NAKEDBURN Breakdown Their New Single: “nothing left”

Toronto’s new fave emo band, NAKEDBURN took the iconic Sneaky Dee’s stage on March 1st ahead of their new single nothing left. Vocalist Matt Guarrasi, Rob Licandro and Luc Chiasson on the guitars and vocals, and bassist Dylan Vieira, tore the entire place down with help from Jesse Humphreys of Living Room For Small on the drums. 

 

This show was the last stop on the 'Winter Cure Tour' alongside fellow heavy-hitting Canadian bands Napoleon and Jenafur. Between all three acts, the place was on the verge of collapse in the best way possible. The second NAKEDBURN got on stage, the crowd immediately hyped up, and the energy was unmatched at the sold-out gig. The love was definitely there in the room full of friends and fans. Matt was a pro at getting the pit going, even joining the chaos himself mid-song. Their set was heavy, moody, and emo at its best, starting off the night with blue sky, and diving deeper into tracks like pain, pull me under, and of course, their latest release, nothing left. 

 

Hearing the new song live set the excitement around the release for us, before it started, the crowd was encouraged to fill in the gap in the pit, the band claiming “this song isn’t heavy, promise” a concert-goer asked them to seal the deal with a pinky promise, only to get the response “we’re not a pinky sort of a band, we’re more of a promise”. Heavy was right, pit-fuelling drums, the vocals on the verge of breaking, letting you feel the pain of the words being sung; it was the definition of emo. 

 

We chatted with Matt and Luc about the new drop. On the meaning of the song, Matt describes the thought process of the track, stating that nothing left is just that. “Feeling like you have nothing left to give the world and wanting to escape. Sometimes it is hard to go into that mindset.” 

 

The band doesn’t have one set way of creating the tunes. “The songwriting process is interesting in that way, some of the songs come from being at home up at 3 am writing, while others are written in the studio with the band itself.” Matt shares, “This song was a combination of that. I had some lyrics sitting around for the second half of the verse, and I just built on that mainly, and it grew into something different in the studio once I heard the instrumentals and the vibe we wanted to go for with the track.”

 

When we think of NAKEDBURN, we think of storytelling. Their music always delivers a cinematic edge, and they never fail to deliver the intentional visuals that always make sense. Luc touches on the visual aspect of the band, “Visuals are incredibly important to me and the band, and when I write music, I tend to think deeply about how I want it to be packaged and consumed by the listener.” This time is no different. “For nothing left, my initial interpretation and intention for the song was to place the listener in the middle of a giant concrete warehouse with water dripping from the ceiling and a small boombox on the floor playing the song. I think I was revisiting some old horror games like ‘Silent Hill 2’, and so it definitely imparted some influence on the visual stage I had going into this song. I would also say that having this visual interpretation largely influenced the production decisions made throughout, such as the lo-fi guitars in the intro and big warehouse drums in the breakdown.”

 

Luc adds that his visual interpretation wasn’t actually discussed with the band when pitching the song, and that they may see it in a different light. “I often avoid providing anything other than a song title initially to avoid boxing in Matt and Rob, who are the primary lyricists in the band, to an idea. I think everything that was outputted in the end, from the music to the video and artwork were just a natural byproduct of the influences bleeding through the music and a representation of our alignment across all members of the band having a similar goal and aesthetic for the band.”

 

When we first listened to the finished product in full, we were instantly brought back to their previous release, pull me under, which has a similar vibe to it. We instantly felt a connection between both tracks, but was it on purpose? “I definitely feel like, at this point in the band's journey, the songs are starting to feel connected in a way as we find our sound as a band.” Matt agrees. “A lot of our current songs have similar themes, such as relationship struggles, depression, suicide ideation, self-loathing, etc. These are things that I have either struggled with in the past or still currently do, which is why it's easy to find that content in a NAKEDBURN track.” One of the most important things to the band is writing with honesty: “We always write what's true to our emotions and match that with the energy of the instrumental, which was crafted not only to be heavy and a fun song to play live but to make our fans feel that darkness we pour into each track.”
 

Something that stuck out with the spin is that it’s pretty heavy in sound, the band stating that they want to continue to lean into that heavier aspect of songwriting. “It's really hard to say, our writing is all over the place, and it's quite hard for us to decide on a particular sound, but at the moment we really dig the heavier sound cause not only is it fun to write but it brings a lot of energy to our shows, which has always been super important to us.”

nothing left touches on the theme of wanting to escape, something that most people can relate to. What inspired this theme? “That's a tough question because I truly feel like in the current state of the world, don't we all want to escape a little?” Matt points out. “There wasn't anything specific here besides the overwhelming feeling of existence and coping with that every day. The song explores the theme of having a significant other in your life as well during that entire process, which adds a layer to that, hoping that someone can be there for you in your darkest times to pull you out, even when you don't want to live, hoping to have that person there that comforts you in those moments, escaping them together.” With that being said, Matt touches on the lyrics “I'd say the hardest lyric in the track is ‘can you end me and my hate’, but the most meaningful lyric to me is 'I've lost all that's left of me to escape my bitter end' because it truly encompasses how it feels to live with depression everyday and trying to escape the feelings of not wanting to live anymore. It just hits home for me, and it's one of the most intense moments of the track as well at the end of the bridge before the riff comes back in, and I truly love that part.”

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For new and current listeners of NAKEDBURN, Matt says he wants everyone to feel something special from this release “More than anything, I want them to feel connected from it. I want them to take away the feeling that it’s okay to want to escape, and they always have bands like ours to come back to on their rough days.” He also says the band has zero plans on slowing down “We’re not stopping anytime soon, and I want them to feel connected to the music as I do to so many of my favourite bands.” 

 

From what we could tell, fans are already gravitating towards nothing left from what we saw at their Toronto show. We asked how the overall reaction has been “I’d say the reaction has been great in all the cities we played” says Matt, he also mentions their friends have been digging the new track “The energy has been unreal and showing all of our music friends as well, it seems like people are really digging this one and I hope all the people out there love it as well!” 

 

TOP8’s Take?

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We are so happy you asked. nothing left hits hard. It has that cool edge that we love from NAKEDBURN and is a track that will be in our rotation for the foreseeable future. It touches on some deep emotions people may be afraid to talk about. We can all relate to wanting to escape at some point in our lives, and having conversations about these things through music or any sort of outlet is extremely important. You are never alone.  

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Go stream and watch the music video for nothing left out everywhere now!