Ever since Split Scene released earlier in 2025 Nevada Hardware has been at the top of the charts for both myself and many others. It’s also a huge contender for album of the year and is one of the finest slices of 90s industrial inspired releases in recent memory. This is why I invited Nevada Hardware to collaborate on a limited-edition release of Split Scene on vinyl – our first big boy release as it’s my favorite format. That being said we thought it would be fun to poke around inside founder Doug Jones’ head in this edition of INTRODUCING.
Give us a brief about your band. Who are you and what do you do?
I’m Doug Jones, and I write and perform electronic music as Nevada Hardware. Despite the name, I’m based in Chicago, IL.
When did you first launch the project and how has it come along since?
The project really came into being over the summer of 2017. I had played in rock bands for years but burned out sometime in 2012 and was on the verge of quitting music altogether. My brother (Nick Jones of _the boundless_) had started writing electronic music with Ableton and suggested I try it out, so I gave it a shot and realized that I never really lost the urge to write. After a few years of starts and stops, I eventually had a handful of tracks shaping up which had a cohesive sound. In early summer of 2017, Nick asked if I could finish up tracks in time to open for his album release show in November of that year, so ended up spending that summer writing what would eventually become my debut album. The album cover of No Future is actually a glitched still frame taken from a video of that first show.
I only played one more show the following January, and then I released No Future in April of 2018. I was honestly surprised by the positive reaction from the underground industrial scene as I didn’t think what I was doing fit neatly into the genre at the time. I guess looking back on it, the breakbeats and house diva samples helped the record to stand out. I enlisted Nick Liberatore (aka royb0t) to create CRT analog style glitched videos which he live-sequenced on stage during performances. From there, it organically spread through word of mouth. That momentum was slowly and steadily building leading up to 2020 when the pandemic hit.
Lockdown knocked the wind out of me creatively. It took a while to get my head together and write again. I released two tracks for a Thinkbreak Records label compilation and did a few remixes, but I had nothing in the tank for a follow up. I needed to be able to feel what the song would sound like live. I just couldn’t envision a dance floor. There was a real fear that venues in general were done, and I couldn’t picture being able to play live, so I couldn’t write. Things finally eased up, and I could breathe again, but I felt like I lost momentum and was back to where I started in a way. I mean, seven months is lifetime in the current musical landscape, seven years is an eternity. The expected doubts and second-guessing followed, but I was able to push through it by reminding myself to just write what was interesting to me like I did the first time. Based on the response to the new album, I’m glad I did.
What bands and artists influenced you the most and why?
I realized that an album that had a huge impact on my overall sound was 21st Century Jesus by Messiah. It’s all there. The frenetic arrangements, the breaks, the samples, the dystopian rave vibe. I think it just imprinted on my brain subconsciously when I heard it as a teenager because I really didn’t set out to write an album inspired by it. I only realized it later after No Future was already out. I just threw on Messiah one day for old times’ sake and suddenly realized the depth of influence it had on my writing.
I also love My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult. Not just the old era either. I think you can especially hear 13 Above the Night’s influence. I respect how they constantly change up their sound while being true to what they do, and they don’t take themselves too seriously.
NO by Boris was in heavy rotation while writing Split Scene, and I think you can hear that influence on the more aggressive guitar-centric tracks like Letters of Sympathy and The Suburbs Dream of Violence.
The KLF has also definitely influenced me overall.
If you could pick a single song from your discography to explain your music, which song would you pick and why?
This one is tough because I tend to hit on a few styles, but I think the one that ticks almost all the boxes would be Hybrid Machine off No Future. It has almost all the elements that you would associate with the project. You could follow that track with any other track I’ve released, and it would still sound cohesive.
What is your most recent release and what is it about?
I just released my second album, Split Scene, in April of 2025. As much as it’s about anything, I think that the album was an unconscious reaction to watching society disintegrate through a computer screen. I wanted this record to be a respite from the oppressive feeling that everything sucks without pretending that things don’t suck.
Take us through your creative process. How do you compose a song from start to finish? Where do the ideas come from?
I often just have a vibe in mind when I start, and it may be the third or fourth riff in a project file that becomes the actual idea. You just never know. I mess around until something sticks, and often an idea that was generated in one track initially will find its way into another if that’s where it needs to go. I think that helps all the tracks gel in the end. A riff in a slower moodier track could have its roots in a fast and aggressive one, so they still end up sounding connected despite the stylistic difference.
I write in Ableton, and for most tracks, 80% of it is written in session view before moving to arrangement. This allows me to demo different iterations and ideas without being locked into linear songwriting. I start by building loops of beats, synths, samples etc. which I group into scenes. I’ll keep adding elements until it gets as big as it needs to get, then start cutting anything I can introduce on the 4 or 8 to add to the groove to keep building momentum. I then take it over to arrangement view to sculpt the linear structure. This is when I’ll add modulation and the connective tissue like drum turns and reverses that tie it all together. In essence, I create loops, mix and match them, then stitch them together rather than starting at the beginning and working to the end.
The trick is to know what to add, when to add it, and to recognize when there is too much going on. A cool part doesn’t make a cool song. Sometimes you have to ditch an interesting idea to make the whole thing work. I had to do that with the title track actually. In the demo stage, the song had this four-measure build-up and turn that was super cool, but it just threw off the balance of the track, so I deleted it. It hurt, but it had to be done. The song is better for it. I think the same thing goes for what tracks ended up on the album. I had more song ideas beyond the seven tracks that made the final release, but I decided I’d rather put out fewer songs that I knew worked well together.
What’s your current favorite song, band, or album within your scene? And vice versa, what do you enjoy the most that’s completely opposite of what you make?
As far as within my scene, Out for Blood by Free.99 is a recent favorite. It’s earsplitting in a good way. I also think Big Time Kill out of Boston are incredibly talented. If you think you might like a bit of Oingo Boingo in your industrial rock, you should definitely check them out. Not sure if it’s the opposite, but outside of electronic music, I’ve been listening to grungy/shoegazey type albums like Sugarcoat by Blushing and World is Yours by Mass of the Fermenting Dregs. Automatic by The Jesus and Mary Chain has been in rotation lately, though I guess you could say that one is still semi-related to the scene I’m in.
What is on the horizon for your project? Upcoming gigs, tours, merch, videos, etc. Name it, link it, show it off.
I guess this is the perfect place to announce that we teamed up with Brutal Resonance to do a vinyl release of Split Scene. You can pre-order it now, and we expect them to ship out around the beginning of December. Also, both Split Scene and No Future are available on compact disc and digital download, and we just did a new run of t-shirts, all of which you can get at bandcamp by clicking the link below:
https://nevadahardware.bandcamp.com
We have a show coming up at Crucible in Madison, WI with Daddybear on December 13th, and we are in talks to play out in the UK in 2026, so hopefully that pans out. We are looking to book more shows in the near future. If you are interested in booking us, shoot an email to booking@thinkbreakrecords.com.
