Posted by: From the editors Nothing More, Interviews No Comments on Im Interview mit Mark Vollelunga von Nothing More + Insights zum neuen Album „Spirits“
Interview with Mark Vollelunga from Nothing More + Insights on the new album "Spirits".
Hi and welcome to Lila's interview!
For the release of their new album "Spirits", we took the opportunity to talk to Mark from Nothing Moreto find out more about the genesis and background. He answered all our questions in detail and directly, which leads us to today's Album Insight story, in which you will find the most important information about the release. If you want to know more about the story behind "SpiritsIf you would like to know more about the "Spirit" and the Spirit type of the individual members, you should definitely read on.
Special thanks toStefan from Head Of PR & Mark from Nothing More - You rock!
Lila: How are you?
Mark: Hey Lila, I’m doing well and can’t wait for the album release tonight/tomorrow!
Lila: We and especially your fans have been waiting a long time for a follow-up toThe Stories We Tell Ourselvesand now we get a fiting successor with "Spirits", which also stands out on its own. When you compare them, where do you see differences between your last and your current album?
Mark: You know I think the biggest difference with this album is time. Due to the pandemic we all really dove headfirst into this record and we took advantage of all the time by going deeper down artistic rabbit holes. Sometimes they turned into progressive sections of songs like Spirits, Face It, and Ships In The Night… and sometimes they were a lost cause and turned into potential future songs that just didn’t make it on this record. I’m grateful looking back at this process to see how we’ve matured and am very excited to see how the world feels about our next musical endeavor.
Freya: Your band puts a really coherent and profound concept behind every album, which also grabbed me with your current one and exceeded my expectations once again. How did you come up with the concept? And can you dive a bit more thematically into your latest work and share its background story?
Mark: Thank you for the kind words. It’s always great to hear words of encouragement from something you spent a lot of time and energy on. The title Spirits really sums up this mental writting process we all went through. The last two years were hard on everyone for so many different reasons. I think for us we all dealt with and got to know our inner demons a lot better… and a big theme of this record is the duality and acceptance of yourself. We are all capable of wildly demonic and angelic things. Instead of shying away from either side we’ve learned to come to terms and realize we as humans are both. Sometimes you have to let your animalistic side take over to get through a time or fear in your life… much like the arc of the story from the book/movie The Life of Pi. And by the same logic sometimes you have to find the balance and inner peace in a life situation to weather a storm you’re enduring to relax and be present throughout. I know that was quite longwinded, but this album is quite a deep one that we’ve poured a lot of ourselves into and I hope the world can embrace all of it to dive down the rabbit hole with us.
Freya: Listening to your new record, you definitely don't talk about how"good"the world is and how everything works, but rather about the contradictory emotions of the last formative years. If you had the chance to change the world with one of these songs, which one would you choose and what would you want to change with it?
Mark: That’s a great question Lila. It’s always hard to think about any supernatural change you have the power to make happen because the world balances itself between good and evil constantly. Nobody wants these horrible things to ever happen, but often times it’s rough treatment that gives the most precious stones their luster. However, your question remains… so I’ll play along. I would choose the song Best Times. It’s the light and positivity in this dark record. The song really speaks to embracing presence and inner being. It’s about soaking up the ‘now’ and realizing that sometimes we don’t know we’re in the best times of our life until they’re in the past; that’s the irony of it. But, when you realize this you have a choice of where you want to live; the past, the future, or the now. This theme is also one that exists throughout the record and I do think it’s a huge lesson that’s so simple, but mind-blowing when you allow it to change your life. Our world would absolutely benefit from this.
Freya"Gut Ding hat Weile" (good things take time) - we like to say in Germany when something simply needs time to become good. There is a longer creative phase between your two albums, which was perhaps necessary to make "Spirits" so special. Can you tell me how you experienced the process of creating your new album and what lessons did you learn that you now would like to share with the release of your most recent record?
Mark: Yeah that is definitely a true special saying I would have to agree with. The vast majority of this album was created separately. We file shared most of it and we were rarely ever in the same room together. It’s obvious this process took a lot longer for us, but we didn’t really have a choice due to the pandemic. It was very frustrating a lot of the time and sometimes it was hard to feel the synergistic ‘magic’ that comes from being in the same room together. Nonetheless, this is exactly what this record needed. We all learned a lot and we will definitely never do an album this way again, but the result does speak for itself and I am very proud of this record and once again excited to see how it affects the world.
FreyaOf course, I also did the spirit test (result: Fuse) and was in fact so amazed at how precise it actually is. The members of our magazine were also impressed. So, I would be interested to know what "superpower" or "Spirit" you have?
Mark: That’s amazing to hear Lila. I am a Fuse as well and so is our bass player Dan. Jonny is Tru and Ben is Constant. I love meeting my fellow Fuses. It’s almost like you immediately share a likeness and
mutual respect for another human into how they would respond in certain life situations.
Freya: You have another chapter coming up with the release of your new album. What are you most looking forward by opening it and what are your wishes for the future?
Mark: For some reason I have a strong feeling this record will make some big waves for us internationally. I know the band wants to tour and experience more of the world and have that world experience us too. I am also just looking forward to seeing how these songs affect people and am anticipating their feedback.
Freya: What do you want to say to your fans?
Mark: I want to say thank you for being patient with us. This album has taken a long time and been the most painful one to create… enjoy the deep dive… much love from all of us in Nothing More.
~Mark
Picture from: Jody Dominque
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