Elias Soriano of Nonpoint

Forming their group in 1997 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Nonpoint quickly took over the hard rock scene with their individualistic sound and style. Their fist album Separate Yourself was released independently and quickly followed up with the album Struggle which was released on the bands first label Jugular Records (which no longer exists)*.

The group then went on to release a second album Statement with MCA records. It was at this point that the group’s years of hard work were finally paying off. Their songs began getting national and international airplay and their popularity spread. Elias: “I was thinking that's when it started feeling for real, I think. When you’re on the radio they make it so public. When you’re just a kid listening to the radio and you hear other bands on there you get excited about it. In the same sense when you put yourself on the other side of it when you’re the artist you have people getting excited about you being there because it took you so much to get there”. Two years later they released one more record with MCA titled Development, which only proved that not only were they talented but they were some of the hardest working guys in the business releasing an album every year and a half to two years.

Switching from MCA to Lava Records they released the wildly popular album Recoil which would prove only to solidify their rock star status. The offers began pouring in, including an offer to record a song for the Miami Vice Soundtrack. The guys being from South Florida jumped at the opportunity. Now I must stress that choosing a cover song is a risky business in and of itself. Let’s face it if you choose one that was widely popular and then stray from the norm to drastically it can either be extremely popular or somewhat disastrous. It’s not often that a contemporary band can take a classic song and not only make it their own but make it sound better than the original.

So when Nonpoint announced that they were covering Phil Collins “In the Air Tonight” everyone let out a resounding “Huh?” Elias: “[The reason we chose]That style of song was because we didn't want to cover a rock song. We didn't want to cover anything that had assorted guitars and already had those elements in them because they always end up sounding as they did. The next step was to find something that was Iconical in the sense if you sat down and asked anyone "hey have you ever heard this song before?" nine times out of ten they're not going to go, "Oh, that songs sucks!" They'd normally go, "I know that song that's a great song." It was one of those songs that was surprisingly [played] on a lot of different radio stations. It wasn't just on a rock station it was also on the contemporary [station] it was also on the light [station] and at the time some of the R & B stations just because of the soul that song had”. Needless to say whatever they did it worked!

Nonpoint’s energy and enthusiasm radiates while they are onstage feeding the crowd with energy and excitement. Elias: “I think because we feel it. Something we're proud of. When you’re proud of something and you want everyone to see it when we do get the opportunity to be up on stage we take it. Each opportunity [we play] is that chance and we give it one hundred fifty-thousand percent, because it's our life.” Even with all of that time and energy focused into their live shows hey somehow still managed to put out yet another album as well as a DVD of the bands experience on the road.

Elias: “First it was[a] show that we were doing in South Florida. We decided to record it later. When the label came to us asking for another record we hadn't released a live record yet and we're on record number four now so we figured a lot of kids love [our] live show so much and say that they miss a lot of that in a lot of our recordings, so we decided to put out a live record. We had been working with this director Darren Doane, who is amazing! He directed our last three videos and said he'd love to capture us live. He got this cameraman, a gentleman named Mario, who is also amazing and he rode with us on the bus and videotaped. At the very end we all edited it all together for the fans”.

Nonpoint has accomplished so much over the years. With their songs branching out and being used in movies, video games and on too many myspace pages to count they have created for themselves an audience, who has embraced their multicultural, unconventional sound. Elias: I think every band feels their band could always get a little more respect [but] I'm proud of our band. I've learned to live with that more so than anything else.”

With all of the acclaim that they have received they have received they shy away from questions about what the future has in store for them. Elias: Whoa, I have no idea; I couldn't tell you I don't even want to try to predict the future that's jinxing us. [Laughs]. No one can pinpoint what exactly is in store for these boys but as I sit here and listen to their music their lyrics scream out at me and stir expectancy, You can make it okay if you pave your own way. Climb aboard, strap yourself in, and wait for the ride of life to begin. I can tell you with the strongest of confidence that the ride has indeed begun and as a fan I am personally excited to see how far it goes.


Nonpoint is:

Nonpoint is from Fort Lauderdale, FL and tour on a regular basis. For more Nonpoint Information or to sample music log onto: myspace.com/Nonpoint.

* Several of the songs were later re-used on the band's next album, Statement. The album was reissued under the title Separate Yourself: The Beginning 1997-1998 and is still available for purchase either at concerts or via the band's website.

Feature Story By: Melissa Deskovic – Copyright © 2007 Florida Entertainment Scene – All Rights Reserved.