Jones (vocals, guitar) and band mates Jacob Oxley (guitar), Nigel Verboon (bass) and Josh Gonzalez (drums) recently discussed the evolution of Novagold and “A Pretty Burn,” which was recorded by Patrick Himes at his Reel Love Recording Studio in Dayton.
A NEW CHAPTER
Jones: "Jacob and I played together in God Bless & Asher Jones. After that ran its course, we wanted to keep playing together. I can't live without playing music so if I don't have something happening, it's not good."
Oxley: "When we sat down to write songs for this, we didn't have any preconceived notions. We just came up with what we came up with together and started working on that. I had a lot of short ideas that didn't fit into anything else and this was an opportunity to actually do something with that stuff."
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Jones: "God Bless & Asher Jones and Nightbeast is all high energy, and people expect the show to be a spectacle more than any other expectation — so there is a lot of pressure to perform. This is different."
Gonzalez: "I found out from Jacob they needed a drummer. We got together to see how the chemistry went and it felt really great to me. I started learning the songs and I played my first show with them over the summer of 2016."
A PRETTY BURN
Verboon: "We went in with Patrick toward the end of last year, between Christmas and New Year's. We've just been working on that and getting it mastered and all that stuff. We had to get the art done and that was stressful."
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Gonzalez: Working with Patrick was great. Because he's a musician himself he has a real working knowledge of how bands work."
Jones: "We were originally recording this as a demo but even the rough mixes sounded so good we decided to add a couple more and release it. We recorded six songs that were ready to go. We were trying to be as efficient as possible so we recorded those quickly and painlessly. Then we went back in and recorded two more songs, one that was done and then a newer one."
Novagold’s new album is available on CD and digitally at iTunes, Spotify and other online providers.
WANT TO GO?
Who: Novagold with Swimming with Sharks, Mad Anthony and Are They Above Us?
Where: Blind Bob's, 430 E. Fifth St., Dayton
When: 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15
Cost: $5
More info: 937-938-6405 or www.blindbobs.com
Artist info:www.novagoldband.com
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