Photo credit: AgAtA.K at FLICKR
Not too long ago, I was passed NEVEREVER‘s myspace by NRBW friend Lady P (thanks, missy!) and instantly fell in love. Their music encapsulates everything that’s wonderful about California (you’ll be hearing a lot more about that) but in a completely different way than our other favorite CA band (the Growlers – do I even need to say so anymore?). Jihae’s voice is warm and encompassing, there’s hooks for days and highly hilarious and intelligent lyrics. Summery and beachy, lo-fi etc, Neverever really tick every box I have (even got a bit of the UK in there, can you say perfection?) so I knew I wanted to get some questions in with them. They kindly took time out from prepping their upcoming album to answer all my queries. Read all about them below and download a track after. And definitely keep your eyes peeled for the album – it’s going to be a doozy.
So you guys used to be called The Champagne Socialists – why the change to Neverever?
The Champagne Socialists was kind of a temporary name we had and weren’t quite sure about, it seemed too stuffy in a boring way so we wanted to change it. We got asked to put out a 7″ on Slumberland pretty quickly after starting the band and hadn’t come up with another name yet and we wanted the next name to be the one we would stick with, so we just put it out and thought about it later.
Blue Genes 7” came out on Slumberland early last summer, how was it to release your first single as band? And on such an excellent label to boot…
It was great to have our first single out! To see and hear our efforts as a writing team and as a band come to life in the form of mint-green vinyl was super exciting. Wallace and I had never worked as a husband/wife team yet, not musically anyway, so it was kind of like our little first little baby. That sounds stupid, but I guess it’s true. We felt like Greenwich and Barry having a little Brill baby! It was just an added bonus for it to be on Slumberland. It’s crazy how passionate and excited and full of good vibes Mike (who owns and runs Slumberland) still is after 20 years of doing pretty much everything himself! He’s truly an inspiration!
Your music has a retro quality to it – is that conscious or accidental?
We don’t like to think of ourselves as being retro. We definitely have a lot of older influences and certainly listen to a lot of early pop, but we like to think that we bring our own sound and sensibility to the music we make so that it’s fresh and young in a way. We don’t think of ourselves as any kind of revivalist band or anything, it would be boring to be exactly like the music we admire. Sometimes there are certain sounds or aspects of song-writing that we consciously feel very close to and want to work with, but it always comes out with a flair I think we can call our own, something completely different from what it was inspired by. Most of the time it’s just seeped into our brains and it is an accident, but then that’s gone through your personal filter even more so. That’s where a lot of interesting things can happen, but talking about the process isn’t especially interesting, so I’ll leave it at that.
I read that Jihae and Wallace met in Glasgow… What was the one thing you missed most about Los Angeles while in the UK?
Yeah, we met in Glasgow when I was going to school. I was extremely home-sick for L.A. and my family. There wasn’t just one thing I missed, I missed everything. Everything that I took for granted while I was growing up became things I realized I couldn’t live without, not happily anyway. I never realized how much of a California girl I am, she just came out and refused to go back in! I think I was in denial of it a lot of the time growing up, always wanting to be different led me into a long bout of Anglophilia. But that led me to Scotland where I met Wallace, so it all happens for a reason! Sun, I missed the sun.
[ed note: this could literally not be more truthful. this is exactly spot on what it's like to move from CA to the UK, if anyone out there is wondering and considering it.]
And now what do you miss most about the UK?
We miss Wallace’s family and our friends in Glasgow. The U.K. countryside is beautiful in an otherworldly way. I worked at an amazing Indian restaurant that we miss getting free food from…deep-fried pizza was pretty good too.
There’s such an awesome collective of bands in LA right now – do you feel a part of that scene?
There is an awesome collective of bands in L.A. right now, and that’s great for L.A. since it seemed like kind of a joke to a lot of people, in terms of bands, for a while. L.A. has a crazy history in music and has created some of the best music ever made, I think after hair-metal a lot of people forgot about that, and that’s no put-down on hair-metal.
As for being part of the scene, we don’t really feel like we’ve ever been part of a scene. It has it’s disadvantages I suppose, you kind of have to do more for yourself and have a lot faith in what you’re doing. But in the long run, I think it’s kind of a good thing we stand on our own. We don’t feel like we’re dependent on anything. I think that gives you a bit of longevity and keeps you from getting lost in the crowd. If you can get can noticed without being in the scene, I think that’s a really good thing.
What are your favorite LA bands at the moment?
Our favorite bands in L.A. right now…we really like Animal Style, Allah-Las, garbaj kaetz, Devon Williams, Thee Makeout Party, oki-doki, the Audacity, Schatzi and Hazeltine. . .
What’s in the pipeline for Neverever? A full length? Another single?
We just finished our full length album, Angelic Swells. It was a lot of hard work, there were some obstacles that came up but we made it and we’re really excited! Our first engineer got taken to the mental hospital on our way to the recording studio for our first session, and it rained on the day of our photo-shoot, but everything worked out in the end. The engineer is o.k. now too. The album will be released by Slumberland this May just in time for Summer fun. Next we’re shooting our first music video, putting out another single, and then starting on an E.P., so lots to come!
There’s an awesome kind of beachy-lo-fi-throwback group of bands going right now – are you going to keep heading in that direction or do you have any desire to change and try something else?
Well, we’re a Southern Californian band and like I said before, it’s something I can no longer deny, and have come to be pretty proud of. So, the West-coast beachy aspect is very much a part of who we are and what we relate to and I think will always be a part of our music in some sense.
As for being lo-fi, that’s never been what we aim for. We hope to gain the opportunity to move up the fi-ladder and create the lush sound-scapes that our music aspires to be. We’ve got a lot of ideas that unfortunately don’t always fall under a lo-fi budget, so we do the best we can. We’d have 50 tracks of hand-claps, the L.A. Philharmonic, and the world’s finest echo-chambers if we could!
There seem to be a lot of bands at the moment with similar influences in common, but I think we all take those influences and manifest them in completely different ways. I think if you do something you’re passionate about in your own individual way, that’ll show through. I’m sure our music will evolve and change, as it should, but we’ll always have the same passions.
If you had to have one last meal, what would it consist of?
Ummmmm, probably a cheeseburger with fries and a root-beer float, with a Havana Banana Split to follow. Maybe throw in a sampler plate before-hand too.
Do you guys have a favorite hole in the wall eatery in LA? Dish.
Neptune’s Net in Malibu. Sampler plate!!! [ed note: NRBW are fulling planning to check this out ASAP. March 21 after SXSW meal? Yes, please!]
And finally, what’s your favorite Smiths song?
Tutti-Frutti
DOWNLOAD -> Neverever (formerly The Champagne Socialists) – The Young Runaways
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