NuCore go getters BACKTOEARTH have been actively creating music for sometime now, releasing an album, single's, including a most recent one called "Welcome to the Real World" found HERE. The band goes into discussion about formation, namesake, single, and the plans for the future!
1. How do you define "nucore" is that a genre, it isn't a genre is it?
NuCore's become sort of the whole identity of BACKTOEARTH and it was mainly out of accident. We spent alot of time in the earlier days of our "Death to the Earth Boys" era kind of figuring out where exactly we fit in the metal sphere. We didn't see ourselves particularly as a hardcore band but it would have been inaccurate to also just put us in the general alt metal category because of how much we did pull from things like hardcore. During that era though, NuMetal became a big unifying factor for our music but once again it still felt wrong to call it that. As time went on though it became this whole like "Oh yea! BACKTOEARTH! I know those guys. They mix Numetal with like Hardcore, and metalcore, etc." so it just started feeling Natural to call it NuCore as time went on. We kind of see NuCore as like an evolution of metal subgenres that inspired it. Like if you took all the highlights of metal from the years 1999-2005 and fused it with a more modern touch.
2. Why the name BACKTOEARTH where is the band coming back from, what's the story behind it?
BACKTOEARTH's name was very much accidental. Our vocalist, Brandon, was coming up with names with a couple of our former members and as the conversation got off topic, Brandon said, "okay guys back to earth" It kind of made everyone do a double take for some reason. It just like STUCK at that moment. shortly after, some logos were designed as a hypothetical "what if we were called this" and one of the logos was drawn all written as one word in all caps text. Once again, it just stuck. From that point forward we knew it wasn't "back to earth" but BACKTOEARTH. I think the name also thematically just spoke to us at the time. Like it represented this feeling of coming back down to reality when you're at your worst. In many aspects it would kind of become the inspo for most of our writing down the line.
3. Your band is a 5 piece, but did you all know one another before the band's formation, give us a brief history.
We ALL went to the same high school! Ironically though, most of us never spoke to each other while we were in high school. We all met through friends of friends and in some cases, knew each other outside of high school by pure coincidence. It's really a funny web of connections that we could write a whole book about. But it's always something like "oh shit! you're looking for a drummer? I know a guy" and then you're like "Wait! that guy looks familiar!" Our three founding members are Brandon (vocalist) , Kam (guitarist), and Jason (drummer). We have two buddies in a band called Big Yellow who left the project around 2023 and that opened the door for Richie (bassist) to join. We rocked the 4 piece look for a while until this past August when we asked Kieran (2nd guitarist) to join. He first found out about the band at a show we played last year and became a fan almost instantly. As he spent more time with us it became like this funny thing where we'd be like "Yo what if Kieran joined the band?" and so we asked him. Now we're back to being a 5 piece and it's made the overall show experience 10 times better.
4. Talk to us about your newest single and accompanying music video for "Welcome to the Real World"?
This single release is the beginning of a new era for the band. We pride ourselves on being a band that prioritizes story-telling. Welcome to the Real World embodies like the turning of a new page in life. It's about the feeling of getting up after a bad fall and saying "I'm not done." The lyrics have this kind of angst that compliment the overtly-positive messaging almost as if you're going through this "manic positivity" episode. It's a rush and a very aggressive high that I think peaks at the chorus and comes crashing down at the end. It's a song that is all over the place and for that reason we thought it was perfect to put this out as a single. Instrumentally the band is just LOCKED-IN. Kam (our guitarist) was a huge driving force behind the song and we can go on and on about how cracked this guy is at writing songs. Visually the music video will speak for itself. We hope everyone that watches is keeping an eye out of what's going on story wise. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb0ONDtyZHk.
5. How does this release compare, differ, and come in equal to your previous releases, and "Death to the Earth Boys" album?
This is our first professionally produced song. More importantly, this is definitely the song that marks what the band truly is. Death to the Earth Boys was an album made during a very difficult and transitional point in the band. For that reason, the album at times feels like two different bands in the first and second half. Before that album we were still trying to find a sound, but slowly we found our path and Welcome to the Real World marks a very confident leap into what BACKTOEARTH is now. It's as confident as it is chaotic and ultimately, it is who we are at heart.
6. Who or what inspires you to create the music that you make?
If we made a list of artists that inspire us, the list would never end. We all listen to a lot of different genres and come from a variety of musical backgrounds. Richie and Kam didn't even start out liking heavy music. Jason was really the one that got them into it. A lot of the bands that we have looked at for what we do really are just scratching the surface. We like Linkin Park, Slipknot, Loathe, Bad Omens, Underoath, Bring Me The Horizon, and SEVERAL other bands. These are all bands we looked at one way or another and said "Let's generally head in that direction" before pulling from a bunch of other things and steering off course. Plenty of the newer stuff we have coming uses a lot of electronic break beat sampling. We're always experimenting and always finding new ways to kind of challenge what a modern metal song can be.
7. What topics or themes does your music tend to cover?
Personal, political and everything in between. A lot of the themes in our music tend to not just look at the self/individual but also how one fits into the world around them. Naturally I think this leads to some overtly political messaging. 32c is a song about global warming but it's also equally a song about reaching a personal melting point from the stress that puts on all of us. Death to the Earth Boys as a whole was an album that sort of reflects on life and how we, societally, take it for granted. Before you realize you even had it, it's gone. I think through that though is the acceptance that change is inevitable, and instead of dwelling on the pressures of the world, we should strive to make it better or else we'll regret it. But you can also look at all of that on a personal level. Make sure the people around you feel appreciated, enjoy your time with the ones you love because you'll never get a chance in life.
8. How about any shows and or tours, got anything in the works?
We have a new album coming out very soon! Welcome to the Real World is the first single off our 2nd LP along with a couple more surprises up our sleeve. LP2 is definitely our most ambitious piece of work yet and honestly we wish we could say more, but for now all we can say on LP2 is that it's the Earth Boys at our best yet. We do have an album release show planned to coincide with the release of the album too. So everyone should be on the lookout for all of that REAL soon. Also a potential tour to be announced soon.
9. Have any further plans set for this next year come 2025?
LP2 is really going to be the main focus of next year. It's a big one. This is definitely us swinging for the fences with this release. We're hoping to reach more people than before and just put our best foot forward with what is arguably our best work yet. More music videos are coming really soon too and we urge people to watch them closely because there is a story we're telling here.
10. Would you like to add on or say anything else?
We're really excited for people to see what we have coming up! BACKTOEARTH is a project that has personally meant a lot to all of us in our very short time as a metal ensemble. We may or may not be writing some more stuff now as we speak? Who knows? We're also so incredibly thankful for all the support we've received on the single! So we wanna give a big thanks to everyone who's been listening to Welcome to the Real World!
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