Shoegaze: a dreamy portal to the musical heavens, or rock’s most listless genre? For decades now, shoegaze has threatened to creep into rock and metal and turn it into something between an emotional mindscape or a gently-swaying snoozefest. But why has shoegaze become such an important part of the rock and metal world, and should it be used more by bands looking to expand their own genre boundaries and take things just a little bit slower?
On the latest episode of our heavy metal talk show Last Words, hosts hosts Jordan Olds (Two Minutes To Late Night), Katy Irizarry (Season Of Mist), and Doc Coyle (Bad Wolves/Ex Man Podcast) are joined by Nothing mainman Domenic “Nicky” Palermo for a chat about this fuzzy, atmospheric side of rock. Even though Katy admits to giving Domenic’s last album a pretty harsh review, Palermo is happy to discuss whether or not his band is shoegaze, and what that means.
“I mean, obviously, everything that this band has become started with an idea and a love for that type of music,” says Domenic. “There’s also several different kinds of music that were revolved around shoegaze. But yeah, when we first started, all I was listening to was a lot of Slowdive and Catherine Wheel and Lush and Pale Saints and stuff like that. I was playing in a hardcore band in the early 2000s, and all I really listened to — it wasn’t even about the ambience at that point, it was just really provoking to me because it was bleak in a really interesting way.”
Watch Domenic’s explanation of that #gazelife in the latest episode of Last Words below:
If you want the fully unhinged, uncensored version of these metal rants on your commute or headphones, definitely tune into the podcast version of Last Words:
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Words by Chris Krovatin
