and they’re on tour. Jordan is…I can’t say yet, but he’s pursing a potentially awesome opportunity.
Dave and Josh have a lawn company together and they hangout and work on their trucks. Ryan and Kevin are both happily married.
It will be hard not to see Once Nothing touring through our town twice a year, but eventually that hurt will turn into a callous. Once Nothing is right when they talk about overnight Myspace bands blowing up then burning out. ON was not that band. They hustled and worked hard because they loved it and they loved us. It made me think that maybe I could have done more and maybe they would still be with us. Like a friend dying has been the death of ON. And though we cant go back and save them, we can do our best to make sure it won’t happen to anymore of our friends. Although maybe that is just life.
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