Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / The Reaper Returns With JOE MULHERIN From NOTHING, NOWHERE.

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The Reaper Returns With JOE MULHERIN From NOTHING, NOWHERE. · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: My name is Joe and I also go by Nothing Nowhere.
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: Wonderful, wonderful. You've built a world around the return of
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: the repart. How does it feel bringing that version of
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: yourself to Australian crowds.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Well, I was thinking earlier today, like I was like,
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: I feel like I had just been to Australia.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: But I was looking at the calendar and.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: I realized that it's been three years since I've been
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: to Australia, so it's long overdue. And I will say
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Australian crowds are some of the best worldwide for sure,
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: if not the best. There's just so much energy and
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: everyone's just so passionate about music down there, so it's
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: it's going to be a blast. Honestly, Like last time,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: I just fell in love with Australia. Every single city
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: had its own, it had its own charm, and we
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: had a blast. So I'm just looking forward to the
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: fans and honestly, like maybe seeing the sun for the
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: first time.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, Oh well I hope the sun comes out.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: As I said, we are coming into winter, but hopefully.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: Oh that's wonderful. And do you last time you were here,
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: were you able to relax a bit and see some
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: sights and things like that.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: So the funny thing is my sister actually lives in Australia.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's super random.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: She moved there like eight years ago, and just because
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: she did study abroad there in college and she fell
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: in love with it.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, how could you not.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: And she lives there and at the time she was
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: living in Manly.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: So yeah, so yeah, I went to visit her and
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: you know, like it was just funny.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: It was just like like emos on the beach and
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: I like, I'm like so pale, and everyone else is
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: like water sports and I'm just like so out of
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: my element. But like it was amazing. I went snorkeling.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: I saw like, uh, a grouper. I guess a blue
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: grouper is a bat fish touched the fish.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: It's just it's just cool, like seeing like a different
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: biodiversity down there. And we had a blast. We took
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: the ferry into Sydney and it was just awesome. Like
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: I'm so excited to be back there. The flight sucks,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: but when you get off the plane, they're like worth it.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: It's worth it. Yeah. Oh and as a pale emo myself.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: That is Australian. I feel you're pain going on the
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: beach being absolutely so white and not tanned. But yeah,
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: we managed. And what a beautiful place that your sister
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: lives as well. Manly incredible. And you guys are touring
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: with Closure and Sachi six, who will be making their
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: Australian debut. What made them the right fit for this run?
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So with Sachi six, we I've been a fan
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: for a couple of years and both Sascha and Noah
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: became very close friends of mine, and we did an
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: entire US tour together and then we did an entire.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: UK and EU tour together.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: So now we're doing Australia together and we just turned
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: this whole thing into a world tour basically. So I'm
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: just massive fans of their music and they're really good
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: friends of mine. So it just feels like summer camp
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: whenever we're on tour together. It's just like so so fun.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: It's hard to take anything seriously with those guys, but
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: in the best way. And then we needed some like
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: you know, we wanted to have some local flavor and
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: like Closure is just amazing. I really love what those
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: guys are doing what that band is doing. They sound
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: so good. They sound like they've been around forever. But
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: they're just like a fresh band that I'm really excited about.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: And you know, they're representing Australia, so I think it's great.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: Like I love a three band bill personally, you know,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: I don't love us a five to six band bill.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm in my thirties now, I want to
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: go to bed.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, so I think it'll be great.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: It'll be you know.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Just I'm so happy that you know, both Closure and
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Sachi six are with us, and I'm gonna be watching
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: their sets every single night for sure.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: Yes, I'm such a huge fan of Sachi as well.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: I haven't heard much of Closure, to be honest, but
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: I'm excited to hear them with Sorry. Uh oh, Have
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: you connected creatively with Closure at all? Or will this?
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: Will this too be the start of that relationship?
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: No, I mean other than being a fan of their music,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: we haven't really like spoken too much obviously, just about
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: like the tour, but I I'm really excited to get
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: to know them for further. Like, like I said, tours
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: like Summer Camp and when I tour I just love
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: hanging out with the bands. I don't you know, I've
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: been on tours, especially when I was a younger musician,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: you know, where bands they don't really like to hang
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: out as much, you know, for better or for worse.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: You know, everyone has their own reasons. But I just
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: like making people feel welcome on tour and making new friends.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: And I'm excited to get to know them and yeah,
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: maybe we're creatively with them in the future.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. And you've continued to continue to
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: create from your Bonds studio in Vermont. What does that
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: physical space give you that you wouldn't get working in
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: a traditional studio environment?
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Extreme isolation, extreme isolation and extreme weather.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: We're coming out, you guys are going into winter.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: Were coming out of winter. I really do love the silence,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: you know. I have ten acres here. We're on the
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Canadian borders. It's just pure so there's no there's no
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: outer influence. It's purely whatever your brain comes up with.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: And sometimes that's a great thing.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it isn't.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: So whenever I feel, you know, okay, I need to
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: see some sun, I will take a trip to la
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: or Australia to break it up, you know. So, yeah,
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: I think it's just, you know, it's become it's who
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: I am. And I know a lot of people associate
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: me with being like the guy in the woods.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Now it wasn't intentional, it's just who I am.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's it's really all I know at this point.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you mentioned something interesting. Sorry I just cut you
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: off there. But I also leave isolated, really rurally in
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: a part of New South Wales. Yeah, I absolutely love it. However,
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: that isolation, it can really get to me. Does it
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: get to you in the same way sometimes?
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah? You know, it's funny.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: I've always sort of leaned hard into into isolation, and
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: I've always sort of felt completely peaceful and at ease,
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: and it really helped my mental health for a long
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: time until this winter. This winter was one of the
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: most intense winters that I can remember that we've had
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: in this region of the United States, where my local
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: mountain got over four hundred inches of snow and we
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: have day we'd had days where it was you know,
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: negative thirty degrees fahrenheit, which I don't know what that
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: even is in.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Celsius, but it was so intense and.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Even more isolating because the you know, it snowed so
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: much where I couldn't leave the house.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: Ye and.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and now it's got me thinking that, you know,
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: it's like I'm a big fan of it was a book,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: but now it was turned into a movie to the Wild,
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: which is, you know, based on Christopher McCandless. And I'm
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: starting to realize that Christopher McCandless, some of his last
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: words that he had he said, happiness is only real
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: when shared, or something along those lines.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: And as I get older, I'm.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: Sort of appreciating the company of others more and more.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: You know, I will always be an introvert, but I
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: think that I've had a tendency, through anxiety to lean
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: a little bit too.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: Far into being a hermit.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm sure where you live maybe you could
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: relate to this. So I think, like anything, it's so cliche,
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: but balance is everything, moderation is everything. And I've you know,
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: I think it's really good to go back on tour
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: right now, because it's about that time for me.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, No, I totally totally relate. And that is
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: a really good quote. I think as introverts, we probably
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: have to push ourselves to be a little bit more social.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: But when we do sometimes we can have really positive
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: experiences and we're like, oh, that's what it's all about.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah for sure, Yeah, yeah, it's it's good. And you know,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: I my girlfriend, she lived in la and now she's
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: out here in Vermont, which is way different. And she
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: she also she's an extrovert. She's pushed me to get
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: some friends here and stuff, and I'm like, you know what,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: it's actually good.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: You know, I know, I do the same thing for months.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: I'm like I want to talk to no one and
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: I love it, and then the next I'm like a
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: bit lonely.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: Beautiful And Reaper was such a defining moment for you.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: What made now the right time to revisit that era
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: thematically with this tour?
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean so yeah, Reaper the record was really.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: I don't want to I don't want to sound grandiose
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: or like self aggrandizing or whatever, but like it was
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: sort of genre defining, at least for me, because at
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: the time, emo rap was a new thing and it
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: was a whole you know. Now it's it's like pulling
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: out a dusty book and blowing off the dust. It's
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: like an old relic of when you anyone mentions emo rap,
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: but yeah.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Sort of, the you know, the logos is the Reaper.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Nothing Nowhere has become synonymous with the Reaper. So we
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: just called you know, we're celebrating ten years of Nothing Nowhere,
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: and we were like, it's the return of the Reaper,
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: you know, especially because we haven't been in Australia for
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: a long time. It is the return and it's a
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: decade of darkness. So yeah, we're hitting all the hits
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: from you know, twenty twenty fifteen to now twenty twenty six.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: We're playing a lot of oldies and a lot of
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: new ones. So it's just like a celebration. It's a
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: bookend to the past.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: You know, ten years fantastic. We love getting those Stapa cuts,
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: but also of the new material mixed in.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: A little bit, a little bit of something for everyone,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that's it. And coming from a scene that
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: blends emo, hip hop and rock, do you feel like
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: the industry has caught up to that hybrid sound or
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: are you still pushing against the grain.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a really good question. I think Yeah, I
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: think that the industry.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: Is moving more towards being genreless. But I also do
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: think that scenes are people are really embedded in certain
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: scenes as well, you know what I mean. And I've
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: always I've never really belonged to any particular scene. I've
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: always sort of existed within, you know, say it, say
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: if you if, if these genres are houses, I'm sort
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: of just standing in the yard in between all of them. Yeah,
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: And I haven't been quite i haven't been quite invited
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: to the cookout in either of the houses.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm literally just spitballing.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: I'm kind of walking around with my plate of yes,
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: you know, nachos that I'm bringing to the party.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, can I come hang out with you? Yeah,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: for fifteen minutes, then go to the next one.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know, but any at any rate, Yeah,
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, I never set out for nothing
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: nowhere to be a sort of genre list. But I
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: just like making music and I never wanted to, you know,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: put a cap on what I should be making. I
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: just want to make music that I like, and that
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: is fun for me because it's just my my creative out.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: So I think I think the industry is moving towards that,
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: you know, with streaming and stuff. People just sort of
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: listen to everything.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, definitely, good answer, very good answer. Okay, I've
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: got to be really quick here, but you've worked with
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: artists like Travis Parker, Pete Wentz and Chris Careba. There
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: are any more collapse in the works.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: First of all, I've been so lucky to work with
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: with so many my idols and so many people I've
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: I've looked up to in the past.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: And looking forward.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: For sure, there are, you know, collaborations that I have
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: my eyes on, and I've been working on a new record.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: That's why I'm really only touring Australia this year because
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: I'm taking my time with this record and I think
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: it's gonna be something really special thematically, visually and sonically.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I have no other information besides I'm working
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: on it, and uh, I'm excited for people to hear
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: it whenever it comes out.
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: That is so very exciting. And then just lastly, very quickly,
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: will you please release your own punk o's pop album
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: featuring all of your will it emos and all put
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: them on Spotify plates.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, actually you will be happy to know that.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, will It Emo Volume one is on Spotify, so
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: if anyone wants to check that out, it's on Spotify.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: And that I just started working on volume two right now. Yeah.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Will it Emo is just a weird thing that I.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: Did for fun and somehow blew up and I've been
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: having a blast with it.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: It really when you're out here.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: In the middle of nowhere, as you know, you it's
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: time and it's it's it's been a blast, so I'm
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: happy that the internet caught on.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: Oh we love it so thank you so much for
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: your time today. We can't wait to see you so soon.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you so much. Appreciate it.