Page 24 - Black Velvet Issue 87

BV87 pg22, 23, 24, 25:BV87 pg24 16/12/2015 23:31 Page 3

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quoting Ziad Abdelnour, ‘One of the hardest de- could go on the rest of his life doing this because sort would, but at the same time, being around
cisions you will ever face in life is choosing he loved music but he would never really be fully that much, you get to see each other at your
whether to walk away or try harder’, we wonder happy and so that was his personal choice. And worst too. You get to see everyone reach their
if they may have walked away if the album we’re happy now. Like with most things in life breaking point of exhaustion, mentally and phys-
hadn’t brought the band success. they work out for a reason. It susses itself out ically and you get to see where people go when
“I can’t say for sure if I would have walked and we’ve got Ben now and we’re incredibly ex- they get to that point.”
away… I don’t know…” he contemplates. “We cited and happy. He clicks with us in a different Through the trials and tribulations he says,
might have. I don’t think I would ever walk away way than we clicked with Paul but it’s in a very, “I trust the guys more in a lot of ways and in
if I felt like I hadn’t done everything within my very positive way, so we’re really excited about other ways I have learned where their weak-
power and control to do, but at the same time I the next record. I think Paul is always going to nesses are, as they have mine. At the end of the
also have a co-existing belief that the only failing be a good friend to us.” day I think the redeeming quality to both sides
is quitting. So I believe that there’s always some- of it is that it’s not about any person being per-
thing else you could be doing because there’s n November, Jonny posted a quote on the fect, ‘cause that’s a pipe dream, that’s not reality.
always room to grow. So it’s kind of this hand- Iband’s Instagram page saying ‘Never be What it is about is being able to continually for-
in-hand, almost contradictory belief that has lead afraid to fall apart because it is an opportunity to give each other and keep moving forward”.
us to continually put out a record after record rebuild yourself the way you wish you had been
when the last one didn’t work and we weren’t all along’. The quote was from Rae Smith, and f you’re a Nothing More fan (and maybe
quite there yet. I think Daniel, the bass player, the band, with Paul leaving, could almost be Ieven if you’re not), you’ll know that Jonny
and myself both kind of have a timeline in our seen as an example of this. With Ben Anderson wrote ‘God Went North’ in relation to his
minds that continually evolves. When I was now on the drum stool, the band have rebuilt mother’s passing after a battle with cancer, while
younger I thought we would have been where themselves. We’re curious as to whether Jonny ‘Jenny’ is about his sister, Jenna, who has strug-
we were at now eight years ago and we contin- has rebuilt any part of himself personally too, gled with bipolar disorder and addiction. To say
ually gave ourselves a longer timeline because though. He thinks so. he’s had his fair share of upset is an understate-
we believed in what we were doing. If we “I think I’ve been rebuilding a lot of childish ment. Jonny also broke up with a steady girl-
weren’t progressing I don’t think that we would ideas that I’ve had in the past about what people friend of five and a half years at the same time
have done that. I would have said that this is a are, how to communicate properly and really get that his mother passed away. Usually we as
dead end. I saw us growing, so I’m not the uni- things across to people,” he reveals. “If you love people use music as a crutch and healing tool,
verse and everything, all knowing so I can’t say someone for example, a lot of times you just but back then Jonny was not in the right mindset
what our timeline is. I could say, “Are we growing think, if you had a thought or a feeling it trans- to even listen to music. “In that time period I
or are we not?” and I think that’s really the ques- lates through the ether or the air, but in reality, couldn’t listen to certain songs,” he explains. “I
tion you have to ask yourself, not so much a people don’t get what’s going on on the inside almost went a month without listening to any
time. Is it moving forward or is it dying? So for of you unless you translate it into their language. music at all because I had always felt very af-
us it was growing. So if we put out a record and And their language may be actions, their lan- fected by music when I listened to it, just in what-
we were happy and I thought it was only getting guage may be gifts, their language may be ever direction it’s going to move you. At that time
better then I would have stayed but if that was it words, and I think within all those ways that peo- I think my feelings were so heightened and sen-
and it was going to get worse after that then I ple operate they even then have an even more sitive and supercharged with all the emotions of
probably wouldn’t.” unique version of that. I think you have to figure the situation going on that music was just too
Sometimes it is the snail, rather than the out how people work, and then make sure the much. I thought that was a pretty weird time, I’d
hare, that wins the race, m e s s a g e never had that happen in my life. Music had al-
and hard work and persist- “You get to see everyone gets across ways been a redeeming quality, something that
ence bring just rewards. and that I made me feel when I couldn’t feel and I needed
Eleven Seven Music reach their breaking point think feeds it to feel human again or emotions again, or it
snatched up the band and of exhaustion, mentally a garden made the emotions I had more balanced or gave
re-released their self-titled that you’re them purpose. And this time it was just like being
album. Since then the band and physically and you get creating in drunk and having someone pour another bottle
have supported the likes of to see where people go your life, of liquor down your throat and the room’s al-
Halestorm and The Pretty which is a ready spinning. That was an interesting mo-
Reckless, and now, most when they get to that bunch of ment.”
recently, have completed a point.” - Jonny Hawkins people, a Fortunately, recently Jonny has been heal-
UK and European headline support sys- ing a lot more. “I hit a pretty big turning point on
tour. They’re winning more tem really. the inside a few months ago, actually,” he re-
and more fans with every So I’ve been veals. “I’ve hit a few major milestones in my own
show. Things are definitely looking rosey. Al- learning a lot about that because I’m not the personal healing with different aspects of my life
though strangely, at the same time, drummer most… I may come across as a very personable but… yeah, a few months ago I turned a corner.
Paul O’Brien, who’d been a member of Nothing person at times because I do enjoy a good con- A lot of times you think you turn a corner be-
More for five years, bid goodbye to the band in versation but in a lot of ways I prefer to be alone cause you have a feeling, and you give it a week
September. or working on something on my computer than or a month and that feeling’s gone as quick as it
“Losing Paul was probably the hardest interacting with people, to be honest. So I’ve came, and I’ve kind of learned that in life what
member change that we’ve been through and learned the value of people.” really determines if you have a real chance on
the most seemingly unexpected because al- When you’re in a band, your bandmates are the inside is not the feeling, it’s watching your
though we all knew that he was starting to act a obviously very valuable people indeed. Jonny actions, almost taking into account of how
little bit differently towards the end of the last has known his bandmate Mark Vollelunga (gui- you’ve been acting, or how you’ve been feeling
year, you could tell something was different,” ex- tarist) since the two met during seventh grade. over the long haul. Over the last few months or
plains Jonny. “I think that we still just didn’t ex- They’ve been through so much together. Bassist whatever I’ve noticed something shift for me. I
pect him to leave. He had put in years of hard Dan Oliver also joined the band early on in Noth- think it’s being forced to be on the road and be
work with us. The last five years have been an ing More’s career and has been a part of the away from people that I love and also grappling
incredibly difficult building process. Anybody band since 2004. They have almost become with the uncertainty of whether what we’re doing
who’s in a band or has run a small business or brothers. is going to work or not. All those things together
something like that knows that you spend a lot Jonny says, “Lately I’ve been thinking a lot have forced me to heal with an open heart in
of years working on building the foundation and about our relationship as a band and individuals that sense of moving forward even though it’s
doing a lot of gigs for little to no money and you and have watched it evolve, in some ways for still as uncertain as the uncertain things that
walk away with just enough to get gas in your the better, in some ways for the worst, because seem to have hurt you in the past.”
tank. We’d done that for years and he was a part whenever you’re with a person or people in such Looking for quotes to post on Instagram is
of that, a part of the most strenuous part of our a close and intimate environment for so long it’s one of the things that has also helped Jonny.
entire history and when things just started get- like you’re married. You do everything together, “Some days I spend a good amount of time look-
ting really good and the rewards were coming to you’re always around each other, so it produces ing and the process of looking is kind of almost
blossom he just reached a breaking point phys- a lot of trust in regards to us knowing who each like my own personal medication for the day –
ically and mentally and being on the road just other are and we back each other up in a heart- because it forces me to look through not only
wasn’t for him. He came to the conclusion that beat if somebody else were to challenge that other quotes or writings of people, it kind of just
he loved music but he did not love touring. He person, almost like a brother or a sibling of some gets me centred for the day, or allows me to find
NOTHING MORE