Nothing More is one of the most exciting and dynamic rock bands you can see live, today. The group has become a favorite on the ShipRocked Music Cruise which they will be sailing on. Once they’re back on land they have a headlining North American Tour with support by Crown The Empire and Thousand Below. For a full list of tour dates, go here.
The Travel Addict got the chance to catch up with bassist Daniel Oliver who spoke about the unique ShipRocked experience, as well as his love of welding and creating stage props. Oliver also went on to share a crazy tour story you have to read to believe and more from their previous tour!
Check out the first part of our interview with Daniel Oliver of Nothing more:
What are you looking forward to about ShipRocked?
I think the shows on the cruise ships are always cool because they’re just different. You know, like playing on the deck of a boat is very different.
The fact that it is moving is a big deal. You’ll be rocking out, and then all of a sudden, you get lighter and then the boat rocks one way. Then it goes the other way and you get heavier. I think the coolest thing is just that everyone’s there, and out and open on the deck.
When it comes to other bands, I love that all the bands are just chillin’ together. You can access bands or people that you really wouldn’t have gotten to before. It’s like everyone’s backstage at a festival.
Our first year going, we didn’t know how overwhelming that would be or if it would be overwhelming. And really everyone on that boat just seems to kind of have it down. It’s really a very pleasant and awesome experience all around. I was there with my dad the last two years and we had a great time.
You’re known for making stage props, do you still do that on tour?
If you catch me welding, chances are I’m fixing something for repairs. Over COVID, I did start working on a new stage idea and I didn’t quite finish it. I don’t know what led me down this road, but I have on my hands a 24-foot tall kinetic sculpture made out of six kick drums.
Each of the three drums is like an arm and each drum can move about 30 degrees up, down, left and right from the one next to it. It’s all fully automated and air-powered, so it’s like a big dancing robot. Each drum has its own three-foot drum sticks, so it can play rhythms and things like that.
More than anything, the idea is for it to just kind of curl really into cool, giant shapes and be lit in interesting ways. So yeah, that’s the plan for the next big leap for the stage.
The plan was to have it finished by the co-headliner we did in May with Asking Alexandria. I had a big tragedy in my family this last year that kind of set me back a bit, but it should be coming soon. It’s huge, like we really have to wait until we’re in a dedicated headline tour and like a 2,500-seat theaters kind of thing. It’s coming most likely sometime in 2023.
How did you start welding?
I just kind of got into it for the band. I had no real past experience with it and I just fell in love. I just got an idea and I knew that I had started getting this interest to build things. Buying tools is really expensive, so it’s a very hard hobby to just get into as a musician.
The band has always been supportive of me, and so far, I guess my ideas have worked out. Anybody that has that itch, I encourage them to go out and give it a shot because welding is one of those things that takes like five minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. But what you get out of it, it’s just too cool.
What was the craziest story of your last tour?
I think the craziest for me was when our gear truck killed a black bear just [before] Aftershock Festival.
We still were able to play the festival even though it showed up within like an hour of us playing. I don’t like that we killed a bear. I think that’s horrible, actually. But we had so many unforeseen problems on the tour, just like logistical things. Several crew members had very close friends and family die back home.
We had suitcases stolen from buses. We had multiple buses break down. We had a bus that didn’t even show up for the tour. We’re supposed to have two. So when we rolled up to Aftershock after killing that bear and still played the show, that was some weird, like blessing from the other side, from the animal kingdom that just said “Keep Truckin’.”
It was a nine-week tour. It was super long. We killed the bear probably seven weeks in, so it’s like, “Are we running out of things that can happen to us?” But we survived this tour and played to the end.
Did you find any hidden gems or places on the road that you hadn’t visited before?
I started bringing my mountain bike on this round of tours and I’m really loving that. All of a sudden we have access to this arena building that you would never have access to if you’re just going to a show. So, I like to take my mountain bike and then do wheelies in places where you’re just really not supposed to at the arena. Doing tricks down the stairs, just riding around the ring and doing wheelies around the walkways.
When we were in California, we had a day off. It’s actually my first-year wedding anniversary and my wife flew out. A lot of us went out to Yosemite, that was really something else. It’s like the land of giants, all the features are just feel gigantic. It’s pretty cool.
Catch Nothing More on the road throughout April and May and at some of this year’s biggest rock festivals in the U.S.!
