Despite the name, Nowhere Left have carved out a place for themselves within the New York rock scene thanks to behemoth-sized riffs and the powerful messaging in their music. “The idea is to create a community-centered around overcoming trauma in every capacity,” says singer Dom Delfino, “it’s important to build a safe place like that through music.” Trauma does not show bias. What might be a walk in the park for me could be an unequivocal nightmare for someone else. We just want to bring our sound and experiences to the table and help others realize they aren’t alone. ” Check out the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you all come from and how it all got started?
Nowhere Left: Dom, Jay, and Nick reside in Long Island and were all previously in a band together by the name of Call It Home. The band went through numerous lineup changes throughout the years, and ultimately we decided to start fresh with a new sound. We were searching for a second guitarist and a friend of ours told us about Sam, who had never been in a band before but was eager to. We Facetimed a few times, and he sent us some playthroughs, and we met for the first time on the set of filming our music video for “Tragedy”. The rest is history.
2. Did you guys have any formal training or are you self-taught?
Nowhere Left: For the most part, everyone is self-taught.
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences, and why the name ‘Nowhere Left’?
Nowhere Left: Our musical influences come from a lot of different places. We are influenced by artists we grew up listening to such as Slipknot, Linkin Park, and Three Days Grace, as well as a lot of newer artists like Nothing Nowhere, The Kid Laroi, Sewerperson, and many more.
Nowhere Left represents being at rock bottom, feeling like you have nowhere left to go but, at the same time, realizing the only place you can go is up. We’re trying to create a community around this concept and be the light for those who feel they don’t belong and show them that they do.
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
Nowhere Left: Everything we write is real. It’s all real situations that we’ve had to face and I think a lot of people can relate to these moments because unfortunately we all go through some form of heartache or trauma and there’s a strange sense of comfort that comes in knowing you aren’t alone and that others have felt what you’re feeling. We think our sound is pretty unique honestly, we’ve been trying to blend modern rock music with the new sort of “emo rap” wave and we think we’re hitting the mark.
Nowhere Left: We’ve always been fans of rock & metal music. Once we started falling in love with artists like “nothing, nowhere”, “Lil Lotus” etc, we wanted to incorporate those vibes with our music as well. As we continue to release singles and eventually a record you’ll hear we’ve incorporated 808s, beats, and other elements to help bring this fusion to life.
6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicle—and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?
Nowhere Left: We tend to just focus on making music from the heart. True unapologetically honest music in an attempt to connect with others who have endured similar circumstances.
7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
Nowhere Left: We’ve received so much love on our music lately and we’re so grateful that what we’ve created has resonated with so many people. I wouldn’t say we “expect” more but of course, every artist always wants more. We want to be as big as we possible can, connect with everyone we possibly can, and touch the hearts of as many people as we can. This world needs a lot of love and we have a lot to give.
8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
Nowhere Left: We typically get into the studio with our producer Josh and we all sit down and start with a riff or an idea and once we have that one idea we just start branching off of it and creating until an instrumental is finished. That usually takes a day and then the next day we’ll start with lyrics and melodies and wrap up by the end of the night. So it’s typically a 2-day process per song.
9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
Nowhere Left: The most difficult thing we’ve endured has honestly been the journey to get here. As we said earlier we all came from another band and that band was around for almost 10 years and never had the biggest following. That band had gone through a crazy amount of lineup changes, we’ve broken down in our van countless times, crashed one on the other side of the country even. We’ve had producers take advantage of us, money was stolen from us, and spent thousands upon thousands of dollars to not grow the way we had imagined. By no means would we trade any of these experiences for anything, it definitely helped us grow but we were always told by other bands that a lot of what we went through would have made them throw in the towel. I’m glad we didn’t and kept pushing until it didn’t make sense anymore. We learned a lot through these experiences and now use that knowledge with Nowhere Left to do better. The amount of love and growth we’ve experienced since starting fresh has been overwhelming. We never received this kind of love in our previous bands and we are forever grateful to be here and for everyone who has been supporting us.
10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
Nowhere Left: The most proud and successful moments have always come from fans saying we got them through a tough time, we helped them cope with something they were going through or some have even said our music has helped them not want to commit suicide. There is nothing that makes us happier and more proud to keep doing what we do than that. From 4 guys who have felt like they had nowhere left and understanding what that feels like, hearing others who are in that spot say our music helped them, we couldn’t ask for anything else.
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