Interview: Get To Know No Skull

Interview with Ryan Andrews.

What first got you into music?

My Dad played in a band when my Mom was pregnant with me and apparently I kicked to the beat in the womb. There was a period when I was about 4 when I would only answer to the name Van Halen. First name Van, last name Halen. But when I was about 12 Nirvana made me realize I could actually write and play music of my own. They were the lighthouse that directed me to the shore of punk rock.

How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard it before?

Thick guitars with lots of fuzz playing riff heavy punk rock whit pounding drums, driving bass and harmonized vocals. Like if the Ramones played stoner rock, but some prog rock sprinkles on the top of the ice cream cone.

Was there a defining moment when you realized music was your calling?

Oh I sort of touched on that in the other question but to expand...I was into thrash in 1992-93. loved Metallica and Megadeth and the like. Then my uncle gave me a cassette copy of Nevermind. I thought it sounded so slow...but I kept going back to it. at some point I realized "hey, I could play these songs!" and I started to learn a few. Then it was off to the races! I started making Nirvana-esque songs of my own, and then Nirvana turned me on to the Melvins. I was like, "I didn't know you could do that in music" when I heard Stoner Witch. The world opened up and things got really weird! hahaha!

Where do you find inspiration for your lyrics or melodies?

Sci-fi, fantasy, magic realism and horror books. Lots of books. Stories always inspire me to write and make lyrics that fit my life into the context of the books I read. Also, life experiences obscured by life's weirdness. We try to be somewhat positive in our lyrics but sometimes life is weird and sad so that's not always the case. We don't write much political stuff although we do feel very strongly about that stuff. There are definitely messages in our songs about love and positivity but also warnings about the bad stuff out there. Sometimes it's political. Way she goes.

How do you balance personal expression and creating something your audience will love?

Usually we figure if we like it other people will as well. We don't cater to audiences, but we do notice which songs get a crowd going and which ones they go out for a smoke during. hahahah! So we tend to pack our set with faster more energetic songs even though we like to write some slow sludgy heavy stuff, which we do bust out once in a while. But in general we want people to have fun and be entertained so we try to keep it energetic in our own way.

What has been the most rewarding moment of your career so far?

Creating tons of music, I'm proud of with my brother and some of my best friends. doing small tours and laughing our butts completely off. Making people happy and seeing them dance and get sweaty and have a good time. That’s what its about right?

Are there any specific milestones you’re working toward in your career?

Playing bigger shows for bigger crowds. Playing for 30 people in a basement is a great time, don't get me wrong. We always just want to entertain people with our art, but it would be nice to play on a slightly bigger stage in front of a bigger crowd. It’s happened a few times in my musical career and it’s always a good time feeling that energy and blasting our loudness to people and making them feel something that we want to put out to the world.

How do you prepare for a show or tour?

Pack the gear. drink a beer, hope for the Once! hahaha! Once we get our ducks in a row as far as scheduling and directions and all that, we just go for it!

What’s the most unusual or memorable thing that’s happened to you on stage?

Well, not ON stage but we played a show and in the pit there was a guy in a full-on Ebenezer Scrooge nightgown, sleeping cap and had a lit candle in a candle holder, just dancing in the circle pit. I almost train wrecked the song I was laughing so hard.

Can you tell us about your latest project or release?

Recording wise we kind of go all over the map. We are recording 2 ep's of faster material (Badlands Ave and Overmorrow) to be released on cassette sometime by the end of the year, we are working on an ep of synth based songs (The Honest Weapon) that our drummer wrote lyrics for and will be singing, we have an alt country album (I Kill With My Heart) we are slowly chipping away at and we are writing a new set/album of fairly heavy songs (Evermind) that will eventually be our next full length. We just did a cover of an REM song (Feeling Gravity's Pull) for a compilation of REM covers to be put out by Phonophore Records fairly soon. Our latest release is an EP called Full Earth that is the end cap to our series of releases from the last album cycle. We did an EP called Wide Earth that preluded our full length, called Fields of None and Full Earth ended that cycle. Fields of None was based all around the Dark Tower books by Stephen King. There's probably some other stuff in there I'm forgetting. We get a little too big for our britches with albums sometimes...we just like to switch it up in recordings but also release stuff that is true to how we sound live. I'd personally rather release weird albums in between the "real" ones than start a whole new project for a different type of music. I guess we are inspired by Boris and Wilco in that way.

Are there any collaborations in the works you’re excited about?

I guess the REM cover album is the only real collaboration we have going. I suppose another collab we have is working with artist Craig Horky on a series of album covers for our next few releases that sort of tell a story. He did the cover art for our album Fields of None and the upcoming ep Badlands Ave and we are taking those two covers and expanding them concept wise to our next few releases to tell the story of our Dad, who passed last Oct, and his possible adventure through the afterlife. lots of magic doors and cosmic happenings.

What message or emotion do you hope people take away from your music?

Excitement and positivity. We love heavy dark music, but we aren't really dark people so we can't truly make stuff like that. Plus, there's enough dark stuff happening in the world right now, so we hope to bring a heavy ass sound with higher energy and somewhat positive lyrics and make people feel like they climbed the mountain and are exhausted but satisfied and fulfilled. Hahahahah! Whatever, at least we want them to be happy.

Who are you listening to right now?

Currently I am totally addicted to the 2020 album Inlet by Hum. Also, lately I've been listening to a lot of Conan, High on Fire, Jesu, Pink Floyd (always), Metz, Yes, King Crimson, Karp, Tad and Kyuss.

How do you see your music evolving in the next few years?

All over the map recording wise hahahah! But yeah, our next set of songs is quite a bit heavier and riff centric than our last set. My Brother recently joined us on bass and second vocals, so the song structures have gotten a bit more.... complicated? and the vocals have gotten a lot more harmonious. Also, I've grown a bit tired of playing super slow and sludgy in general, so the new materials tempo is quite a bit higher than in our last album cycle.

How do you handle the balance between commercial success and artistic integrity?

Hahah! We don't care about commercial success. We create for art sake and fun. If someone wants to give us money that is a bonus, we will take it. But we're older gentlemen now and we just don't see things the way we used to when we were in our 20's. Yes, it'd be great if people paid attention...but we have been making music for 30+ years now and that’s just not the goal anymore. We just want to make the music we like and hope others like it as well.

What’s next for you? Any upcoming projects, tours, or surprises?

Lots of recording. Hopefully booking some fun shows around the Midwest and East Coast with some cool bands and meeting some new friends. Living life and appreciating art and love and all the good stuff.

Anything You'd Like Your Fans to Know.

Check out our music. We put a lot of love into it and hope it makes people happy. Every band and artist has something different to give the world and we just hope our music fills a spot for folks that we fit into for them.

Music | No Skull