Elias Soriano of Nonpoint at Real Rock Relief.

Q: How did Nonpoint form and pick its name?

Elias: Nonpoint got together in late '97, just playing locally. Me and Rob, the drummer and I, were in a band, and the guitar player and the bass player were in a band. We happened to play a gig together, exchanged numbers, decided to jam, the side project turned into the main project and Nonpoint was formed. The name came way before I was even in the band, its got a bunch of different stories, it's kinda just turned into what it is... I've heard that it's a name of a guy who had no fingers...

Q: How difficult was it for Nonpoint to get inked to a record deal?

Elias: We played locally for about 8-10 months and the radio station in south Florida wanted us to play a local festival that they were having, to be on their local stage and we had a great response. Somebody happened to be there from a management company and asked us to take out a demo and to shop around. It wasn't even two months later, we were already setting up a showcase for eight labels.

Q: Your new album "Recoil" is now available on Lava records, what would you like to tell the listeners about that?

Elias: Its a great label with a lot of strong people behind it, we've gotten more radio play than we've ever gotten on any of our records. It's good to be part of a team that looks like they're wanting to develop the band.

Q: Do you have any personal favorites?

Elias: That's like asking who's your favorite kid? I like "Done it Anyway," that's a really good one, and "The Wait," those two are probably the ones that I hold dearest to my heart, but don't tell the other ones.

Q: Where does Nonpoint draw inspiration for their songs?

Elias: I think everybody kinda draws from their own personal experiences. As far as the music, we kinda try to force our own styles into the music that we write, I think the four different opinions and the four styles of the kind of music that we love makes us sound the way we do. The fact that my drummer (Robb Rivera) and my bass player ((K.Bastard) want to write nothing but heavy songs, and my guitar player (Andrew Goldman) and I are on the other end, get that marriage to work the way it does, it's a compromise that makes our sound the way it does. I think we look on each other to influence our music writing, we try not to listen to any other bands and go "oh, we gotta do that..." Obviously, there are things that we hear, other bands that do inspire creativity, but as far as sitting down and writing another Korn riff, that's not what we're gonna do.

Q: Where can fans purchase your album?

Elias: Everywhere, Best Buy, pretty much anywhere, on the net... I would say go to Best Buy, that's probably the best bet, Best Buy - Best Bet. (Editor's Note: Nonpoint's CD can be purchased online at Amazon.com.)

Q: Are you surprised at the success your band has achieved this year?

Elias: (Laughs) I'm very, very, very surprised... I'll leave it at that.

Elias Soriano at Real Rock Relief in Orlando, FL

Q: What can we expect from Nonpoint in 2005?

Elias: Hopefully a lot more touring, and hopefully we're going to be putting together a video for "In the Air" and that's going to be moving soon, so we'll see.

Q: Nonpoint played at the Real Rock Relief (101 one of Orlando) concert to benefit the Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund, how did the band get involved in such a good cause?

Elias: They called us, we're frequent players at Real Rock venues and events so they asked us and we're from south Florida, so if anyone's gonna understand what's going on it's somebody who's been living here for 8 years.

Q: Did the hurricanes effect you directly?

Elias: Not as much as it effected up here (In Orlando.) When we had it bad down there you guys helped, so we had to at least return the favor.

Q: What are your thoughts on the death of Dimebag Darrell?

Elias: It's horrible. It's bad for rock in general, its bad enough that the (fire) in Rhode Island just happened. It's tragic it happened because it's going to take a hit on everybody. Mainly, contrary to what people think, it's the artists that get hit the hardest, because security gets taken out of our money, it doesn't get taken out of the promoters money or the club's money, we pay for it. We have to pay whatever the club owner, if they have ten security people here and that's $100 a head, that's $1000 that we have to pay, that comes out of our ticket sales. So it's not like it's helping us at all by the promoter bringing in more security, unfortunately, it's hurting us because now they're going to have to put in more security than they need. And you know, like I said, it hurts us which hurts ticket sales, which hurts ticket prices, which hurts merch prices and everything else. People think it's us wanting more security, I mean, I'd be happy with one guy if everybody chilled out. But it's the fact that promoters and obviously insurance companies worried about the liability. It's unfortunate.

Q: Do you feel that smaller venues should implement extra security measures?

Elias: Smaller venues? Well, any venues... I think that it doesn't have to do with the amount of security, it has to do with how smart the security is. If it's just a bunch of meatheads out there just to beat up fans for crowdsurfing and pitting that's one thing, but if they're there really to make sure everything runs safe and make sure equipment doesn't get stolen and make sure that our dressing rooms aren't trashed when we're not in there and stuff like that, all that stuff is stuff that has to start at the base level. Not from when we pull up for the one day we're in the club, that's all stuff that needs to be taken care of before we get there.

Q: How helpful do you feel that online publications like Florida Entertainment Scene are in letting fans know about bands like Nonpoint?

Elias: They're key. The downloading issue is a completely different issue, filesharing is tragic for all industries, art, music, movies, it's causing like I said, ticket prices to skyrocket and people are wondering why CDs are so much more and movie tickets are so much more, concert tickets are so much more, it's because by thinning it out, by watering it down, making it completely accessible to anybody who's got an enter button on their keyboard. It takes what people like us who put a years worth of work into, to be snatched up in a heartbeat, where it comes back to the artist ... who do you think pays for that? The label charges us and then we have to pay back the label, so either way, we pay for it. It's great but at the same time it hurts.

Q: Does Nonpoint have a page on myspace?

Elias: Yeah, a couple of band members have pages. (Ed. Note: Nonpoint's myspace page is: myspace.com/nonpoint.)

Q: Do you have anything else to say to the fans who read this interview?

Elias: Come to the show.


Nonpoint is: Elias Soriano - Vocals, Andrew Goldman - Guitar, K.Bastard - Bass and Robb Rivera - Drums. Nonpoint hails from South Florida. They tour regularly all over the country. Their new album "Recoil" is now available at your favorite record store. Florida Entertainment Scene recommends you purchase their album and see Nonpoint in concert.