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WITH YOUR HOST
BRIAN LUSH
EVERY SATURDAY
AT
5:00PM (PST)
ON
CLICK THE LOGO ABOVE
WE'RE
NOT ROCK STARS!
BRIAN LUSH GETS RE-ACQUAINTED WITH NEVERWONDER
A ROCKWIRED EXCLUSIVE
BRIAN LUSH GETS RE-ACQUAINTED WITH NEVERWONDER
A ROCKWIRED EXCLUSIVE
INTERVIEWED BY BRIAN LUSH
Their sound is a breath of fresh air. This sound is marked by either a confidant groove or a swaggering strut. This dexterity is brought to you by brothers and rhythm section VINCENT and DRE RAMOS. What's rock n roll without a charismatic ax-man? NEVERWONDER's got one in the dynamic FLINT MAVIS whose six string attack makes you think that you're hearing a lead guitarist and a rhythm guitarist all at once.
But let's not overlook the lady in the band. JOY PEARSON is destined to become one of modern rocks most distinctive voices. It's a voice with fangs, attitude and sheer confidence. This ain't girl power. This is WOMEN'S RAAAAWK!!! (Hey, ROCKWIRED just coined a new term!)
The stars are aligned for NEVERWONDER and it's all good for NEVERWONDER and for listeners who've had to put up with pop music's tits, ass and bling for the past seven years.
ROCKWIRED had the chance to get on the phone with these guys for a follow up interview. Here is how it went.
It's good to hear from you guys again. You guys are in my life so much it's not even funny. It's been a busy year for you guys. how have you been coping?
JOY: We're slightly on down time right now. We had our Christmas show and then we decided we're gonna calm down and not book any shows until after January and focus on the songwriting. It's kind of nice to take that time to put all your effort into one area instead of worrying about shows on top of it. I'm nice and relaxed right now but I'm tired (laughs)
How about everyone else. Is everybody else tired?
VINCE: I think the year has been phenomenal. It's been a great fast carpet ride. It's tiring but exciting at the same time. The focus changes a little bit.
From the last time I interviewed you guys, almost a year ago, what's changed? Obviously there have been a few awards since the time I last spoke with you. Anything changed?
VINCE: There have been tons of shows and a lot of press. We're shooting our first video right now which will hopefully be out by February. It's been really exciting. Being an indie band, the money is not there so we have to budget a little more but the press and the industry and media have jumped on the bandwagon of NEVERWONDER, as well as Internet radio. I've checked where our hits come from and there in New York, England, Hong Kong and it's phenomenal.
JOY, you guys are saying that you're writing at the moment. Is there an LP in the works or is it an EP?
JOY: You know, we really haven't decided that yet. It could go either way at this point. Right now we just want to get a huge catalogue of songs under our belt so that we have a huge variety to choose from as far as deciding what goes onto the next LP or album. It's completely open. I think we're aiming towards an album. It just depends on how confident we feel about the certain number of songs that we've written. if we feel like we've written fifteen incredible songs, why not put out an album. We've got so much freedom. It's been really cool but really fun.
Has anything changed as far as how the music is getting written. With all of the exposure that NEVERWONDER has received in the past year, has it changed the way you guys write?
JOY: I don't know if you remember BRIAN, but a year ago we stated that when we recorded the first album we didn't really know each other for that long. We had only known each other for a few months and had really gotten to know each other as we recorded the first album. Now it's different. We know each other very well this time and the NEVERWONDER sound is beginning to consolidate into who we truly are. Instead of four sounds coming together, it's now coming into one sound. When this next CD comes together it's going to be even better than our first album. I couldn't ask for more. I'm excited for people to be hearing the new songs.
The video that you guys are working on, is that one of the new songs or is it a song from the previous album?
VINCE: It'll be from the first album.
Which song?
VINCE: EVERYWHERE or FATHER'S CHILDREN. In this day and age you've gotta have an image and you've grotto have a video. We're excited about the process and we've gotta guy named ZACH working on it. It feels like we're gonna have a shot at doing this our own way.
Since FLINT is the out of towner since I didn't have the chance to talk to him the last time. So FLINT, how did you get hooked up with these guys?
FLINT: It was through MUSIC CONNECTION actually. i had an ad for a guitarist available. I had just moved out to Orange County from Los Angeles and was looking to get into a new band. So I had the ad out, they responded and the rest was history.We clicked right off the bat and started writing songs instantly.
One thing that I got ask everyone the last time but didn't;t get to ask you was how did music begin for you?
FLINT: That's easy. When Is was a kid I liked ELVIS. When I was six I had a plastic ukelelee
(Everyone laughs)
VINCE: I thought this was the KISS story
FLINT: The other time was when I saw KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM and I saw ACE FREELEY shooting lasers out of his eyes and having super powers, and I was like "that's it, I've got to do that." Then I just started getting into rock a playing guitar when I was in sixth grade and have been in love with guitar ever since.
VINCE: Hey, BRIAN, I wanna hear FLINT talk about the ukulele some more.
FLINT: I've got a little picture of me in a little cowboy suit and leather chaps and strumming a ukulele. I'd walk around and think that I was paying cowboy songs.
VINCE: (LAUGHS) We need that for the website dude!
It could be the mascot for NEVERWONDER. As far as planning the shows for the coming year, are any of then taking you out of California or are you going to work the base a little more?
VINCE: Obviously, LA, OC and the valley is very comfortable for us to play but come 2007, you're going to see NEVERWONDER a lot more or one of shows in other places. We think the songs have what it takes. It's always good to see what people outside of LA think. We know that LA is a tough place but we think that we're going to be received really well.
You guys did a show with WARRANT.
JOY: Oh, yes!
VINCE: You better let FLINT tell this story.
Tell the story FLINT, this is your interview now.
FLINT: That was an awesome show. I was huge WARRANT fan back in the late eighties/early nineties. I used to watch all the videos. that was when I first got into playing in bands . This was my first year of college. I'd see these guys on MTV and be like " I wanna rock like those fools!" and then we got to do a show with them and those guys were really nice. It was very nice to talk to them and they were very complimentary of us. It was kind of a thrill to meet guys who had achieved a certain amount of success. To be seen as a peer to people that you used to look up to is kind of exciting.
VINCE: That is true. I'll second that. I grew up on some of that too.
Are there another gigs in the past year that kind of stood out for you guys good or weird?
VINCE: THE GALAXY show was phenomenal! the CD release party at THE WHISKEY was phenomenal too. We absolutely packed that place. We did a huge Christmas party last Saturday. Those have been the key shows for me.
DRE: One weird show was that MICHAEL'S PUB in the Valley. We've met cool people through that gig but we literally played in a -
JOY: It was a shoe box.
JOY, your back ground was in musical theater and now your in this rowdy rock band with a bunch of guys. I mean it's happened before. PAT BENATAR was a classical trained soprano. What's it like for you now? You're in a band that's on the up and up. It doesn't looks like this thing is headed for disaster. How does it feel?
JOY: It feels really natural. i think the most interesting thing is that everybody who knew me from years ago when I was doing musical theater sees me now and wonders, 'How does that happen?' It kind of freaks then out when they hear my voice compared to the stuff I used to sing. I think it even freaks me out. It feels good what I'm doing right now. It so much more of a release. The music with NEVERWONDER is personal as opposed to musical theater where you are portraying someone elses story. Now I get to portray my own and it's been really awesome.
VINCE, you seem to be the one with a finger in everything from booking, and business and getting everybody together. Is that difficult balances the creative and energetic aspects of NEVERWONDER with the business demands of it?
VINCE: I do run a lot of the stuff but the band has been really good about taking on responsibilities. Sometimes it is difficult. Sometimes I'd rather play my bass but instead I've got set up gigs for the coming month. Sometimes it does wear on you but if I wasn't doing it, I'd be more frustrated. At the end of the day, I really enjoy it. I enjoy the craziness of dealing with promoters and PR people and just whoever. It can kill you if you let it but I look at it as a game. At the end of the day, I believe in NEVERWONDER and if I didn't believe in NEVERWONDER, I couldn't do this every single day. These guys are good musicians and I believe in them.
JOY: I just shed a tear.
In the past year with all of the attention that you guys have received do you think that a lesson was learned and if so what was it?
JOY: Oh Yeah. I think there are always lessons learned. Being in band and spending time with it and bringing things up the next level you are always going to run into lessons. I can' necessarily pinpoint one in general. I'm sure i could but I don't necessarily want to. It's never been an issue getting through with the band itself, it's more with the band having to deal with outside matters, like booking and having to deal with people who aren't as easy to deal with. VINCE, I'm gonna have to have you take over hear.
VINCE: I've got one. What I find that what we've learned is this. We're not rock stars. Don't get me wrong, we've done very well this year but we haven't achieved the ultimate goal of quitting our jobs and everything
We strive every day to become better. I think if we allowed ourselves to think like we were rock stars we'd lose touch with what's important.
How about you FLINT?
FLINT: I'm a cynical person by nature. It's much easier for me to see the negative and be sarcastic and ridicule things. in the past year, I think I'm learning to keep that a little more in check and focus a little more on the positive cause there's a ton of good stuff that's happening with our band.
JOY: I think it's interesting that there is this equal balance in the band. I tend to be pretty cynical too and VINCE and DRE are always on the positive. It's like a 50/50 balance in the band.
You said earlier that you're working on new material. What kind of themes are you interested in pursuing in this new material?
JOY: I can't say that we are necessarily focusing on anything in particular. We're just focusing on the songwriting in general. It's not that we're taking on a particular theme. It's more like we're taking on a particular sound. The nice thing about NEVERWONDER is that everything is left open. We don't write all rock songs or pop songs. we have a lot of colors in our music because we are so diverse as band members. We're just focusing on what feels good and what feels natural.
What's feeling right so far?
JOY: are you thinking more lyrically or are you think more musically?
Both.
FLINT: We tend to do the music part collaboratively in the rehearsal studio. One of us will come with the riff and bounce it off the other and backs and forths until it turns into a basic song structure and then JOY will take that home and come up with vocal melody and lyrics that will fit that piece. We want our singer up front singing like she means it and that happens most when she's singing about something thats personal. We kind of give her free reign to do what she wants with the vocals as long as she sings it like she means it.
DRE: For me, and I don't know if I can speak for everybody, the way I'm trying to approach the next album or or whatever you want to call it, There is a certain way that you go about it. Of course theres the theme where JOY comes in lyrically with an idea but there also the aspect of FLINT coming in with a song that he already feels
and we'll kind of help compose it a little bit and we've also got the aspect of the jam where the songs come from the beat of the drum and then the bass kicks in and it is what it is. It's a vibe and JOY will just jump on top of it
and give it the frosting on top which I call the lyrics. Also I like to tape a lot of stuff. A lot of times you don't realize what you've got. You might be playing something and you're thinking that it c sounds all right but you'll come back to it a couple days later and think 'Wow that's unbelievable!' Then I can show these guys and we'll work with it. I think that there are four or five different avenues that create the songs of NEVERWONDER. It's not just a guy with a guitar playing a riff and then saying 'All right everybody jump on me.'
JOY: That is the most I have ever heard DRE talk in an interview ever!
VINCE: Did you record this?
Yes I did!
VINCE: We're not a super heavy band and we're not heavy pop band but we hope we can be played on the radio. We don't play epic songs. That's not a part of our repertoire at least for now but we like to have radio songs that have great hooks. We're really into that and I think that JOY is very receptive to any ideas that we may have melody or lyric wise. She's really open just like we're all open to each other musically. That's what NEVERWONDER is all about. Just have fun!
OTHER ARTICLES:
READ THE PREVIOUS ROCKWIRED ON-LINE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH NEVERWONDER HERE
READ THE MOST RECENT ROCKWIRED ON-LINE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH NEVERWONDER HERE
