All Interviews
Valume Nob
The Nob
Posted on Feb 19, 2006
by AvNatten
The swamps of New Orleans, Louisiana have given birth to an array of great bands. Yet another band is clawing its way out of those very swamps. They are called Valume Nob and boast a line-up that consists of musicians that many of us will find familiar. So sit back while vocalist Marshall Black tells us all about the Nob.
Hello, please introduce yourself and tell us what your role in Valume Nob is?
Hi my name is Marshall and I am the vocalist for the Nob.
Â
Will you introduce your bandmates to us and tell us what roles they play within the band?
They are guitarist Frey Thieler, drummer Sid (The Mars Man) and then bassist Kirk Windstein, most will know Kirk from his other projects which are Crowbar and Down.
Â
How and why was Valume Nob created?
Valume Nob was created to kick metal in the ass. We felt the need to put it back on track. We weren't happy with the way things were going with the metal scene. There were two many bands trying to sound like each other. You know jumping on the band wagon so to speak. If a band hit it with the rap/metal then every one wanted to do that are every one wanted to be death and before that every one want to be Pantera. We just felt like metal was loosing its edge you know, there was no more danger in it are it was becoming too dark just to be dark. You have every one wanting to be into Satan but yet they wouldn't hurt a fly in real life. Man it was just turning into what we thought metal wasn't about any more. So with Valume Nob you get just straight up metal with the throw back of all the greats that weren't so evil. Bands like Van Halen, The Ramones, S.O.D. you know and with that party and have fun kick ass time feeling to it. Now don't get me wrong when you hear this new record "Residue And Bones" it makes you stand up and go what the fuck. But that's just the way we are always living on the edge. But mainly we are a party your ass off type of metal band!
Â
How long has the band been in existence?
Valume Nob has been together for 5 years. Not as the line up is today but it took time to get all of the right people together you know.
Â
Have there been any other members in the past?
Yes but a band is only as good as its weakest member, so we had to make some changes over the years. Some people just aren't cut out for the long run.
Â
There are so many good bands from NOLA, is there something in the water down there that the rest of the world needs to know about?
Hahaha that's funny. No man I just think that NOLA is a musical town ya know so we are always listening to different music in the clubs down here. I mean you can go out every night and hear jazz, blue grass, soul music and living with this culture it just adds flavor to whatever you are doing. Plus a little of momma's ole gumbo never hurts either. That ole gumbo puts rhythm in your bones!
Â
How is the current musical state of NOLA in your eyes?
Right now there are a lot of musicians who lost their equipment in the floods from the hurricane. Plus a lot of the clubs are still shut down. The town was hit hard so it will take a few years to get back up and running.
Â
Do you have any other bands/projects you are working on?
No Kirk is the only one who has other bands. He stays busy with Crowbar and now Down is doing a new record. But for the rest of us it is just the Nob. We are the ones writing every thing any way. Some magazines have tried to look at us as one of Kirk's side projects, but that's not the case. Valume Nob was already together and we decided the bass player didn't fit what we wanted to do so out he went. Then while looking for a bassist we were at this club drinking with Kirk (Crowbar) and Rex (Pantera) when Kirk said he saw one of our shows and it kicked fucking ass and he wanted to play bass. Well of course we were drunk and just laughed but he called me the next day and said that he really wanted to join. So me and the guys sat down and talked about it and said lets go. Kirks been with us ever since.
Â
What other musical endeavors is your band mates involved in and what are their latest happenings?
Like I said Kirk has the most with (Crowbar and Down) The Mars Man Sid has a project with Phil Anselmo (Pantera) called Body And Blood. I think they will hit the studio soon to record but Sid’s main thing is Valume Nob.
Â
Who and what were your influences as you were creating Valume Nob?
Well being that we aren't 16 years old, we are influenced by older stuff. For me I come from the punk rock side of music and The Mars Man from metal and Frey who is the youngest from the hardcore era. So I guess you have The Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Exploited for me then Van Halen ,Judas Priest and Iron Maiden for The Mars Man then shit like S.O.D. and Suicidal Tendencies for Frey. So that's what makes the Nob have such a good sound because we all bring different styles to the table. But the best thing is we know how to mix them like that like momma's ole gumbo. Hahaha.
Â
Your music sounds very raw, was this an important aspect to have while you were writing the songs?
Like I said we wanted to put that danger feeling back in metal we didn't want to sound to polished. Plus we didn't have that much money to record the EP. I think we spent 500 bucks recording it and then it isn't mastered either. Now the new record "Residue And Bones" we did go to Los Angeles and record with engineer Warren Riker who has record a number of big metal bands. But Warren met us and just loved Valume Nob's sound so he said that he wanted to record us. He made us a sweet deal and let us stay at his home while we did this monster. The new record has a great sound but still has that wild fucking feel to it and you guys will see what I mean when it comes out!
Â
Are there any differences in your new album from the EP?
Yes of course we saved the best for the new record so if you dig the EP then that means Valume Nob will be your favorite new metal band when you hear it "Residue And Bones".
Â
What is your relationship with Crash Records like?
Well we knew the owner Mark and he let us do just a distribution deal for the EP. That was real kool of him because we still own it our self and can sign it to another label. Crash was a good place for us to get the EP out and let people get a taste of the Nob. We still talk to Mark at Crash and wish him the best with the label. I know people like to read dirt but just don't have any thing bad to say about Crash.
Â
How did your partnership with them come about?
Well the owner Mark had Crowbar on another label in the past, I think it was called Pavement (that is correct, ed) so that was the connection.
Â
Have or will you ever play gigs?
No way man I think we'll just sell records. Hahaha if it was only that easy huh. Yes we do get out and play but not as much as we would like. This past year has been more business than any thing. Finishing the new record flying to Los Angeles to record it and then comes the mastering at Paramount Studios. Now we have been shopping for labels had a few that we turned down and right now we are putting it out ourself. Maybe starting our own label not sure just yet. There are a few more labels interested but if they don't get off of the cash that we want for this record then fuck it we'll just keep selling it our self and start our label. We are in the works of a European tour for April we have been working with a guy name Tim over at Vicious Promotions so keep your eyes peeled for that to happen.
Â
Have you played many gigs so far and what are they like?
Yes we play here in the states and you know like many new bands, people want to stand there and check you out. But that doesn't last long with the music we have, man after about the fourth song the people are going nuts.
Â
How do you feel about taking Valume Nob on tour?
It will be easy all of us are veteran musicians and have been gigging for a long time so no worries. Plus we all are from NOLA and have been friends for so long it's like being on vacation with your family.
Â
Have you gotten a lot of positive feedback for your music?
The feedback has been great the fans have really gotten behind the Nob. At first we didn't know what to think but things have really been taking off and people are just digging the shit so much it's a great feeling. For us that they like it so much and then it makes us want to keep writing you know. We believe that you are only as big as your fans make you, so we love every thing that they have been doing for us!
Â
Was it difficult to get everyone together on the album since everyone have contracts with other labels?
No we're not as naive as we were years ago. We've all been in the business long enough to know that you put "The Side Man Clause" in your contracts so you can have the freedom of doing other projects. We've been burned before.
Â
How was recording the album and was there a lot of energy involved?
Haha energy that's a given, it was the partying that we had to control. Like I said Valume Nob is a rock band and we can do it with and probably better than most. We had mister Rex Brown who recently moved from Dallas out to Los Angels in the studio with us every day. Now every one in the world knows what kind of partying Rex and Dimebag did, so you throw Valume Nob in the mix and there you are. I mean we are from NOLA and every one knows that we can party 24/7 down here. We were born and raised here so go figure. Luckily we are the type that can handle it you know partying and still kicking ass so we did a great job of both. The party was fun and the fucking record (well we'll let you guys decide).
Was it exciting to record your first video as a band?
Yes it was kool to work with the guy Mike Savio again. He had done a video for the band that I was in called Grave Yard Rodeo, we were on Century Media Records. He also had done some Crowbar videos and maybe a Down video in the past. He loves the Valume Nob stuff so much that he did the video for free. Pretty good don't you think?
Can we expect more Valume Nob albums in the future?
Sure thing man Valume Nob is here to stay. Not only will you here more we plan on putting a fucking mark on the metal world.
What would you like to see happen in the bands future?
Well, we all know the future is an unknown thing right? Who ever expected to see Dimebag go out the way that he did. But given that every one stays healthy and nothing crazy happens we plan on rocking for a long time. At least until we are to fucking old to climb on stage. Which can be pretty old I mean, Ozzy is still up there!
Your band is a hardcore/punk/metal mixture, what is it about hardcore and punk that made you want to mix that them into your music?
Well like I said every one in the band comes from a different style back ground. I don't know if we even listen to the same music. But the one thing that we have in common is the idea of wanting the music to move. Plus we don't try to control how things will come out while we are writing. Every one in the band can play instruments and every one comes in with ideas. On the song 'Lets Go To War', by the way that is Billy Milano from S.O.D./M.O.D. singing with me on that track, but that is my guitar ideas. I showed them to Frey my guitarist and we rocked with it. 'Boots' was another one of my ideas that's why it has such a punk feeling to it. So we don't try to control each other, we spend more time trying to get out each others ideas and styles.
Are you able to rehearse much and is there a lot of intensity involved?
Yeah we have been having the same practice room for the past 5 years. It's more like home man it's set up nice with a couch to sleep on when we get to drunk to drive home ya know. We also have an ice box for our booze and every thing is carpeted so it's pretty much home to us. Shit that's the room in the 'Boots' video, with everyone slamming, that's every night unless we have a closed door practice. There are kids hanging out, every night outside of the room waiting for us to show up and jam, and just to hang out and do other things that rock guys do ya know. Can't really say what, because some of it may be against the law, hahaha!
What subjects do your lyrics deal with?
For me it's all about life man I come from a broken home, at a young age and have had to struggle through life just like many other kids, so that's what I write about. Just surviving and staying strong. Trying to keep your head above water and get by in life as you go forward. I believe that no matter how bad it gets at times, as long as you're not dead, just try to kick the shit out of life every day!
Who writes the lyrics?
Mainly it's myself but you can read on the new record where Sid The Mars Man wrote lyrics as well. The Mars Man has a lot of strong views on things and when he comes to me with stuff we sit down and make it happen.
Does everyone work on writing the music together?
Most of the time Frey and The Mars Man work on riffs then I come in and help arrange the parts to fit to my lyrics. But some times we just have what we call jam nights. That's where we just put one another on the spot and say what ever mood that you're in, that's what we are writing. That's how we did 'Boots'. I didn't feel like working on the old shit, so I told Frey to come up with something new that night, and he busted out a riff then The Mars Man put down a beat and I started singing words right there. It had a good feel, so I grabbed my ink pen and started writing down lyrics, and we wrote 'Boots' in about an hour.
How would you describe the way Valume Nob sounds to someone who has never heard your music before?
Like a fucking train that has broke loose from the rest of the load and is barrelling down hill with a bunch of crazy partying fuckers on it, that don't care!
What are some of your favorite punk and hardcore albums?
Well for me I'm a big Ramones fan Joey was one of my idols. But you know man the Sex Pistols, The Germs, Exploited plus many more just to much to mention. Shit that would take up the whole interview. But without the past man there is no future.
What are some of your favorite metal albums?
Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and then of course came the metal gods Metallica. Metallica really changed things for me. Before it was hard to find kids into punk like myself. You know every one down here was into cover bands and I couldn't sing Dokken right, so I was fucking stuck in my room practicing my punk stuff. Then when Metallica came out and James was singing the way he did, I said I can do this so it helped me merge my punk style with metal. Thank you James!
Thank you for your time, is there anything else you would like to add?
Yes thanks for the interview and thanks to all of the Valume Nob fans that we have now. If you haven't heard Valume Nob please pick it up, we don't think you will be disappointed. And just to let you know we have turned down a few record deals so until the right deal comes thru you can only pick up "Residue And Bones" from our site www.valumenob.com we also have the EP entitled "The Most High" plus some kool merchandise. Check it out! Take care and stay heavy and get ready for Valume Nob to break down doors and change metal a bit. Later!
Hi my name is Marshall and I am the vocalist for the Nob.
Â
Will you introduce your bandmates to us and tell us what roles they play within the band?
They are guitarist Frey Thieler, drummer Sid (The Mars Man) and then bassist Kirk Windstein, most will know Kirk from his other projects which are Crowbar and Down.
Â
How and why was Valume Nob created?
Valume Nob was created to kick metal in the ass. We felt the need to put it back on track. We weren't happy with the way things were going with the metal scene. There were two many bands trying to sound like each other. You know jumping on the band wagon so to speak. If a band hit it with the rap/metal then every one wanted to do that are every one wanted to be death and before that every one want to be Pantera. We just felt like metal was loosing its edge you know, there was no more danger in it are it was becoming too dark just to be dark. You have every one wanting to be into Satan but yet they wouldn't hurt a fly in real life. Man it was just turning into what we thought metal wasn't about any more. So with Valume Nob you get just straight up metal with the throw back of all the greats that weren't so evil. Bands like Van Halen, The Ramones, S.O.D. you know and with that party and have fun kick ass time feeling to it. Now don't get me wrong when you hear this new record "Residue And Bones" it makes you stand up and go what the fuck. But that's just the way we are always living on the edge. But mainly we are a party your ass off type of metal band!
Â
How long has the band been in existence?
Valume Nob has been together for 5 years. Not as the line up is today but it took time to get all of the right people together you know.
Â
Have there been any other members in the past?
Yes but a band is only as good as its weakest member, so we had to make some changes over the years. Some people just aren't cut out for the long run.
Â
There are so many good bands from NOLA, is there something in the water down there that the rest of the world needs to know about?
Hahaha that's funny. No man I just think that NOLA is a musical town ya know so we are always listening to different music in the clubs down here. I mean you can go out every night and hear jazz, blue grass, soul music and living with this culture it just adds flavor to whatever you are doing. Plus a little of momma's ole gumbo never hurts either. That ole gumbo puts rhythm in your bones!
Â
How is the current musical state of NOLA in your eyes?
Right now there are a lot of musicians who lost their equipment in the floods from the hurricane. Plus a lot of the clubs are still shut down. The town was hit hard so it will take a few years to get back up and running.
Â
Do you have any other bands/projects you are working on?
No Kirk is the only one who has other bands. He stays busy with Crowbar and now Down is doing a new record. But for the rest of us it is just the Nob. We are the ones writing every thing any way. Some magazines have tried to look at us as one of Kirk's side projects, but that's not the case. Valume Nob was already together and we decided the bass player didn't fit what we wanted to do so out he went. Then while looking for a bassist we were at this club drinking with Kirk (Crowbar) and Rex (Pantera) when Kirk said he saw one of our shows and it kicked fucking ass and he wanted to play bass. Well of course we were drunk and just laughed but he called me the next day and said that he really wanted to join. So me and the guys sat down and talked about it and said lets go. Kirks been with us ever since.
Â
What other musical endeavors is your band mates involved in and what are their latest happenings?
Like I said Kirk has the most with (Crowbar and Down) The Mars Man Sid has a project with Phil Anselmo (Pantera) called Body And Blood. I think they will hit the studio soon to record but Sid’s main thing is Valume Nob.
Â
Who and what were your influences as you were creating Valume Nob?
Well being that we aren't 16 years old, we are influenced by older stuff. For me I come from the punk rock side of music and The Mars Man from metal and Frey who is the youngest from the hardcore era. So I guess you have The Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Exploited for me then Van Halen ,Judas Priest and Iron Maiden for The Mars Man then shit like S.O.D. and Suicidal Tendencies for Frey. So that's what makes the Nob have such a good sound because we all bring different styles to the table. But the best thing is we know how to mix them like that like momma's ole gumbo. Hahaha.
Â
Your music sounds very raw, was this an important aspect to have while you were writing the songs?
Like I said we wanted to put that danger feeling back in metal we didn't want to sound to polished. Plus we didn't have that much money to record the EP. I think we spent 500 bucks recording it and then it isn't mastered either. Now the new record "Residue And Bones" we did go to Los Angeles and record with engineer Warren Riker who has record a number of big metal bands. But Warren met us and just loved Valume Nob's sound so he said that he wanted to record us. He made us a sweet deal and let us stay at his home while we did this monster. The new record has a great sound but still has that wild fucking feel to it and you guys will see what I mean when it comes out!
Â
Are there any differences in your new album from the EP?
Yes of course we saved the best for the new record so if you dig the EP then that means Valume Nob will be your favorite new metal band when you hear it "Residue And Bones".
Â
What is your relationship with Crash Records like?
Well we knew the owner Mark and he let us do just a distribution deal for the EP. That was real kool of him because we still own it our self and can sign it to another label. Crash was a good place for us to get the EP out and let people get a taste of the Nob. We still talk to Mark at Crash and wish him the best with the label. I know people like to read dirt but just don't have any thing bad to say about Crash.
Â
How did your partnership with them come about?
Well the owner Mark had Crowbar on another label in the past, I think it was called Pavement (that is correct, ed) so that was the connection.
Â
Have or will you ever play gigs?
No way man I think we'll just sell records. Hahaha if it was only that easy huh. Yes we do get out and play but not as much as we would like. This past year has been more business than any thing. Finishing the new record flying to Los Angeles to record it and then comes the mastering at Paramount Studios. Now we have been shopping for labels had a few that we turned down and right now we are putting it out ourself. Maybe starting our own label not sure just yet. There are a few more labels interested but if they don't get off of the cash that we want for this record then fuck it we'll just keep selling it our self and start our label. We are in the works of a European tour for April we have been working with a guy name Tim over at Vicious Promotions so keep your eyes peeled for that to happen.
Â
Have you played many gigs so far and what are they like?
Yes we play here in the states and you know like many new bands, people want to stand there and check you out. But that doesn't last long with the music we have, man after about the fourth song the people are going nuts.
Â
How do you feel about taking Valume Nob on tour?
It will be easy all of us are veteran musicians and have been gigging for a long time so no worries. Plus we all are from NOLA and have been friends for so long it's like being on vacation with your family.
Â
Have you gotten a lot of positive feedback for your music?
The feedback has been great the fans have really gotten behind the Nob. At first we didn't know what to think but things have really been taking off and people are just digging the shit so much it's a great feeling. For us that they like it so much and then it makes us want to keep writing you know. We believe that you are only as big as your fans make you, so we love every thing that they have been doing for us!
Â
Was it difficult to get everyone together on the album since everyone have contracts with other labels?
No we're not as naive as we were years ago. We've all been in the business long enough to know that you put "The Side Man Clause" in your contracts so you can have the freedom of doing other projects. We've been burned before.
Â
How was recording the album and was there a lot of energy involved?
Haha energy that's a given, it was the partying that we had to control. Like I said Valume Nob is a rock band and we can do it with and probably better than most. We had mister Rex Brown who recently moved from Dallas out to Los Angels in the studio with us every day. Now every one in the world knows what kind of partying Rex and Dimebag did, so you throw Valume Nob in the mix and there you are. I mean we are from NOLA and every one knows that we can party 24/7 down here. We were born and raised here so go figure. Luckily we are the type that can handle it you know partying and still kicking ass so we did a great job of both. The party was fun and the fucking record (well we'll let you guys decide).
Was it exciting to record your first video as a band?
Yes it was kool to work with the guy Mike Savio again. He had done a video for the band that I was in called Grave Yard Rodeo, we were on Century Media Records. He also had done some Crowbar videos and maybe a Down video in the past. He loves the Valume Nob stuff so much that he did the video for free. Pretty good don't you think?
Can we expect more Valume Nob albums in the future?
Sure thing man Valume Nob is here to stay. Not only will you here more we plan on putting a fucking mark on the metal world.
What would you like to see happen in the bands future?
Well, we all know the future is an unknown thing right? Who ever expected to see Dimebag go out the way that he did. But given that every one stays healthy and nothing crazy happens we plan on rocking for a long time. At least until we are to fucking old to climb on stage. Which can be pretty old I mean, Ozzy is still up there!
Your band is a hardcore/punk/metal mixture, what is it about hardcore and punk that made you want to mix that them into your music?
Well like I said every one in the band comes from a different style back ground. I don't know if we even listen to the same music. But the one thing that we have in common is the idea of wanting the music to move. Plus we don't try to control how things will come out while we are writing. Every one in the band can play instruments and every one comes in with ideas. On the song 'Lets Go To War', by the way that is Billy Milano from S.O.D./M.O.D. singing with me on that track, but that is my guitar ideas. I showed them to Frey my guitarist and we rocked with it. 'Boots' was another one of my ideas that's why it has such a punk feeling to it. So we don't try to control each other, we spend more time trying to get out each others ideas and styles.
Are you able to rehearse much and is there a lot of intensity involved?
Yeah we have been having the same practice room for the past 5 years. It's more like home man it's set up nice with a couch to sleep on when we get to drunk to drive home ya know. We also have an ice box for our booze and every thing is carpeted so it's pretty much home to us. Shit that's the room in the 'Boots' video, with everyone slamming, that's every night unless we have a closed door practice. There are kids hanging out, every night outside of the room waiting for us to show up and jam, and just to hang out and do other things that rock guys do ya know. Can't really say what, because some of it may be against the law, hahaha!
What subjects do your lyrics deal with?
For me it's all about life man I come from a broken home, at a young age and have had to struggle through life just like many other kids, so that's what I write about. Just surviving and staying strong. Trying to keep your head above water and get by in life as you go forward. I believe that no matter how bad it gets at times, as long as you're not dead, just try to kick the shit out of life every day!
Who writes the lyrics?
Mainly it's myself but you can read on the new record where Sid The Mars Man wrote lyrics as well. The Mars Man has a lot of strong views on things and when he comes to me with stuff we sit down and make it happen.
Does everyone work on writing the music together?
Most of the time Frey and The Mars Man work on riffs then I come in and help arrange the parts to fit to my lyrics. But some times we just have what we call jam nights. That's where we just put one another on the spot and say what ever mood that you're in, that's what we are writing. That's how we did 'Boots'. I didn't feel like working on the old shit, so I told Frey to come up with something new that night, and he busted out a riff then The Mars Man put down a beat and I started singing words right there. It had a good feel, so I grabbed my ink pen and started writing down lyrics, and we wrote 'Boots' in about an hour.
How would you describe the way Valume Nob sounds to someone who has never heard your music before?
Like a fucking train that has broke loose from the rest of the load and is barrelling down hill with a bunch of crazy partying fuckers on it, that don't care!
What are some of your favorite punk and hardcore albums?
Well for me I'm a big Ramones fan Joey was one of my idols. But you know man the Sex Pistols, The Germs, Exploited plus many more just to much to mention. Shit that would take up the whole interview. But without the past man there is no future.
What are some of your favorite metal albums?
Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and then of course came the metal gods Metallica. Metallica really changed things for me. Before it was hard to find kids into punk like myself. You know every one down here was into cover bands and I couldn't sing Dokken right, so I was fucking stuck in my room practicing my punk stuff. Then when Metallica came out and James was singing the way he did, I said I can do this so it helped me merge my punk style with metal. Thank you James!
Thank you for your time, is there anything else you would like to add?
Yes thanks for the interview and thanks to all of the Valume Nob fans that we have now. If you haven't heard Valume Nob please pick it up, we don't think you will be disappointed. And just to let you know we have turned down a few record deals so until the right deal comes thru you can only pick up "Residue And Bones" from our site www.valumenob.com we also have the EP entitled "The Most High" plus some kool merchandise. Check it out! Take care and stay heavy and get ready for Valume Nob to break down doors and change metal a bit. Later!
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