Interview with Denver’s Nonetheless + New Video Directed by Altr

I always love meeting new Denver bands, so it was great to chat with Nonetheless, which is actually a duo comprised of vocalist Brenden Worthington and Guitarist Taylor Spain. Their new song “Better Off” is a rock banger, perfect for a mysterious late night cruise. Thus, the band incorporated their favorite elements of horror into the music video which was created by altr. – a Denver based creative agency for musicians (and co-founded by my long-time friend Jordan Altergott).

I had a surprisingly deep convo with the guys from Nonetheless, and I look forward to getting to know them better as they bring us more and more music.

---

Nonetheless Interview

---

Aimee:
So, nice to meet you guys. If you wouldn’t mind just telling me a little bit of history about your band, because I am meeting you guys for the first time here.

Brenden:
Nonetheless came together in lockdown. We were in a previous band, different style. Played in Denver for a couple of years, put music out, and just decided we needed a shift musically, stylistically. And we started passing ideas back and forth for this band. Finally released our first single back in October under this name. So, it’s still very fresh.

Taylor:
Yeah. And that whole journey has led to this, I guess. The pandemic changed everything for everybody and forced us all to take a step back. And when we did, we realized that – just like the rest of the world, we were changing. And that changed into what it is now, and it’s definitely more exciting and it definitely feels more genuine. But like Brenden said, it’s still very fresh.

Brenden:
It’s learning how to walk.

Aimee:
Do you feel like you’re working out the kinks or exploring new ideas that you haven’t explored before, or?

Brenden:
I feel like every time that we sit down to write a song, it’s working out new kinks that we just weren’t aware of before. But it is getting us to a point where I feel like I can confidently say it’s the best material that we’ve ever done, so I can live with a couple of kinks in some songs because like he said, I feel like it is an honest representation of who we are.

Aimee:
I would rather see somebody experiment and grow and while maybe there’s a couple things that you’re not happy with later, but the point is that you’re going through the process.

Brenden:
That’s probably the most concise, accurate explanation.

Taylor:
Without being too long winded, I mean, I think being genuine is very important to the both of us. And we’re both cinephiles and music nerds, and we definitely have been considered by other friends to be very critical –

Aimee:
Oh, that’s interesting. Critical of yourself or others or both?

Brenden:
So much us.

Taylor:
Yeah, us – but also both. I don’t have trouble admitting that I’m definitely picky when it comes to what I like.

Aimee:
Right. I hear you on that too. Well, and who are your favorite bands, either growing up or now?

Taylor:
We have a lot of similar and a lot of wildly different influences.

Brenden:
And it’s so eclectic. I don’t think that we could pin down one particular style and say definitively it’s our favorite, just because we go back and forth between so many things. I grew up on bands like Blink-182, the punk rock, pop punk type of thing, got into heavier music and then from there, got into a little bit of everything like rap, hip hop, pop, EDM stuff, some country. The door blew off the hinges at some point and it’s all come out in some way or another in the music.

Taylor:
Yeah, it definitely spills over for sure. I mean, I think we both are of the opinion that the best artists, you can almost hear their influences, but not quite hear them, if that makes sense.

Aimee:
No, that’s a great observation. Where you can tell, but it’s not a ripoff.

Brenden:
That’s become this overwhelming feeling – how do you navigate all of the influences without just being derivative? I feel like there’s a lot of derivative rip off artists.

Aimee:
I saw an interview with the guy who, he did a couple movies, but he worked on Sing Street. I don’t know if you’ve seen that movie, but…

Brenden:
Oh, I actually really liked that movie.

Aimee:
Yeah. And so he was writing songs for the movie that sounded 80s, and he said something – I don’t entirely agree with him, by the way, but it was an interesting point. He said the 80s were the last generation to have strong change in the way music was made because of synthesizers and electronics. And he feels like it’s so much harder for people to be original now, because you don’t have as many technical innovations in terms of how music is made.

Taylor:
That’s interesting because I grew up with my influences being a generation older than me. So I grew up listening to Phil Collins, Led Zeppelin, U2. I mean, it was mostly ’70s, ’80s music, a lot of pop, soul and that stuff. But I mean, I think as technology has advanced, the good part is that it’s given everybody the opportunity to create something that sounds good on their own.

Aimee:
Good point. Well, speaking of, I want to circle that back to your new song and video. I really liked it. And I saw in the beginning that it was filmed in 72 hours? I feel like technology has afforded for that innovation, I guess, to be able to do these, this very polished videos in such a quick time.

Brenden:
The video looks so good because Altr are just a bunch of wizard kids who, I mean, who couldn’t have been more on the ball. There were four different locations and two nights of shooting. At any point, one little misfire could have wrecked the whole shoot, but they were so professional.

Aimee:
I have to imagine how hard it was. Permits and all.

Brenden:
There was a lot of guerilla style but they did get permits and stuff for some of the locations, and we showed up to the first location, they’re like, “Hey, this permit didn’t come through so we’ve got backups.” And just within 15 minutes we were at the other location set up to start shooting. They just killed it. They managed all of the time, all of the scenes, and directing was great.

Taylor:
I mean, they knew what they were doing. That, I think too, so being film student graduates and being so familiar with their technology and their tools that any adjustment that they had to make on the fly, it was made as more of an artistic decision rather than a timing decision. And I mean, we joke all the time that Brendan and my artistic expression is usually that we do everything backwards.

Brenden:
Of course we would decide to film our music video in January in Colorado at record low temperatures because that’s just our style, to be as difficult as possible.

Taylor:
And it is a testament that we didn’t all freeze to death because they worked so quickly. Well, I mean, we got approached by the cops at our last location because we were there at one in the morning filming. It’s 18 degrees outside. We’re in a Denver parking garage there at the college.

Brenden:
The bloody knife. I’m pretty sure that’s why they came.

Taylor:
And the cops rolled up and Ethan [the director] walked over to him and was like, “Yeah, we’re just filming.” No worries or anything. And the guy took off.

Aimee:
Now we know how to get away with murder, “I’m filming a music video.”

Taylor:
Bring a camera with you and go, “Oh, that’s not a body bag. That’s equipment.”

Brenden:
It’s a prop. [laughter]

Aimee:
So, tell me about the song, because to be honest, it didn’t click with me until I got to the end of the song what was it about, and I’m sure that was partly the point. Once I realized, it sounded a bit personal.

Brenden:
Yeah, the song is about how growing up, you would never hear about problems that people were having underneath the surface. Like somebody staying in a relationship with somebody, or somebody being friends with somebody who don’t treat you like a friend or a human being. They only see you as an opportunity, something, a tool they can use to get what they want. And I think that it’s a really important thing to tell people that nobody is going to make you happy until you’re happy with yourself. And to be happy with yourself, you have to be not be afraid of being alone and/or cutting these people out of your life, whether that be a friend, a partner, or even family.

Taylor:
And to add to that, it’s interesting because neither of us knew each other until we both were in Colorado, but we both grew up in Tennessee. I grew up in Nashville and he grew up in Chattanooga, and we both were active in the music scenes of each place, but never crossed each other’s paths until we were a thousand miles away from home and ironically found each other on Craigslist of all things, so that’s just-

Aimee:
I cannot tell you how often people say that. Literally it’s starting to be every single interview where people say it.

Taylor:
Wow, thats wild. But we both grew up differently and similarly in those ways that when I think when we write a song, we try to put across concepts that are very personal, but also are general.

Brenden:
Universal.

Taylor:
Yeah, anybody who’s ever been on the brunt end of abuse or who has been on the raw end of a friendship or just…

Brenden:
Had somebody who’s taken advantage of you, your kindness, anything like that.

Taylor:
We’re both big on not trying to be preachy and not trying to talk about mental health or things that we really have no business talking about. But what we do know is that both Brenden and I have had situations in our lives where we have valued ourselves much more than being poisoned by someone else and were better off without them. That’s just how it got made.

Aimee:
Well, and what’s crazy is I’m estranged from my only sister who is, I don’t even know where she lives, because she’s so toxic. It was building up forever, but after my mom died, I cut ties. Again, it was through lots of therapy, but you’re exactly right. When people are always like, “family’s family,” I’m like, “not really.” If someone is toxic, it doesn’t matter who they are – you can let them go if you need to.

Taylor:
My father was an extremely, extremely abusive man. And that growing up, I think with a monster in your life, you can either use it as an excuse, or you can use it as armor, as a pedestal for your self worth to say, “Well, if I’ve been through this, then I am better off by myself.”

Aimee:
Exactly. Well, and it’s funny because my dad was abusive too, but he died when I was young. But there’s some things that I went through with my sister that I literally say to myself, I’m like, “Well, if I did that, if I handled that, I can do literally anything. I can handle anything.”

Taylor:
Yeah. Totally.

Aimee:
So, anyway, sorry, we went down a little dark path there.

Taylor:
Oh no, I mean honestly, that’s our general speed… a little bit dark.

Brenden:
No, I’m glad that we’re on the mark with that. I think that actually makes me really happy to hear. [laughs]

Aimee:
So, tell me, are you planning any shows coming up in Denver or touring?

Brenden:
I live in Arizona and we just go back and forth. No plans for shows just yet. I think this time around we want to focus a bit more on building the band and then playing out when we are ready.

Taylor:
It’s just that we’re both performers at heart and not being on stage is, I mean, there’s a big chunk missing not being on stage. That is our favorite place to be, but we feel like that’s the being on stage and getting to play for people who connect with your music. That’s the reward for all of the work. And we want to make sure that instead of following the mold, that we make our own mold when it comes to shows, and we’re not going to start pushing that onto people until they want it. As goofy as we are and as unserious as we are, the seriousness definitely comes out in how we conduct ourselves, and I think that’s really important.

Aimee:
I love hearing, I mean, again, there’s every reason in the world to have a band. And the goal might be that you want to just want to play at the dive bar up the street every Friday or whatever, and the goal might be that you want to make it your living. And I just think that if you’re spending time doing something, make goals about it.

Taylor:
We deliberate so much that it is honestly ridiculous. We talk so much shit, it is just, it’s not even funny. We’re gonna goal this to death.

---

Check out our other interviews!