The Denver group Endless, Nameless are in the Meet The Band spotlight this week. They just released their debut full-length Living Without. Vocalist/guitarist Elle Reynolds, guitarist/vocalist Ricardo Bonilla, bassist Bradley Thill and drummer Jackson Lacroix introduce us to their band.
Chad Bowar: Give us a brief history of Endless, Nameless.
Ricardo: I started the band after having played with Bradley in some metal bands in high school, I wanted to switch things up and recruited Bradley into this project. I found Jackson through a fruitful Facebook post looking for drummers. And I met Elle through a failed Tinder match that took me to a hardcore show. Elle was into math rock so it worked out. (laughs)
Describe the songwriting process for Living Without.
Elle: Our songwriting process usually starts with Ricardo, Bradley, or myself bringing forward anywhere from a single riff to a fully finished song structure, and then we flesh it out together as a band with everyone writing their own parts from there. We wrote this album over the course of about four years, not really out of choice but because life kept happening, but it really felt like a blessing in disguise in the end. We all grew to be much better musicians with more well developed sounds/setups and because of that we were able to make so many positive additions to the songs before we got in the studio in 2021.
Ricardo: Yeah, there was a point where we kind of ended up on a hiatus because Bradley wanted to focus on his other project, Ritual Contrition, and we realized how badly we needed his solid bass playing to tie the band together. We stopped practicing for a long while, some of it being attributed to lockdown, and slowly got back into recording shape and haven’t stopped since.
Bradley: It all comes down to getting together every week we can. Boom. Riffs.
What will be your strongest memory of the recording of the album?
Elle: The guitar process was particularly grueling for me on this record, and I have these super vivid memories of getting done with various takes and finally feeling like I’d nailed them and then looking over at Ricardo and he’s just be making this frowning face and shaking his head no at me, it’s usually my first memory that comes up. Always felt that much more rewarding when I got the right take. (laughs)
Ricardo: Yeah, I ended up being a stickler for the right takes as often as I could, sorry! I think the memory that sticks out most is a toss-up between hearing the harmonies at the end of Sarah Lynn and welling up and the time I drank too much coffee and having a panic attack in the 7-11 parking lot. Elle really saved my ass that night. (laughs)
Jackson: Austin (Minney) always had a coffee pot going, so I was extremely caffeinated while doing my drum takes. It was challenging to lay down the drum tracks without any of the guitar tracks or a metronome to guide me, but I managed to knock out the whole album in one day.
Bradley: My favorite memory is getting to cultivate my best bass tone through trial and error.
Did you struggle with track order?
Elle: Not way too much, it didn’t have an intended track order beforehand but it felt like we pretty quickly just found an order that felt right to us.
How would you characterize the album’s style/sound?
Elle: We all really have different tastes, and all wanted to incorporate lots of different influences into the record. This new album still holds onto some of that math rock and shoegaze sound, but we incorporated a lot more hardcore, black metal sections, post punk, and noise rock into our sound for this record.
Ricardo: We’re basically a patchwork mishmash of every cool section we’ve heard in songs throughout our lives. Genre concerns become secondary to the initial thought of “This riff is sick!”
What lyrical topics do you cover?
Elle: Most of the tracks on this album are addressing at least 2-3 different topics throughout the song, usually regarding my experiences with interpersonal/systemic violence as a trans person, addiction, mental health, or loss. I hope that maybe this record can make some people out there feel less alone, music makes me feel a greater sense of community than anything else and I want to spread that feeling whenever possible. The title track is mainly about my high school best friend Simon who passed away when he was 16. He was a great musician who introduced me to experimental music and DIY as a whole – this felt like the best way to honor him.
How did you come to sign with Silent Pendulum?
Ricardo: We had a terrible experience with a notable post-hardcore vocalist who owns a label out of Sacramento, but luckily Michael was able to pull us out of it and into Silent Pendulum. That’s about as much as I think we should say. (laughs)
What are your goals and expectations for the album?
Ricardo: Ideally, we want people to love this record. And if not that, at least understand that it’s a labor of love that is not trying to be anything but itself. Looking into the future, I want this to be our stepping stone into our next record and into good shows here in Denver and on tour. And also maybe some good reviews on RateYourMusic. (laughs)
How was the video shoot for “Remembrance”?
Jackson: It felt like we were shooting a slasher flick or something, the red lighting and the location really gave it an eerie vibe. Will (Schaaf) did a fantastic job with everything and the editing really took it to the next level.
Elle: I work with Will quite frequently, they’re a very thorough person who takes all their commitments so seriously, always very special to work with them. The only other video shoot any of us had ever done before this was the one for “Propaniac” and Ricardo and I shot that ourselves at his house with an iPhone.
The album will also be available on vinyl. Are you a vinyl collector?
Jackson: My vinyl collection is well over 100 strong. It spans a lot of genres, from bebop to shoegaze to experimental hip hop and beyond. The record I’m most proud of is the test pressing for Living Without. Having my own vinyl next to some of my biggest influences and some of the greatest albums of all time is a euphoric feeling.
Ricardo: I work at a record store so I basically have to have a record collection. (laughs)
Elle: I don’t have a massive vinyl collection currently, but I own some sort of physical copy of basically all my favorite albums. It means a lot to me having my favorite pieces of media in some sort of tangible form, and like Jackson said it feels so gratifying having my own music added to that collection now.
What has been your most memorable Endless, Nameless live show?
Jackson: When we toured with The Fall of Troy and played the Star Theater in Portland. That place was packed full of people and they went really hard for our set. I’ll never forget going out to the edge of the stage after we played and high fiving a bunch of people in the front row.
Elle: That Portland show with TFOT was the big one for all of us I think, but also we played a ridiculous two hour outdoor set at this art walk one time. It was close to 100 degrees and dinosaur themed so these people in dinosaur costumes kept coming out and interrupting our set to do a weird group dance every 15 minutes. I’ll never forget that one for sure.
What’s the most unusual venue you’ve played?
Bradley: Definitely Pinball Jones in Fort Collins. So crazy. We played outside the pinball place and when it was over we fucked up some pinball.
Ricardo: Yeah, most of us weren’t old enough to drink so I remember drinking warm Rolling Rocks from my trunk. Yuck.
Elle: For me it was probably the art walk mentioned above, it was a family/kids event and we were playing weird heavy shit.
What are your upcoming show/tour plans?
Jackson: We’re headed down to Albuquerque to play the legendary Fly Honey Fest, and after that we have our album release show. The following month we’ll be playing with HIRS Collective. We are also in the process of booking a sick June tour.
What are some of your non-musical hobbies and interests?
Bradley: I like to work on cars, drive fast, and make bad decisions. (laughs)
Ricardo: I am on a quest to find the best Banh Mi I’ve ever had.
Elle: I’m trying to find more of them. I spend most of my time playing or teaching music. I really just love spending time with my fiancé and eating food.
Anything else you’d like to mention or promote?
Ricardo: If you’re in Colorado definitely come say hi at the Hi-Dive on the 31st for our release show. And if you’re not then we’ll see you this summer on tour.
Bradley: Shout out to Christina Applegate!
(interview published March 25, 2023)
Watch Endless, Nameless – “Remembrance” Video
