The year was 2003. My band The Funeral was in the process
of writing and recording our final record, and preparing to play our final
string of shows before we split up.
Simultaneously, up in Rochester, a band we were all pretty close with-
The Disaster- were wrapping up their time as a band as well.
Their bass player John Twentyfive
was already thinking of his next move.
He had played in many bands in Rochester and booked most of the
punk/hardcore shows in town. He
got wind that The Funeral was splitting up and asked if once both our bands
were finished if I would like to get another band started. I immediately agreed and started
thinking of other people who could round out the lineup, as well as how we
would figure out logistics of getting together in either Syracuse or Rochester
for rehearsing.
2004 rolled around and just as
conversations about this band started John had some events in his life that put
the idea of a new band on hold for several months. Once the air cleared and we were able to revisit the
conversation I had already been talking to some guys who were making noise up
in the North Country. I’ve alluded
before to the thriving scene happening just north of Syracuse in the Fulton and
Oswego wastelands where, despite there being nothing around, things were really
happening. A band that was going
up there at the time- Marrakesh- already had some Syracuse connections as their
singer was my friend Shaun Luu, so I was in tune with what was going on with
them. Shaun had asked if I wanted
to do some back up vocals on a recording they were doing since I had nothing
happening band-wise. From that I
got to know a couple of the other guys in the band- namely their drummer Mike
Russell and bassist Ted Niccoli.
We all hit it off pretty well and stayed in touch.
Not long after Marrakesh stopped
playing together, partially because Shaun got sick and, a year later, passed away
after succumbing to cancer, I
asked if Mike wanted to play in this new band I was working on with John up in
Rochester. He agreed. I wasn’t sure what to do about a
guitarist though. But Ted had made
it known that bass was not his primary instrument and he preferred guitar. So that settled it. We had the band put together. John already had a name picked out, a
reference to a Juliana Hatfield song “I Got No Idols”. So No Idols it was.
There was a bit of a stumbling
block starting right off the bat- Mike was a self-taught drummer and had a
really weird way of playing that revolved around playing to the vocals, and
playing strange, technical metal-type beats. We were intending to be a pretty straightforward, but
rocking, hardcore band and had to whip Mike into dumbing down beats and keeping
them 4/4. It made for a few weird
initial practices.
Ted Niccoli on the guit-box
We also had some complications with
getting together to jam. We initially
tried working it out to practice out around Oswego, since it was about a 45
minute drive for me, a little longer for John, and home base for the guys with
the most gear and no cars of their own.
But John had a pretty solid practice space up in Rochester that he
insisted we use because he didn’t want to lose it. So we compromised and would jam up in Rochester most of the
time and do Oswego every once in awhile when schedules worked out. However, this meant that I had to drive
up to Oswego, pick up Mike and Ted, and then drive out to Rochester to meet
John and we would just spend the whole day and night jamming to make it worth
our while of all the driving.
Eventually we had enough material
to start playing shows and we cut a rough three song demo at the brand new Jock
Jams Studio, which eventually became Moresound Studio. At the time though Jocko had just moved
in and was in the process of gutting the building to remodel into the studio.
No Idols first show
I set up our first show in Fulton,
which we had the demos for, and we bullshitted our way through. In retrospect we probably were not
quite ready to play out since we had only been jamming for a few months at that
point and were getting used to playing with each other.
Things soon got a little more
comfortable and John began setting up a bunch of shows for us all over the
place. He had a van and was good
at using his contacts to set up weekends and shows with other bands throughout
the Northeast. I came up with all
the artwork and logos for the band.
I was heavily into stenciling at the time and would use all that to
create designs and petty vandalism for the band. Pretty soon John got us hooked up to record a 7” record for
Grave Mistake Records so we went back to Jock Jams (now Indie Audio) to record
some new songs, as well as re-record a couple songs from the demo. One of the songs ended up on the
Assault City compilation, the first release from Reaper Records, and the rest
went to our 7”, which Grave Mistake released soon after. John set up a tour for us and Ruiner,
who had also just started playing out.
We did a pretty successful run that went from Long Island down to
Virginia.
But not too long after that tour
John decided he wanted to bow out as it wasn’t quite the direction he had
envisioned for the band. The rest
of us were getting pretty excited with what we were doing. We decided to press on with John’s
blessing, since it was his original idea to start the group.
Somewhere in Los Angeles on tour 2006
This freed Ted up to really begin
pushing the sound he envisioned which was still in a rocking hardcore vein, but
with some heavier, sludgier twists.
Mike was coming into his own as a drummer and we worked on him quite a
bit to foster his inclination to try out weird and unique beats, but simple enough
to keep the songs moving along. It
was always a process. Also, for
whatever reason, we would always jam super late, like from 1AM to 3 in the
morning, which really threw us all for a loop. In the interim our friend Derek Revella stepped in on bass
temporarily to play a couple shows we already had set up with Melt Banana,
before we got our pal Jay Trovato to be our permanent bass player. Jay had played in a bunch of punk bands
around town, but never did much in the way of writing music. He was just along for the ride. However, he was an incredibly fun
person to be around and had a great attitude, so I was more than happy to have
him playing with us. Ted also
wanted to add a second guitarist to fill out the sound and complete some ideas
he had that he couldn’t do on his own.
I was a little hesitant as I liked to keep things simple. But he asked Aaron Moon to be our
second guitarist and, again, I was hesitant once I saw this swoop-haired,
skinny-jean wearing guy. But man,
Aaron could play. That dude could
play circles around any of us, and he picked up really quick what kind of sound
we were aiming for and he totally nailed it. Judging books by covers and all that.
We were back at it and once again
in our zone. The band ended up
going through a couple more lineup changes during it’s existence, but this is
where the most activity for the band occurred and where we wrote, recorded, and
toured on what became our only full length, “Low (Swing the Pyramid
Hands)”. It was a crazy writing
process that came together very quick, and recorded fast. I released the CD version of it, while
our friend Jonah in Boston released the vinyl version of it on his label
Teenage Disco Bloodbath.
Of note, the artwork was a very
particular challenge as I had a specific idea in mind. The inspiration came from the cover image
of Pussy Galore’s record “Dial M For Motherfucker”, a record way different than
we sounded, but a crazy awesome image nonetheless. I needed someone with a gun to be in the picture and my
friend Jimi owned a lot of guns.
Next, I had to find a space that I could literally set on fire. I knew of some abandoned buildings just
off of the Syracuse University campus that weren’t near anything and generally
used for graffiti. Next, I got my
pal Tim to take some pictures. I
wanted a person with weapons ready to blast an intruder in a burning
building. That was the cover
idea. So I covered up in a shady
hoodie, coming around a corner with a lead pipe, and Jimi was waiting on the
other side with a shotgun after I had set the doorway on fire. Getting the picture quick enough was
tough as I used lighter fluid to set the fire and it didn’t stay lit for too
long. As for the rest of the
record we didn’t want to show typical band photos so we took pictures of the members
just below our faces and set them against lots of pictures of general
vandalism, riots, revolutionaries, and other assorted chaos. I thought it represented the band well.
We toured the whole US together,
and did a couple follow up Northeast tours before things started to
crumble. People kind of came and
went, but it always remained myself, Ted and Mike. Throughout the history of the band, though, there was always
some tension between the group and what Mike was able to commit to, or what he
allowed himself to do, and what we wanted to do. The final straw came when we had been writing and playing
out some way heavier new material with a couple new members and had been
offered a two week tour with End Of a Year and a couple weeks before we set out
Mike said he couldn’t do it and we basically just called it quits.
I ended up doing a much more mellow
band afterwards with Bob, who was our final bass player, called Mistletoe. Ted started a crust band called Black
Mast before joining Oak and Bone on bass who recorded two records for Hex
Records. As circumstances would
have it, John, our original bassist and co-founder, moved out to Seattle. Not long after Oak and Bone stopped
playing Ted moved to Portland. And
in 2017 I also moved to Portland.
So now ¾ of the original No Idols lineup resides in the Pacific
Northwest. This gave me the
perfect opportunity to catch up with the man who speaks softly but carries a
big stick (whether that be a guitar or a wrench)- my man Ted Niccoli, who wrote
the bulk of No Idols stuff, to talk about that one loud-ass record we did back
in 2006. And our nascent
criminality. And how weird it is
to talk about my own band.
In doing these things I’m realizing how many people
associated with the label come from the middle of nowhere, north of
Syracuse. How did you fit into all
this, such as bands that influenced you locally, people and bands you played
with, and how you came to play guitar?
I don’t know. I
know I started listening to heavier music, even in elementary school. My dad introduced me to that. Stuff like Alice In Chains. But that naturally evolved into
listening to, and veering towards, that kind of heavy sound.
I was also introduced through a friend and his older brother
to more bubblegum punk, or pop-punk, at the time, like Fat Wreck Chords shit.
I find that very surprising. That doesn’t seem like your thing at all.
I was like 12 or 13 though! It was very juvenile.
And I think listening to music, very early on, I always
wanted to play guitar. I always
wanted to play music, but mostly play guitar. And my family was gracious enough to buy me a guitar when I
was 13 or 14, and it just evolved from there.
What were the first bands you were playing in?
I started playing some bubblegum type punk, like NOFX type
stuff, when I was young. And then,
almost immediately after I started playing guitar, someone showed me a One King Down
record and I was like ‘this is way different! I want to play this!’
(laughs) Also something I find to be out of your wheelhouse!
It was that and Buried Alive. Those were the first hardcore records that someone showed
me.
As far as meeting other musicians it was a mixture of Mike
Russell, because he was going out to shows that were at the VFW in the middle
of nowhere- in Scriba. There were
always metal, or hardcore-type bands playing there. The Scriba VFW.
So I met Mike and then I met Ryan (Gorham, from Engineer and Blood Sun
Circle) shortly thereafter.
I can’t remember exactly how I discovered Deadguy, but it
was shortly around that timeframe, very early on, and that was a big one for me
too.
Mike Russell on the dang drums
How did you and Mike Russell start playing together?
He was kind of like the bad kid who was into metal and
hardcore. But he was also vegan
and straightedge, and super political.
He had a very political mindset.
That sort of drew me into playing some stuff like that. Obviously, I think how I grew up played
a lot in how I thought about society and politics and stuff like that. It’s all good stuff I think. But Mike was way deeper into stuff like
that. He introduced me to
Crimethinc literature. To me, that
meant a lot. When you read that
stuff when you’re like 14 or 15 it means a lot.
The original idea of No Idols was pretty outside what you
had been playing, and a lot of the early direction came from John. How did you accommodate your playing style
to that, and after he left, what were you looking to in terms of influence when
writing material for “Low”?
Well, I really liked bands like As the Sun Sets, but I also
really liked The Nerve Agents. And
Deadguy. I wasn’t too versed in
straight up hardcore. I mean, we
grew up around Syracuse, so there was Earth Crisis and all that stuff. But there wasn’t bands like Bane or
Youth Of Today out there. I was
into hardcore and metal, but also punk ya know? Being into a mixture of those things, and trying to
incorporate both, I guess, and doing the best I could with it.
But I think once John left I got into more effects pedals,
and being noisier, which were new to me at the time. I was just into lots of distortion. I also really liked what Cave-In were
doing. They were one of the
biggest proponents of experimenting with delays and all that. That’s what sort of drew me into that
sound. Cave-In was big for
me. I was also listening to a lot
of Pg. 99 and Majority Rule. I
also really liked how Grant Johnson (The Funeral, Spark Lights the Friction,
Night Owls) played, as far as local guys go.
I recall we always practiced super late at night. Why did we do that?
I think that was a Mike Russell thing. I’m surprised you didn’t call him up.
I wouldn’t even know how to get in touch with him these
days! I don’t know where he is or
what he does with himself.
I don’t either.
I hope he’s doing OK. But I
think we practiced late because
that was his schedule, like where he worked, or whatever the fuck that he did
which made things always go late.
Yeah, I don’t think he worked. Like ever.
He scammed!
Yeah, we were not a terribly law-abiding band. We kind of got away with a lot of
things we shouldn’t have.
I recall being in LA and going to an Albertsons and trying
scheme groceries off of that. You
don’t remember that?
I remember doing that in Baltimore. Aaron walked out with an
entire hand cart of groceries. But
I don’t remember LA.
Yeah, that happened.
I think I might have been a little more reserved with stuff like that on
the road because I had already been in trouble when I was a kid, like 15 or 16.
What did you do?
Well, after a night of spray painting a bunch of pentagrams
and upside down crosses on churches out in the country Mike Russell let me
drive his car. I was underage and
we were out smashing mailboxes. So
we got in trouble because I was swerving all over the road. It was in the paper and shit.
Were you part of the stoop crew (a number of other north
country area musician types and hardcore kids who literally stole stairs off
the front of people’s houses)?
I don’t think so.
I knew about it, but I didn’t get too involved with that. I understand the vandalism aspect of
that. It didn’t make a
statement. I was friends with all
those guys, but I didn’t think it was meaningful. I kind of felt bad for the people whose stoop went
missing! But a church? I don’t give a fuck about a church.
Recording “Low” was kind of on a crunch, as we had the US
tour coming together and wanted to get everything recorded and pressed before
that happened. Did you feel
pressure to complete some material, and do you think some of those songs could
have been developed more before hitting the studio?
I think most of the record was written before we went into
the studio. I didn’t feel
rushed. I’m glad we were there and
had enough time to add some things that we hadn’t even talked about until we
were there. I don’t think I’d
change it, or mess around with it.
Obviously when I listen back to it it’s crazy because I was 18 years old
at the time and it sounds a little juvenile, but not in the sense that it’s
totally misdirected as far as the sound goes. It’s not all over the place. It had a pretty cohesive sort of sound.
You definitely tended to lead the musical direction of the
band, and I tended to manage the artistic and business end of the group. Where did you want to see the band go,
if we had kept at it?
I wish we had recorded the songs that we wrote after
“Low”. They were pretty good, and
a bit different. I think about
that a lot. Regardless of personal
band politics with Mike and all that I wish we continued writing and recording
songs like those last ones and doing another record at least. And I wanted to tour more because I
loved touring. Touring was fun.
What was your favorite part of No Idols, and what was your
least favorite part?
I think when we started I was a little enamored with being
in a band with you and John because you guys were older. My least favorite thing was the lack of
commitment with some of us. I
don’t want to talk shit.
Yeah, but it’s been like 10 years so whatever.
Well, everyone besides you and John were pretty young, and
didn’t know how to work with band stuff really.
I think my favorite thing about the band was Mike Russell
and my least favorite thing was Mike Russell. He was incredibly entertaining to be around and he could be
really fun, but his back and forth about things all the time drove me nuts.
It drove me nuts too.
The lack of commitment.
That still drives me nuts with bands. Just anybody with a lack of commitment about something that
seems so simple. It’s not hard to
be in a band that does stuff. You
just have to say you want to do this.
You’re going to go through bad shit, and experience dumb shit being in a
band, but there’s a lot of good.
But I don’t think it’s that hard.
Bassist Jay Trovato
When I think of the band, and compare it to other bands I’ve
been in, it was the most chaotic.
Like, it was chaotic in how we made the band function. However, because of some of that chaos
I have some of the best memories of ridiculous shit we did.
Somehow it worked.
Somehow we all liked each other enough to make a record and tour. And I miss those guys. I was bummed when Aaron left the
band. Jay is a good person. I don’t think we connected musically,
but I think he’s a really good person.
I miss those kinds of things.
I think if we stuck it out, and committed to our sound we would have
done a lot more.
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