Nothing More go “CARNAL” at The Orange Peel

Nothing More bring The CARNAL Tour to Asheville, NC

The San Antonio, Texas 4-piece band, Nothing More, bring their current tour to Asheville, NC on a rainy Tuesday night with openers Post Profit and Set It Off. The band recently released their latest album, CARNAL, on June 28th and are currently over halfway through their current tour. It is probably their heaviest album to date, and if you know the band at all, you know they bring 110% to the stage and they absolutely match the energy from the album. Nothing More are singer Jonny Hawkins, bassist Daniel Oliver, guitarist Mark Vollelunga, and drummer Ben Anderson. Through multiple lineup changes, these 4 have stuck and their stage presence and chemistry are top notch.

The Orange Peel hosted the show, which is in the heart of downtown Asheville, NC. The standing-only venue was voted one of Rolling Stones Top 5 Rock Clubs in the U.S. With a capacity of just over 1000 people, the venue feels intimate, and you feel close to the stage regardless of where you end up.

It was an early start to the evening, with opener Post Profit kicking off the show at 5:50pm. Unfortunately, I missed the majority of their set due to the early start time, but I was able to get in and catch the end of their set. Just from the little bit that I saw, I could tell that they had grabbed the audience’s attention. With encouragement, the band got the crowd to start the first mosh pit of the night, and lead singer Matt Jackson got good enough vibes and confidence from the crowd to stage dive during the last song, “Cancer Culture.” The Texas based band are relatively new, with their first album, When You Think It’s Right It’s Always Wrong released in 2022. They are also fresh from a new album release, with their newest album, Self Defeater (Deluxe), released on August 30th.

A quick set change later and Set It Off take the stage. This pop/punk/emo Tampa, Florida band was formed in 2008 and during their set they described their process of getting into the music scene. Their journey didn’t sound like an easy one, but it seems like all the trials and tribulations got them to a good spot, as they earned most of their current success as an unsigned band, and they’re only growing from here!

Set It Off is led by lead singer Cody Carson, who was constantly moving about the stage and engaging with the crowd. The audience was clearly familiar with the band and were literally shouting lyrics back to Carson and the rest of the guys on the stage. Their setlist consisted of songs spanning their discography, including their most recent release “Creating Monsters” which was appropriately released this past Friday, the 13th.

During their set, Carson swapped spots with drummer Maxx Danziger who took over vocals for “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead”. The song is from their album Cinematics, which just turned 12 years old. It was fun watching the crowd dance to “Why Worry”, with so many jazz hands going up to match Carson singing “whyyy”.

Their entire set was so fun and engaging and made it seem like it actually flew by. The band closed with their first radio single “Punching Bag”, which ironically was their first single released independent of a label. This band demonstrates the true definition of what it means to invest in yourself and take your future into your own hands.

Set It Off made their way off the stage as stagehands got the set ready for our headliners of the night. The energy was buzzing as the crowd hung out and waited during the set change.

During the break, Post Profit were hanging out at their merch booth and gladly engaging with fans and signing merch. It’s so cool to see bands come hang out like that, especially at a time where it’s hard to meet bands anymore without buying expensive VIP and Meet and Greet tickets, so kudos to them!

Before long, the lights dim and the intro |CARNAL| starts to play, just as it starts on the album. The guys of Nothing More make their way to the stage as they synchronize with the track and hit the stage hard as they lead into “House on Sand”. One of their heaviest songs to date, Hawkins matches that energy screaming into the microphone and running around the stage, encouraging the crowd to get hyped right along with him.

Naturally, as it is the CARNAL tour, the majority of their setlist consisted of songs from the album, but they did a great job of mixing in fan and band favorites from their previous albums. “Don’t Stop” was among one of their “older” songs with Hawkins doing his famed throat tapping (yes, literally tapping his throat) to create a vibrato effect in his vocals. Matt Jackson from Post Profit joins the band on stage during Don’t Stop, much to the excitement of the crowd and lends his vocal talents to rap part of the song.

Between bangers, the band takes time to chat with the crowd. Vollelunga shares that this is the band’s first time playing in Asheville, and also shares that Oliver is a new resident of Asheville, so this was essentially a “new” hometown show for him.

They also take time during the set to wish their two crew members a happy birthday, breaking out a whole bouquet of balloons and getting the crowd to sing “Happy Birthday” with them.

Breaks are short lived when you have a 16-song set to get through, but Nothing More absolutely power through. Is it considered a drum solo when all the members in the band participate? They incorporated a drum solo between “Tired of Winning” and “Ships in the Night”, with Oliver and Vollelunga on their snares that are propped up on their respective stage sides, and Hawkins on the left of Anderson on his bigger drum.

Hawkins was previously a drummer himself, so if you’re familiar or have seen the band before, you know that this is a typical feature of their live show and it’s always amazing to watch. Unfortunately, no scorpion tails or bass stands solos this tour, but we always hope to see them bring those back!

They slow it down for “Fade In/Fade Out”, which Vollelunga introduces and describes his personal connection with the song. Nothing More obviously have their heavy hitters, but when they slow it down and build in those emotional songs, it literally gives you chills. It does for me anyway. Hawkins has a personal connection to “Jenny” as he explains that it is about his sister and watching him perform it you can see the raw emotion behind it, which only adds to the intensity of their set.

Nothing More is a band that doesn’t believe in encores, and I absolutely love that about them. Why waste precious time when you can fill that time with more music? Fans of the band know what’s coming as the band starts playing “Ocean Floor”, which quickly leads into their breakout single “This is the Time (Ballast)”.

Not one person on the floor was still as they gave the rest of their energy back to the guys on stage, and the band gave it right back. People who left early missed another fun treat at the end of the show, where the snare drums on the side of the stage were demounted and brought out into the crowd, where Hawkins had the railbirds hold the drums for him as he came out and drummed right into the crowd.

Before the crowd had time to realize it, the lights went up and the show was over, but the excitement from the show was still palpable as people exited the venue and made their way back through downtown Asheville to their cars.

This tour doesn’t have many dates left, so if it is coming to a town near you, don’t sleep on buying tickets and miss out on an amazing live show. Plus, you’ll also get to see From Ashes To New, who were not scheduled on this specific tour date. Nothing More have a lifelong fan in me and I’m sure after you see them live, you’ll be right there with me! Check dates for the remainder of the tour below!

See full gallery of the night here!

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