Nothing have announced their third studio album, Dance On The Blacktop, produced by John Angello (Dinosaur Jr., Breeders, Sonic Youth, Kurt Vile), will drop August 24 via Relapse. The group’s first single off their record, “Zero Day,” was released June 5.
Singer Dominic Palermo recently sat down with Stereogum to discuss the group’s new record and single. “Zero Day refers to the amount of difficulty a person faces when attempting to close the door on all sense, meaning, or value when thinking on our existence is hard to put in words, but to me it has always been the latter. I’ve laid awake countless nights contemplating human life, its hostile uselessness, and why I’m one of the few who choose to see it that way yet manage to move onward. So I suppose in that sense Zero Day is a song of paradoxical enlightenment”
Palermo has reason for deep contemplation. On May 19, 2015, following a show in Oakland, California, several men approached the artist asking to use his cellphone. Palermo refused, and the men proceeded to severely beat him, resulting in a fractured eye socket, skull, and spine. As a result, the singer suffered permanent brain damage, and was diagnosed with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease.
Amazingly, the artist pushed forward, and in fall 2015, while recording the group’s second record, Tired of Tomorrow, the band became embroiled in the world of pharma criminal Martin Shkreli, who infamously and heartlessly inflated the price of HIV drugs. It turned out, Nothing’s label at the time, Collect, was in part funded by the Shkreli’s blood money. The band swiftly demanded Collect stop the record’s release and was able to connect with their previous label, Relapse.
During his interview with Stereogum, Palermo, who has a history of depression, discusses his ability to deal with CTE. When asked about suicide, he says, “It’s just not in my genes to do that.” He goes on to say,“I want to keep my opinion, and be my cynical self, but if there’s any way for me to take what seems to be the light at the end of my very strange tunnel — and project that light onto those in need — that’s what I want to do.”
Check out the video for Nothing’s new single “Zero Day,” along with the album art and tracklist for Dance On The Blacktop.
Tracklist:
1. Zero Day
2. Blue Line Baby
3. You Wind Me Up
4. Plastic Migraine
5. Us/We/Are
6. Hail on Palace Pier
7. I Hate the Flowers
8. The Carpenter’s Son
9. (HOPE) Is Just Another Word With a Hole in It
Leave a Comment