Tiger Weekly - Serving Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

NonPoint takes over Varsity with hard rock

By Charles Nunmaker

South Florida heavies, NonPoint, invite fans to a night of heavy metal madness.

The Varsity Theatre is one of Baton Rouge's best venues for good entertainment. Every week, a great selection of acts from different backgrounds perform. Joining that great selection with some downright dirty music is the upcoming band NonPoint, who is playing at the Varsity on August 3 at 8 p.m.

NonPoint is a hard rock and metal band that rose in South Florida's metal scene in 1997. The same South Florida scene also boasts about starting such acts like Endo and Marilyn Manson.

"Our influences definitely lend to our sound, but that is one of the weird things about it," said drummer of the band Robb Rivera. "We all listen to different music. For example, one of us listens to Rush and another person will like Pearl Jam. We bring all of these different influences from all of these different and great bands to our music."

NonPoint is composed of three members: singer Elias Soriano, bassist Ken "BASTARD" MacMillan, and drummer Robb Rivera. However, NonPoint's Zach Broderick recently made his debut with the band as their new guitarist on the new album Miracle. For the production of Miracle, NonPoint enlisted friends Chad Gray and Greg Tribett from the bands Mudvayne and HELLYEAH.

"Zach definitely brought something new and different to the table, but it's something really good," said drummer Robb Rivera. "He added to the band in a way that we hadn't really heard before, and he brought to the table this new screaming and hammering guitar playing that we were not used to but that excited us at the same time."

NonPoint has released eight albums over the span of the last decade. One of their albums, Recoil, has become one of their most popular albums due to the band's covers from popular heavy metal artists like Pantera and Black Sabbath. But the band's most famous song from the album is their cover of Phil Collins' popular song "In the Air Tonight." Their renditions of Collins' classic reached the top of the charts and even became the theme song for the movie "Miami Vice."

With the band's music constantly climbing the heavy metal charts, NonPoint has been part of national tours like the Music as a Weapon Tour with Disturbed, Stone Sour, and Flyleaf. They have also toured with popular heavy metal and rock bands like Buckcherry, Cold, Mudvayne, and Drowning Pool. With so many tours, NonPoint plays at many large festivals across the nation. NonPoint is even appearing in this year's Ozzfest.

"Man, I love performing at festivals," said Rivera. "You get to play your music to such a wide audience. I always like hearing that people discovered us at this festival or that festival because when we perform at festivals, we get to play to people who may not be able to go to a club or venue to see us play and hear our music. It's really just great seeing smiles on people's faces while you are playing your own music."

Originally Published: July 28, 2010

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