NONEXISTER Drop Video For New Single "What a Lie" At Post-Punk.Com

NONEXISTER released their debut album Demons earlier this year.

They have come roaring back to the forefront by sharing the video for the incendiary and politically charged track "What A Lie," which addresses how the rich get richer, climbing the ladder on the backs of everyone else with little regard for anyone but themselves and their fattened pockets. But the song also looks at how this type of behavior can penetrate other aspects of society besides the economy.

The video premiered over at Post-Punk. Watch it Below.

"'What A Lie' is on the first, direct layer a song about and against the robber barons of our time," says singer Nik Leuthold. "It's about people who do everything for their own profit without any ethical boundaries. It's about people who exploit others and are even proud of it. So, at first glance and first listen, it talks about ruthless capitalists in high positions in the economy."

He continues, "But, as often in my lyrics, I am interested in the layers below, in the understanding of the phenomenon as such, in revealing the deeper structures of it, and not only in accusing one simple thing, like the evil robber baron capitalist. And the phenomenon is not at all exclusively bound to capitalism or in general to one certain sector of society or to one system. The way ruthless people in power pursue their goals is very similar in structure, no matter if they use a large corporation for it, a religion, or something else."
 
Leuthold furthers, "And often, the protagonists as well are not bound to a certain system or sector and use several of them, even meander between them. Figures like Silvio Berlusconi and Donald Trump are and have been active in the legal economy, in organized crime and in politics at the same time and use connections to powerful religious circles as well. Vladimir Putin is still an imperialist Soviet by heart, but as well a ruthless capitalist and a godfather of the organized crime and he has very good relations with the patriarch of the Russian orthodox church."
 
Leuthold finishes, "But no matter if they do meander between roles or if they stick to one role like the CEO of a big corporation or the leader of a certain religious cult, they all work in a similar way."

"What a Lie" crackles with intensity and is certainly landing at a key time ahead of the U.S. presidential election, where these issues are at the forefront of voter minds.

NONEXISTER Release Debut Album + Share Video For "Storm"

NONEXISTER have released their debut album Demons on, March 15

To mark the occasion, the Zurich based quintet has unveiled the video for their new single, "Storm," a song which encompasses everything that defines NONEXISTER's music: It's dark, intense, and a little dystopian, featuring an infectious guitar riff and plenty of electronic noise. 

Sound engineer and co-band leader Marco Neeser says, "In production, I first created a noisy industrial atmosphere to set the mood for the song, and then I let this emblematic riff hit, which drives the song."

"Storm" highlights the rising global threat of right-wing extremism. 

Singer Nik Leuthold states, "What's happening right now sometimes feels like a global re-run of 1930s Europe. It's frightening. However, in my lyrics, I'm always interested in the bigger picture — in this case extremism and sectarianism in general. It's too easy to simply blame it on frustration; convenient lies, victimhood, and self-righteousness are attractive to many people. But I'm sure most of them would be scared to death if it actually came to the point they are currently shouting about." 

Since their first single, "Your Pain Up My Veins," the band has consistently released captivating, cinematic videos, winning numerous awards including the California Music Video & Film Award, the Global Music Award and the Europe Music Award, among others. Their latest offering is just as compelling as its predecessors: you can watch the video for "Storm" here.

Leuthold says of the video, "I really wanted to make this video with Dave Bullivant after seeing how nuanced and multi-layered he can be with a given theme on 'How Do You Dare.' When it comes to right-wing extremism, it can very quickly become trite or cliché, but once again he has managed to convey the song's subject matter in a very subtle way. Yet he has illustrated the underlying threat so powerfully with his stark black and white images, which sometimes remind me of the movie Sin City. I think Dave has once again created an extraordinary work of art."

Director Dave Bullivant says, "This track speaks so eloquently on the dangers of rising extremism in its various guises and how easily people can be drawn into a situation that they may later regret. The lure of community, power and acceptance can so often override one's sense of morality. I wanted to abstract this idea and portray the inner conflict of two friends encountering a roaring mob. We shot using a pretty unique camera, there are only two of this model that have been modified to only shoot black and white. We then took this unique camera and did something no one has ever done before, and shot the final scene using only UltraViolet light. The resulting image is truly unique and quite beautiful."

After six singles, the band is proud to present their work in its entirety. Demons is a collection of the first creative phase as NONEXISTER, the essence of all that inspired them from the beginning. The band is beyond excited that this twisted, gnarly beauty is finally going out into the world.

Leuthold says, "I'm over the moon that our debut album Demons is finally out. It's been a long journey and I'm very proud of the result. Working with Marco has been a great stroke of luck, taking us both into worlds we wouldn't have gotten to on our own. And so many great people have helped shape the final product, tweaking every detail so that this baby is now a true beauty."

Neeser shares his enthusiasm, saying, "We are happy to finally announce the release of our debut album Demons. We have been working on it for several years and are proud of the result. It's dark, disturbing, dynamic, full of contrasts, and deeply emotional."

Demons will be released via the band's own label, with distribution via  The Orchard, digitally, on CD and on transparent vinyl (which includes a 
bonus track). You can purchase here.

NONEXISTER Share Video For "Where Does Your Mind Go"

DEBUT ALBUM DEMONS OUT MARCH 15

Zurich's NONEXISTER have released their new single "Where Does Your Mind Go." Watch the video below.

 Since their first single "Your Pain Up My Veins," the band has consistently delivered captivating and cinematic videos and their latest output is no exception. 

Singer Nik Leuthold says, "The video for ''Where Does Your Mind Go' is a radical, stunning piece of art by Elias Ressegatti, portraying the topic of the song perfectly: a woman underwater, literally running out of air. It was filmed in one take and is completely real. Since both her struggle to hold her breath and her suffering are real, we as spectators feel it ourselves almost physically, we're with her. Luckily, we knew the perfect actress for the role — Martina MoMo Kunz, who is also a free diver. It would have been impossible for someone without the right training to do the job."

Director Elias Ressegatti says of the video, "In this increasingly fast-paced world full of constant distractions, the video forces the viewer to experience the length of the song in an increasingly oppressive state — watching a young woman nearly drown herself during the four minutes of the song, almost in real time — without much to distract us visually."

He continues, "It's a distillation of the essence of 'Where Does Your Mind Go' a multi-layered, visual composition, always in service of the song's lyrics. A quiet piece to meditate on, to contemplate, to take in in an ever-expanding world, built of layers of noise."

Actress Martina Momo Kunz commented on the song, the video, and her demanding work, saying "When Nik asked me to do the breath-hold, I was both excited and scared at the same time. Holding your breath in front of the camera and an entire team is a big challenge, as you have to put yourself in a meditative state in order to counteract the fears that arise by calming down. 'Where Does Your Mind Go' somehow describes this process exactly; first the thoughts become calm, you drift into a dreamland, into a fantasy world, like the reverberating guitar riffs, and when the chorus comes, the fear rises and the battle between instinct and will begins. The battle with the edge, the lust for the edge, the lust for life and the lust for death."

NONEXISTER's latest release may not be as loud and heavy as the band's previous releases, but it's just as intense. In "Where Does Your Mind Go," the desert-like wideness of sound meets the isolation of introspection, and the sonic landscape mirrors the deepest depths of the soul.

On March 15, NONEXISTER's debut album, Demons, will be released digitally, on CD and as a 2xLP gatefold vinyl (180g) including a bonus track via the band's own label (Distribution: The Orchard). Pre-order as CD and white vinyl here.

NONEXISTER thrive on the interplay between the energy of electronic music and the catharsis of heavy music. As if they were soundtracking an after-hours club in the middle of nowhere, the Zurich-based band, consisting of Marco Neeser (electronics, songwriting, production), Nik Leuthold (vocals, songwriting, production), Reto "Fu" Gaffuri (bass), Siro Müller (drums, backing vocals), and Silvan Gerhard (guitar, backing vocals), swings like a pendulum between moments of industrial ecstasy and moshpit-ready outbursts.

About Demons, Nik says: "I'm over the moon that our debut album Demons is finally finished and will be released in March. It's been a long journey and I'm very proud of the result. Working with Marco has been a real stroke of luck, taking us both to places we wouldn't have reached on our own. So many great people have helped shape the final product, tweaking every detail so that this baby is a real beauty."

Demons is a journey through the depths of the human soul — dark, disturbing, dynamic, contradictory, and deeply emotional. The lyrics explore these depths and sonically, so does the album. While it's full of pummeling grooves, ready for the mosh pit, there are also eerie, strange moments that gnaw at the listener's brain. The album was recorded at Marco's home studio, New Sound Studio, with producer Tommy Vetterli, known as the mastermind behind Coroner and member of legendary thrashers Kreator, adding another dimension to the production. Vetterli also composed the backings and adlibs together with Nik.

NONEXISTER Share Video For "A Promise In The Air" — WATCH // Band Announces "Demons" Out 3/15

Zürich-based band NONEXISTER release their new single "A Promise In The Air" today.

The single is accompanied by an extraordinary video. Watch it below.

NONEXISTER have also announced their debut album Demons, which will be released on March 15 via the band's own label (distributed by The Orchard) digitally, as CD and as 2xLP gatefold vinyl (180g), including a bonus track.

After dropping "Your Pain Up My Veins," "Drowning In the Void," and "How Do You Dare," the last of which was released in September, "A Promise In The Air" is the fourth single release from the now-announced debut album.

Producer and multi-instrumentalist Marco Neeser says about the new single, "'A Promise In The Air' is the antithesis of a pop song. It is long, it builds up slowly, it leads the listener astray by beginning with a pulsating synth line and seductive, intimate vocals, and then finally dissolving into an epic finale of guitars."

Singer Nik Leuthold adds, "The song is about the raging night of an impossible love, about two people who burn brightly when they get close to each other, but each burn in this fire. Now, they meet again and try to keep control this time and escape the maelstrom. But once again, they are each other's drug and plunge into this maelstrom, powerless and yet open-eyed, surfing through the night in a mixture of frenzied desire, overwhelming happiness, and deep despair. They know where it will end and yet they can't keep their hands off each other. An unstoppable tidal wave of laughter and tears, lust, hope, and despair sweeps them away, leaving devastation again in its wake."

The video was directed by Natasha Vavrina in Italy. Leuthold says, "Natasha Vavrina has done a fascinating job. First of all, by convincing us to make a dance video, which was certainly not our first thought. But based on other dance videos she's done and a wonderful concept, we understood what it could be, and dance is a great vehicle for this storm of emotions that the song is about. Madoka and Gil are incredibly great dancers and Paleta's choreography wonderfully brings out the moods of such a desperately lustful night. The place where the video begins and ends is the ruins of a club somewhere in the sticks of Italy, abandoned for 20 years and long since overgrown by nature. I came across a photo of it on the internet. It's a perfect location for this story, because that's exactly what it is: big emotions in ruins."

NONEXISTER thrive on the interplay of electronic energy and hard catharsis. As if they were soundtracking an after-hours club in the middle of nowhere, the Zurich band, consisting of Marco Neeser (electronics, songwriting, production), Nik Leuthold (vocals, songwriting, production), Reto "Fu" Gaffuri (bass), Siro Müller (drums, backing vocals), and Silvan Gerhard(guitar, backing vocals), swings like a pendulum between moments of industrial ecstasy and moshpit-ready outbursts.

On March 15, the debut album Demons will finally be released.

Leuthold says, "I am beyond happy that our debut album Demons is finally ready to be released in spring 2024. It has been a long journey to get there and I am very proud of the result. The collaboration with Marco is a great fortune that brings us both to worlds where we wouldn’t have got by ourselves. And so many great people helped shape the final product, tweak every detail, so that the baby is now a true beauty."

He continues, "Demons is a journey through the unfathomable depths of human nature — that's what the lyrics are about and that's how it sounds. It is dramatic, possibly disturbing, sometimes ironic, and now and then, quite surprising. There are many pumping grooves, perfect for the moshpit, but there are these eerie, strange things as well, that gnaw on your brain. The lyrics orbit all around human behavior. They are often socially critical, but sometimes as well just poetic and personal views on the abysses in our heads."

The album was recorded at Marco's home studio and at New Sound Studio with producer Tommy Vetterli, known as the mastermind of Coroner and member of legendary thrashers Kreator, adding another dimension to the production. Vetterli also composed the backings and adlibs together with Leuthold.

NONEXISTER Shares Video For "Drowning In The Void"

After the Zurich-based NONEXISTER released their very first single, "Your Pain Up My Veins," including a spectacularly dark video starring actressCarol Schuler at the end of March, the cinematic video for the current single "Drowning In The Void" is released today.

Watch it below.

The band dedicates the song to loved ones who have been unexpectedly lost in the prime of life, who left their lives without warning. 

Singer Nik Leuthold says, "The lyrics were written after the death of a good friend of mine. They describe the state of shock you fall into when you receive such a horrifying message. The shock throws you into a kind of surreal in-between world and you don't understand anything anymore. You don't feel any pain at first, but are left stunned, and the everyday actions you continue to perform seem absurd. One stands bewildered and disoriented outside of space and time, watching the world and oneself in wonder without any real connection to either. The only warmth you find lies in the memory of the lost person, the same memory that hurts so heavily."

Bandmate Marco Neeser adds, "Grounded guitars combined with electronic noises create a tension that leads through the whole song. It meanders through the vastness of the desert, leading into a sweeping noisy soundscape before diving back into a deep, dark chorus. Musically, the song is based on a track of my former band Division Kent. I showed the original version to Nik, who loved it, and the track inspired him immediately to write new lyrics and vocal lines. It was striking how this completely changed the atmosphere of the song and gave it a new profound meaning."

Nik continues, "The video was a wonderful collaboration with director Justin Stoneham. He is not only a fantastic and award-winning director, but as well a wonderful team player. It was clear to me from the beginning, that the in between world would lead the visual direction, and I already had a first script. Therefore, I needed a director who would be willing to develop this idea. Meeting Justin was a huge stroke of luck, because apart from his skills, he knows these situations from his own personal experience and agrees on the image of an intermediate world as an interpretation of them."

Director Justin Stoneham says of the shoot, "I have only positive things to say about this project. 'Drowning In The Void' was an incredibly enjoyable experience from start to finish. We were fortunate to have an exceptional crew on board. Furthermore, the collaboration with NONEXISTER, especially."

NONEXISTER live from the interplay of electronic energy and hard catharsis. As if they were sounding an after-hours club at the end of the world, the Zurich band, consisting of Marco Neeser (electronics, songwriting, production), Nik Leuthold (vocals, songwriting, production), Reto "Fu" Gaffuri (bass), Siro Müller (drums, backing vocals), and Silvan Gerhard (guitar, backing vocals), swing like a pendulum between moments of industrial ecstasy and moshpit-worthy outbursts.

Introducing NONEXISTER! Band Shares Video For "Your Pain Up My Veins"

NONEXISTER thrive on the interplay of electronic energy and heavy catharsis. As if soundtracking an after-hours club at the end of the world, the Zurich, Switzerland band — Marco Neeser [electronics, songwriting, production], Nik Leuthold [vocals, songwriting, production], Reto "Fu" Gaffuri [bass], Siro Müller [drums, backing vocals], and Silvan Gerhard [guitar, backing vocals] — are like a pendulum swinging from moments of industrial ecstasy to moshpit-ready fits. 

The first single "Your Pain Up My Veins" boasts a chugging guitar riff with a head-nodding beat and goth-inspired loops. Nik howls and wails as if awakening from a cryogenic freeze with a lust for control on his tongue.

Watch the video here.

"It describes the phenomenon of power as a drug," Nik says. "The frenzy of power is a very human phenomenon on one hand, we all know it at least a little from our own lives. Already there it can cause a lot of harm. But in bigger scales, it's quite dystopic for the world. And it's quite common, mainly among rabble-rousers and potentates. Often when things in the foreground are driven by ideology, it's just comes down to ego. I'm just trying to explain this from the point-of-view of a junkie for trampling others to uplift himself."
 
"This track — which was the first song we ever made — became a blueprint for NONEXISTER," Marco goes on. "It builds up to this wall of sound, but you still can hear the melodies within."

As for the accompanying visual, Nik explains, "The video by Elias Ressegatti is an artistic exaggeration, a metaphor of the song's topic of abusing power as a drug. The main creature breeds new creatures from her own flesh in a kind of archaic incubator, in ecstatic frenzy. Then she feeds them and her old self to her own perfect replica, which walks out as the new and better version of herself. We understand that the cycle will begin again in not too much time, and again, and again... She walks literally over dead bodies for her satisfaction and alimentation."

In similar fashions, co-founders Marco and Nik drew on dynamic and distinct backgrounds at the onset of the project. Marco, the electronic maverick, honed his creativity and stage presence in the likes of Swandive, Division Kent, me.man.machine., and Glitter Wasteland, gracing the stages of major festivals and cities across Europe. Meanwhile, Nik powered the punk upstarts Catchpole, and he voices one of the robots of groundbreaking robot band COMPRESSORHEAD, for which John Wright (frontman of the Hanson Brothers and drummer for the legendary No Means No), writes the music and is the voice of the robot singer.
 
Simultaneously, he has entrenched himself in Switzerland's dynamic subculture scene and fostering the launch of initiatives, such as independent cultural and political radio force Radio Stadtfilter. 

 Given the intimate nature of their hometown's music community, Nik and Marco crossed paths many times through the years. After grabbing a drink one evening, they decided to collaborate in the studio, giving rise to NONEXISTER.
 
The duo wrote and recorded under-the-radar. They recorded at New Sound Studio with producer Tommy Vetterli —renowned as mastermind of Coroner and member of legendary thrashers Kreator. He added another dimension to recording with production, guitar alongside Jonas Wolf, and contributing adlibs.   

The two artists went into Marco's home studio and began writing songs for the first NONEXISTER album. They mostly produced these before teaming up at New Sound Studio with producer Tommy Vetterli, known as the mastermind of Coroner and a member of legendary thrashers Kreator, who added another dimension to the production. Vetterli also composed the backings with Nik and contributed some adlibs. It was also Vetterli who brought the two together with guitarist Jonas Wolf, who played most of the guitars on the album, but has since handed over the guitar on NONEXISTER to his friend Silvan Gerhard in favor of the role of musical director with Eluveitie.