No Win

Like so many bands before them, FIDLAR’s members had barely entered their 20s when the group’s success began to snowball, and in the span of roughly three years, they vaulted from the literally-titled Shit We Recorded in Our Bedroom to sharing stages with The Black Lips and The Hives. Danny Nogueiras was along for at least part of that ride, serving as FIDLAR’s drummer for a number of the band’s earliest tours. He’s still several years shy of 30, but at some point, he parlayed his experience into an actual career.

After growing up on house shows and homemade merch, he’s now married, co-owns a recording studio, and smartly recruited other members of FIDLAR’s almost Elephant 6-like circle of friends to flesh out his new project, No Win. Rather than recording shit in a bedroom, the band went straight into Nogueiras’ studio and produced several tracks like the one below (available to stream for the first time anywhere). It’s not as spastic, surfy, or snotty as FIDLAR, but its laidback mix of effortless hooks and fuzzy tones feels like an understated approach to a similar idea. It’s FIDLAR grown up—out of the garage and into the studio.

Listen to a track from No Win, "Heart Knowing Rest." Plus, we talked to Danny about FIDLAR, LA, MTV, and other things that probably require all-caps. Hear the track and read the words below.

Noisey: So I’m slightly confused, is No Win a band or a solo project?
Danny Nogueiras: No Win is definitely a solo project, but I think it kinda wants to exist in the middle ground between solo project and band. I wrote some songs and then Max Kuehn from FIDLAR played drums on all the recordings and David Jerkovich from Kind of Like Spitting and Novi Split played on it, and to me, if this was a band, that would be my band. But because of touring schedules…

And this started as a recording project, right? Was that just a consequence of everyone’s limited availability?
Yeah, I mean, our first show [was] on the 22nd of this month, but it started as recording. I think after being in a band for years and playing shows and touring, it was nice to have time to sort of write and record things and get the sound that I wanted done, and now I can hit the ground running playing shows and really come from a place where I feel more secure. I think every other time I’ve started a band, we just start playing and figure it out as we go.

At the time that my previous band broke up, I talked to Max about needing him to play, like it was a necessity for me. I’m obsessed with the guy’s drumming, and we’ve known each other for so long and we’ve talked about playing together, so that was kind of a motivating factor. I knew that once the FIDLAR record was done and they were getting back on the road, I’d lose my studio drummer.

Actually, can you talk a little more about the FIDLAR connection?
I was friends with Zac [Carper], their singer, from... me and him met each other in like 2008, I believe, working at studios in LA together. Then FIDLAR started, [and] I knew that their drummer Max was going on tour with all these other projects, so for the first year or maybe a little more of that band, I was in and out on drums anytime Max was on tour.

And then also the whole FIDLAR scene is like a really tight-knit family, so over the past couple years, even once I was kind of out as the drummer and Max was here full-time, it’s like, every video we make we all make together. We’ve all screen printed their shirts in the backyard. It’s been a really tight-knit crew of musicians and friends and artists who kind of work on everything together. So it was natural once I started a new project to go to the well of all these super inspiring, rad friends who’ve been making stuff together over the past couple years to get people for my project. - Noisey

Danny Nogueiras is an embodiment of the underground Los Angeles scene. From drumming with FIDLAR in their formative years to stints with emo rockers Tiny Lungs and rowdy Americana outfit Brown and Blue, Nogueiras’ been able to observe and absorb the city’s eccentricities and utilize them in his own solo material as NO WIN. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s had some help from fellow LA born-and-bred musicians.

In fact, when he started recording tracks for his power-pop project, he brought in current FIDLAR drummer Max Kuehn and bassist David Jerkovich (Novi Split) to assist in honing his sound. Today, Nogueiras has unleashed a new song from NO WIN called “After Your Legs” in which he calls out everyday parasites and fakers.

The track begins abruptly with Nogueiras declaring himself as “just your reverie” over bright, chugging guitars. While its upbeat, hooky nature mirrors California’s sunniest days, his witty lyricism indicates he’s pretty fed up with people and situations that give the illusion of promise. It‘s an anti-poser anthem delivered with Robert Pollard sincerity.

“This song is about squaring off against forces that seem to support you, but only intend to drain you of all you’ve got left in you,” he tells Consequence of Sound, adding, “Honestly, though, it’s also about Weezer’s guitar tone.” - Consequence of Sound

No Win, the solo venture ex-FIDLAR drummer Danny Nogueiras, rocks like its 1996, unleashing his inner Weezer on songs he made in his Echo Park studio along with Max Kuehn (current FIDLAR drummer) and bassist David Jerkovich (Kind of Like Spitting). No Win’s crunchy power-pop recalls another drummer who knows his pop hooks, Seattle’s Michael Benjamin Lerner (Telekinesis). No Win’s first three songs rattle with both youthful exuberance and the smarts of somebody who’s paid his dues manning the kit in other bands. And of his new song “Shelley Duvall,” Nogueiras simply says: “Shelley Duvall is the best!” Hmm, “3 Women,” “Annie Hall” or “The Shining”? - Buzzbands.LA