Nothing Interview

The Gauntlet: How is everything?

Jeffrey: Things are going good. At this point I just want the album to come out.

The Gauntlet: Is the Jeffrey Nothing going to be a solo project for Mushroomhead’s down time?

Jeffrey: Right now I am planning on doing both. Skinny and I were always looking for something. We could never find that right guy though. Then about four years ago he met a friend who was great for us. Every thing he did was just right for the songs.

The Gauntlet: Four years is a long time though once you assembled the band.

Jeffrey: Well we could only track during Mushroomhead downtime. It did help that my guitarist became my roommate so when I’d get home from tour, I could put some lyrics down and he could put some guitar behind it. With Mushroomhead, we do about two longer tours a year. Then we have a little time when not everyone needs to be involved. I am ready for the challenge though and I am glad there is one.

The Gauntlet: I often groan when I hear a singer is going to do a solo project. It usually means a bunch of material that wasn’t good enough to be put out by the band so the fans are left with filler. But your new CD is not like that. It isn’t Mushroomhead.

Jeffrey: I just had the opportunity to work with people that have a lot of skill. Ryan [] writes a lot of chamber music. When you can pull from 600 years of music, the talent pool is just that much larger. It was like being in a candy store with all this musical melody. For me, I have always sang everything I have heard on the radio except for country. My influences in music are pretty wide spread and this project is too. It has been a great experience so far and I plan to take things even further with the second record. ‘Wormwood’ is very diverse. It has five key changes. There really wasn’t an envelope to push with this. We are all already feeling it. It is Mushroomhead’s M.O. to push the envelope in the recording process though. We had four years working on this. I went through so many different mood changes along the way. I channeled so many different spirits too.

The Gauntlet: Did you enjoy the extra freedom?

Jeffrey: Yes, it is nice to not have to look over your should for the other singer to come in and put in his two cents. The two bands I was in before Mushroomhead were my thing.

The Gauntlet: With the diverseness in the songs, you still managed to capture that underlying dark and sinister theme.

Jeffrey: Yeah, I would agree. I think I would be somewhere along those lines no matter what I do. Whatever I write has a little bit of an edge to it.

The Gauntlet: Have you played any of the material live yet?

Jeffrey: No, we have had rehearsals but we don’t have a drummer yet. We have a few drummers in mind though so it will just come down to whoever is available. That is what I want to do. Right now I am just so happy it is coming out. I was getting musical cabin fever.

The Gauntlet: Some of the songs clock in at seven minutes.

Jeffrey: I really liked doing that. If it feels right, it is hard to just cut something off short before it was finished or reached the musical climax.

The Gauntlet: Do you pay a lot of attention to proper song structure?

Jeffrey: I do. Mushroomhead is much more of a free for all type of thing. It is really good to have this which is more of a set pattern to work with. I did push this to new boundaries and that was really exciting.

The Gauntlet: What about a music video?

Jeffrey: We started with the track “Enough” which has a “Groove Is In The Heart” vibe by Dee-Lite. It is just a fun thing. We shot in a strip club so it has that vibe but it isn’t over the top. It is a bikini bar. I have story boards in my brain for some others but they will require set designs and a lot more time. We got this one done more because of time.

Jeffrey: Not to interview you, but what are you feeling on the album?

The Gauntlet: I was actually suprised. Nothing against you or Mushroomhead, but I was expecting Mushroomhead 2 on this album and that wasn’t what I got. Speaking with you today explains why so many of the tracks sound different. I think it was the fourth track, “Mnemerator” that was very rockish. I think that was my favorite track on the album, but at the same time I imagine the track you had to fight to get on the album.

Jeffrey: Yeah, I actually had to insist that that one was on the album. It was just a fun thing that Skinny did on his birthday. It has a “You Gotta Run” by Pat Benatar type riff going on.

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Tags:  Nothing  , Jeffrey Nothing, interviews

Jason Fisher    October 07, 2011