NONEXISTER thrive on the interplay of electronic energy and heavy catharsis. As if soundtracking an after-hours club at the end of the world, the Zurich, Switzerland band — Marco Neeser [electronics, songwriting, production], Nik Leuthold [vocals, songwriting, production], Reto “Fu” Gaffuri [bass], Siro Müller [drums, backing vocals], and Silvan Gerhard[guitar, backing vocals] — are like a pendulum swinging from moments of industrial ecstasy to moshpit-ready fits.
The first single “Your Pain Up My Veins” boasts a chugging guitar riff with a head-nodding beat and goth-inspired loops. Nik howls and wails as if awakening from a cryogenic freeze with a lust for control on his tongue.
“It describes the phenomenon of power as a drug,” Nik says. “The frenzy of power is a very human phenomenon on one hand, we all know it at least a little from our own lives. Already there it can cause a lot of harm. But in bigger scales, it’s quite dystopic for the world. And it’s quite common, mainly among rabble-rousers and potentates. Often when things in the foreground are driven by ideology, it’s just comes down to ego. I’m just trying to explain this from the point-of-view of a junkie for trampling others to uplift himself.”
“This track — which was the first song we ever made — became a blueprint for NONEXISTER,” Marco goes on. “It builds up to this wall of sound, but you still can hear the melodies within.”
As for the accompanying visual, Nik explains, “The video by Elias Ressegatti is an artistic exaggeration, a metaphor of the song’s topic of abusing power as a drug. The main creature breeds new creatures from her own flesh in a kind of archaic incubator, in ecstatic frenzy. Then she feeds them and her old self to her own perfect replica, which walks out as the new and better version of herself. We understand that the cycle will begin again in not too much time, and again, and again… She walks literally over dead bodies for her satisfaction and alimentation.”
In similar fashions, co-founders Marco and Nik drew on dynamic and distinct backgrounds at the onset of the project. Marco, the electronic maverick, honed his creativity and stage presence in the likes of Swandive, Division Kent, me.man.machine., and Glitter Wasteland, gracing the stages of major festivals and cities across Europe. Meanwhile, Nik powered the punk upstarts Catchpole, and he voices one of the robots of groundbreaking robot band COMPRESSORHEAD, for which John Wright (frontman of the Hanson Brothers and drummer for the legendary No Means No), writes the music and is the voice of the robot singer.
Simultaneously, he has entrenched himself in Switzerland’s dynamic subculture scene and fostering the launch of initiatives, such as independent cultural and political radio force Radio Stadtfilter.
Given the intimate nature of their hometown’s music community, Nik and Marco crossed paths many times through the years. After grabbing a drink one evening, they decided to collaborate in the studio, giving rise to NONEXISTER.
The duo wrote and recorded under-the-radar. They recorded at New Sound Studio with producer Tommy Vetterli —renowned as mastermind of Coroner and member of legendary thrashers Kreator. He added another dimension to recording with production, guitar alongside Jonas Wolf, and contributing adlibs.
The two artists went into Marco’s home studio and began writing songs for the first NONEXISTER album. They mostly produced these before teaming up at New Sound Studio with producer Tommy Vetterli, known as the mastermind of Coroner and a member of legendary thrashers Kreator, who added another dimension to the production. Vetterli also composed the backings with Nik and contributed some adlibs. It was also Vetterli who brought the two together with guitarist Jonas Wolf, who played most of the guitars on the album, but has since handed over the guitar on NONEXISTER to his friend Silvan Gerhard in favor of the role of musical director with Eluveitie.
