Neverstore
Neverstore, from left; Jacob Widén, Oscar Kempe, Erik Lantz.
Neverstore is a punk/rock/pop band formed in Skövde, Sweden, in 2000. The band originally consisted of vocalist and guitarist Jacob Widén and bassist Oscar Kempe (born 1983 and 1984). They met in high school and as starting to hang out, they noticed that their record collections were almost identical. What to play was not a big deal - they were both really into punk rock. Soon, they met a drummer and their set was complete. The name "Neverstore", was taken in panic before their very first gig; a sign backstage said those two words.
Neverstore have always been playing eagerly, even if their hometown didn't offer many gigs. They accepted the challenge and played at the "shitty places", such as karaoke bars. Also, they toured a lot to get an outlet for their will to play. Neverstore summarize their sound as "hi-fi sound, sound-homosexuality, in-your-face-energy" and "it's supposed to crack like hell".
In 2004, the drummer left the band and Neverstore once again became a duo. Jacob and Oscar didn't give up, though, and left for music university in Nyköping. They met Erik Lantz (born 1986), a drummer from Söderhamn, who almost immediately joined the band and filled the void.
Their constant touring was soon rewarding - Neverstore were signed while still studying at the university after sending a demo to Epic Records. The guys describe the event as Oscar getting a call, keeping it quiet, drinking coffee, "playing like hell" and going out in the evening.
Neverstore in a photoshoot for their first cd.
The debut cd, Sevenhundred Sundays, was recorded during three months in early 2006 while all three of them lived together in a one-room-flat in Stockholm. Afterwards, they went on tour as an opening act for Backyard Babies and just "waited for the cd to be released." It was quite a long wait - Sevenhundred Sundays was released on January 24th, 2007.
Speaking up at MTV.
The first single of the album was So Much Of Not Enough, which was fervently played on MTV along with the following videos for singles Stay Forever and L.Y.D. Racer was also released as a single but no video was recorded for this song - which however has become a classic and finishes all Neverstore shows.
L.Y.D music video.
In 2007, Neverstore were booked for playing at Sweden's two biggest festivals - Hultsfred and Peace & Love. They were the only band that year to fill the Teater stage in Hultsfred. 2007 also included two nominations for MTV European Awards in the categories "Best Swedish Act" (which they won) and "New Sounds Of Europe". The band worked very hard and toured Sweden from south to north several times - no wonder they consider themselves a small family even if Oscar and Jacob live in Hjo just outside Skövde where it all begun, and Erik lives in Stockholm.
Live at the Hultsfred festival.
On May 1st, Neverstore released an EP called Live In Stockholm, but it was only available for iTunes download.
Late 2007, the recording of their second album begun. This time, all songs but one (Waiting) were written recently and released on February 27th 2008, on the album Heroes Wanted. After the release, Neverstore went on tour again but this time looking further than Sweden. April included a ten-day-tour along with Sum 41 in Japan. Also, they played shows in Denmark and Finland.
This is what being big in Japan looks like.
The first two singles of Heroes Wanted were Rejected All Along and Waiting; both of them also have a video that have been shown a lot on MTV. A remix of the song Hold On has also been made with the rap artist Lazee.
Rejected All Along music video.
Neverstore are continuously touring and will keep on the road all summer. I'm a strong believer that they will make it to bigger and bigger arenas all over the world.
So why am I such a Neverstore geek? I can't put my finger to it. I love their music, lyrics - because they are thoughts of mine too. And also, Jacob, Oscar and Erik are amazingly nice, considerate and so much fun. I've seen them live four times and met them twice, and I hope that there will be more such events!
And lastly, to sum this fantastic band up. What music would never get played in their tour bus?
"Eurotechno. Our speakers are too poor for that!" - Erik
www.myspace.com/neverstore
www.neverstore.com
I don't care for them much myself. They're alright, but that's just my opinion.
Nice work on the blog though. Can tell that you're really a fan.
I don't know what else to say really. Nice blog and yeah hope you get to see them and meet them again ^^
Wino Forever, August 4th, 2008 at 08:43:47am