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Monday September 17th, 2001
Andy Goldman: Making Statement with Nonpoint
by Lisa Sharken
Meet Andy Goldman, guitarist for the southern Florida-based alt-metal quartet Nonpoint. Formed in 1997, the groups third album and first major-label offering, Statement [MCA], was released at the end of 2000 and introduced Nonpoint to a wider audience. With the success of several radio singles, Nonpoint was soon enlisted in the brigade of metal storm troopers set to do battle in the 2001 Ozzfest lineup.
Goldman gives us the lowdown on Ozzfest and recounts the experience of this extraordinary summer tour. He also gives us a preview of whats in store for Nonpoint in the near future with an upcoming tour and plans for the groups next album.
Tell us about the experience of playing on the Ozzfest tour.
It was an awesome tour to be on for the whole summer. Theres nothing else we would rather do than to play in front of at least 3,000 kids each day. Doing any other club shows, you wouldnt get the opportunity to play in front of that many people. We also played to a lot of people who hadnt seen us before, so we made a lot of new fans. We met new bands we hadnt been out with and a lot of bands wed been out with before, so it was really cool seeing them again. It was a lot of fun, but everybody was kind of glad when it came to an end because it was a long hot summer and everybody really felt it by the end of the tour. Waking up in the morning and playing real early, then being out in the sun all day and doing all the other things that you have to do, like press and signings, it kind of takes its toll on you after two months.
What were some of the highlights of the tour?
Going in, we knew which cities were going to be really hot for us, like places wed been two or three times before, where we knew we had a good fan base. But the thing I remember most about the tour were some of the venues. We got to go to places wed never played before and got to play at some of the most beautiful venues in the country. We played the Gorge in Washington and at that place, the back of the stage is a drop off from a mountain and when you just look over, all you see are mountains. Its just awesome. At some venues, there were cool places to go fishing. Those are some of the things that stand out for me.
What did you learn from being on this kind of a tour?
You learn how to work a bigger crowd. Being a club band or a festival or arena band, theyre sort of the same thing, but its the way that you relate to the crowd thats different. What works in a club - like what you might say to 200 kids - is going to sound stupid to 20,000. So you have to kind of change the way that you approach the crowd when youre in front of that many people. You have to try to make your way across the stage a little bit more because everyone wants to see you and theyre all far away from the stage. There are little things like that you learn to work on and change. Being out with other bands on a tour like this, you can watch how they do it and it just forces you to perform better. If were on tour with a band that puts on an awesome live show, like Mudvayne or Hed(pe), and when we have to play right before them, we have to make sure that we at least hold our own. It raises the bar and pushes us to go off extra hard.
Tell us about the effects you were using live on Ozzfest.
For effects, I use the Line 6 Modulator and Filter pedals, a Boss DD-5 Digital Delay and a Crybaby Bass wah. We tune down to C and I find that the Bass wah works better for the lower frequency, especially when I do slow sweeps on the low strings. It has this really gnarly sound.
Which guitars are you using?
I have three guitars on the road. Two are main guitars and the other one is a backup. My main guitar was a Les Paul Studio, but I just broke the one Ive had since I was 15 at an Ozzfest gig in Toronto. It was very stupid of me.... At the end of the last song, theres a big build and I usually just toss my guitar against my cabinet. But on this day, I kind of tossed it into the ground a little too hard and it cracked the headstock. The tuners were hanging on by the strings. My tech tried to glue it back together, but its all messed up, so I retired it. It was unfortunate because I was hoping to play it forever. Now Ive got to get it fixed.
So instead of that one, now Im using the Les Paul SL Special with humbuckers. Its real comfortable and I find that its balanced a little bit better than the new Studios that Ive played. On Ozzfest, I had my Studio - the one that I broke, the SL Special that I use all the time now and another new Studio model.
How do you like your guitars set up?
My guitars are tuned (low to high) C, G, C, F, A, D, which is dropped-D, but tuned down a whole step. I was using .010-.52s, but I just recently went to a heavier custom set that goes from .011-.056. I like the action set really high because we tune down. If the strings are too loose or the action is set too low, youre going to get buzzing all over the place. I like to do a lot of bends, so if its too loose and too sloppy, it gets ridiculous and out of control. So I like to have everything real tight so I can really bend the strings and feel what Im doing, rather than to be all loose and slinky. For picks, I use Tortex 1.0 gauge - the blue ones.
Another thing to note is that on all of my guitars, none of the knobs do anything except for my volume knob. My neck pickups are disconnected and so are my toggle switches. I can get a little crazy when I play and I have a tendency to hit everything on the guitar. So if I had anything that working, Id just be hitting it on and off. Since I dont use it, I dont need it.
Do you ever experiment with different alternate tunings or play in standard tuning?
Not really. I occasionally tune back up to standard tuning to play old Metallica songs. But other than that, Im still trying to get the hang of what were doing in the tuning were in.
How does your approach to playing live differ from playing in the studio? What do you like and dislike most about each environment?
I think were a live band and our live show represents who we are better than if you listened to us on CD. The energy we put out is what kids pick up on and its hard to put that on a CD. Im sure I make a lot more mistakes when playing live than I would in the studio. When we made the record, we tried to do things as close to live as possible. I tried to stand up and get the room set so that Id at least feel like I was playing at a live show. Its definitely hard to translate a live show into a studio record. I dont think that our first record really brought that across. It sounds more like a studio record in comparison to other records that Ive heard by other bands that are more live-sounding.
Were going back into the studio at the end of the year to start work on our new record. This time, were going to try to get more of a live vibe, but still have an organic sound. We dont want it to sound like a trashy garage recording, but something that picks up more of the vibe of the live show that we do - kind of like a high-tech, nice-sounding live show, but without any dropped drumsticks or broken strings.
How do you warm up for a live gig?
I stretch out a lot and I lift some weights about a half hour to get my blood flowing. I wiggle my hands around a little bit, but Im no Yngwie virtuoso, where I really need to prepare my hands for whats coming. Then I just take some deep breaths and go out there.
I play acoustic guitar on the bus every day, so I do practice a bit. Ive been using it to write the new record.
Who were your original influences as a player? What initially inspired you to play guitar?
Growing up, Id always like music. My dad was real into music back in the late 60s and early 70s. He listened to a lot of Beatles, Allman Bros. and he always had records playing, so I was always listening to music. He wasnt a great guitar player, but he had an acoustic guitar that he would strum all the time and play simple Beatles tunes on. Id watch him play and would always want to pick up the guitar when he put it down. I think I was about nine when I really started playing, so he bought me my own guitar and I started learning from there. I took lessons for five or six years. The music that was out at that time was the stuff I was first into. Bon Jovi was big, Cinderella, Def Leppard and all the hair metal were really popular.
By the time I was 12, I started listening to Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and all the stuff that my mom wouldnt let me find before that. So I was playing all that stuff and I also got into blues. A teacher I had was trying to introduce me to all types of music, jazz included. I really picked up on Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Then Alice In Chains, Nirvana and all the grunge bands came out and they led the way for the new music. That was pretty much the mold I had.
"I try to create a sound thats different from what everyone else had." Who are the players that influenced you in terms of tone?
Everyone has been forever searching for the tone that Stevie Ray Vaughan got, but they cant get it because it came from inside him. I try to find all that cool stuff that he used, like the Dumble amps and old Fender Bassman amps. I like messing with that stuff, but it doesnt really work with our music.
As far as my heavy sound goes, I want it to sound a little bit different. Nothing against Mesa Rectifiers, but it seems that everyone is using that now and Im intentionally trying to steer away from that scooped sound, because thats what I hear coming out of everyones rig. Thats why I like the 5150s. They have a more personalized sound. I have my mids set at about 6 or 7 and I try to create a sound thats different from what everyone else had. When you hear it, I want it so you can tell its something different - kind of like Stevie - when you heard it, you knew it was him.
Just a click away...
What advice would you give to other players on developing their own sound and style?
The same stuff you hear all the time, but I dont know why people dont follow it. Be original and realize that if you hear something cool and you copy it, people are going to say, Hey, it sounds like this thing. Weve been home now for a couple of weeks and Ive gone out to a couple of local shows. I see the new bands coming up and there are a couple of bands that I see that are doing their own thing and there are a couple of bands playing Limp Bizkit songs, but they change the lyrics. I dont understand what theyre trying to do. It may be fun to do stuff like that, but if youre trying to get somewhere and gain some recognition for what youre doing, youre wasting your time. Youre not even creating anything, youre just copying.
Follow the cliche of Just be original. Find the things that you like, but realize that if you want to be a musician, rather than just a guy who plays guitar, you have to apply yourself. Youre going to have to search and try to create new things, instead of just doing the obvious. You might come up with something obvious in two minutes, so then take it, break it apart and try to make that thing you just did sound completely original - like yourself. Thats what I did.
Who are some of your favorite new artists?
I really like Pressure 4-5, which is a band we were out on tour with on Ozzfest. They joined on the second half of Ozzfest and also joined us on the second half of the tour we did on the days off from Ozzfest with Taproot. Theyre one of the most phenomenal new bands Ive heard in years. Then theres a new band called Sunset Black. I think theyre out of Minneapolis. They dont even have a record deal yet, but theyve got some stuff coming out on their own and I think theyll probably get a deal soon.
Then theres our friends in Chimaira, the heaviest band ever. Their CD is a good sounding record, but its their live show that gets you. We toured with them together with Spineshank and I checked them out every night. They give me a new appreciation for heavy music because I usually dont pop that stuff in my own CD player. But seeing a Chimaira show, I enjoy the whole thing. The same thing with Hatebreed. They were also on Ozzfest. I dont own their record, but at the end of the Ozzfest tour, I knew every Hatebreed song. They just put on such a good heavy show.
"Believe it or not, I like to listen to soft stuff." What do you put on when you put on music for enjoyment?
Believe it or not, I like to listen to soft stuff. I just got John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band on CD. I love that one. Radiohead Amnesiac is awesome. I like Blind Melon Soup - I listen to that one more than anything and I can listen to it all day. Basically, I like to listen to stuff that doesnt sound like the stuff Ive been hearing inside the club for the last four hours Ive been in it. I like stuff that just relaxes me - music that I can sit in the back lounge and play Tetrus to. It brings out different things that you wouldnt think about when sitting in a room with four guys and playing loud music. You might not think to put in a smooth classical break. But if you listen to it on a CD from another band with a different musical style, you might think its a great idea. Thats what I picked up on, especially from listening to Radiohead. Lots of the other guys I talked to on Ozzfest thought that, too. The guys in Radiohead are just coming up with these parts that nobody else is thinking about. I think its inspiring to me as a player when I listen to stuff like that. Me and Greg from Mudvayne were talking about it and when we hear something like that, both of us just want to go and write stuff.
What can we expect from Nonpoint in the near future?
We have a new video on MTV for Endure. Call and request it! Its a live Ozzfest video with cameo appearances from bands on Ozzfest. Well be on tour from the end of August all the way through the end of November. After that, were going to Europe for a week and then were going back into the studio. Weve been working on some material and well be doing one or two new songs each night. All the tour dates are posted on our website at nonpoint.com and on pollstar.com. Come out and see us!
Lisa Sharken is the New York City freelance writer. She regulary contributes to numerous guitar and music media as well as gibson.com.
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