Neverstore – 05-11-2014

Interview with: Jacob
By: Nina Mende

Even after four albums and quite some years there is not much on the web about you guys. Why don’t you tell us something that we should know about you? Would you mind giving us a short introduction about yourselves?

a: A hard working band who started playing together 14 years ago and released our first album back in 2007, ”Sevenhundred Sundays”. Now, 7 years, 4 full-length albums, countless live shows, 2 MTV-awards and lots of hours in the rehearsal studio and on the road later , we are
releasing our self titled album ”Neverstore” in Germany and rest of Europe.

Why did you decide to self title this album?
a: This album marks a new start and the beginning of the rest of our lives in some way. Maybe it’s more common that it is your debut album that is self titled but since we all felt like this was a new start it was obvious for us to name the album ”Neverstore”.

Do you have any touring planned in the near future?
a: We recently finished our Swedish tour and only have a couple of one-off gigs for the rest of the year. Both Oscar and Erik newly became parents so we wont go on any long last tours at the moment. But in the first half of 2015 we are planning to hit the road again, both in Scandinavia and Europe.

It’s gotten quiet around you guys for the past couple years. What have you been up to?
a: After the release of our third album ”Age of hysteria” and the follow-up tour we really felt like we needed a break. Everything went so fast for a couple of years and we needed time to catch up with other things in life.
We had some time off doing other stuff, Erik and I played the drums in other projects, Erik as the drummer of Viktorious (Viktor from Sugarplum Fairy) and I was playing drums for Tove Styrke.
About 9 month later we borrowed a friends cabin way out in the woods, isolated ourselves for a week and started to make music again.
Our hunger to write and play music together came back in that moment and a couple of those songs ended up on the album (”For the rest of my life” and ”Bullets & Quicksand” e.g)
After that week in the cabin, without internet, TV and cell reception, we took a flight down to
Berlin to sum up the starting point of our next album to come. We had a couple of days partying and going to shows in one of our favorite cities.

How was the tour through Japan with Sum41 in 2008 and how did it have an impact on you / change you? What were some experiences or adventures from this tour you would like to share with us?
a: Touring with Sum 41 had a huge impact on us! It was our first time in Japan and we had the opportunity to play in- and visit many different cities. Japan is one of the coolest countries we have toured in. Everything is different, but in a nice and cool way. The venues are awesome and the people are extremely helpful and polite. The whole cultural experience was amazing. I guess we did what many bands before us had done. We played at fantastic venues, did crazy radio shows, met awesome fans, ate ridiculously good food, drank local beer and occasionally had one too many Sake’s for one night.
Touring with Sum 41 and seeing them live every night was very inspiring. They are really nice and professional guys and after touring with them we became a better band.
It also resulted in a collaboration with Deryck who recorded and produced our song ”Summer” for the ”Age of Hysteria” album.

Are you still in touch with the guys of Good Charlotte after touring with them in 2007?
a: No, that was only a couple of shows many years ago. They were all nice guys but we haven’t had the opportunity to meet them again.

What are three other bands you dream of touring with?
a: Oh, this is hard. There are so many great bands out there who inspired us and would probably be really cool to tour with. But, if I really have to name three bands.. Blink 182, because I never had the chance to see them live, Weezer, because they are awesome and Foo Fighters, not only because they are a great band, also because they seem like really nice people.

Is there any place on earth you would love to play a show at, that no band has ever done before? And why?
a: Definitely somewhere warm. Maybe at some remote island in the Caribbean, with all our
friends, a couple cool bands and lots of happy people and beer. The festival should be ongoing for 3 days and we would all sleep under the naked sky.

What does a typical day of you look like? (Especially when thinking of your song “Work Eat Sleep Repeat”)
a: A typical day for us looks very different from day to day and from person to person. We all have a part time day job to make ends meet, punk rock does not always pay the bills 🙂 But our bosses are very understanding of what we do and let us take time off in short notice if we have some place to be.
So it’s pretty much like work eat sleep repeat, but with playing and writing music in between.
The song W.E.S.R is about how many of us live these days. That we actually have a choice of how to live but most of us ends up in an unstoppable spiral of work and anxiety of life passing by without us living it.

How did you meet and decide to start a band?
a: We met at high school back in 2000. At that time Erik wasn’t around (he is from another, more northern part of Sweden than me and Oscar) and we had another drummer for the first 4 years. We met Erik at a folk high school in 2005 and our three-piece was once again complete!
I decided to be in a band the first time I heard Millencolin. I was 11 years old and discovered punk-rock music. Since then I had one goal, to be in a band and write my own music. I still carry that very same dream. To be be in a band with 2 guys you love and to be able to tour all around the globe is all I ever wished for.

Where did the name Neverstore come from?
a: When we had our first gig, I think this was 2001, the promotor called and wondered what name they should put on the poster. Since we didn’t had a name yet we panicky looked around us to see if there was any name we could use. The words ”Never Store” was written on a piece of podium leaning against the wall next to us and we thought it sounded cool. We stuck with the name for a while and we never really cared about changing it.

You still have a street team. How do they support you and who came up with the idea for a street team? Can all your fans join this street team or is it something exclusive?
a: Yes we do. This is something we are very proud off and grateful for, that they support us in every way they can. They put up posters, spread the word and come to our shows. They were actually one of the first really big street teams in Sweden and both TV and national press did stories about them. They met when we toured with Backyard babies back in 2007 and decided to start a street team to support us. All fans are more then welcome to join! check out their
facebook for more info about how to contribute. facebook.com/NeverstoreStreetTeam

If you look back to the last 14 years of Neverstore, is there anything you would do differently?
a: I don’t think there is any use in regretting things and to think about what decisions we made- or didn’t make could have affected us differently.
All experiences help you grow, whether it’s good or bad. When you hit the ground you can always get back up.
14 years as a band makes you family. And family stick for life. Neverstore will always be a huge part of our lives.
For the next 15 years we will keep on doing what we’re doing. But with bigger hearts, bigger families and wiser minds.

What else would you like to tell us?
a: We hope to see you guys when we hit the road again and head south! Check out our new album and also our brand new single ”The greatest gift”, take care!