INTERVIEW: This may be the year of Nonpoint
Photo: Nonpoint will be touring with the likes of Seether, Mammoth WVH and Lacuna Coil this year. Photo courtesy of the band / Provided by official site.
Nonpoint, the longtime stalwarts from the nu-metal era, is still banging heads and jumping around stages, bringing its rocking music to adoring fans throughout the world. This year is a particularly busy one for the metal outfit. They’ll be supporting Seether, Mammoth WVH and P.O.D. on The Surface Seems So Far tour, which kicks off May 3, with Nonpoint joining the guys May 5 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Later this year, the band heads to Europe to support Lacuna Coil on a multi-month outing that begins Oct. 10 and continues through Dec. 1.
In between these dates, there are some festival appearances. Plus, there’s another leg being planned of the band’s successful Painful Statements tour, which celebrates Nonpoint’s To the Pain album (20th anniversary this year) and Statement album (25th anniversary this year).
Elias Soriano is the lead vocalist for Nonpoint. He’s joined in the band by Robb Rivera on drums, Rasheed Thomas on guitar and backing vocals, Adam Woloszyn on bass, and Jason Zeilstra on lead guitar.
“Getting back overseas, getting to play with some of our old friends, it’s going to be a really great year,” Soriano said. “[We] just put ourselves in the opportunistic position of being able to send you home with a lasting impression. That’s always our goal is to have people leaving with that wow factor.”
Soriano was upfront about the upcoming tours and what audience members can expect in the set list. For the Seether dates, the band will have approximately 35-40 minutes to show off, and he’s determined to play the hits during those precious minutes. “We really want to play the ones that people have been asking for,” he said, mentioning their covers of “When Doves Cry” and “In the Air Tonight.” “‘Bullet With a Name,’ ‘Alive and Kicking,’ ‘Breaking Skin,’ ‘Chaos and Earthquakes,’ literally every single single that we can pop out and pump in there for them that they can sing along to. I think this is going to be the opportunity for that.”
The singer said many new fans are won over at festivals and when Nonpoint is opening for other groups, but the real magic occurs when they are headlining and able to bring the audience some deeper cuts. For those anniversary shows, for example, there are two dozen tracks to get through, and the die-hards absolutely love the rarities.
No matter what they’re playing, the energy will be sky high. “It’s been that way since the beginning,” Soriano said about Nonpoint’s live performances. “In the beginning, we just decided to leave it all out there on the stage. Now here I am, I just turned 50 and still jumping off boxes and giving myself gig neck from head-banging. As long as I can do it, I’ll be doing it.”
Soriano admitted that although Nonpoint still rocks hard, he doesn’t take the same risks he did 20 years ago. He’s respectful of his body and recognizes that the jumping around needs some limits. “Maybe a little bit less of the high-rise acrobatics,” he said with a laugh. “They call me glass ankles now because I’m always snapping my ankles or hurting myself on stage. I used to be able to jump off higher things. Now I’ve got to go home to the kiddo. I want to be able to still walk around when I’m older, so not so much. I’ll jump off my riser, which is about 2-½ feet off the ground, so I’ll clear maybe 5 feet, maybe 6 feet off the ground. But I think 6 feet is probably good enough for me.”
When Nonpoint plays a festival, like they will this year at Louder Than Life and Aftershock, they actually find themselves in the role of being elder statesmen of the metal scene. At these celebrations, they have many bands who are starting out in the business asking for advice and showing their admiration for what Nonpoint has accomplished over the years.
“It’s definitely fun to have those conversations,” Soriano said. “It’s humbling to see some of these up-and-comers that are destroying it, and they’re like, ‘Man, you were my anthem in high school.’ I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s great to see that it inspired something that has us on the same stage together.’ I think that’s powerful. I take every bit of it I can get.”
Soriano has a unique ability to stay focused on his music and retain his independence within the difficult music business. Nonpoint operates without a label, as one example, and they are forever dedicated to the open road. “It’s part of the gig,” he said. “If I’m going to start complaining about touring then I should probably find another job.”
Soriano no longer feels the pressure to put out original music on a yearly basis. His art takes some time, and he likes to work on his own schedule for EPs and LPs. “I think it’s been almost five years since we put out a full-length, so it’s about that time,” he admitted. “If I had been on a label, I probably would have put out another three full-lengths already, and we weren’t really ready for that. We were still playing with our new sound. Jason just got added about four-and-a-half or five years ago, so things are evolving. People really love the new show. They love the anniversary shows. We’re writing some really amazing music. You always want to write things that you get excited about. I’m very excited about it, and I know our fans will be, too.”
The singer added: “Maybe the full-length might be in 2026, but there’s definitely going to be new music in 2025 coming from us, without a doubt.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Nonpoint has multiple tours planned for the rest of 2025. Click here for more information and tickets.
