Stuck between the hard rock and the pop music worlds New York based indie band Nevereven provides plenty of hook-heavy, toe-tapping music. Not quite metal, not quite “so utterly hip that they’re tortured musicians creating rather than striving” for mainstream’s music’s stamp of approval, Nevereven is a band that seems quite comfy perching on the ledge between the rock/metal fringes and the more accessible, slightly gentler, pop rock found on today’s mainstream radio. Thankfully, Nevereven’s music tends to be slightly more sing-a-long-able and friendly than your average jam-worthy band blazing out tunes meant to dislocate your neck from all the head banging. Based on their guitar heavy riffs and catchy choruses, this NYC band is on the right track to garnering some household notoriety. 

Lead singer Gary Pickard’s voice is arresting in its earnestness while also requiring some nips and tucks here and there to rein in his vocals a bit. His voice seems to ebb in and out from a surprisingly fresh and exciting sound to a slightly off center and somewhat flat tone. It’s an odd sensation; one which I think can only be helped with the right music producer directing Pickard towards developing and embracing his many vocal strengths. The same goes for the entire band, as “indie” sadly also applies to the quality of much of the recording. Each song is professional enough to make it on to myspace, but lacking that polished, finished sound required for radio airplay. With proper guidance from an excellent producer who can help tweak Nevereven’s obvious creativity and talent there is little reason that this indie band can’t make it big in the mainstream musical world.  

Downloadable: the guitar blaring “Midnight,” the near-mainstream ready “Cloud Nine” and “Quicksilver.” 

Check out more about the band here:

www. myspace. com/nevereven
www. sonicbids. com/nevereven
www. ourstage. com/nevereven

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 4:34 pm and is filed under Brian Andersen, Music. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.