In this Music Mondays exclusive interview we sat down with the California native known as NoNameDread. This is an artist that lets their work speak for itself so make sure you check out this rare tell all interview with a very special creative.

7/22/22

Zomb: First things first where are you from and how old are you? 

NoNameDread: So I'm 25 years old and I was born in San Diego but moved up to Sacramento when I was like 6. But to be more specific I moved to a suburb just north of the actual city of Sacramento called Citrus Heights. I’ve moved around the city a bit but mainly lived in citrus heights, Oh and that’s in California.

Zomb: Damn so quiet the active early years, what was growing up in California for you? Tell us a little bit about what growing up was like for you. 

NoNameDread: I’d say I grew up like your average suburban trash would. Until I was probably 10 life was pretty average. I played sports. Got into trouble you know average kid shit. But then my pops at that time was becoming a pretty heavy alcoholic. And was in no way shape or form a “fun drunk” and got really mentally abusive and on occasion physical. So once I hit middle school I was acting out a lot. Get into fights, ditching school. Smoking and what not. Around that time is when I started to write little raps and shit. Then I hit high school and started getting into some shit I will refrain from talking about. Dropped out my sophomore year and started going crazy with drugs and shit and that’s around the time me and my homie Mac B started recording these raps off his iPad. After that I got a pc. Hit Pirate Bay and got fl studio and a little blue snowball mic and became obsessed. My pops around that time was at the height of his addiction and ended up passing from it. So I had a lot of pent up emotions I was tryin deal with. Which lead me to doin a bunch of dumb shit got kicked out when I was 17, couch surfed for a minute. Then moved back into my moms after I completely destroyed my right hand from fighting and shit  and had to get reconstructive surgery. From there I just dove into music. Made a mixtape that I tried to get people to pass around highschool  and it ain’t really too much haha. Looking back, that shit was garbage. And then from there I started to get a bunch of my friends together to form No Name posse. Which consisted of C$k ,Mac B, no name fess and me. Made a bunch of songs which then somehow caught the attention of heretic. He then hit me on twitter to do a show with oni inc. then did a couple more shows and no name posse started to kinda fizzle out. Which pretty much leads us to now.

Zomb: Damn that’s quite the response. Alright so to back it up a bit, you were going through a lot during early years but outside of that you mentioned you got a copy of FL and just went crazy. Around what year was this? Who were some of your early musical influences at that time? 

NoNameDread: That was probably around 2011-2012. Some of my early musical influences would be NWA. My pops gave me a straight outta Compton cassette tape and I use to slap that shit constantly. Also I was super into Alice and chains and 90s grunge. But around that time my biggest influences was probably odd future, lil durk and Flatbush zombies 

Zomb: Now that’s such a dope variety, man so many good ass players. So during your rough patches you started to create your own music, did you ever release anything back then publicly? Or was it just kept secret. 

NoNameDread: I released some songs on SoundCloud and datpiff way back then but they’re gone now. I also burnt a mixtape on a bunch of cds and had a homie pass them around school so there might be some of those floating around still. But pretty much everything is gone except for two of my first songs ever and there hidden on YouTube. And I will never give the names of those videos away. 

Zomb: Haha that’s so comedy, everyone always keeps them hidden. I feel you do the same. So pushing forward, life still doing life shit when did you decide to take music more seriously? Was it around the time of No Name Posses inception? 

NoNameDread: Ya I’d say so cause it was around that time that people actually started to show a little bit of interest in what we were doing. Because before that our group was named something different. Which side note there’s a project still on Spotify under the name “organic Music” lololol if anyone wants to check it out. But we were basically uploading music to be heard by no one. But around the name change heretic hit us to do a show and that definitely was the push to take shit more seriously.

Zomb: I love that so much, now let’s talk about your vocal style for a bit before we continue. Would you say your style back then was in its early stages to what it is now? How did your vocal style change from back then to the present day? 

NoNameDread: I’d say it’s always pretty much been the same besides the pitch drop. It was definitely a lot rougher in terms of mixing and also the overall pitch in my normal voice has changed since I started recording mid-puberty lololol. I’ve always liked to do the melodic style but I’d say I did a lot more rapping rapping back then. Another thing that’s changed a lot is just vocal confidence. Back then it was almost like I was afraid to use my voice and play around with it and what not. A big part of that change is that I literally haven’t written anything In probably 2 to 3 years which for some reason gave me more confidence in my voice while recording 

Zomb: Damn you gotta love to hear the process, that’s absolutely so sick. I was very curious about that for sure, so you ended up playing a show with Heretic and things started to change a bit but at what point did No Name Posse slow down and was that a bit of motivation for you to continue? 

NoNameDread: It slowed down probably right before Covid. People got life going on and that just wasn’t their focus anymore but me and nonamefess were still working pretty hard and dropped I believe 4 projects in the lockdown still under the no name posse name. But I can’t lie, it was pretty discouraging because personally I don’t feel like I can go on stage or do shit without a team behind me. But I eventually just said fuck it and started to solely focus on my own shit and working with nonamefess.

Zomb: Such a wild story, we’ve reviewed a few of the NNP songs on Music Mondays and it’s so cool to take a view on what was going on back then. So you continued your solo stuff eventually, you’ve been dropping projects like crazy and it begs the question how long does it take you to record a song and release it? Tell us a little bit about how you record in July 2022.

NoNameDread: It really is a case by case thing. Sometimes I can bust out a song in like 30 minutes, sometimes it takes days to weeks. It really all depends on my mood and the beat. And as far as releasing goes. It depends on if I got a project I plan on doing or if it’s just a single. If it’s just a single I’ll release it as soon as it’s done but if it’s going to a project, I’ll release it as soon as the last song is done. My recording process is pretty simple. I find a beat I’m really feelin or make a beat and then just hit record and let my mind go. I’d my recording style is a lot of punching in.

Zomb: Awesome insight there, because everything you drop is such a high quality so I’d say you’ve really outdone yourself. What are your plans for the rest of the summer and 2022? Releases? Projects? 

NoNameDread: I want to at least release two more projects by the end of this year. And also do at least one visual. But other then that just keep my head down and keep grinding with the music and clothing

Zomb: Love to hear that, speaking of your clothing/merch. Tell us a little bit about your merchandise and where people can find it.

NoNameDread: So I’m the designer and owner of a clothing brand called Time Wasted. It’s pretty much just streetwear but I do wanna branch into some other stuff with the brand. But you can find everything at timewasted916.com/ 

Zomb: That’s so dope, Time Wasted is also something we’ve gotten the pleasure of looking at on the Music Mondays Podcast. Absolutely hit Dread up and go check out his pieces. Moving back to music, who are some artists you’d like to work with in the future? 

NoNameDread: Pretty much anyone who wants to work with me haha that’s all I’ve ever done stuff with. But I’m just not great at online relationships and social media in general so I don’t really hit people to work. So anyone who reads this please please please shoot me a Dm if you want a ft or a beat. I would love to work with y’all. Other then that I wanna work more with heretic and more with cole jerrard and nonamefess 

Zomb: Absolutely love love that attitude, let’s go man everyone needs to work with Dread before it’s too late. Timeless music is behind this name, so my next question for you is kind of a deep one but what are some of your ultimate goals with music? Do you have anything you personally want to accomplish? 

NoNameDread: It’s a little corny and I feel like everyone says this shit but I just want to reach as many people as I possibly can who grew up like me shares the same thoughts and feelings to listen so not only do they not feel alone but more selfishly so I don’t feel so alone. Also I want to reach younger people coming upon adulthood who are at a crossroads to listen and hear the things I’ve done and talk about and not make the same mistakes and decisions I have in my life 

Zomb: 10/10 goal man. Everyone says that absolutely but boy is this so important. If nobody believes it, Dread we definitely do. So one of my last questions for you is a bit more laidback, what keeps you sane outside of creating art? What are you usually doing if you aren’t creating?

NoNameDread: Pretty much just kickin it with my dog drakeo. Or kickin it with the homies smoking. Also I like to game  so everyone Dm me for my steam name or Xbox name and let’s get down. And as far as sanity goes honestly just isolating myself sometimes from everyone and everything helps a lot. Almost like a reset.