In Part II of our exclusive chat between Hansel Lopez of Ghost Cult and Todd Jones of Nails, Todd discusses touring with the band, while keeping things stable as possible on the home front. He also goes in-depth about playing on bigger festival stages with more mainstream bands such as Ozzfest, This Is Hardcore, New England Metal And Hardcore Festival, and the possibility of another new Nails album in the works soon.
I noticed that you guys are going to be making an appearance at the Ozzfest this year.

Yeah, we’re going to be playing Ozzfest. We got asked to play. I don’t know what was the deal. We got the phone call saying “Hey, do you want to play with Black Sabbath?” I said “Yeah, for sure.” They put us on. I’m pretty psyched to play that shit.

I’ve noticed, it’s a diverse bill since it has bands like Kataklysm, and brutal bands like that. But at the same time, Disturbed and other mainstream acts. How do you think the audience are going to react to you guys? Do you think it will be a good show?

It’s a process man. It’s fucking mainstream metal. What do you expect? How are people going to react to it? I don’t know. I don’t even know if there is people there. It’s 1:50 in the afternoon, that’s our set time. I imagine people will come to the stage when we play, and we’re going to get up there and do our thing, and use it to the best of our ability. I don’t know how people are going to react to us. Like I said, I mentioned Oz Fest is fucking cool cause ongoing to get to see Black Sabbath for free.

That’s pretty much it. We’re going to go play and do our thing, and hopefully, people dig on us. If they don’t, they don’t. We’re only going to be playing for 30 minutes, so we’re not going to waste our stage time. I don’t know what to expect, and I don’t have any expectations other than I’m going to drive an hour away from my house to go play a show and then go watch Black Sabbath, and that’s pretty much it.
I’ve always understood that you guys work day jobs, but sporadically will tour across … I know you guys have a date coming up I think in Boston next month.

We tour for about 1 month to 6 weeks per year. We take time off of work here or there, just go off and play some shows from June 17th to June 26th. We’ll be going from Chicago to Raleigh, North Carolina, and just playing about 11 shows from the Midwest to the East coast of the United States. That is correct. We will be playing Boston at the Middle East, and that’s pretty much it, man. We do tours sporadically, and we do tour one week at a time. With Nuclear Blast, they didn’t require that we play more shows. When we contacted them, we told them what we were willing to do and what we weren’t willing to do, and they told us what they needed from us and what’s they didn’t need from us, and that was pretty much it. They didn’t want to change the format. It’s pretty much just business as usual for Nails, man.

Nails, by Emma Parsons Photography

Outside of the little summer tour you guys are doing, and the Ozzfest appearance, what’s next for you guys?

We’re going to go to Europe in November, and then I’m sure we’ll find our way to … We’re going to be playing This Is Hardcore Festival in Philadelphia in August. We’ll find our way around the country a couple more times before we start making another record. We’ll probably be playing Boston, I think we’ll play Boston four times, so we’ll probably get out there and play some more shows, some more festivals. They’re still doing New England Hardcore Fest (Editor’s note: New England Metal And Hardcore Festival) and if they want us to come back, we’ll definitely come back. It’s just playing shows, man. That’s pretty much it. We’ll probably start working on another record in the next year or so.

Really, that quick?

Yeah. Typically, bands put out records every 2 years. We put out records every 3 years, but who knows what will happen, man. Maybe it’ll take another 3 years to make a record, but … If our record comes out in June, and Nuclear Blast wants to try to get another record out within 2 years, that means we’ll probably have to start writing about a year from now and record. You have to follow the idea of a year. Who knows? Who knows what’s going to happen? We’re just stoked. We’re ready for our new album to come out, and we’re just ready to have fun, play shows. We’re just grateful that there’s people who want to see us play, and that’s pretty much it.

Nails, by Emma Parsons Photography

Just speaking of the writing really quick, ‘They Come Crawling Back’, which in my understanding is the longest song you’ve ever written at 8 minutes?

Yeah, that’s fair. Yeah, that’s our longest song.

That’s my favorite track off this new album. I thought it was killer.

Thanks, man. We’re going to have to play that song live because I’ve been getting so much feedback like that. We’re starting to play our songs live too much, but we’re going to have to rehearse it and get it together. I really like that song too. It’s just, it’s fucking long.

But it’s rewarding. It’s almost like for me it’s like when you listen to Godflesh and Neurosis, it’s like that crushing heavy sound.

Yeah, man. It’s like my favorite bands, and my language was referencing those 2 bands.

Great minds think alike, right?

That’s what’s up man.

INTERVIEW BY HANS LOPEZ
CONCERT PHOTOS BY EMMA PARSONS PHOTOGRAPHY

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