When we did our special The Breakdown episode highlighting Assume Nothing, it was my first time ever hearing of them and instantly knew they were a banger.
Before our interview at Upheaval Fest in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I was able to catch their set as one of the first bands to kick off the day on the second stage known as the The Lookout Stage, or as we quickly came to name it “The Hill” stage as it was it was positioned atop a very unforgiving hill looking down upon the main stage.
Regardless of “The Hill”, local and new fans swarmed the stage to welcome this hometown metal core act and for not playing a show since October of 2019, Assume Nothing laid claim to that stage and let the crowd know they were back.
Lead singer Riley had monstrous passion in his voice that commanded anyone in the immediate area to fixate upon him. Guitarists Riley & Dave ( also Known as “ I am Dave “) equally had shred moments with their Fender Strats that were upgraded to Fishman pickups for just the bridge use, and honestly when a metal core band has two guitarist, it usually muddies up the sound in the mixing board, but the audio engineers for stage 2 absolutely nailed their sound. Nick their bassist was also able to cut through the mix and pretty sure he has whiplash from all the head banging he was doing on stage. Finally for their dummer Cody, who at first when looking at him you would not suspect him of being in a metal core, but as soon as he gets behind the kit, all assumptions are stripped away and you see why he deserves to be there.
Assume Nothing are the Wage War of Michigan, and will be blowing up in the coming year.
Check out our full after set interview below.