Nothing will appear at The Record Exchange (1105 W. Idaho St., Downtown Boise) for an acoustic set and album signing at 5:30pm Thursday, June 16. Nothing is performing later that evening at Neurolux and we have tickets for sale at the store. As always, this Record Exchange in-store event is free and all ages!
Pick up Nothing’s new album Tired of Tomorrow on a specially-priced $9.99 indie-only CD or indie-exclusive olive green vinyl!
ABOUT NOTHING
Nothing frontman Domenic “Nicky Money” Palermo got his start as the brains behind the late-90s/early-2000s hardcore/punk act Horror Show in the crime-riddled neighborhoods of Frankford and Kensington in North Philadelphia. Unfortunately, Horror Show’s existence was cut short in 2002 when Palermo was incarcerated for an aggravated assault charge (to which he pleaded self-defense) and subsequently served a 2-year prison sentence. After getting out of prison and working the next five years under watch of Pennsylvania parole board, Palermo took a lengthy hiatus from music, entering a period of personal reflection that led him through a maze of death, negativity and uncertainty. Nicky returned to music in 2010 and founded Nothing with the release of the demo Poshlost (named for an intense and quintessentially Russian form of spiritual banality). Following the release of Poshlost, Palermo met Brandon Setta, who would bring lush, rich soundscapes and a fresh approach to Palermo’s vision for Nothing and to the band’s next two EPs, Suns And Lovers (Big Love, 2011) and Downward Years To Come (A389, 2012).
Nothing then signed to Relapse for their debut 2014 full-length Guilty Of Everything, which was inspired by the events surrounding Palermo’s prison sentence. The album’s genuineness and widespread critical acclaim (from publications such as Rolling Stone, NPR, Stereogum, Spin, Noisey, and many others) seemed to forecast a new, more positive chapter for Nothing. The band toured Europe and North America extensively in support of Guilty and performed at festivals including Osheaga, Roadburn, Firefly, Budweiser Made In America and SXSW, but this period was unfortunately brief. In summer 2015, while on the eighth consecutive month of a non-stop tour that had seen the band performing with the likes of DIIV, Merchandise, Torche, Failure, Hum and more, Palermo was mugged and badly injured in Oakland. The assault ultimately left Palermo with a fractured skull and orbital, 19 staples and a drastically re-shaped perspective about his music and life in a larger sense.
That new mindset, which the band hadn’t been able to realize until Palermo’s injury, forced them to come up for air from the endless touring – “Like when you’re in a car going 100 miles per hour and connect with an oak tree and everything behind you comes smashing forward,” Palermo said. That was the basis for the band’s new record Tired Of Tomorrow, which was recorded over the course of a month at Studio 4 with Will Yip (Title Fight, Superheaven, Touche Amore, etc) this past October. Even since the completion of Tired Of Tomorrow, Nothing have faced new challenges and difficulties that would certainly have sunk a lesser band. As Nothing were gearing up to release Tired Of Tomorrow via Collect Records, the band discovered that the label had been funded by the now-infamous hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli. After Collect Records and their entire roster eventually dissolved under the weight of the controversy, Nothing were left adrift. Former partner Relapse Records got on board with releasing the new album, but Nothing were not finished with their trials – just this past November, Palermo’s father unexpectedly passed away in a tragic accident, heaping the band with further personal difficulties on top of their professional ones.
Yet throughout all this, the band has always managed to maintained a unique stoicism alongside its apathy, one that extends beyond mere riffs and reverb. All the band’s music, especially Tired of Tomorrow and Guilty Of Everything, have managed to work past, present and future simultaneously into their approach, both musically and thematically. Borrowing from personal memoir and external works alike, Nothing have worked the deepest influences of their youth and maturation into a package that’s ultimately at its most relevant in the present day. Case in point: Tired Of Tomorrow was written before the Shkreli debacle, but as Palermo sees it, those events only served to strengthen the sentiments and ideas behind Tired Of Tomorrow rather than confuse its message. It’s a mess to think about, but as always, the contradictions and paradoxes of the kind Nothing harnesses ultimately lead to the greatest revelations, and the band’s personal and tragic path has nonetheless led Nothing to produce deeply heartfelt and inspiring music. Whichever way you want to look at it, you can’t deny that Nothing feels good.
Nothing is:
Domenic Palermo
Brandon Setta
Nick Bassett
Kyle Kimball
The From Dusk Till Dawn Soundtrack vinyl release is finally here!
