Nothing More, Nothing Less
Get ready, active rock radio listeners, people of Middle America: everything will continue to stay exactly the same!
Last year I wrote a post about a hard rock band called Nothing More, the “it” band at the Aftershock Festival in Sacramento in September that had industry types a-buzzing. Industry hype has a way of spiraling out of control — all of a sudden one guy/label starts fawning over a band simply because the other guy/label did. And it escalates from there.
So when I read this post on Blabbermouth earlier this week that Nothing More had signed with Eleven Seven Music (Buckcherry, Drowning Pool, Hellyeah and Papa Roach are also on the label) I couldn’t help but chuckle at the lulz-worthy hype statements their CEO and the band’s manager put out:
Danny Wimmer from Armsdivsion Management: “While most labels in today’s new music business are chasing pop culture and radio trends, Eleven Seven Music has stayed true to the rock genre and continues to double down on expanding their reach in the genre. I couldn’t be more excited to have NOTHING MORE join the Eleven Seven Music family.”
Eleven Seven Music Group CEO Allen Kovac: “Every 10 years or so, there is a band that sonically and lyrically shakes things up and cuts through the clutter. For true rock fans that moment has arrived with NOTHING MORE. That is why we signed them to a five-albums-guaranteed contract.”
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, how is signing Nothing More not “chasing a pop culture trend?” How does this band “shake things up” in the slightest? What a load of bullshit! This is the exact same music that’s been ruling Active Rock radio with no change whatsoever for the past fifteen years!
Hard rock fans will look at this article and call me an elitist, or claim that I don’t like Nothing More because they’re not heavy enough. Neither could be further from the truth; you should like whatever tickles your fancy, I don’t give a crap. To be perfectly clear, I don’t think Nothing More are a bad band at all. They’re fine; I totally understand the appeal of this kind of music, it’s catchy. But Nothing More aren’t great either. They’re… <gasp>… mediocre. Oh, sure, they have a slight twist: djenty rhythms. Now that djent is six years old and peaked three years ago it makes perfect sense that radio rock bands are just starting to catch wind of it. But the basic formula here hasn’t changed. So let’s just call a spade and spade and refer to Nothing More as what they really are: the latest in a long line of same-y radio rock bands.
Here, I’ve taken the liberty of revising Mr. Wimmer and Mr. Kovac’s statements so they’re way more accurate:
Danny Wimmer from Armsdivsion Management: “While most labels in today’s new music business are chasing pop culture and radio trends, Eleven Seven Music is doing the exact same thing. I couldn’t be more excited to have NOTHING MORE join the Eleven Seven Music family to follow in the footsteps of bands like Papa Roach that have miraculously far surpassed their shelf life and have continued to sell records.”
Eleven Seven Music Group CEO Allen Kovac: “Every 10 years or so, there is a band that sonically and lyrically shakes things up and cuts through the clutter. NOTHING MORE is not that band. That is why we signed them to a five-albums-guaranteed contract, because the tastes of the rock radio listening public in flyover states never seems to change. Seems like a pretty good investment to me.”
There, all better! A little honesty never hurt anyone.
To the gents in Nothing More, to whom I mean no ill-will: congratulations on the hefty advance I’m sure you got from this contract. May you have a very successful career! You’re in the right hands: Wimmer and Kovac absolutely know what they’re doing when it comes to this kind of music. (being completely serious here, no snark)
