Hello everybody, we’re here today with Nothing More !
You opened the final day of Heavy Weekend Festival today. How did it feel? Did you feel any pressure going on stage?
Daniel - I didn't feel any pressure. It was... I don't know, it was a beautiful day. It rained a little bit this morning, but these smaller festivals—with four or five bands—they're a ton of fun. The vibe here overall is really good. And on top of that, they gave us some fire to play with on stage, which was super special.
Mark - Yeah, it was our first time with fire—actually, ever.
Daniel - Yeah, first time ever.
Mark - It was really, really cool.
Daniel - I don't think we'll ever forget it.
Mark - I think all the smiles you saw were probably like, “Oh yeah, we’re so pumped, we’re so cool.” It was a blast. And it's great to play in a different city than Paris too. We did Hellfest a couple of years ago, and then we played another city in the south of France. Do you remember what it was called?
Daniel - I don't remember off the top of my head.
Mark - Maybe Orléans or something else. I forgot what it's called. But yeah, it's nice to play somewhere different than Paris, for sure. This is a great festival. We had a great time.

We heard you’re about to come back to France real soon?
Mark - Yes, definitely. We'll be back in November doing a headliner tour. And we'll hit Paris, for sure. So that'll be good. We’re pumped to come back.

You can be sure we’ll be there!
Mark - Okay, awesome !

We heard a few songs from your new deluxe edition of Carnal today. It includes six new tracks—some of them re-recorded or featuring guests like Chris Daughtry. How did you select those songs?
Mark - Yeah, I mean, honestly, we just wanted to have Freefall with Daughtry on the album. That one was already done for a long time—just needed mixing.

How did that collaboration with Daughtry happen?
Mark - He’s a fan. I think he and Johnny met up after Johnny moved to Nashville. They became friends. Johnny shared the album with him, and he was like, “Oh man, I love Freefall. I’d love to sing on that.” It happened super organically. We wanted to put it on the album as is, but it kind of made sense to release it later—make it special. His radio team also asked us to wait until they’d finished promoting his own songs so they could help push this one. That’s why it came out later.
Daniel - We’re All Gonna Die was written specifically for Carnal, but when we were finalizing the tracklist, it just didn’t quite fit. And we already had enough songs, so we held it back—not knowing when we’d release it. That’s how it ended up on the deluxe version. Also, last year we played Aftershock, and Disturbed was headlining. That was the first time David Draiman came out and sang with us live. We happened to get a great recording of it—lots of cameras because it's a festival. We thought: this is kind of a cool little thing.
Mark - Yeah, it was a way to document that moment. Little did we know, we’d be on tour with them six months later—doing it almost every night. He’d graciously come out. We’re very blessed to have him—he’s a killer human and a great frontman.

If you could re-record one of your songs with a dream artist, who and what would it be?
Mark - Oh man, that’s a great question. I gotta think about this one. We’re all big Muse fans. Matthew Bellamy is an amazing musician—singer, guitar player, pianist. Muse is always about the end of the world, raging against the machine... all their lyrics and videos. I feel like he would totally vibe with Existential Dread. It’s kind of in their wheelhouse melodically, and I’d love to see how he would approach the song—what he’d do differently. He’d definitely connect with the lyrics and the theme.
Daniel - Yeah, that’s funny. That was literally my exact answer. I’ll say I’d love to see Rage Against the Machine cover Stuck. I think that would be kind of cool. Or House on Sand. Maybe that one would be cooler. But yeah—just be like, “Hey guys, make this your own. You have to.”
Mark - “You have to.”

Speaking of House on Sand, I saw it became your third chart-topping single. Congratulations!
Mark & Daniel - Thanks.

How do you feel about that achievement?
Mark - Oh, excellent. Super proud, obviously. Third number one from the album. It was awesome to have that song be a collaboration with Eric from I Prevail—he brought that guttural, hellish voice, which was fun. He’s come out to a few shows and done it live with us. Great guy. I think the song is powerful because it’s reflective—about accountability. We’ve all hit breaking points and had to rebuild ourselves. A lot of people relate to that. I love hearing people pour their hearts out when they sing it.
Daniel - Yeah, and none of us really expected that song to even go to radio—let alone hit number one. So that was rad. And enlightening too—like, okay, heavier music is definitely still in. That kind of thing is pushing us to go even heavier on the next record we’re writing now. So expect more of that—or even better.

We’ve been asking other bands about this too—how do you feel about heavy music making such a strong comeback?
Daniel - Oh man, I’m excited about it. I don’t know why it went away. We’re always analyzing cultural shifts—wondering, “Are people not angry anymore?”. But seeing it bubbling up again in a big way is really exciting.
Mark - I think a lot of it has to do with how fast news and culture move today—with tech, the internet, and especially social media. Also, in Europe, metal, rock, punk—these styles are still very popular. There’s a rebellious personality over here: “fight the man”.  That energy influences the U.S. too—and infiltrates in the best way.
Daniel - Yeah, he already said what I was going to say. It’s also interesting that it’s not being pushed by labels or media—it’s happening super organically. There are things on TikTok we can’t explain—music just finding its way into culture. It’s neat that it’s our music. Heavy stuff—like Deftones—is getting this wave of attention again. People are rediscovering bands we grew up loving, and it’s rad.

Final question—do you have a message for your fans?
Mark - I kind of always say—it’s more of a personal thing—but don’t hide your scars. Especially with it being Pride Month—be proud of who you are. You shouldn’t hide that.
Daniel - Yeah, I’d say just be good to one another. Find something you love and pursue it with all your heart. The world will surely become a better place.